Conflict with Mexico

1
Objectives

• Explain how Texas became independent from Mexico.
• Discuss the issues involved in annexing Texas and
  Oregon.
• Summarize the main events in the Mexican-American
  War.
• Explain how the United States achieved Manifest
  Destiny.

2
Terms and People

• Stephen Austin an American who established a
  small settlement in Mexican-owned Texas later,
  he urged Texans to revolt against the Mexican
  government
• dictatorship one-person rule
• siege an attack in which one force surrounds a
  city or fort
• Sam Houston commander of the Texas forces
  during the Texas War for Independence later,
  president of the Republic of Texas

3
Terms and People (continued)

• annex add on
• James K. Polk U.S. president who negotiated the
  boundaries of Oregon Country later, he provoked
  the Mexican-American War
• cede give up
• John C. Frémont an American who took command of
  the Bear Flag Rebellion in California

4
What were the causes and effects of the Texas War
for Independence and the Mexican-American War?
Texans revolted against the Mexican government
when it became a dictatorship.
The United States and Mexico went to war over a
border dispute.
5
In 1820, Texass Spanish governor gave Moses
Austin a land grant to establish a colony there.
After Moses died, his son, Stephen Austin, led
300 Americans into Texas, shortly before Mexico
won independence from Spain.
Mexico agreed to let Austin keep his colony if
the colonists became Catholic Mexican citizens.
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Growing Conflict in Texas Growing Conflict in Texas
Religion and Slavery The thousands of Americans who settled in Texas were Protestant, not Catholic. The settlers were also slaveholders who wanted to grow cotton in Texas, but Mexico had abolished slavery.
A Ban on Americans In 1830, Mexico banned further American settlement, but Americans kept coming to Texas. Mexico also began to levy heavy taxes on American imports.
7
In 1833, General Antonio López de Santa Anna
became president of Mexico, and he soon started a
dictatorship.
These events dashed the hopes of
American settlers who wanted more representation
in the Mexican legislature.
Some Tejanos (Texans of Mexican descent) who
wanted a more democratic government.
In 1836, Texans declared independence from Mexico
and created the Republic of Texas.
8
Santa Annas troops laid siege to the Alamo, a
San Antonio mission where 185 Anglo-Americans and
Tejanos were gathered.
9
The defenders of the Alamo held out for 12 days,
but they were all eventually killed.
10
A few months later, Sam Houston and the Texas
forces attacked San Jacinto and captured Santa
Anna.
They forced him to sign a treaty recognizing
Texan independence.
Remember the Alamo!
11
Sam Houston, president of the new Republic of
Texas, hoped the United States would annex Texas.
Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren
would not support annexation, fearing that the
addition of a slave state would split the country.
Almost 10 years after Texas became independent,
it still had not become an American state.
12
The Presidential Election of 1844 and the Annexation of Texas and Oregon The Presidential Election of 1844 and the Annexation of Texas and Oregon
Election of 1844 Whig party nominee Henry Clay tried to avoid the issue of Texas annexation. When campaigning for President, the Democratic party nominee James K. Polk called for the annexation of both Texas and Oregon, and he won the election.
Annexation of Texas and Oregon Shortly before Polk took office, President John Tyler asked Congress to annex Texas. Congress voted in favor of the annexation in 1845, and Texas quickly agreed. Polk negotiated with Britain to divide Oregon, and the land the U.S. received eventually became Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
13
The annexation of Texas increased tensions with
Mexico, because it had never formally recognized
Texan independence.
The United States and Mexico also disagreed on
the location of the southern boundary of Texas.
Polk offered Mexico money to settle the dispute
and to purchase California and New Mexico.
Not wanting to cede more land to the United
States, Mexico refused Polks offer.
14
Polk then tried to provoke Mexico into war by
sending troops into the disputed land.
Mexican troops attacked Americans.
Congress declared war on Mexico, saying Mexico
had forced its hand.
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Troops attacked Mexico on two fronts.
John C. Frémont and Stephen Kearney moved west
from Fort Leavenworth to take control of
California.
17
Before they even reached California, settlers
near San Francisco began their own armed revolt.
The settlers raised a grizzly bear flag and
declared California an independent republic.
Frémont took command of the Bear Flag Rebellion.
18
U.S. General Zachary Taylor marched south from
the Rio Grande River and defeated a large Mexican
force at Buena Vista.
19
U.S. General Winfield Scott captured Veracruz, an
important Mexican port, and then forced the
Mexican army into Mexico City.
Still, Santa Anna would not surrender.
20
On the other front, the U.S. Navy blockaded
Mexicos west coast.
The navy helped secure California while another
fleet in the Gulf of Mexico supported the assault
at Veracruz.
21
Scott and his forces attacked Chapultepec, a
stone palace above Mexico city.
Like the Texans at the Alamo, the Mexicans fought
bravely to defend Chapultepec, but most of them
were killed.
After that defeat, Santa Anna left Mexico City.
22
For the Mexican Cession, the U.S. paid 18
million to Mexico.
23
In the Gadsen Purchase of 1853, the United States
paid Mexico 10 million for a narrow strip of
present-day Arizona and New Mexico.
The United States had achieved Manifest Destiny.
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25
4
Objectives

• Explain why the Mormons settled in Utah and
  examine the issues that divided the Mormons and
  the federal government.
• Discuss the effects of the 1849 California gold
  rush.
• Describe how Californias population had changed
  by 1850.

26
Terms and People

• Joseph Smith a New York farmer who, in 1830,
  founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
  Saints
• polygamy the practice of having more than one
  wife at a time
• Brigham Young a Mormon leader who led the
  Mormons to Utah
• forty-niner a nickname given to people who went
  to California in search of gold

27
Terms and People (continued)

• water rights the legal rights to use the water
  in a river, stream, or other body
• vigilante self-appointed law enforcers

28
How did Mormon settlement and the gold rush lead
to changes in the West?
After the U.S. gained the lands known as the
Mexican Cession, large numbers of Americans began
to settle in this vast region.
The influx of settlers led to an ethnically
diverse population, fights over water rights, and
a tragic decline in the Native American
population.
29
Even before the end of the Mexican-American War,
the Mormons had begun moving into the part of the
Mexican Cession that is present-day Utah.
The Mormons were members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The church was founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith,
who said that he had received the Book of Mormon
through heavenly visions.
30
Mormons had different customs from most
Americans, including polygamy, which put them in
conflict with their neighbors.
Hostile communities forced the Mormons to move
from New York to Ohio, and then to Missouri.
By 1844, the Mormons had moved to Illinois, where
Smith was murdered by an angry mob.
31
In 1847, Brigham Young, the new Mormon leader,
led some of them on a long, hazardous journey to
the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
32
Over the next few years, about 15,000 Mormons
made the trek to Utah.
33
In 1848, as a result of the Mexican Cession, Utah
became part of the United States, and Congress
created the Utah Territory.
The Mormons were once again in conflict with
government officials.
Before Utah became a state in 1896, Mormon
leaders had to

• stop favoring Mormon-owned businesses.

• give control of elections to Congress.

• end polygamy.

34
In 1848, California was also ceded to the United
States. At this time, about 10,000 Californios,
or Mexican Californians, were living in the
territory.
After the Mexican Cession, easterners began to
migrate to California, and the two groups shunned
each other.
In 1850, when California became a U.S. state,
only 15 percent of Californians were Mexican.
Many sold their land.
35
In January 1848, gold was discovered at Sutters
Mill near Sacramento, and the news spread quickly
throughout the U.S. and abroad.
By 1849, the California gold rush had begun, and
about 80,000 forty-niners went west in search of
gold.
36
Some prospectors dug into the land while others
used metal bowls to pan for gold in streamsa
process called placer mining.
Gold in lodes, or underground deposits, was
difficult and expensive to reach, so large
companies took over that aspect of mining.
37
During the gold rush, miners swarmed onto Native
American lands to search for gold.
Gangs killed Native Americans and stole their
land.
Nearly two-thirds of the Native American
population of Californiaabout 100,000
peopledied during the gold rush.
38
Settlers needed water for irrigation and mining,
but much of California is desert.
In most gold rush territories, laws about water
rights were ignored.
In the gold fields, disputes over water rights
were common and sometimes turned violent.
39
California was not yet a state, so federal law
did not apply there.
Miners often banded together and created their
own rules.
Vigilantes punished people for crimes.
40
Most forty-niners were young men, and by 1850,
the ratio of men to women in California was 12 to
1.
Some women did go to California, where they found
profitable work

• Some women mined.

• Most worked in or ran boardinghouses, hotels,
  restaurants, laundries, and stores.

41
Most mining towns sprang up overnight and emptied
just as quickly when miners heard news of a gold
strike in another place.
Miners needed supplies and entertainment, so most
mining towns were made up of a row of businesses
and a saloon.
42
The gold rush also brought enormous ethnic
diversity to California.
People came from Europe, Asia, Australia, and
South America, and by 1860, the population of
California was almost 40 percent foreign-born.
European immigrants often enjoyed more freedom, a
more democratic society, and less prejudice than
they found in Europe or in the eastern states.
43
Californias Diverse Population Californias Diverse Population
Chinese Immigrants After news of the gold rush reached China, about 45,000 Chinese men went to California. Because of prejudice, they usually did not get high-paying jobs in the mines. The Chinese worked hard building railroads, doing farm labor, cooking, and doing laundry.
Free African Americans Several thousand free African Americans lived in California by 1850. They had their own businesses and churches, but they could not vote or serve on juries. Slavery did not take root in California.
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Although there were gold and silver strikes in
many states, few forty-niners struck it rich.
Other miners gave up the drifting life and
settled in the West for good.
After the gold rush ended, many people kept
searching for gold throughout the West.
45
Many people settled in San Francisco, which
prospered, unlike other mining towns.
46
Many immigrants and other newcomers to the city
stayed, while others returned after working in
the mines.
By 1860, San Francisco had a population of
57,000. Ten years later the population was more
than 100,000.
47
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