Manifest Destiny

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Manifest Destiny

• The Mexican American War

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Manifest Destiny

• Manifest Destiny a phrase used by leaders and
  politicians in the 1840s to explain western
  continental expansion by the United States
• Manifest - clear or obvious
• Destiny - events sure to happen
• The idea that America had a special destiny to
  stretch across the continent motivated many
  people to migrate West. The very idea of manifest
  destiny encouraged men and women to dream big
  dreams.
• Colonization/annexation of Texas
• Oregon Country
• Indian Removal
• Mexican-American War (Mexican Cession)
• Americans moving west (missionaries, farmers,
  entrepreneurs, etc.)
• And that 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 and federated self-government entrusted
  to us.
• John OSullivan, United States Magazine and
  Democratic Review, 1845

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Manifest Destiny
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James K. Polk

• James K. Polk is elected as our 11th president in
  in 1844 (1845-49)
• Defeated Henry Clay
• Southern Expansionist Democrat
• Home-schooled in NC, TN
• Speaker of the House
• Governor of Tennessee
• Napoleon of the Stump
• Polk was committed to national expansion and
  promised to annex Texas and take over Oregon

President James K. Polk
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Oregon Trail

• Oregon first explored by Lewis and Clark
• Convention of 1818 allowed joint occupation of
  Oregon by US Canada
• By 1830s some fur traders, explorers, and
  missionaries were using the difficult 2000 mile
  Oregon Trail
• Ran from Independence, Missouri to Portland,
  Oregon
• The first wagon train of 100 pioneers traveled on
  Oregon trail on May 16th, 1842
• Biggest draw was FREE land
• Families could claim 640 acres, singles 320
• 800 more immigrants arrived in 1843

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Oregon Country

• Polk wanted to claim all of Oregon for the US
• Fifty-Four Forty or Fight! became rallying cry
  for expansionist Democrats
• Neither side wanted war, and Secretary of State
  James Buchanan reached compromise with Britain
• Outbreak of Mexican-American War encouraged quick
  resolution, compromise
• Oregon Treaty of 1846 spilt Oregon at the 49
  latitude
• Oregon becomes US Territory in 1848

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The Mormon Trail

• Led by Joseph Smith,
• members of the Church
• of Jesus Christ of
• Latter-Day Saints travel
• from New York to Ohio
• and Missouri to Illinois
• seeking religious
• freedom in the 1830s
• Smith murdered in Nauvoo, Illinois in 1844
• Brigham Young leads Mormon community to land no
  one else wanted
• In 1847, Mormons follow the Oregon Trail to Utah,
  a desolate region and part of Mexico
• Establish a settlement by the Great Salt Lake

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Mexico

• Mexico gains independence from Spain in 1821
• Includes Texas, New Mexico, California, etc.
• California--Californios
• Missions located one days travel apart along the
  coast
• Isolated by distance from gov
• Indians provided the primary labor force
• Texas--Tejanos
• Missions located farther apart
• Conflict with the Indian population
• Influenced by revolutions in Central and South
  America

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California Bear Flag Republic

• Settler/Captain John Fremont leads a rebellion
  against Mexican rule and the Californios in 1846
• Fremont and his men capture military Governor
  Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and claim California as
  a new Republic (lasts 1 month)

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Manifest Destiny Texas

• To attract citizens and development, Mexico
  offers land to settlers - empresarios
• Stephen Austin establishes an American colony of
  300 families in Texas
• Old Three Hundred resist following Mexican laws
  customs
• Attracts over 35,000 Americans by 1835
• Texas becoming increasingly American
• Americans outnumber Tejanos 61
• Santa Anna tries to force Texas back into
  compliance
• Battle of the Alamo
• Battle of San Jacinto
• Texas declares its independence from Mexico on
  March 2, 1836

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Texas

• Texas offers land grants to new settlers
• Panic of 1837 spurs U.S. immigration into Texas
• Over 100,000 people from Europe U.S. by 1847
• Over 65,000 slaves by 1845
• Texas calls for annexation to the US, but request
  is denied by Northern abolitionists
• Would upset balance of slave and free states
• Before leaving office in 1845, John Tyler signs a
  joint resolution to annex Texas to the US in Dec.
• Mexico still disputes Texan independence

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The Mexican American War

• Mexico disputed border claimed by Texas along Rio
  Grande
• President James K. Polk, sent diplomat John
  Slidell to Mexico City in an attempt to resolve
  dispute and purchase Mexico's California and New
  Mexico territories
• Slidell refused by Mexico
• Polk sent Zachary Taylor to secure border
• 2000 Mexican forces attacked killing 11 Americans
  
• Thornton Affair
• Congress declared war on Mexico in May 1846

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The Press and the War

• First War to be covered extensively by the press
• US Correspondents in Mexico
• Information traveling quicker
• 1844 first news sent by telegraph
• Samuel Morse
• Steamship, Railroads, etc.
• Helped shape public opinion of the war
• Editorials on morality of conflict (pros and
  cons)
• Great profit for some newspapers

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Breeding ground for future leaders
George Pickett
Jefferson Davis
Stonewall Jackson
William Tecumseh Sherman
US Grant
P.G.T. Beauregard
Zachary Taylor
Winfield Scott
George McClellan
Robert E Lee
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The Mexican American War

• War is fought on two main fronts
• California
• Stephen Kearny by land
• Stockton by sea
• Southern Mexico
• Zackary Taylor
• Winfield Scott

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The War in California

• One month after founding the California Republic,
  Fremont hears of Mexican-American War and marches
  south to join the fight for America
• Robert Stockton Naval forces take and secure key
  port cities
• Stockton takes Monterey, Los Angeles
• Link up with Fremont
• Nearly bloodless takeover of California
• Polk orders General Stephen Kearny to attack New
  Mexico where he takes Santa Fe without a fight,
  claims New Mexico for U.S.
• Kearnys army marches toward California and join
  forces with Fremont Stockton
• Stockton leaves a holding force in LA and sends
  the majority of his forces into Mexico
• Native Californios (California Lancers) attack
  and twice defeat small holding force
• Kearny finally arrives, teams up with Fremont and
  finally defeat Lancers in the Battle of La Mesa
• Californios surrender early in 1847

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Taylor push to Mexico City

• Polk wants to capture Mexico City and force
  Mexico to cede disputed land to US
• Taylor, Old Rough and Ready, wins early
  victories at Rio Grande and Palo Alto as he moves
  toward the Mexican capital
• Thanks to Flying Artillery
• Guns canons mounted on horse drawn carriages
• American firepower was far superior to Mexican
  ammunition
• Taylor uses a two pronged attack to move against
  Monterrey
• After almost two days of fighting Taylor and
  Mexican General Ampudia agree to a parlay (8
  weeks of no fighting) and US control of the city
• US now occupies Northern Mexico and drives the
  Mexican army deeper into Mexico.
• Polk not happy with terms

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Battle of Buena Vista

• Santa Anna is disgusted with his commanders and
  personally leads 20,000 troops to crush the 4,500
  Americans led by Taylor at Buena Vista
• Taylor positions his men in a mountain pass to
  make up for his small numbers
• Demands US surrender, but Americans refuse
• Attacks are repulsed by Indiana and Illinois
  regiments
• Jefferson Davis leads troops
• Power and mobility of US Artillery
• Mexicans suffer over 3,400 casualties vs.
  Americans 650
• Santa Anna claims victory then retreats South to
  Veracruz

Santa Anna
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The March to Mexico City

• Polk gives command to General Winfield Scott
• Old Fuss and Feathers
• Scott attacks Vera Cruz in first Amphibious
  attack in US history
• Crucial city succumbs to siege after 3 days of
  shelling
• Moves to Chapultepec Castle
• Scott storms castle
• US numbers prove superior in fierce hand to hand
  combat throughout the city
• Mexican army retreated at night though the
  causeways leading into the city
• Los Niños jumped to their deaths from city walls
• Juan Escutia wrapped himself in Mexican flag to
  prevent its capture
• Inspiration for the Marine Hymn From the Halls
  of Montezuma
• Mexico City falls to Scott in September 1847
  after 8 days of fierce fighting
• 4500 Mexican Casualties to 1700 US casualties
• 90 of Marine Corps officers died (blood stripe)
• Surrender of Santa Anna

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Storming of Chapultepec
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Juan Escutia
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Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

• February 1848
• Texas is part of the United States
• Rio Grande is the border between the nations
• Mexican Cession Mexico gives up present-day
  California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona, and
  parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming
• U.S. pays 15 million to Mexico
• U.S. will protect 80,000 Mexican citizens living
  in Texas and the Mexican Cession
• Allow for their return to Mexico, or opportunity
  for American citizenship

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United States in 1848
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California Gold Rush

• Jan. 1848 - James Marshall found gold particles
  at Sutters Mill in the American River
• Rumors spread and by 1849, 100,000 immigrants
  followed the Oregon/California trails and flocked
  to the area
• These immigrants were called forty-niners
• From Germany, France, England, Ireland, US
• Hope of instant riches easy money
• A few prospectors struck it rich, but most did
  not find enough gold to pay for their expenses

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California Gold Rush

• Enterprising merchants rushed to supply the new
  immigrants
• Machinery, food, supplies, clothing were needed
• German immigrant Levi Strauss sold tough mining
  pants now known as blue jeans
• Wheat Farms were created to feed the forty-niners
  
• By 1855, profitable gold could only be recovered
  by large groups
• More money could be made in new farms, businesses
  than full time prospecting

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Large Group Operations
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The Legacy of the Gold Rush

• California became center of global immigration
• Hundreds of Thousands of immigrants
• Idea of California Dream created
• New cities, local governments, roads, businesses,
  farms created
• Improved transportation between East and West
  coasts
• Steamship companies began regular service between
  San Francisco and Panama
• Encouraged development of Transcontinental
  Railroad

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The Final Piece Gadsden Purchase

• With the Mexican Cession, talk of a
  transcontinental railroad surfaced
• The Northern route through Chicago was more
  practical and would benefit Northern Industry
• Southerners wanted the railroad down south, but
  the terrain was not conducive to a railroad
• President Franklin Pierce was sympathetic to the
  south and sent James Gadsden to purchase a
  southern piece of land that would allow for a
  railroad
• Purchased a sliver of land south of the Gila
  River for 10million in 1853
• Southern Railroad was never built