chapter 13 manifest destiny: an empire for liberty– or slavery? (c) 2003 wadsworth group all...
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 13
Manifest Destiny: An Empire for Liberty– or Slavery?
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
Growth as the American Way
• Unprecedented growth: U.S. population and land 1803-1850
• “Manifest Destiny” (1845)
- to possess the continent for the development of liberty
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
The Westering Impulse
• What famous line did Horace Greeley coin?
• Depression of 1837
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
The Oregon and California Trails
• “Oregon fever”
• 1849, California Gold Rush
• Stories of triumph & tragedy
• Victims of starvation, disease, & Indians
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
Texas Territory
• Mexico encouraged settlement of Texas (1821)
• Mexican qualifications for settlement
• When does Mexico abolish slavery?
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
Texas Territory (continue)
• American settlement
- Protestants in a Catholic country
- Slave owners in country banning slavery
• 30k Americans lived in Texas by 1835
- outnumbered Mexicans 6 to 1
The Republic of Texas
• New Conservative Mexican Gov’t (1835)
- Americans protest Mexican authority
- Mexican gov’t responds militarily
• Texas declares independence 1836
Texas Independence
• Mexican General Santa Anna captured Alamo killing all 187 defenders (3-6-1836)
–“Remember the Alamo!”
Sam Houston: 1st president of the Republic of Texas
Led a petition for annexation by US
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
James K. Polk• Polk in 1844• “Fifty-four forty or fight!”• Polk elected• Texas becomes 15th state (1845)
• Mexico breaks off diplomatic relations with U.S.
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
Settlement of the Oregon boundary Dispute, 1846 (49th parallel)
The Mexican War, 1846-48
• Polk attempted to buy CA & N. M. for $30 million
• - provoked a war
• “Mr. Polk’s War”
• Did the US win the Mexican War?
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
• Treaty of Hidalgo (1848)– Formally acquired new territory for $15 million– Reduced Mexico by ½ & increased US by ¼
• Why would US want to acquire westward territory?
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
Issue of slavery in new territory
• Zachary Taylor wins election of 1848
- war hero / slave-owner
• Taylor suddenly dies in office
- Millard Fillmore becomes president (1850)
• Slavery issues
• Senate passes Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850
• Provisions– California a free state (16th)– New Mexico and Utah no restrictions on
slavery (popular sovereignty) – Fugitive Slave Law
- required all to assist in the return of runaway slaves
Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s
Cabin
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Book is reaction against Fugitive Slave Law
• Central theme: breakup of slave families
• Shaped Northern perceptions of slavery for a generation
The Fugitive Slave Law
• As anti-slave sentiment in North grew, local authorities refused to cooperate with fugitive slave laws (and slave hunters)
• "Underground Railroad“• Harriet Tubman
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved
Conclusion• 1845-1848: addition of 1,150,000 square
miles to United States• America’s “manifest destiny” justified
expansion• Missouri Compromise of 1820• Compromise of 1850 postponed slavery
issue• America- An Empire for Liberty– or
Slavery?
(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved