Manifest Destiny

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Manifest Destiny
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• Away, away with all these cobweb tissues of
  the rights of discovery, exploration, settlement.
  (The American claim) is by the right of our
  manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the
  whole of the continent which Providence has given
  us for the development of the great experiment of
  liberty.
• John OSullivan Democratic Review 1845

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Manifest Destiny

• divine mission
• Fever Pitch in the 1840s
• Driven by
• Nationalism
• Population increase
• Rapid economic development
• Technological advances
• Reform ideals

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All American were not united behind the idea of
manifest destiny and expansion.

• Who do you think would oppose expansion?

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American Pioneers 1820s-1830s

• South- Texas
• West- Oregon Territory

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TEXAS

• Mexican Independence 1823
• Mexico wants to attract settlers
• Moses Austin
• Large tract
• Dies
• Son Stephen Austin
• 300 families
• By 1830- Americans outnumber Mexicans

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TROUBLE!

• 1829- Mexico
• Outlaws slavery
• Required immigrants to convert to Roman
  Catholicism
• Settlers- NO WAY!
• Mexico closed Texas to additional immigrants.

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Trouble Intensify

• 1834- General Antonio Lopez Santa Anna DICATATOR
• Abolishes federal system of government.
• Insists on enforcing Mexican laws in Texas

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REVOLT

• Sam Houston Friends
• Declare Texas to be an independent republic.
  March 1836

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Santa Anna

• Captures Goliad
• Attacks Alamo
• Stopped at the Battle of Jacinto River
• Forced to sign treaty
• Recognized Texas independence
• Granted new republic all territory north of the
  Rio Grande.
• Mexican legislature rejected the treaty.

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TEXAS Free and Independent

• 10 YEARS
• ISSUES
• pay off the debts
• had to secure formal recognition
• contend with a very unhappy Mexico,

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ANNEXATION

• Houston applied for annexation.
• Jackson and Van Buren- NO
• Why?
• Political opposition
• Fear of the Expansion of Slavery
• Threat of War with Mexico

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President W. H. Harrison

• Figurehead for the Whigs
• Real Leaders
• Daniel Webster Secretary of State
• Henry Clay Senate
• Died of pneumonia
• Only President for 4 weeks.

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John Tyler Becomes President

• Old School Virginian
• Whig- only because hates Jackson
• Democrat in Whigs Clothing?
• On ticket- fringe group Jeffersonian states
  righters

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Whig Party was

• Eclectic
• Pro-Bank
• Pro-Protective Tariff
• Pro-Internal Improvements

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Whigs work for.

• Financial reform
• Law ending treasury system
• JT signs it.
• Bill for a Fiscal Bank (New Bank of the United
  States)
• JT Vetoes it.
• Pass another bill- Fiscal Corporation
• JT Vetoes it too!

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Who is happy?

• DEMOCRATS

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Whos not?

• WHIG EXTREMISTS
• Condemn Tyler as
• His accidency
• Executive Ass
• Tyler Grippe
• Formally kick Tyler from the Party
• Try to impeach him
• Tylers ENTIRE cabinet RESIGNS
• Except for Webster

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Whigs Propose a Tarrif

• Revenue from the sale of pubic lands would be
  distributed among the states.
• JT Why squander federal money when the federal
  treasury is not overflowing
• Vetoes Tarrif

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Whigs redraft Tariff Bill

• No more dollar distribution scheme.
• Push down rates ( back to 1832 level)
• JT signs it

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WAR OF WORDS WITH BRITAIN
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Anti- British feelings

• Memories of
• American Revolution
• War of 1812
• No more pro-British Federalists
• British saw Americans as crude.
• Lenders

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Insurrection in Canada

• 1837- small group of Canadians rebel.
• US Neutral
• Americans furnish supplies and volunteers.
• Steamer- Carolina - Niagra River
• Attacked by British
• Set ship on fire
• 1 American died
• unlawful invasion of America soil
• US Protests- inneffective

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McLeod Speaks Out- Arrested and Indited

• London execution means WAR.
• McLeod- alibi
• Convinced NY Jury

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Case of the Creole

• Settled by Webster and Ashburton
• The Creole - New Orleans - 135 slaves-mutiny the
  death of one of the owners.  
• The ship - Bahamas - slaves were freed.
• Great Britain eventually paid 110,330 to the
  United States on the grounds that forcible
  seizure of a ship did not suspend the operation
  of U.S. law.
• outside of the treaty, Great Britain agreed to
  end the impressment of American sailors.

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Boundary Dispute 1840s

• Maine/Canadian province of New Brunswick
• Conflict between rival groups of lumbermen
• Aroostook War Battle of the Maps
• Resolved by
• Daniel Webster Sec. Of State
• Lord Alexander Ashburton British Ambassador
• Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842
• Disputed Territory split between Amineand British
  Canada
• Settled boundary of the Minnesota Territory (
  Mesabi Range- iron rich!) The Accession of Tyler
  Too

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Slave Ships

•  Secretary Webster would not agree to British
  inspection of U.S. ships suspected of carrying
  slaves,
• did agree that U.S. warships would be maintained
  off the coast of Africa to search suspected
  slavers flying the American flag.
• United States did not implement this agreement
  very vigorously until the Civil War began.  

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The Lone Star of Texas Shines Alone

• Texas -building reinforcements
• made treaties with France, Holland, and Belgium.
• America could not just boldly annex Texas without
  a war.
• Britain wanted an independent Texas to check
  American expansionismplus, Texas could be good
  for cotton.

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Lame Duck President Tyler

• Arranged for Annexation of Texas by a joint
  resolution
• Req. only a simple majority in both houses.
• Passed in early 1845
• Texas- formally invited to become the 28th STATE

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What about OREGON?
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Claimed at one time by

• SPAIN
• Lost Florida Treaty of 1819
• RUSSIA
• Made treaties 1824 1825- border 54 40
• BRITAIN
• Strong claims ( N. Columbia River)
• Hudason Bay Trading Co.
• US
• Robert Cray 1792
• Lewis and Clark 1804-1806
• Missionaries

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Treaty of 1818

• Divided the area at the 49th parallel
• British wanted the Columbia River

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Willamette Valley

• American settlers
• Missonaries

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Oregon FEVER 5000 AMERICANS
700 BRITISH
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Election of 1844

• Whig Henry Clay
• Popular
• Defeated twice
• opposed to annexation of Texas

• Democrat James Polk
• first "dark horse" President, couldnt agree on
  anyone else
• Tennessee legislature
• friend of Andrew Jackson.
• Speaker between 1835 and 1839
• Governor of Tennessee.
• asserted that Texas should be "re-annexed" and
  all of Oregon "re-occupied.
• linked the Texas issue, popular in the South,
  with the Oregon question, attractive to the
  North.
• favored acquiring California.
• .

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Polk Seeks Compromise

• Agreed to divided Oregon Territory at the 49th
  parallel
• British get
• Vancouver Island
• Rights to navigate Columbia River
• Treaty goes to Senate
• Mixed Reviews

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WAR WITH MEXICO
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1845- Polk Sends Slidell to Mexico

• Why?
• Persuade Mexico to sell California and New Mexico
• Settle a dispute about the Mexican/Texan border
• US- Neueces River
• Mexico- Rio Grande
• Mission FAILS

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Immediate Cause of War

• Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor - Rio Grande
• April 24, 1846- Mexican army crossed Rio Grande
• Captured American army patrol
• Kills 11 Americans.

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Polk Sends War Message To Congress
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RESPONSE

• Northern Whigs
• Oppose war
• Doubted America blood had been shed on American
  soil
• SPOT RESOULTION
• Large Majority both houses support war

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Military Campaigns
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Consequences of the War

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo- Mexican Cession 1848
• Mexico would recognize the Rio Grande as the
  southern border of Texas
• United States would take possession of California
  and New Mexico.
• US would pay 15 million and assume the claims of
  American citizens against Mexico.
• Opposition
• Some Whigs - immoral to expand slavery
• Some Democrats- should have taken all of Mexico

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Wilmot Proviso

• 1846- Penn Congressmen David Wilmot
• Proposed that an appropriations bill be amended
  to forbid slavery in any of the new territories
  acquired from Mexico.
• Passed House 2x
• Defeated in Senate

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Prelude to Civil War??