Americans Move West

Manifest Destiny Idea that the United States should extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans Mid 1800’s – Americans b/g to move west and settle for a variety of reasons Religion, money, land, etc. They reached the west by following a series of “trails”

Trails to the West Oregon Trail California Trail Santa Fe Trail Main route to the Pacific coast California Trail Route taken in the Gold Rush of 1849 Santa Fe Trail Wagon route through the Southwest to trade w/Mexico Typical trip west took 5-6 months

Donner Party 1846 – group of 87 people going west Led by two brothers (last name Donner) Got trapped by winter snows high in the Sierra Nevada. 41 people died of starvation Those left alive forced to resort to cannibalism in order to survive

Mormon Migration Mormon Trail Route used by Mormons Led by Brigham Young To escape persecution and find a place to practice religion freely Stopped at the Great Salt Lake, present day Utah

Come to Mexico! 1820’s – Texas is part of Mexico but full of American settlers Santa Anna – Mexican president – passes colonization laws to get settlers into Mexico Offered the settlers… Cheap land to nearly anyone willing to come A 10 year tax exemption But required them to… B/c Mexican citizens, live under Mexican law, convert to Catholicism

Recruiters Empresarios – recruited people to settle in Mexico Mexico gave empresarios large land grants in Texas In exchange the empresarios had to fill the land w/ a certain number of settlers Empresarios governed the colonies they established Stephen Austin was the first and most successful empresario

Americanize Texas Mexican govt. assumed the settlers would… Accept Mexican citizenship, adopt Mexican customs, come to see Mexico as their own country The Mexican govt. was wrong, Americans did not… Learn Spanish, convert or attend the Catholic church, dismissed Mexican culture

Tension Builds 1830’s – Mexico tries to take back control… Closed their borders to American settlers Banned the import of slaves Placed taxes on goods imported from foreign countries Wanted to discourage trade w/ the US New laws infuriate settlers They did not want the Mexican govt. telling them what to do

Negotiations Settlers hold two conventions to have negotiations w/ Mexico about the new laws The First Convention – 1832 Name Stephen Austin president of the convention They asked Mexico to… Reopen Texas to US immigrants, loosen taxes on imports

Get Aggressive The Second Convention – 1833 More aggressive requests They recommended separating Texas from the current Mexican state it resided in and making it a new Mexican state Created a constitution for the new state Designated Austin to travel to Mexico City to negotiate w/ the Mexican govt. Negotiations didn’t go well

Austin Imprisoned Austin sent a letter to his people He suggested Texas should peacefully organize its own state govt. The letter was intercepted by Mexican officials January 1834 – Austin was arrested for treason, jailed in Mexico City w/o trial and was released 1 ½ years later

Get Ready! 1834 – Santa Anna names himself dictator Austin felt negotiations w/ Santa Anna were impossible Urged Texans to organize an army and prepare for war Sam Houston Took command of the Texan army

The Alamo February 1836 –Texan rebels holed up at the Alamo Goal – to delay Santa Anna’s forces and give Houston’s army more time to prepare They held off the Mexican troops for 13 days March 6, 1836 – Mexican troops storm the Alamo Texans fought them off for 6 hours b/f they were overrun Davy Crockett & Jim Bowie died here

The Alamo in San Antonio, TX

Battle of San Jacinto Both armies camping along the San Jacinto River (modern day Houston) Houston launches an afternoon assault Mexicans in a panic, they were taking a nap The battle lasted less than 20 minutes The killing lasted for hours

“Remember the Alamo” Yelling their battle cry Houston’s troops attacked the Mexican troops Hundreds were killed Over 700 Mexicans were taken captive Including Santa Anna He was forced to order his army out of Texas and sign a treaty making Texas its own country Republic of Texas Texans suffered only 9 killed and 34 wounded

The Republic of Texas 1836 – Sam Houston elected president Voted in favor of annexation Annexation – b/c part of the United States North does not want to admit Texas as a slave state Jackson wants to avoid sectional tensions and war w/ Mexico Mexico was still claiming Texas He made no move toward annexation