Westward Expansion and Settlement of the Trans-

Mississippi West• US Territorial Expansion (overview)

• Encouraging Westward Migration

• Manifest Destiny

• Texas

• Mexican War

• Oregon Territory

Encouraging Westward Migration

• Though the Trans-Mississippi West did not belong entirely to the US as the 1840s dawned, it was common for Americans to overlook that fact.

• Westward migration was encouraged by books like Lansford Hastings’ Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California.

– Hastings challenged the validity of British claims to the Oregon Territory and minimized the significance of the Mexican claim to California

Manifest Destiny

• Term coined by John L. O’Sullivan in 1845

• belief that America had a God-given right to expand westward to the Pacific

• To some, this was more an obligation than a right. It had been ordained by a God who uniquely favored “free” and democratic America.

Manifest Destiny

MexicoMexico• 1821: independence from Spain• 1823: Mexican government

offered new settlers land for a token fee and conversion to Catholicism

• Stephen Austin led American settlers to Texas– 15000+ by 1830

– Native Mexican population = 5000

What happened?

Texas CrisisTexas Crisis• “Mexican officials soon had

second thoughts” about their program to attract settlers.

• 1829: Mexican govt. attempted to discourage further American settlement by . . .

• . . . Abolishing slavery• Americans in Texas rebelled

under the leadership of . . . • . . . Sam Houston

Texas RevolutionTexas Revolution• Mexican dictator Gen. Antonio

Lopez de Santa Anna led an army of 6000 to put down the rebellion.

• Santa Anna defeated rebels at the fortresses of Goliad and the Alamo.

• In April 1836, Santa Anna and his forces were caught . . .

• . . . Sleeping (literally) at San Jacinto and soundly defeated.

The AlamoThe Alamo

San JacintoSan Jacinto

The Lone Star RepublicThe Lone Star Republic• A rudely-awakened

Santa Anna was forced to sign a treaty granting Texas independence.

• Sam Houston led the government of the independent Republic of Texas.

Why did Texas become an independent republic rather than a US state?

Annexation of Texas?Annexation of Texas?• Texans immediately petitioned

Congress for admittance into the Union, but opposition was fierce.

• The balance between slave and free states was 13-13.

• Texas would be at least one new slave state.

• Anti-slavery forces in Congress would not allow the annexation (or “reannexation”) of Texas.

• Texas was finally annexed in 1845 with the help of Whig presedent John Tyler.

James K. PolkJames K. Polk

• Elected in 1844 (over H. Clay)

• Served one term

• Platform = expansion/Manifest Destiny

America’s most successful president?

Mexican WarMexican War• In 1845, Polk ordered Gen. Zachary

Taylor’s army to the Nueces River (where Mexico place the so. boundary of TX).

• When the Mexican govt. refused to receive Polk’s emissary to discuss his territorial demands, Polk ordered Taylor’s army south to the Rio Grande (where the US placed the so. border of TX).

• Hostilities soon broke out, and Polk asked Congress to declare war.

Opposition to WarOpposition to War• Anti-slavery Whigs believed Polk

had provoked war to expand slavery.

• Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln, among others, introduced the “Spot Resolutions” in the House of Reps., demanding that Polk reveal the spot where blood had been shed (implying the US had invaded Mexico).

California

• In 1842, Commodore Thomas Catsby Jones sailed into Monterey Bay, forced the Mexican garrison to surrender, and proclaimed the annexation of CA by the US.

• Then he apologized and gave it back.

• He had heard that war with Mexico had broken out. He was four years early.

California

• American immigration to CA continued at an increasing pace.

• In 1846, American settlers rose up and proclaimed California’s independence in the “Bear Flag Revolt.”

Mexican War (1846-1848)Mexican War (1846-1848)

• In 1847, US troops landed at Veracruz, Mexico.

Mexican War (1846-1848)

Mexican War (1846-1848)

• Later that year, the army of Gen. Winfield Scott took Mexico City.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

• Set southern border of TX at Rio Grande

• Gave US possession of New Mexico Territory and California for $15 million

(In 1853, the US made the Gadsden Purchase, a small tract of land that now forms far southern NM an AZ, for $10 million.) Nicholas Trist

Oregon Territory• Possession and borders of the large territory

had long been disputed by the US, Britain, and Russia.

54 40’ or Fight!

• Polk ran on a platform of annexing all of Oregon (by force, if necessary).

• The British were not pleased with Polk but, in 1846, agreed to set the border between the US and British Canada at the . . .

• 49th Parallel

Homesteading in the WestHomesteading in the West• Homestead Act

(1862) – Federal govt. offered

160 acres of nearly-free land to settlers who agreed to live on the land and improve it

• Oregon offered 320-640 acres to those willing to live on the land for at least 4 years and improve it.

California Gold Rush (1849)

Westward Migration Impacted

Other Cultures

What did US advancement into the West mean to those who already lived there?

Race and “Manifest Destiny”

• White Americans defined freedom in terms of race.

• The “superior” “Anglo-Saxon race” was defined in terms of who it did NOT include:– Blacks, Indians, Hispanics, Catholics

• Those who were not “Anglo-Saxon” were largely excluded from the legendary “freedom” of the West.

Plains Indians

Significance of the Buffalo

Ft. Laramie Treaty

• Over 10,000 Plains Indians attended the Ft. Laramie Council of 1851

• The Treaty they were forced to sign set boundaries for the Indian nations of the Plains.

Mexicans/Californios• Gwinn Land Law

(CA, 1851)– Required

Mexican/Native American (combined) residents to provide legal proof of their land claims.

– Impossible, in most cases

– White settlers took their land

Despite being long-time residents, the Mexicans of California (who were increasingly looked upon as a “non-white” race) found themselves unwelcome once “white” settlers moved in.