Level 1
Manifest Destiny and the
Addition of Land
Vocabulary
• Sectionalism: a loyalty to a section of the country
instead of the nation itself
• Diplomats: a person appointed by a government to
conduct negotiations and continue friendly relations
• Military Dictator: government in which the military is
in charge of the country
• Oregon Trail: a route used to migrate west to Oregon
• Annex: add to
• Transcontinental Railroad: a train route that crossed
America
Essential Question
• How did adding land increase sectionalism?
“(It is)… 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.” John L. O’Sullivan,
newspaper columnist, 1845
Louisiana Purchase
• 1803 US offered $10
million to France for
New Orleans
• US paid $15 million
for all of the French
lands in the west
(about 4 cents an
acre).
• Doubled the US
Lewis and Clark
• Lewis and Clark
explored the
Northwest to find a
waterway joining the
Mississippi to the
Pacific Ocean.
• Sacajawea, a
Shoshone, guided
them.
Adding Land in the North
• Convention of 1818
signed between US
and Britain
– US got the Red River
Basin
– Oregon Territory
would be used by
both countries
Adding Florida
• Problems:
– Natives attacked settlements
in GA
– Runaway slaves found safety in
Florida
• Actions:
– 1818 Jackson went to Florida
with about 3,000 soldiers and
took Fort Pensacola and Fort
Marks
– Spain was fighting in Latin
America and didn’t want a war
with the US
• Result:
– Adams-Onis Treaty (1819) US
bought Florida for $5 million
and Spain gave up claim to the
Pacific Northwest
Adding Texas
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Americans settled in Texas when it was part of
Mexico.
Mexico had freed their slaves in 1821 but Texans
wanted to keep their slaves because of cotton.
Mexico got Independence from Spain but was led
by the military dictator General Santa Anna who
got rid of Mexico’s Constitution ending states’
rights (1836).
Texas declared independence from Mexico in
1836.
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Santa Anna invaded the Republic of Texas and
attacked at the Alamo.
187 frontiersmen defended it for 13 days from 5,000
Mexican troops.
Mexican troops won and killed every soldier.
7 weeks later rallying under the battle cry
“Remember the Alamo” Houston beat Santa Anna
and took him prisoner; chased the Mexican army
back into Mexico
Sam Houston became the President of Texas.
Texas asked to join the US but wasn’t allowed to
until 1845 because it wanted slavery.
Adding the Northwest
• Polk won the election of
1844.
• Wanted to extend Oregon’s
border to 54,40’
• 1842 Americans settled the
Oregon territory by using
the Oregon Trail
• Rally cry “54,40’ or Fight!”
• US and Britain made a
compromise creating the
border at the 49th north
latitude
Adding the Southwest
•
President Polk offered Mexico
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$4.5 million to settle claims for damages
from the Mexico civil wars if Mexico
agreed that the Rio Grande was Texas’s
southern border.
$5 million for New Mexico
$25 million for California
Mexico was insulted.
Mexican government was taken over
again by a military dictatorship named
General Mariano Paredes
Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor
into disputed territory between the
Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers.
Surprise attack by Mexico on an
American patrol that killed 11 led to the
Battle of Buena Vista
Congress declared war.
Interactive timeline
Adding the Southwest
• The Mexican War:
– Polk ordered General
Winfield Scott to take
Mexico City.
– Captain Robert E. Lee
moved in and won the
battle.
– 1,733 killed in combat
total
– 11,550 died from lack
of medical care
– 16% of soldiers died
Adding the Southwest
•
•
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Americans went into New Mexico
with the help of the Mormon
Brigade.
CA left Mexico and became the
“Bear Flag Republic” and waited
to join the US.
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
1848: Mexico gave up New
Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado,
Nevada and CA (called the
Mexican Cession) and recognized
the Rio Grande as the southern
border of the US; US paid $15
million
Adding the Southwest
• Gadsden Purchase
• US wanted to create a
southern transcontinental
railroad joining the west
and the south.
• 1853 Mexico needed
money and accepted $10
million for the land.
• After the Civil War a
southern transcontinental
railroad was built through
this territory to CA.
Essential Question
• How did adding land increase sectionalism?