Pre-War Expansion & Tension

Everything is big in Texas… ► Mexico wins independence from Spain in 1823 ► Wants settlers to populate Texas, even Anglos ► Austin family owns large amount of land ► Stephen F. Austin brings 300 families  By 1830, American settlers outnumber Mexicans 3 to 1

…including conflicts over slavery ► Mexico outlaws slavery, requires immigrants to convert to Roman Catholicism ► Didn’t stop settlers from coming and ignoring the law ► Change in Mexican government heightens tensions  Santa Anna becomes dictator  Insists on enforcing laws in Texas ► Settlers, led by Sam Houston, declare independent Republic of Texas in March, 1836  “The Lone Star Republic”

Remember the Alamo! ► Santa Anna captures town of Goliad ► Captures Alamo in San Antonio, killing all American defenders ► But, at Battle of San Jacinto River, Houston’s forces capture Santa Anna  Coerced into signing treaty granting Texas Independence  Mexican legislature rejects the treaty

State of Denial (get it…state) ► Houston applies for annexation—to be added as a new state ► Denied by Jackson, Van Buren ► John Tyler would like to, but couldn’t get annexation approved by Congress  until later when he gets involved in some creative legislating

Meanwhile in Maine… ► Border with New Brunswick (British Canada) not well-defined ► Leads to Aroostook War  “battle of the maps” between lumbermen ► Webster-Ashburton Treaty  Splits the disputed territory  Settles boundary of Minnesota Territory ► U.S. ends up with iron-rich Mesabi range ► But there are more problems with the British…

Fifty-Four Forty or Fight! ► In 1840s, Oregon Territory stretched as far north as Alaska  Had been claimed by four countries—Spain, Russia, Britain, and U.S.  Spain gave up claim with Adams-Onis Treaty (1819) ► Excellent farming land, spurns “Oregon Fever” ► Influence of Manifest Destiny  Many Americans feel that it is time to annex Texas, Oregon, and get California from Mexico

Tyler leaves a mess ► Democrat James Polk elected in 1844 ► Outgoing President Tyler persuades Congress to pass a joint resolution that Texas should be annexed  Only needed simple majority to approve ► Polk agrees to divide Oregon with Britain at the 49 th parallel  Also grants Britain Vancouver Island and navigation rights on the Columbia River

Jimmy Polk’s War ► Polk sends John Slidell to Mexico City in spring of 1845to:  Persuade Mexico to sell California and New Mexico (offered $30 million)  Settle the Mexico-Texas border dispute ► Mexico claims it was the Nueces River, U.S. the Rio Grande ► At the same time, Polk orders General Zachary Taylor to move toward the rio Grande with 1,500 men  11 Americans killed in an ensuing skirmish  Declaration of war approved on May 10, Polk claiming that Mexico had “shed American blood on the American soil”

Democrats beginning to split ► Wilmot Proviso passes House during first year of the war ► Opens door for the “free-soil” Democrats  Not all against slavery  Some, like Wilmot, wanted territory where whites would not have to compete with black labor, slave or free

A Complete Victory ► War a military debacle for Mexico  American forces take Santa Fe, the New Mexico territory and southern California with a force of approximately 1,500 men  John C. Fremont leads overthrow of Mexico in California, backed by a few dozen soldiers, some navy officers, and settlers ► Declares California independence ► The “Bear Flag Republic”  Taylor’s army of 6,000 drives Mexicans out of Texas  Winfield Scott’s army of 14,000 captures Mexico City in September 1847

Consequences of the War ► Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo—Mexican Cession (1848)  Mexico recognizes Rio Grande as the border  U.S. pays $15 million for California and New Mexico ► Battle over slavery intensifies  Many Whigs see it as an immoral war for the expansion of slavery  Wilmot Proviso may have been the act that ultimately led to war

The expansion of Manifest Destiny ► Ostend Manifesto  Polk offers to purchase Cuba from Spain for $100 million  When Franklin Pierce elected (1852), secretly sends diplomats to Ostend, Belgium, to negotiate the sale of Cuba  Leaked to the press and dropped ► Walker Expedition  Southern adventurers try to establish a proslavery empire in Central America  Take over Nicaragua in 1855, recognized by US in 1856  Coalition of Central American countries execute Walker in 1860 ► Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850)  Britain-U.S. agree that neither would exclusively control a future canal in Central America ► Gadsden Purchase  Pierce pays $10 million to buy land (now part of NM & AZ) for a railroad in the Southwest