THE FRUITS OF MANIFEST DESTINY

1
THE FRUITS OF MANIFEST DESTINY
2
CONTINENTAL EXPANSION

• 1840s Slavery moved to the center stage of
  American politics.
• It did so not in the moral language or with the
  immediatist program of abolitionism, but as a
  result of the nations territorial expansion.

• By 1840 With the completion of Indian removal,
  virtually all the land east of the Mississippi
  was in white hands.
• The depression that began in 1837 sparked a large
  migration of settlers further west.

3
CONTINENTAL EXPANSION

• 1800-1840 Some 5,000 emigrants made the
  difficult 2,000 mile journey by wagon train to
  Oregon from jumping off places on the banks of
  the Missouri River.
• 1860 Nearly 300,000 men, women, and children had
  braved disease, starvation, the Rocky Mts., and
  occasional Indian attacks to travel overland to
  Oregon and California.

4
CONTINENTAL EXPANSION

• 1840s The USA and GB administered Oregon, and
  Utah was part of Mexico.
• This did not stop Americans from settling in
  either region.
• National boundaries meant little to those who
  moved west.
• The era witnessed an intensification of the old
  belief that God intended the American nation to
  reach all the way to the Pacific Ocean Manifest
  Destiny.

5
THE MORMONS PLIGHT

• Another migration brought thousands of members of
  the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
  or Mormons, to modern-day Utah.

6
THE MORMONS PLIGHT

• The Mormons were founded in the 1820s by Joseph
  Smith, a young farmer in upstate NY.
• He claimed to have been led by an angel to a set
  of golden plates covered with strange writing.

7
THE MORMONS PLIGHT

• He translated the book as The Book of Mormon.
• He claimed that his church descended from the
  lost tribes of Israel.

8
THE MORMONS PLIGHT

• The absolute authority Smith exercised over his
  followers, as well as the refusal of the Mormons
  to separate church and state, alarmed many
  neighbors.
• Even more outrageous to the general community was
  the Mormon practice of polygamy a repudiation
  of traditional Christian teaching and 19th
  century morality.

9
THE MORMONS PLIGHT

• Mobs drove Smith and his followers out of NY, OH
  and MS.
• 1839 They settled in Illinois where they hoped
  to await the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
• 1844 Smith was arrested on the charge of
  inciting a riot that destroyed an anti-Mormon
  newspaper.
• While in jail, he was murdered by a group of
  intruders.

10
THE MORMONS PLIGHT

• Smiths successor was Brigham Young.
• He led over 10,000 followers across the Great
  Plains and Rocky Mts., to the shores of the Great
  Salt Lake in Utah, seeking a refuge where they
  could practice their faith undistrubed.

11
THE MEXICAN FRONTIER
12
THE MEXICAN FRONTIER

• The settlement of Oregon did not directly raise
  the issue of slavery.
• But the nations acquisition of Mexico did.

13
THE MEXICAN FRONTIER

• 1821 When Mexico achieved its independence from
  Spain, it was nearly as large as the US and its
  population of 6.5 million was about 2/3 that of
  its northern neighbor
• Mexicos northern provinces CA, NM, and TX
  however were isolated and sparsely settled
  outposts surrounded by Indian country.

• NMs population at the time of Mexican
  independence consisted of around 30,000 persons
  of Spanish origin, 10,000 Pueblo Indians and an
  indeterminate number of wild Indians.
• 1821 With the opening of the Santa Fe Trail,
  NMs commerce with the US eclipsed trade with the
  rest of Mexico.

14
THE SANTA FE TRAIL
15
THE MEXICAN FRONTIER

• 1821 CAs non-Indian population of 3.200 was
  vastly outnumbered by about 20,000 Indians living
  and working on land owned by religious missions
  and by 150,000 members of unsubded tribes in the
  interior.

16
THE MEXICAN FRONTIER

• 1834 The Mexican govt., dissolved the great
  mission holdings and emancipated Indians working
  for the Friars.
• Most of the land ended up in the hands of a new
  class of Mexican cattle ranchers, the
  Californios.
• They referred to themselves as people capable of
  reason as opposed to indios, whom they called
  people without reason.
• The area also attracted a small number of
  American newcomers.

17
THE TEXAS REVOLT
18
THE TEXAS REVOLT

• The first of Mexico to be settled by
  significant numbers of Americans was TX, whose
  non-Indian population of Spanish origins
  (Tejanos) numbered about 2,000 when Mexico became
  independent.

19
THE TEXAS REVOLT

• In order to develop the region, the Mexican
  govt., accepted an offer from Moses Austin, a CT
  born farmer, to colonize it with Americans.

20
THE TEXAS REVOLT

• 1820 Austin received a large land grant.
• When he died his son Stephen continued the plan,
  reselling land in smaller plots to American
  settlers at .12 per acre.

21
THE TEXAS REVOLT

• 1830 The population of Americans had reached
  around 7,000, considerably exceeding the number
  of Tejanos.
• Alarmed that its grip on the area was weakening,
  the Mexican govt., annulled existing land
  contracts and barred future emigration from the
  USA.
• Led by Stephen Austin, American settlers demanded
  greater autonomy within Mexico.

22
THE TEXAS REVOLT

• The issue of slavery further exacerbated matters.
• Mexico had abolised slavery, but local
  authorities allowed American settlers to bring
  their slaves with them.

23
THE TEXAS REVOLT

• 1835 When Mexicos ruler General Antonio Lopez
  de Santa Anna sent an army to impose central
  authority, the Americans believed he was coming
  to free the slaves.
• His appearance sparked a chaotic revolt in TX.
• The rebels formed a provisional govt., and called
  for Texan independence.

24
THE BATTLE OF THE ALAMO
25
THE BATTLE OF THE ALAMO

• March 13, 1836 Santa Annas army stormed the
  Alamo, a mission compound in San Antonio, killing
  its 187 American and Tejano defenders.
• Remember the Alamo became the Texans rallying
  cry.

26
CROCKETT, BOWIE AND TRAVERS
27
THE ALAMO
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
STORMING OF THE ALAMO
31
THE BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO
32
THE BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO

• April 1836 At the Battle of San Jacinto, Sam
  Houston, a former gov. of TN, routed Santa Annas
  army and forced him to recognize Texan
  independence.
• Houston was elected the first president of the
  Republic of Texas.

33
THE TEXAS REVOLT

• 1837 The TX Congress called for union with the
  USA.
• But fearing the political disputes certain to
  result from an attempt to add another slave
  state, Presidents Jackson and Van Buren shelved
  the question.

34
THE TEXAS REVOLT

• Settlers from the USA poured into the region.
• Many were slaveowners taking up fertile cotton
  land.
• 1845 The population of TX reached nearly 150,000.

35
JAMES K. POLK AND EXPANSION
36
THE ELECTION OF 1844
37
THE ELECTION OF 1844

• Texas annexation remained on the political
  backburner until President John Tyler revived it
  in hopes of rescuing his failed administration
  and securing southern support for re-nomination
  in 1844.

38
THE ELECTION OF 1844

• April 1844 A letter by John C. Calhoun, Tylers
  Sec. of State, was leaked to the press.
• It linked the idea of absorbing TX directly to
  the goal of strengthening slavery in the USA.
• Some Southern leaders hoped that TX could be
  divided into several states, thus enhancing the
  Souths power in Congress.

39
THE ELECTION OF 1844

• Later that month, Clay and Martin Van Buren, the
  prospective Whig and Democratic candidates for
  president met at Clays KY plantation.
• They agreed to issue letters rejecting immediate
  annexation of TX on the grounds that it might
  provoke war with Mexico.

40
THE ELECTION OF 1844

• Clay and Van Buren were reacting to the issue of
  slavery in the traditional manner by trying to
  keep it out of national politics.
• Clay went on to receive the Whig nomination.
• Van Buren failed in his bid to gain the
  Democratic nomination.

41
THE ELECTION OF 1844

• The Democrats nominated little-known James K.
  Polk, a former gov., of TN.
• His main assets were his support for annexation
  and his close association with Andrew Jackson,
  still the partys most popular figure.

42
THE ELECTION OF 1844

• Polk was a slaveholder.
• He owned substantial cotton plantations in TN
  and MS, where conditions were so brutal that only
  half of the slave children lived to the age of
  15, and adults frequently ran away.

43
THE ELECTION OF 1844

• The Democratic platform called for annexation of
  TX and reoccupation of Oregon.
• Fifty-four forty of fight American control of
  Oregon all the way to its northern boundary
  became a popular slogan.

44
THE ELECTION OF 1844

• Polk was the first dark-horse candidate for
  president.
• Polk defeated Clay in an extremely close
  election.
• Polks margin in the popular vote was less than 2

45
THE ELECTION OF 1844

• Had not James G. Birney, running as the Liberty
  Party candidate, received 16,000 votes in NY,
  mostly from anti-slavery Whigs, Clay would have
  been elected president.
• March 1845 Only days before Polks inauguration,
  Congress declared TX part of the USA.

46
(No Transcript)
47
POLK AS PRESIDENT

• Polk may have been virtually unknown, but he
  assumed the presidency with a clearly defined set
  of goals
• To reduce the tariff
• Reestablish the independent treasury
• Settle the dispute over the ownership of Oregon
• Bring CA into the Union.

48
POLK AS PRESIDENT

• Congress soon enacted the first two goals, and
  the third was accomplished in an agreement with
  GB dividing OR at the 49th parallel.
• Many Northerners were bitterly disappointed by
  this compromise, considering it a betrayal of
  Polks campaign promise not to give up any part
  of Oregon without a fight.

49
POLK AS PRESIDENT

• Acquiring CA proved more difficult.
• Polk dispatched an emissary to Mexico offering to
  purchase the region, but the Mexican govt.,
  refused to negotiations.

50
POLK AS PRESIDENT

• Spring 1846 Polk was planning for military
  action.
• April 1846 American soldiers under Zachary
  Taylor moved into the region between the Nueces
  River and the Rio Grande, land claimed by both
  countries on the disputed border between TX and
  Mexico.

51
(No Transcript)
52
THE MEXICAN WAR

• This action made conflict with Mexican forces
  inevitable.
• When fighting broke out, Polk claimed that the
  Mexicans had shed blood upon American soil and
  called for a declaration of war.

53
THE MEXICAN WAR

• Some in Congress were not convinced by Polks
  claims of American blood shed.
• Abraham Lincoln introduced a resolution demanding
  the exact spot that blood was shed.
• This resolution is known as the spot resolution.

54
THE MEXICAN WAR

• The Mexican War was the first American conflict
  to be fought primarily on foreign soil and the
  first in which American forces occupied a foreign
  capital.
• Inspired by the fervor of Manifest Destiny, a
  majority of Americans supported the war.

55
THE MEXICAN WAR

• However a significant minority in the North
  dissented, fearing that far from expanding the
  great empire of liberty, the Polk
  Administrations real aim was to acquire land for
  the expansion of slavery.

56
THE MEXICAN WAR

• Ulysses S. Grant, who served with distinction in
  the war, later called the war one of the most
  unjust ever waged by a stronger nation against a
  weaker nation, and indication that the USA was
  beginning to act like European monarchies, not
  a democratic republic.

57
THE MEXICAN WAR

• Henry David Thoreau, was jailed in MA for
  refusing to pay taxes as a protest over the war.
• Defending his actions, he wrote an important
  essay On Civil Disobedience.
• Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the
  true place of a just man is also a prison.

58
THE MEXICAN WAR

• June 1846 A band of American insurrectionists
  proclaimed CA freed from Mexican control and
  named Capt. John C. Fremont its ruler.

59
THE MEXICAN WAR

• July 1846 The US Navy sailed into Monterey and
  San Francisco Harbors, raised the American flag
  and put an end to the bear flag republic.

60
THE MEXICAN WAR

• American troops under Gen. Stephen W. Kearney
  occupied Santa Fe and then set out for So. CA,
  where they put down a Mexican uprising.
• Feb. 1847 Gen. Zachary Taylor defeated Santa
  Annas army at the Battle of Buena Vista.

61
THE MEXICAN WAR

• When the Mexican govt. still refused to
  negotiate, Pres. Polk ordered American forces
  under Gen. Winfield Scott to march toward Mexico
  City.
• Sept. 1847 Scotts forces routed Mexican
  defenders and occupied the countrys capital.

62
THE MEXICAN WAR

• Feb.1848 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was
  signed
• Mexico confirmed the annexation of TX.
• Ceded CA, present day NM, AZ, NV, and UT to the
  USA.
• The USA paid Mexico
• 15 million.

63
THE MEXICAN WAR

• The Mexican Cession, as the land acquired from
  Mexico was called, established the present day
  boundaries of the USA, except for the Gadsden
  Purchase, a parcel of land brought from Mexico in
  1853, and Alaska acquired from Russia in 1867.

64
THE MEXICAN WAR
65
RACE AND MANIFEST DESTINY
66
RACE AND MANIFEST DESTINY

• With the end of the Mexican War, the USA absorbed
  half a million square miles of Mexicos
  territory, one-third of that nations total area.
• An estimated 75,000 to 100,000 Spanish-speaking
  Mexicans and over 150,000 Indians inhabited the
  Mexican Cession.

67
RACE AND MANIFEST DESTINY

• The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteed to
  male citizens of the area the free enjoyment
  of their liberty and property and all the
  rights of Americans a provision designed to
  protect the property of large Mexican landowners
  in CA.

68
RACE AND MANIFEST DESTINY

• As to Indians, whose homelands and hunting
  grounds suddenly became part of the USA, the
  treaty referred to them only as savage tribes
  whom the USA must prevent from launching
  incursions into Mexico across of the new border
  The Rio Grande River.

69
RACE AND MANIFEST DESTINY

• The spirit of Manifest Destiny gave a new
  harshness to ideas about racial superiority.
• 1840s Territorial expansion came to be seen as
  proof of the innate superiority of the
  Anglo-Saxon race a mythical construct defined
  largely by its opposites blacks, Indians,
  Hispanics, and Catholics.

70
RACE AND MANIFEST DESTINY

• Race, declared John OSullivans Democratic
  Review, was the key to the history of
  nations, and the rise and fall of empires.

71
RACE AND MANIFEST DESTINY

• Race in the mid-19th century was a shapeless
  notion involving color, culture, national origin,
  class and religion.
• Newspapers, magazines, and scholarly works
  popularized the link between American freedom and
  the supposedly innate liberty-loving qualities of
  Anglo-Saxon Protestants.

72
RACE AND MANIFEST DESTINY

• Manifest Destiny represented a triumph of
  civilization, progress, and liberty over the
  tyranny of the Catholic Church and the
  inferiority of mongrel races.
• Calls by some expansionists for the USA to annex
  all of Mexico failed in part because of fear that
  the nation could not assimilate its large
  non-white Catholic population, supposedly unfit
  for citizenship in a republic.

73
REDEFINING RACE
74
REDEFINING RACE

• The imposition of the American system of race
  relations proved detrimental to many inhabitants
  of the newly acquired territories.
• TX had already demonstrated as much.
• Mexico had already abolished slavery and declared
  persons of Spanish, Indian and African origin
  equal before the law.

75
REDEFINING RACE

• The TX constitution, adopted after independence,
  included protections for slavery and denied civil
  rights to Indians and persons of African origins.
• Only whites were permitted to purchase land, and
  the entrance of free blacks into the state was
  prohibited altogether.

76
REDEFINING RACE

• The race issue was not settled until the Civil
  War or was it?