The Oregon Conflict
During the 1840s, much of the Pacific
Northwest was claimed by both the
United States and Britain. However, settlers moving to Oregon from the United
States felt that they had a right to the
land. At the time, many people in the
United States believed in the idea of
manifest destiny. They thought that the
United States was meant to stretch from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
As the number of settlers in the
Northwest increased, Britain and the
United States argued about the border of
the Oregon Country. President James K.
Polk was a strong supporter of manifest
destiny. Polk wanted to set the border
between the United States and Canada
far to the north. The British thought the
border should be farther south. For a
time, it looked as if arguments over the
Oregon Country might cause another war
between the United States and Britain. In
1846, the two countries agreed to sign
the Oregon Treaty. The treaty established
the northern border of the Oregon
Country.
In 1848, Congress created the Oregon
Territory, which included present-day
Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and parts
of Wyoming and Montana. Afterward,
a movement to make Oregon a state
began. The people of the territory agreed
that Oregon would not be a slave state.
This led to a national debate on whether
to admit another free state. Finally, on
February 14, 1859, President James
Buchanan signed a bill making Oregon
the thirty-third state.
GENERALIZE
How was the Oregon boundary conflict settled?
After a long journey on the Oregon Trail, wagon trains arrived
in the Pacific Northwest.
Chapter 13
SXECA07ASEAX_U6C13L3.indd 559
■
559
12/17/04 4:08:04 PM
War with Mexico
commanded the soldiers,
ordered them to build a fort
on the land Mexico claimed.
During the time that the
Taylor also blockaded the
United States was settling its
mouth of the Rio Grande.
conflict with Britain, a dispute
Mexico sent soldiers to proarose with Mexico. The United
tect its claim to the Rio Grande.
States claimed that the Rio
On May 6, 1846, American and
Grande formed the southern
Mexican soldiers fought at Palo
border of Texas. Mexico said
Alto. The next day, the two
that the boundary was actually
American army drum
sides battled each other again.
the Nueces (nu•AY•sahs) River,
In both battles, the United States Army
about 100 miles north of the Rio Grande.
drove Mexican soldiers back.
In 1845, President Polk sent John Slidell
By that time, President Polk had
to Mexico. Slidell offered Mexico
already begun writing a message of war
$30 million for California, New Mexico,
to Congress. On May 13, 1846, Congress
and Texas lands north of Mexico. The
declared war on Mexico, and the
Mexican leaders refused to meet with
Mexican-American War officially began.
Slidell. They said they did not want to
Not all Americans agreed with the war.
sell their lands to the United States.
For example, Northerners felt that the
In response, President Polk sent about
war could cause the expansion of slavery
3,500 United States soldiers to the area
into the West. Some said that the United
between the Nueces River and the Rio
States government wanted to go to war to
Grande. General Zachary Taylor, who
take Mexico’s lands. However, those who
disagreed with the war could not stop it.
General Zachary Taylor directs troops at Buena Vista, in northern
Mexico, during the Mexican-American War.
560
■
Unit 6
The Mexican-American War divided people in the United States.
President James K. Polk, 1846
“As war exists, and,
notwithstanding all our efforts
to avoid it, exists by the act
of Mexico herself, we are
called upon . . . [to protect] the
interests of our country.”
Horace Greeley, 1846
“People of the United States! Your rulers
are precipitating [throwing] you into
a fathomless abyss [bottomless pit]
of crime and calamity [distress]!”
—from Changing Interpretations of America’s
Past, Volume 1, edited by Jim R. McClellan.
Dushkin, 2000.
—from Changing Interpretations of America’s
Past, Volume 1, edited by Jim R. McClellan.
Dushkin, 2000.
Analyze Points of View Summarize each person’s
feelings about the Mexican-American War. Then explain the reasons
for each point of view.
United States soldiers marched south
to try to capture Mexico’s capital, Mexico
City. They soon won a battle at Buena
Vista. One month later, the United States
Navy captured Veracruz.
Santa Anna led the Mexican army as
it prepared to defend Mexico City. After
a hard fight, the Mexican army was
defeated. The United States captured
Mexico City on September 14, 1847. The
Mexican-American War was over.
In 1848, the United States and Mexico
signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
(gwah•dah•LOO•pay ee•DAHL•goh).
Under this treaty, Mexico gave the
United States a huge region known
as the Mexican Cession. A cession, or
concession, is something given up. The
Mexican Cession included all of presentday California, Nevada, Utah, and parts
of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and
Wyoming. In return, the United States
paid Mexico $15 million.
When the Mexican-American War
ended, about 80,000 Mexicans remained
in areas that now belonged to the United
States. Most of them stayed and became
citizens of the United States. They felt
connected to the land because their
ancestors had lived there since the 1700s.
One Mexican American said, “We were
the pioneers of the Pacific Coast, building towns and missions while General
Washington was carrying on the War of
the Revolution.”*
In 1853, the United States gained even
more land when James Gadsden, the
United States minister to Mexico, bought
the rest of New Mexico and Arizona from
Mexico. The Gadsden Purchase brought
the southern continental United States
to its present size. It also set the border
between the United States and Mexico.
GENERALIZE
Why did the United States and Mexico go to war
in 1846?
*Guadalupe Vallejo. “Ranch Mission Days in California.” The Century
Magazine. VoI. XLI, December 1890.
Chapter 13
SXECA07ASEAX_U6C13L3.indd 561
■
561
12/17/04 4:08:13 PM
California Grows
In the 1840s, California was a land of
large ranches with a few small towns,
such as Monterey and Los Angeles. At
that time, most people in California
were either Californios, as the Spanishspeaking people there called themselves,
or American Indians. Their lives changed
greatly after the United States gained
California in the Mexican Cession. They
would soon change even more.
In 1848, workers building a sawmill for
John Sutter along the bank of the South
Marshall Gold Discovery
State Historic Park
No one is sure who first found gold in
California, but James Marshall claimed
that he was the one. While leading workers at Sutter’s Mill, Marshall said that he
found the first gold nuggets in a nearby
riverbed. Today, the site of the discovery
is part of the Marshall Gold Discovery
State Historic
Park, in Coloma,
California.
OR
N
W
Fork of the American River found some
gold nuggets in the river. Soon most of
the workers left to search for more gold.
Communication across the country was
still slow in 1848. As a result, it took a
while for people to hear about the gold in
California. However, once word got out,
a gold rush began. In a short time, about
80,000 gold seekers arrived in California
from other parts of the United States as
well as from Europe and Asia. They were
called forty-niners because many of them
arrived in 1849.
Many forty-niners had made their way
west along the overland trails. Others
had reached the Pacific coast by sailing
around Cape Horn at the southern tip of
South America or by crossing the Isthmus
of Panama. For the forty-niners, gold was
their economic incentive—they hoped to
become rich. Although most did not find
enough gold to become wealthy, a few
ID
E
S
NV
San Francisco
MARSHALL
GOLD DISCOVERY
STATE HISTORIC PARK
CALIFORNIA
PACIFIC
OCEAN
0
150
0
150
UT
Coloma
Sacramento
Los Angeles
300 Miles
300 Kilometers
AZ
MEXICO
Albers Equal-Area Projection
562
■
Unit 6
SXECA07ASEAX_U6C13L3.indd 562
12/17/04 6:19:03 PM
United States 1850
0
200
400 Miles
400 Kilometers
MICHIGAN
PENNSYLVANIA
IOWA
MD
INDIANA OHIO
ILLINOIS
VIRGINIA
NORTH
CAROLINA
TENNESSEE
SOUTH
CAROLINA
ARKANSAS
LOUISIANA
S
R.
CANADA
Colum E
bia
Red Ri
v er
COA
NS
TA
I
N MO
UN
Oh
o
R
Te
n
r
ive
eR
se
s
e
LAIN
AL P
AST
CO
MEXICO
P L A
I N
INTERIOR
PLAINS
HIA
ver
Ri
S
Rio G
ran
de
Pla tt
e
L
R
iv
struck it rich. One man described how he
broke open a rock to find “. . . bright, yellow gold, in little pieces . . .”*
Gold was not the only valuable resource in California. For many years,
New England sailors had traveled there
to trade for cattle hides and tallow, or
animal fat, which was used in oil lamps.
Whalers hunted in the oceans, and sea
traders took sea otter and seal furs to
markets in the East.
er
PLAIN
r
ive
AINS
PACIFIC
OCEAN
ri R
T
ES
A
o
Col
do
ra
400 Miles
400 Kilometers
sou
Mis
VA D
RANG
Analyze Maps
Regions What was the
SXECA07ASEAX_U6C13L3.indd 563
NT
OU
Y M
COA ST
SI ER RA N E
r
GREA
CK
ve
200
200
Albers Equal-Area Projection
RO
Grassland
0
0
Sna ke R i
ST R
ANG
CAS CA E S
DE R
ANG
Forest
*Gould Buffum. “Six Months in the Gold Mines.” The United States
Democratic Review. J. & H.G. Langley, July 1850.
W
Gulf of Mexico
MEXICO
vegetation like along the
northern Pacific coast?
E
FLORIDA
ST
A
PACIFIC
OCEAN
N
er
TEXAS
Desert
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
GEORGIA
ALABAMA
MISSISSIPPI
CO
A
INDIAN
TERRITORY
National capital
DE
Washington, D.C.
iv
NEW MEXICO TERRITORY
KENTUCKY
State border
NJ
LAC
MISSOURI
CALIFORNIA
National border
RI
i
UTAH
TERRITORY
Territories
n
UNORGANIZED
TERRITORY
NH
MA
CT
NEW
YORK
WISCONSIN
sippi Ri
ver
MINNESOTA
TERRITORY
States
MAINE
Albers Equal-Area Projection
VT
Missis
OREGON
TERRITORY
200
PA
0
AP
CANADA
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
N
E
W
S
Gulf of Mexico
At that time, ships from Atlantic ports
had to sail around Cape Horn to reach
the Pacific Ocean. California’s resources
were so rich, however, that traders
willingly made the dangerous voyage.
By 1849, California’s population had
grown to about 100,000 people. That
same year, a group of delegates met at
Monterey to discuss statehood for California. Among them was Mariano Vallejo, a
former Mexican army general. Together,
Chapter 13
■
563
12/17/04 5:22:38 PM
because slavery was not legal there. After
fierce debates, Congress finally agreed
to admit California as a free state. On
September 9, 1850, California became the
thirty-first state.
When California became a state it had
one of the most diverse populations in
the country. During the gold rush, people
had come to California from all over
the world. Many Chinese immigrants,
for example, settled in San Francisco
and other growing cities.
Chinese immigrants pan for gold in California, in
the 1850s.
CAUSE AND EFFECT
How did the discovery of gold affect California’s
population?
Summary
the delegates decided that California
should join the United States.
Before California could become a state,
Congress had to give its approval. The
issue of slavery still divided Americans.
Slave states opposed California statehood
The United States added many western
lands in the 1800s. After the MexicanAmerican War, the United States claimed
most of the Southwest. In 1850, California
became the thirty-first state.
1.
6.
How did Oregon, California, and
other western lands become part
of the United States?
2. Write a sentence about California’s
history, using the terms gold rush and
forty-niner.
3. What lands did the Mexican Cession give
to the United States?
7.
Write an Advertisement Write a
short advertisement designed to
attract people to California’s goldfields.
List reasons why people should come.
Focus
Skill
GENERALIZE
On a separate sheet of paper, copy and
complete the graphic organizer.
&ACTS
CRITICAL THINKING
4. Make It Relevant Would you have been
willing to move to California to find gold?
Why or why not?
5.
What would be the possible benefits
and costs of joining the gold rush?
564
■
'ENERALIZATION
#ALIFORNIASPOPULATIONREPRESENTEDADIVERSITY
OFCULTURES
Chapter 13
SXECA07ASEAX_U6C13L3.indd 564
12/17/04 4:08:29 PM
Yung Wing
“Knowledge is power, and power is
greater than riches.”*
Not all early Asian immigrants to the United States settled
on the west coast. Yung Wing arrived in the United States in
1847 to attend school in Connecticut. He later became the first
Asian to graduate from an American university. From 1850 to
1854, Wing attended Yale University in Connecticut.
Wing was born in 1828 near Macao,
China. He first attended a school set
up by American missionaries. When
one of the missionaries returned
home, Wing accompanied him.
Wing succeeded at Yale in spite of
the trouble he sometimes faced from
Yung Wing enrolled in Yale
those who did not want him there.
University in 1850.
After he graduated, he wanted to
help other Chinese students study in the United States. In 1872,
he helped establish the Chinese Educational Mission, which
brought Chinese students to the United States. The program
lasted for only nine years, but the students who were involved
had a strong impact on their homeland and in the United States.
Wing himself became a diplomat, representing China in the
United States. In 1875, he married Mary Kellogg, and the couple
had two children. Wing died in Hartford, Connecticut in 1912.
Why
Character
Counts
How did Yung
Wing show he
cared about educating others?
Yung Wing. My Life in China and America. Arno Press, 1978.
1912
1828
Born 1828
Died 1912
1854 Wing
graduates from 1872 Wing helps start
Yale University a program for Chinese
students to study in the
United States
Interactive Multimedia Biographies
Visit MULTIMEDIA BIOGRAPHIES at
www.harcourtschool.com/hss
Chapter 13
SXECA07ASEAX_U6C13L3BIO.indd 565
■
565
12/15/04 1:54:56 PM
Map and Globe Skills
Identify Changing Borders
WHY IT MATTERS
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Historical maps give important information about places as they were in the
past. By studying a historical map, you
can see how a place and its borders have
changed over time. Seeing those changes
on a historical map can help you understand the changes and how they came
about.
This chapter describes how the United
States grew over time. The map on
page 567 uses colors to show how the
country’s borders changed from the late
1700s to the mid-1800s. It uses labels to
identify the different regions and to give
the year in which each one became part
of the United States.
PRACTICE THE SKILL
Use the map on page 567 to answer
these questions.
1 What color is used to show the United
States as it was in 1783?
2 In what year did the Gadsden
Purchase take place?
A surveyor sets a property line at Castroville,
Texas, in the 1840s.
566
■
Unit 6
SXECA07ASEAX_U6C13SK2.indd 566
12/17/04 4:09:17 PM
The Growth of the United States
RUSSIA
ALASKA
PURCHASE
1867
0
0
200 400 Miles
Present-day border
CANADA
CANADA
TREATY WITH
BRITAIN
1842
400 Kilometers
PACIFIC OCEAN
0
200
400 Miles
200
400 Kilometers
uron
eH
Lake
Ontario
0
Albers Equal-Area Projection
TREATY WITH
BRITAIN
1818
LOUISIANA PURCHASE
1803
MEXICAN
CESSION
1848
PACIFIC
OCEAN
30°N
UNITED STATES
1783
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
0
30°N
TEXAS ANNEXATION
1845
120°W
1810
1812
MEXICO
1898
40˚N
rie
eE
70°W
GADSDEN
PURCHASE
1853
PACIFIC
HAWAII
ANNEXATION OCEAN
k
La
Map and Globe Skills
40°N
La
k
Lake Michigan
OREGON
TERRITORY
1846
e Superior
Lak
N
1813
E
FLORIDA
1819
W
S
Gulf of Mexico
100 Miles
0 100 Kilometers
110°W
3 In what year was Texas annexed by
the United States?
4 What country shared a border with
the Oregon Territory?
5 What area was added to the United
90°W
80°W
APPLY WHAT YOU LEARNED
Study the map on this page. Then
use what you see to write a paragraph
describing how the borders of the
United States have changed since 1783.
States in 1803?
Practice your map and
globe skills with the
GeoSkills CD-ROM.
Chapter 13
SXECA07ASEAX_U6C13SK2.indd 567
■
567
12/17/04 4:09:23 PM