Polk & the Mexican-American War
Please pick up Class Notes #17 from the cart.
Remember to turn in your Civil War exhibit by
4:30 p.m. today.
We will:
*identify how President Polk expanded America’s borders
westward to the Pacific in 1845-49
*research how and why America moved from compromise to
Civil War in the years from 1850 to 1860
U.S. Presidents, 1829-1865
Warm-up – work with your partner to fill out the chart
#7
#12
#8
#13
#9
#10
#14
#15
#11
#16
U.S. Presidents,
1829-1865
Andrew Jackson
1829-1837
Democrat
STRONG
Martin Van Buren
1837-1841
Democrat
WEAK
William H. Harrison
1841
Whig
NO CHANCE (?)
John Tyler
1841-1845
Whig
WEAK
James K. Polk
1845-1849
Democrat
STRONG
U.S. Presidents,
1829-1865
Zachary Taylor
1849-1850
Whig
WEAK
Millard Fillmore
1850-1853
Whig
WEAK
Franklin Pierce
1853-1857
Democrat
WEAK
James Buchanan
1857-1861
Democrat
WEAK
Abraham Lincoln
1861-1865
Republican
STRONG
Polk Becomes President
James K. Polk campaigned against Whig Party candidate
Henry Clay in the 1844 presidential election. He won on a
platform of promising to expand America’s borders
westward.
Polk was a protégé of Andrew Jackson and favored the
expansion of slavery westward.
Soon after becoming president in 1845, Polk pressed for the
annexation of Texas despite protests from the Mexican
government. Texas joined as a slave state in December
1845.
Oregon Treaty
Believing that war with Mexico was inevitable, Polk
sought to peacefully resolve the dispute over the
Oregon Country with Great Britain. He used
popular support for war, characterized by the
slogan “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight” to pressure Britain
for a treaty in 1846 that split the territory in two
along the 49th parallel.
Three states eventually emerged from this territory:
*Washington
*Oregon
*Idaho
Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
After Mexico rejected his offer for purchasing California and New
Mexico, Polk provoked a war by ordering General Zachary Taylor
to move his army into the disputed land between the Nueces
and Rio Grande rivers in southern Texas.
The war resulted in a victory for U.S. forces. General Winfield
Scott led an invasion that resulted in occupation of Mexico City
by American forces by September 1847.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 resulted in Mexico’s
cession of a third of its territory to the U.S., including the future
states of :
*California
*Nevada
*Arizona
*Utah
*part of New Mexico *part of Colorado
The California Gold Rush
http://10.120.2.41/SAFARI/montage/play.php?frompage=play&keyindex=117512&location=
005849&chapterskeyindex=376416&sceneclipskeyindex=-1
In 1848, the California Gold Rush began and
thousands of Americans moved west in an effort
to get rich quick.
Opposition to Polk’s War
Many Northerners refused to support the war, blaming it on
the “slave power” in American politics. Henry David
Thoreau refused to pay his taxes in protest and wrote his
most famous essay, “On Civil Disobedience”, that inspired
later generations of Americans, including Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Both Democratic and Whig congressmen supported the
Wilmot Proviso of 1846 that called on President Polk to
prevent the expansion of slavery into any territory acquired
from Mexico. The war re-opened the debate over slavery
that had been closed by the Missouri Compromise.
Compromise of 1850 (see focus #18)
• California’s petition for admission as a free state precipitated a
national crisis over the issue of slavery
• President Zachary Taylor (Whig-LA) proposed “popular
sovereignty” as a way of avoiding a crisis – leave the decision
on slave or free status to the states themselves
• Henry Clay (Whig-KY) proposed a five-part compromise:
1. California admitted as a free state
2. creation of New Mexico and Utah territories with no
federal restrictions on slavery (new states to
decide for themselves)
3. awarding of territory by Texas to New Mexico in
exchange for federal assumption of Texas debts
4.abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia
5.a stronger fugitive slave law
The Compromise Raises Tensions
Henry Clay defending the
compromise on the floor of
the Senate, 1850
• Clay & Daniel Webster
(Whig-MA) eloquently
defended the compromise
• John C. Calhoun (Democrat –
SC) condemned it and warned
that it would lead to civil war
within a decade
• All three “giants” of the
Senate passed away within a
year
• Stephen Douglas (D – IL)
took up Clay’s cause and
steered the compromise
through Congress
Who won the most from the Compromise of 1850 –
North or South? How did Northerners and
Southerners react to the Compromise of 1850?
How did the United States move from compromise
to Civil War between 1850 and 1860?
Working with your table team, create a poster/presentation on
your assigned event listed below:
1. Uncle Tom’s Cabin/Fugitive Slave Act
2. Kansas-Nebraska Act
3. Bleeding Kansas
4. Dred Scott v. Sandford
5. Lincoln-Douglas Debates
6. Raid on Harpers Ferry
pp. 310-12
pp. 312-15
pp. 315-17
pp. 324-25, 332-33
pp. 325-27
pp. 327-28
Each poster needs to include a description of the event and
how it raised tensions between North and South, as well as a
visual - be prepared to present to the class on Friday
Before we leave…
• Pick up a copy of Quiz #4 – it’s a take-home
quiz and you will fill in the answers on a
Scantron at the start of class on Friday
• Remember that ALL “Young Republic” unit
make-up materials are due by Friday –
determines your eligibility for the unit test
retake and quiz #3 retake grade
• Exhibits due by 4:30 p.m. today