ACOS #10: Describe political, social, and economic events between 1803 and 1860 that led to the expansion of the territory of the United States.

 Annexation – the act of joining two countries or pieces of land together. The act of adding more territory to a country.  Manifest destiny – the belief that the United States could and should expand across the continent. People believed it was the nation’s destiny to expand west. It was an obvious destiny.  Front – a place where fighting occurs during a war.  Cession – something that is given up, or surrendered, such as land.

 In 1821, the first settlers arrived in Texas looking for inexpensive land.  Texas belonged to Mexico.  Stephen Austin was the leader of the settlers.  Within 10 years, there were more Americans than Mexicans in Texas.  Mexico tried to stop American settlers from settling in Texas by passing laws—settlers still came.

MexicoU.S. & Territories Texas today

 The new settlers did not always obey Mexico’s laws.  Some settlers brought slaves with them, even though slavery was against the law in Mexico.  Because of the differences over slavery and other issues, the settlers wanted to break away from Mexico.  Texas settlers did NOT agree with the Mexican law that did not allow settlers to own enslaved people.

 The Mexicans who lived in Texas were called Tejanos (teh HAHN ohs).  Many Tejanos wanted to break away from Mexico because they did not like the laws made by Mexico’s president Antonio López de Santa Anna.  Tejanos and Texans rebelled against Mexico to win independence.

 In 1836, Santa Anna led a large army to San Antonio to stop the rebellion.  His goal was to capture the Alamo, an old mission that was used as a fort.  Only 200 American Texans and Tejanos defended the fort.  During the Battle of the Alamo, most of the defenders were killed.

 Texan leaders voted to officially declare independence from Mexico and form the Republic of Texas.  Sam Houston was chosen to lead their army.  Houston led a surprise attack on Santa Anna’s army at San Jacinto (sahn hah SEEN toh).  During that battle, Texans shouted, “Remember the Alamo!”  Texans defeated the Mexican army and captured Santa Anna.  To gain his freedom, Santa Anna agreed to give Texas its independence.

 The Republic of Texas held its first election in September 1836, they elected Sam Houston as their president. (Texas was a separate country.)  They made slavery legal and were in favor of annexation by the United States.  Annexation  The U.S. President, Martin Van Buren, was against the annexation.  He thought it would lead to a war with Mexico because Mexico still wanted Texas.  He also did not want to add a new state that allowed slavery since many Americans were against it. is the act of joining two countries or pieces of land together.

 People who wanted the annexation of Texas said it was the nation’s destiny to expand west. (Manifest destiny)  Manifest destiny  Manifest means obvious and destiny is what will happen in the future.  In 1845, when James Polk became president, Congress voted to annex Texas. is the belief that the U.S. should expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean

 When Texas joined the United States, Mexico wanted the border between Texas and Mexico to be at the Nueces (NWEH shes) River.  President Polk wanted the boundary to be the Rio Grande, a river that lay 150 miles south of the Nueces River.  The disagreement over where the border of Texas would be led to a war with Mexico.  This boundary would give the United States more land.  The Mexican government would not agree.  Congress declared war with Mexico on May 13, 1846.

Nueces River, where Mexico wanted the boundary Rio Grande, where U. S. wanted the boundary

 The Mexican War was fought on 3 fronts.  A front  The first front was in northern Mexico. is where fighting takes place in a war.

 The second front was in New Mexico where American soldiers captured Santa Fe and then headed west to help the U.S. Navy take control of California.

 The 3 rd front was in southern Mexico.  U.S. soldiers invaded Mexico by sea and marched inland to capture Mexico City in September 1847.

 After the U. S. captured Mexico City, Mexico’s leaders agreed to discuss a peace treaty.  The United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (gwah dah LOO peh ee DAHL goh).  Mexico agreed to the border of Texas being the Rio Grande.  Mexico also had to turn over a large area of land called the Mexican Cession.  A cession is something that is given up.

 The United States paid Mexico $15 million for the cession.  Mexicans living on the land were allowed to become citizens of the United States.  Laws protected them from losing their property, but these laws were often broken.  Many new American citizens lost their land.