MANIFEST DESTINY

“Tyler Too” ◦Harrison dies ◦4 weeks in office ◦Pneumonia / old ◦Longest inaugural address ◦John Tyler becomes president ◦Whig = Accused of being a Democrat ◦Clay / Webster not happy

Cont. ◦Financial reform ◦Ending independent Treasury System ◦Clay tried to establish new Bank of the U.S. ◦Tyler vetoed bill ◦Tyler expelled from his party ◦Tried to impeach him ◦Cabinet resigned - except Sec. of State = Webster ◦Tariff of 1842

Lone Star ◦Texas wanted to be annexed ◦Maintained costly military establishment ◦Negotiations with Britain and France ◦Defensive shield ◦France ◦Hoped U.S. would fragment ◦British wanted Texas independent ◦Trade = no tariffs ◦Great farming areas ◦No longer would have to trade with U.S.

Texas ◦Leading issue in election of 1844 ◦Feared Texas would expand slavery ◦Tyler ◦Wanted administration to look good ◦Annexation by joint resolution ◦Majority ◦1845 ◦Texas was invited to become the 28 state

Oregon ◦Claimed by 4 nations at one time ◦1818 ◦Agreed to live together peacefully ◦1846 ◦More Americans now living there ◦Oregon Trail

Manifest Destiny ◦Election of 1844 ◦Clay (Whig) v. Polk (Democrat) ◦Polk ◦Dark horse ◦Sponsored by Jackson ◦“Young Hickory” ◦Expansionist Democrats ◦“All of Oregon or None” ◦“Fifty-four forty or fight”

Cont. ◦“Polk, Slavery, and Texas” Or “Clay, Union, and Liberty” ◦Polk = Wins ◦170 to 105 ◦Liberty Party ◦Split the vote

Polk ◦Walker Tariff ◦Reduce Tariff of 1842 from 32% to 25% ◦Proved to be excellent revenue ◦Followed by a boom = heavy imports ◦Restoration of independent treasury ◦Acquisition of California / Oregon ◦Compromise line of 49˚

Mexico ◦California ◦Mixed population ◦Britain ◦John Slidell sent to Mexico City = 1845 ◦$25 million ◦Polk wanted to buy Cali from Mexico ◦Relations not good ◦Question of boundaries ◦Texas ◦Nueces River / Rio Grande

American Blood ◦January 13, 1846 ◦General Zachary Taylor ◦March from Nueces to Rio Grande ◦Wanted a fight = nothing happened ◦May 9, 1846 ◦Polk asks Congress to declare war ◦Unpaid claims ◦Slidell’s rejection

Cont. ◦April 24, 1846 ◦Mexican troops crossed Rio Grande ◦Attack Taylor ◦16 Americans killed ◦“American blood upon the American soil” ◦Congress voted for war ◦“Mexico or Death” ◦Did Polk provoke war? ◦Lincoln = Spot resolutions = “Spotty Lincoln”

Mastering Mexico ◦Wanted California / not war ◦Fight on limited scale = pull out when had the prize ◦Santa Anna ◦Exiled ◦Traitor / Double Crosser ◦1846 ◦Stephen W. Kearny ◦1,700 troops ◦Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe ◦Easily captured

Cont. ◦John C. Fremont ◦California province was won ◦Overthrew Mexican rule = 1846 ◦California Bear Flag Republic ◦Zack Taylor ◦“Old Rough and Ready” ◦Buena Vista = Feb , 1847 ◦Outnumbered 5,000 to 20,000

Fighting for Peace ◦Polk wanted to end the war ◦Scott and Trist = arranged for armistice ◦$10,000 – Santa Anna pocketed money ◦Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ◦ Feb. 2, 1848 ◦Confirmed title of Texas ◦California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona ◦$15 million

Profit and Loss ◦Small war ◦13,000 American lives ◦Disease ◦Vast increase in territory ◦Field experience ◦Relationship with Latin America ◦Slavocracy ◦David Wilmont ◦Pennsylvania - Representative ◦Slavery should not exist in the new territory ◦Wilmont Proviso

Cont. ◦“Opening shots of the Mexican War were the opening shots of the Civil War” ◦Ralph Waldo Emerson ◦“Mexico will poison us” ◦John C. Calhoun ◦“Mexico is to us the forbidden fruit…..the penalty of eating it would be to subject our institutions to political death.”