US history survey

March 27, 2012expansion of US, Manifest Destiny

announcements

• Paper # 1 is due.

• Late papers will be penalized by lowered grades.

• European Association for American Studies conference at Ege U this weekend.

Constant desire for land

• Forced removal of Indians to take over their land.

• Extension of slavery farther west. • War with Mexico.• Negotiation with Britain.• “Manifest Destiny.”• By 1853, continental US had reached its

present boundaries.

Indian removal, 1830s

• Indian Removal Act, 1830 – funds to relocate Indians from SE. Contradicted earlier law.

• Cherokees won 2 Supreme Court cases – “domestic dependent nation.”

• “Five Civilized Tribes” forced off lands in SE to Indian Territory (Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska).

• Cherokees, who had adopted white ways, forced west in winter, 1838 – 1839. 7,000-man army escort. ¼ of 16,000 died.

Trail of Tears

Mexican independence, 1821

• Mexico ended policies of New Spain: slavery & racially discriminatory laws.

• Wanted to develop northern provinces.• Invited Anglos to settle in Tejas, via empresarios,

Moses & Stephen Austin, 1821.• Rapid settlement by southern whites with slaves,

extension of cotton economy. It was legal settlement, unlike most westward expansion.

• Settlers required to become citizens of Mexico & Catholics.

Americans in Texas

• Lived mostly in E, cotton plantations, slaves.• Little contact with Tejanos or Indians. • Defined selves as Americans & Protestants.• Mexican government abolished slavery, restricted

American immigration, levied taxes, 1828.• War, 1835. Battles of Alamo (San Antonio) & San

Jacinto. • Mexico recognized independent Republic of

Texas, 1836.

San Antonio

Republic of Texas, 1836 - 1845

• Replica of first capitol of Republic of Texas.

• Texas applied for admission to US as state, 1837.

• Rejected by Congress – another slave state.

• Joined 1845, making 15 slave states, 13 free.

• Conflict with Mexicanos & Indians.

• Americans claim Texas was part of Louisiana Purchase.

• Texans claim S & W borders farther than Mexico agrees.

Mexican-American War, 1846 - 1848

President Polk, expansionist

• Unnecessary war?• Polk sends army to

Texas, & naval squadron to California, secretly.

• Attempts to buy S. Texas, New Mexico, & California from Mexico.

• US wins war with capture of Mexico City.

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848.

Gadsden Purchase, 1853

• $10 million to facilitate a southern railroad.

• New Mexico.

• Tucson, Arizona.

Results of Mexican American War

• Residents able to choose Mexican or US citizenship.

• Residents guaranteed rights as citizens – not honored by states or US, re slavery, land-owning, language, property.

• Mexico loses half its land.• US grows enormously.

Gold discovered in California, 1848

rapid growth of California

• Men converge on California from around world; 80% from US.

• Separate Californio/ Mexican culture along coast, & miners inland.

• San Francisco major city.

• California becomes a state in 1850.

• California gold country.

California coastal ranch

Oregon Territory/Pacific NW

• Claimed by Spain, Russia, Britain, US.• Treaty of Ghent, 1814 (War of 1812)• Adams-Onis Treaty, 1819 – Spanish claim to

42nd parallel.• Hudson’s Bay Company (British) – fur trading

on Snake & Columbia Rivers. • Negotiated with British for 49th

parallel as boundary, 1846.

Overland Trail to Oregon

• “Oregon fever.”• Beginning 1840, settlers

arrive from mid-west.• 7-months journey

overland. • Ruts from wagon

wheels can still be seen today.

• 300,000 to Oregon & California by 1860.

Oregon Territory

• Settlers in what becomes state of Oregon settle in Willamette Valley.

• Oregon, Washington, Idaho, parts of Montana & Wyoming.

In 3 years US territory grows by 70%

• Politics changes.• Whigs opposed Polk’s expansionism on anti-slavery

grounds.• Wilmot Proviso, 1846 – ban slavery in all territories

acquired from Mexico – not passed.• N & S wings of parties cannot agree.• New parties: Liberty Party, Free Soil Party – no

extension of slavery. • Sectional conflict increasing over slavery extension.

announcements

• Paper # 1 is due.

• Late papers will be penalized by lowered grades.

• European Association for American Studies conference at Ege U this weekend.

reading for next week

• Sojourner Truth, 33 – 44.• Grimke sisters, 64 – 75

• In American Women Activists’ Writings, ed. Kathryn Cullen DuPont.