Unit 5: Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860
o The theme of America’s manifest destiny was penned by John L.
O’Sullivan.
 Became the rallying cry for westward expansion.
o 1840’ and 1850’s expansionists wanted to see the United States
extend all the way westward to the Pacific, southward into Mexico,
Cuba, and even Central America.
o In the 1890’s they would fix their sights on islands in the Pacific
and Caribbean.
o Manifest Destiny expressed the popular belief that the US had a
divine mission to extend its power and civilization across the
breadth of North America.
 Reached a fever pitch in the 1840’s.
 Driven by a number of forces:
 Nationalism, population increase, rapid economic
development, technological advances, and reform
ideals.
 All Americans were not united under Manifest Destiny and
expansionism.
 Northerners argued that it was the drive of southerners to
spread slavery.
 Conflicts Over Texas, Maine, and Oregon
o As a result of pioneers migrating to lands during the 1820’s and
1830’s the US pushed its borders into Texas (Mexican province)
and Oregon (claimed by Britain).
o Texas
 1823 – after gaining independence Mexico wanted to attract
settlers, even Anglo, to their frontier territory.
 Mostly for farming.
 Moses Austin – MO banker had obtained a large land grant
in Texas but died before it he could carry out recruiting
American settlers for the land.
 Son – Stephen Austin – brought 300 families into the
territory starting a steady stream of settlers into the
area.
 By 1830, Americans (both white farmers and black
slaves) outnumbered the Mexicans in Texas 3 to 1.
 1829
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Unit 5: Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860
 Friction developed after Mexico outlawed slavery and
required all immigrants to convert to Roman
Catholicism.
 Many settlers disobeyed requirements and Mexico
closed its doors to further settlers.
o Americans from southern states ignored this and
still streamed into Texas.
 Revolt and Independence
 1834 –General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna made
himself dictator and abolished the nations federal
system of government.
 Santa Anna insisted on enforcing Mexico’s laws in
Texas.
o Group of American settlers led by Sam Houston
revolted and declared Texas an independent
republic in March of 1836.
 Mexican Army led by Santa Anna captured the town of
Goliad and attacked the Alamo where every American
defender was killed.
o Shortly after – the battle of San Jacinto River
 Army under Sam Houston surprise Mexican
army and capture Santa Anna.
 Under threat of death Santa Anna signs
treaty recognizing Texas’ independence
and granted republic all territory north of
Rio Grande.
 When news of the treaty reached Mexico it
was rejected by the Mexican legislature
and insisted that TX was still part of
Mexico.
 Annexation Denied
 Houston – as the first president of the Republic of
Texas (Lone Star Republic) applied to the US
government for TX to be annexed or added to the US
as a new state.
 Jackson and Van Buren put off the annexation due to
opposition from northerners against the possible
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Unit 5: Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860
expansion of slavery and the potential of five new
states being created out of Texas territories.
o A costly war with Mexico was also a deterrent.
 John Tyler – a southern Whig, was worried about the
growing influence of British in Texas.
o He worked to annex Texas but the Senate
rejected his treaty of annexation in 1844.
o Boundary Dispute in Maine
 1840’s
 Dispute over the ill define boundary between Maine
and Canadian Province of New Brunswick.
 Canada still under British rule.
o Many Americans still saw Britain as America’s
worst enemy with sentiments that carried over
from the Revolution and the War of 1812.
 Conflict erupted between rivaling lumbermen on the
border.
o Known as the Aroostook War or “battle of maps.”
 Quickly resolved with the WebsterAshburton Treaty of 1842.
 Also settled the boundary of the Minnesota
territory.
 Leaving the iron rich Mesabi Range
on the US side.
o Boundary Dispute in Oregon
 Contention between US and Britain
 Britain based it claim on the Hudson Fur Company’s fur
trade with native Americans in Pacific North west
o But y 1846 less than 1000 British lived in the
region.
 US based its claim on:
o Discovery of Columbia River in 1792.
o Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805
o Fur trading post in Astoria, Oregon established
by John Jacob Astor in 1811.
o Protestant missionary’s settlement in 1840’s.
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Unit 5: Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860
o Their success sparked 5,000 Americans to make
the journey over the Oregon Trail and settle
south of the Columbia River.
 By the 1844 election many Americans believed it to be
their manifest destiny to take possession of Texas,
Oregon, and California.
o By 1845, Mexican CA had a Spanish-Mexican
population of 7,000 with many more Native
Americans.
o Enough Americans were arriving in Texas though
to make a go at it.
o The Election of 1844
 Northerners opposed annexation of Texas because of
slavery.
 Martin Van Buren opposed immediate annexation.
 Opponent John C. Calhoun was proslavery, pro-annexation.
 Ended up in a deadlock with the democrats choosing a dark
horse candidate
 James K. Polk of TN – a protégé of Andrew Jackson.
o Committed to expansion and manifest destiny.
o Supported annexation of Texas, reoccupation of
Oregon and acquisition of CA.
o Democratic slogan “Fifty-four Forty or Fight!”
 Appealed to southerners and westerners.
 Referred to latitude line between Oregon
territory and Russian Alaska.
 Whig nominee Henry Clay of KY
 Flip flopped as against annexation then for it.
 Alienated NY voters who moved their support to the
Liberty party.
 Proved to be the difference in a close election.
 Democrats interpreted the election as a mandate to annex
Texas.
o Annexing Texas and Dividing Oregon
 Tyler pushed through a joint resolution for annexation by
Congress.
 Only requiring a majority vote.
 Left Polk to deal with Mexico’s reaction.
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Unit 5: Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860
 1846
 Treaty for the division of Oregon at the 49th parallel.
 Polk decided to negotiate instead of fight.
 Northerners looked at it as a sellout of potential free
states but because the war with Mexico had begun
they did not want to fight both Mexico and Britain and
the Senate pushed it through.
 War With Mexico
o Trouble arose quickly after the annexation of Texas.
o Polk dispatched special envoy John Slidell to the government in
Mexico City.
o Polk wanted Slidell to:
 Persuade Mexico to sell CA, and NM territories to the US.
 Settle the Mexico-Texas dispute.
 Slidell failed at both.
o Mexico refused to sell CA and stated that the Texas border was on
the Nueces river while Polk and Slidell asserted it was farther
south along the Rio Grande.
o Immediate Causes of War
 Polk sent General Zachary Taylor across Mexican claimed
land to the Rio Grande.
 April 24, 1846 a Mexican army crossed the Rio Grande
killing 11 Americans.
 Polk used this to send his already prepared war message to
Congress.
 Northern Whigs opposed going to war over the incident and
doubted that US blood was shed on US soil.
 Led by IL congressman Abraham Lincoln.
 Whig protests were in vain and a large majority in both
houses approved the war resolution.
o Military Campaigns
 Most of the war fought in Mexico by small US armies.
 General Stephen Kearney succeeded in taking Santa Fe in
NM and southern CA.
 John C. Freemont took northern CA
 June 1846 and claimed CA to be an independent
republic.
 Taylor’s force of 6,000 drove the Mexican army from Texas.
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Unit 5: Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860
 February 1847
 General Winfield Scott invaded central Mexico with 14,000
 Took coastal city of Vera Cruz and Mexico City in
September of 1847.
o Consequences of the War
 A disaster for Mexico from the start.
 Had no choice but to agree to US terms.
 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – Mexican Cession (1848)
 Mexico recognized southern border of Texas being Rio
Grande.
 US took possession of former Mexican provinces in CA
and NM.
o For these the US would pay $15 million and
assume the claims of US citizens against Mexico.
 Some Whigs opposed treaty as an immoral way to
expand slavery.
 A few southern Democrats opposed because they
wanted US to take all of Mexico.
 The treaty was ratified as is with the required 2/3
vote.
 Wilmont Proviso
 Proposed bill by PA Congressman David Wilmont in
1846 to forbid slavery in new territories acquired.
 Passed in House twice but defeated in Senate.
 Prelude to Civil War?
 Increasing tensions over slavery with newly acquired
lands.
 Wilmont Proviso considered first round by many.
o Manifest Destiny to the South
 Many southerners unsatisfied with results and gains of
Mexican war.
 Early 1850’s hey hoped to gain new lands in Latin America.
 This is where plantations worked by slaves was
thought to be economically feasible.
 Most sought area was Cuba.
 Ostend Manifesto
 Polk offered Spain $100 million for Cuba.
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Unit 5: Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860
o They refused as it was a memory of their once
great empire.
o Several southern adventurers led small
campaigns to take Cuba by force of arms but all
were easily defeated and executed.
 Franklin Pierce – Elected in 1852
o Adopted prosouthern policies.
o Sent three diplomats to Ostend, Belgium to
negotiate the purchase of Cuba from Spain
secretly.
o The Ostend Manifesto was leaked to the press
and met with harsh reaction from antislavery
members of Congress.
o Pierce was forced to drop the scheme.
 Walker Expedition
 Expansionists continued to seek new empires.
 Adventurer William Walker unsuccessfully tried to take
Baja CA from Mexico in 1853.
 Led a force of mostly southerners to take Nicaragua in
1855.
o Regime even gained temporary recognition from
the US in 1865.
o His grand plan was to develop a proslavery
Central America.
o All collapsed in 1860 when a coalition of Central
American governments invaded and defeated
him.
o He was executed by Honduran authorities.
 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850)
 US ambition was to build a canal through Central
America.
 To check each other – Britain and US agreed to a
treaty in 1850.
 Provided that neither nation would attempt to take
exclusive control of a canal through Central America.
 This Treaty stayed in force until the end of the
century.
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Unit 5: Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860
 New Treaty was signed in 1901 gave the US a free
hand without British involvement.
 Gadsden Purchase
 Pierce succeeded in adding a strip of semi-desert land
from Mexico in 1853.
 For $10 million.
 Present day New Mexico and Arizona.
o Expansion After the Civil War
 Issues surrounding the war would overshadow expansion.
 Major gain would be William Seward purchasing Alaska.
 Settlement of the Western Territories
o Following the acquisition of Oregon, the more violent acquisition
of CA the migration of Americans headed for the coast.
o 1850’s and 1860’s the Great Plains known as the Great American
Desert.
o Coast was settled several decades before the Great Plains.
o Fur Trader’s Frontier
 Mountain men
 1820’s held yearly meetings with Native Americans to trade
furs in the Rockies.
 Many of these men provided much information about the
terrain.
 Kit Carson, Jedediah Smith, James Beckworth, and Jim
Bridger were just some of the names.
o Overland Trails
 Next much larger group of pioneers headed west to settle in
CA and OR for farming.
 By 1860 hundreds of thousands had reached their goal by
following the Oregon, CA, Santa Fe, and Mormon trails.
 Usually began in Independence, MO or Council Bluffs, Iowa.
 Follow river valleys through the Great Plains and
arrived at the foot of the Rockies months later or face
the hardships of the southwestern deserts.
 Last major obstacle was the Sierras or Cascades before
heavy snow.
 Averaged 15 miles a day.
 Disease and depression were much greater risks than
Indians.
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Unit 5: Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860
o Mining Frontier
 1848 gold in CA set off the first of many migrations to the
mineral rich west.
 CA goldrush was 1848-1850
 Followed by gold or silver rushes in Black Hills of SD,
Colorado, and NV and other western territories.
 These attracted tens of thousands of men and later women
to the western mountains.
 Mining camps and towns – many short liver – wherever a
strike was discovered.
 CA population would increase due to this
 1848 = 14,000
 1860 = 380,000
 These discoveries attracted miners from around the world.
 By the 1860’s almost 1/3 of the miners were Chinese.
o Farming Frontier
 Congress’ Preemption Act’s of the 1830’s and 40’s gave
squatters the right to settle public lands and purchase them
for low prices once they were put on sale by the
government.
 Government made it easier by selling smaller parcels of land
as small as 40 acres.
 The poor could not really participate.
 Average family needed $200-300 to make the trip.
 This made it a largely middle-class movement.
 Isolation in the early years made life difficult but rural
communities soon developed.
 Schools, churches, clubs, political parties and more
were established.
 Most were modeled after those they had known in the
east or for immigrants what they had known from
abroad.
o Urban Frontier
 Western cities arose as a result of the RR’s, mineral wealth,
and farming attracting large numbers of professionals and
businesspersons.
 San Francisco and Denver are examples of instant cities
created by the gold and silver rushes.
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Unit 5: Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860
 Salt Lake City would grow as a supply point for travelers
over the trails for the balance of their journey.
 The Expanding Economy
o The era of territorial expansion coincided with remarkable
economic growth from 1840’s through 1857.
o Industrial Technology
 Most factory production consisted of textile mills in New
England prior to the 1840’s.
 Industrialization spread quickly in NE.
 New factories produced:
 Shoes, sewing machines, ready to wear clothing,
firearms, precision tools, iron products for RR, and
other technologies.
 Invention of Sewing Machine
 Elias Howe
 Took clothing production out of the home and into the
factory.
 Telegraph
 Samuel Morse – 1844
 Went hand in hand with growth of RR’s.
 Speeding up transportation and communication across
the country.
o Railroads
 Canal building era was replaced with RR’s.
 RR emerged as America’s largest industry.
 Required large amounts of capital.
 Stockholder’s to connect their area to outside world.
 Local and state governments gave land grants, loans
and tax breaks.
 1850
o US government granted 2.6 million acres of
federal land to Illinois Central RR.
 From Lake Michigan to the Gulf of Mexico.
 First such grant.
 Rapid transportation promoted western agriculture.
 RR not only linked NE and Midwest but also gave the North
strategic advantages for the Civil War.
o Foreign Commerce
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Unit 5: Territorial and Economic Expansion, 1830-1860
 Growth of manufactured goods caused great growth in
exports.
 Other factors also played a role in this increase:
 Shipping firms started to have scheduled travel across
Atlantic.
 Demand for whale oil to light homes caused whaling
boom between 1830-1860.
o New England merchants took the lead here.
 Ship design cut the trip from NY to San Francisco from
5-6 months to 89 days.
 Steamships took the place of clipper ships in the
1850’s.
 1854 – Commodore Perry persuades Japan to open up
2 Japanese ports with a US trading treaty.
 Panic of 1857
 Midcentury economic boom ended with the panic of
1857.
 Drop in prices – especially farmers – and
unemployment in northern cities.
 South less affected – cotton prices stayed high.
o This gave plantation owners the idea that their
economy was superior and the northern
economy was not needed.
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