“American Progress”
by John Gast, 1872
The Frontier Draws Settlers
In the 1840’s, Americans began to believe that their movement
west and south was destined and ordained by God.
 “Manifest Destiny” expressed their belief that the U.S.’s destiny
was to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican territory.

Other Reasons…
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Panic of 1837- people suffered economic hardship and wanted a
fresh start out West.
Abundance of Land- land ownership was an important step
toward prosperity.
Farmers, Miners, Merchants
Trade done with Asia through Oregon Territory harbors.
Settlers and Native Americans


Some Natives began to assimilate.
Black Hawk War
 Settlers in western Illinois and Eastern
Iowa put pressure on local tribes to move
further west of the Mississippi River.
 Tribe representatives visited Chief Black
Hawk of the Sauk tribe and one of them
had a vision that Black Hawk would lead a
rebellion against the U.S.
 The Black Hawk War began in Illinois and spread into the
Wisconsin Territory.
 It ended in June, 1832 when Wisconsin militia slaughtered 200
Sauk and Fox tribe members.
 The Tribes were forcibly moved to areas West of the
Mississippi River.
Fort Laramie Treaty

Federal government responded to
settlers’ fears of attack by calling a
conference near what is now
Laramie, Wyoming.
Cheyenne, Arapaho, Sioux, and Crow.
1851- Treaty was signed
It gave Native American nations control of the Central Plains,
land East of the Rocky Mountains that went from the Arkansas
River North to Canada.
In return they promised no more attacks on settlers and to
allow the construction of government forts and roads.
U. S. government repeatedly violated the Treaty terms.
Trails West
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Santa Fe Trail- 780 miles from Independence, Missouri to Santa
Fe, New Mexico.
Between 1821-1860’s, traders loader their covered wagons with
cloth, knives, guns.
For the first 150 miles, wagons traveled alone, which made them
vulnerable to attacks.
Traveling in groups- “circle the wagons” for protection.
They reached New Mexico, traded and loaded their wagons with
silver, gold, and furs and began the trip back to Missouri.
Trails Westward
“Eastward I go only by force,
but westward I go free.”

Oregon Trail began in
Independence, Missouri and
ended in Portland, Oregon.
Some of the same trails as Lewis and
Clark
Fertile soil and abundant rainfall
Trip took months
Fevers, diarrhea, cholera killed many

By 1844, 5,000 settlers had arrived
in the Willamette Valley.
The Oregon Trail – Albert Bierstadt, 1869
Resolving Territorial Disputes
The
British shared joint-occupation of the
Oregon Territory from the Treaty of Ghent.
1844, James K. Polk was running for President.
His platform called for annexation of the entire area.
“Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!”
 Britain and the U.S. peacefully decided in 1846 to extend the
boundary with Canada along the 49th parallel westward from the
Rocky Mountains to Puget Sound, establishing the current U.S.
border
 The border for the South would not be so easy.
The Oregon Dispute: 54’ 40º or Fight!
 By the mid-1840s,
“Oregon Fever” was
spurred on by the
promise of free land.
 The joint British-U. S.
occupation ended in
1846.
Overland Immigration to the West
• Between 1840 and 1860,
more than 250,000
people made the trek
westward.
Southwest
Mexico won its independence from Spain
in 1821.
 The Mission System declines.

Spain’s Catholic missions in CA, NM, and TX
tried to convert NA to Catholicism.
 This system of missions declined during the 1820’s -1830’s
after Mexican independence.
 Mission land was offered to government officials and ranchers
from the Mexican government.
 Most NA left the missions, returning to their customs.
 Mexicans captured some NA for forced labor.
 Comanche and Apache retaliated by sweeping through TX,
terrorizing Mexican settlements and stealing livestock.

Mexican Independence

Trade opportunities with the U.S. increased.
Cattle and other goods provided trade in Santa Fe.
The capital, Mexico City, seemed distant from the border trade
and indifferent to the problems of those in TX.

What did Mexico hope to gain from Anglo settlement in TX?
Protection against NA attacks and horse thieves.
To bring American manufactured goods into Mexico.

Land grants to empresarios: tempting for Americans.

Bought cheap land from Mexico in exchange for a pledge to
obey Mexican laws and observe the official religion of Roman
Catholicism.
Austin in Texas
Most successful empresario, Stephen F.
Austin

Established a colony between the Brazos
and Colorado Rivers.
 By 1825, Austin issued 297 land grants to
the group called Old Three Hundred.- He
chose the settlers carefully.

Each family received 177 acres of land and 10 years exemption from
paying taxes.
 Americans were encouraged to go South.- “Go To Texas”
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Americans wanted to extend the U.S. border to Rio Grande
River.
John Quincy Adams - $1 million dollars, Andrew Jackson - $5
million dollars.
Mexico refused and began to regret being so hospitable to Anglos.
Texas Fights for Independence
Tension grew over cultural differences.
Different languages
Southern plantation owners brought slaves with them
Mexico had abolished slavery in 1824.
1830- Mexico sealed its borders
Taxed imports from U.S.
Mexico lacked troops to watch the borders.
Anglo population doubled from 1830-1834.
Texas Revolution
Mexican politics was becoming unstable.
Mexican President was Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
He had Stephen Austin imprisoned for trying to
revolutionize.
Santa Anna revoked local powers in TX, several rebellions
erupted.
Remember The Alamo!
Santa Anna marched toward San Antonio with 4,000
soldiers.
Austin sent word out for Texans to arm themselves.
Texans attack in late, 1835.
They drove the Mexicans near the Alamo, an abandoned
mission and fort.
All 187 defenders of the Alamo died.
Jim Bowie – famous frontiersmen
Davy Crockett
Many Mexican soldiers died.
Remember the Alamo!
Davy Crockett’s Last Stand
General Santa Anna Recaptures the Alamo
Lone Star Republic
1836- Santa Anna won more battles
after the Alamo.
A group of Texans, led by Sam
Houston, defeated Santa Anna at
the battle of San Jacinto.
They killed 630 Mexicans in 15
minutes and captured their leader.
They set him free after he signed
the Treaty of Velasco.
It gave TX its independence.
Houston became in charge of the
Republic of TX.
Texas Declaration of Independence
Texas Joins the Union
1838, Sam Houston asked the U.S. to annex,
or incorporate TX into the country.
The country was divided on the issue.
Southerners wanted to extend slavery into new
states.
Northerners feared that annexation of more
slave territory would create an imbalance in the
Senate in favor of slave states.
President, James K. Polk was a slaveholder who
favored annexation of TX.
TX became the 28th state in the Union.
Mexico was angry and ready for a war.
The Slidell Mission: Nov., 1845
 Mexican recognition of the
Rio Grande River as the TX-US border.
John Slidell
 US would purchase the New Mexico
area for $5,000,000.
 US would buy California at any price.
 Polk also sent General Zachary Taylor to
the Rio Grande to blockade the river.
Wilmot Proviso, 1846
Provided, territory from that, as an express
and fundamental condition to the acquisition
of any the Republic of Mexico by the United
States, by virtue of any treaty which may be
negotiated between them, and to the use by
the Executive of the moneys herein
appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude shall ever exist in any part of said
territory, except for crime, whereof the party
shall first be duly convicted.
Congressmen
David Wilmot
(D-PA)
Attitudes towards war
Issue

of slavery
Abolitionists- against slavery,
James Russell Lowell
Proslavery, John C. Calhoun
Southerners- wanted more states to be proslavery
Increases power in the Senate for the Southern states.
Wilmot Proviso prohibited slavery in any lands gained from
Mexico.

Northerners- did not want slavery to spread
 Did not want the South to dominate in Congress
 Questioned the reason for the war…slavery ,expansion, or
both?
The Mexican War Map
Battles and Strategies

John C. Fremont sent a military exploration
party into CA.
This violated Mexico’s territorial rights.
 Mexico responded
 They sent troops to meet Gen. Taylor at the
Rio Grande.
 11 U.S. soldiers died
 Congress declared war after persuasion
from Polk.
 Abe Lincoln, a member of Congress,
questioned Polk.
Battles and Strategies

Polk orders Colonel Stephen Kearny to march from Kansas to
Santa Fe.
He and his men marched over 800 miles of barren land.
They fought Mexicans and then marched into CA to meet up
with Fremont.
They claimed the Republic of California.
Other famous military officers- Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S.
Grant, Winfield Scott
General Zachary Taylor
“Old Rough and Ready”
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1848
Nicholas Trist,
American Negotiator
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

February 2, 1848
 U.S. and Mexico signed the Treaty.
 Mexico agreed that the Rio Grande River was the new

border for TX and gave over NM and CA.
The U.S. paid $15 million.
 Today this includes CA, NV, NM, UT, most of AZ, parts of
CO and WY.
 Any Mexicans living in these areas were given freedom of
religion, protection of property, bilingual elections, and open
borders.
 5 years later, President Franklin Pierce paid an additional
$10 million of area South of the Gila River- current AZ.
 Gadsden Purchase- set current Southern border for U.S.
The Mexican Cession
Results of the Mexican War?
•
The 17-month war cost $100,000,000 and 13,000+
American lives (mostly of disease).
•
New territories were brought into the Union which forced
the explosive issue of SLAVERY to the center of national
politics.
* Brought in 1 million square miles of land (including TX)
•
These new territories would upset the balance of power
between North and South.
•
Manifest Destiny partially realized.
Free Soil Party
The 1848 Presidential Election Results
GOLD!
At Sutter’s Mill, 1848
John A. Sutter
California Gold Rush, 1849
49er’s
Diversity

CA population was over 100,000.
Chinese were the largest group of immigrants from
overseas.
Free blacks, the wealthiest lived in CA.
Fastest growing population was Mexican.

CA outlawed slavery.
 Northerners were happy b/c TX was initially a slave state.
 Southerners were angry, they wanted another slave state.