Download Chapter 14: The Territorial Expansion of the United States

The Territorial Expansion of
the United States
1830’s-1850’s
The Fur Trade
 Flourished from the 1670’s to 1840’s.
 In the 1670’s, the British Hudson’s Bay Colony and
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Montreal’s North West Company, began exploring
beyond the Great Lakes
In 1821 the British Hudson’s Bay colony took over
and ran the fur trade from trading posts in the far
Canadian north.
They also explored the Canadian West and the
Oregon Country.
1824, William Henry Ashley, instituted the
“rendezvous” system
There, they traded traps, guns, ammunition,
tobacco, beads, fabrics, and alcohol.
“Mountain Men” – Lived in the mountains
trapping beavers and developing a relationship
with the Indian people; Jim Beckwourth.
Exploration…
 1806-1807: Lieutenant Zebulon Pike led an
expedition to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
 1819- 1820: Major Stephen Long made an
exploration in which he mapped the Great Plains.
 1843- 1844: John C. Frémont mapped the overland
trails to Oregon and California.
 1869: Major John Wesley Powell made an
expedition of the Grand Canyon.
 After all of these explorations, the government
published their geological surveys, completed with
maps, illustrations and photographs.
 Landscape artists include, Karl Bodmer, Thomas
Moran, Albert Bierstadt, and others.
 American pride and self-image began to increase.
Indian Policy and Expansion
 “Indian Territory”- a region west of Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa, on the
Eastern edge of the Great Plains, regarded as unfarmable, and known as
the “Great American Desert.”
 1854: the government abolished the northern half of the territory,
establishing the Kansas an Nebraska Territories in its place; opening them
to white settlers. (Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854)
 People in the Southern part of the Indian Territory fared better than the
rest, creating new communities. (Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws,
Creeks and Seminoles)
 These Indian groups created self-governing nations with their own schools
and churches.
Manifest Destiny and Expansionism
 In 1845 John O’ Sullivan wrote, “our Manifest Destiny is to overspread
the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our
yearly multiplying millions.”
 Thomas Hart Benton and others believed that the economic future for the
United States depended on trade with Asia.
 Most Democrats supported expansionism, while most Whigs opposed it.
Traveling the Overland Trails to Oregon
 Convention of 1818: Britain and United
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States jointly occupied Oregon
First permanent European settlers were
retired fur trappers. Next, was a mix of
Americans, British, French Canadians,
Indians and Métis people, followed by the
Protestants.
Next, the Midwest farmers came. They
would soon represent the majority of the
settlers in Oregon, and carried out “Oregon
fever.”
People met in 1843 to try and draft their
own constitution. (Banned African
Americans/ slavery)
“54-40 or fight”- suggested that the US
would go to war if it didn’t get control of
the territory south of 54°40’
Oregon continued…
 June 1846: US and Britain concluded the 49th Parallel would become the
US- Canada border. Webster-Ashburton Treaty 1842 and the Oregon
Treaty 1846
 Oregon’s Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, codified the practice of giving
320 acres to each white male age 18+ and 640 acres to each married
couple.
 Kinship was very important
The Texas Revolt
 1828: the balance between Comanche, American and Tejano was broken.
 The Mexican government restricted American immigration, outlawed
slavery, levied customs duties and taxes, and planned other matters.
 In fall of 1835 a war broke out. The Americans thought they had won, and
were surprised by a Mexican counterattack led by Antonio Lopez de Santa
Anna.
 Santa Anna was defeated and on May 14, 1836, Santa Anna signed a treaty
fixing the southern boundary of the new “Republic of Texas”
 In 1837, Texas applied for admission to the Union, but was denied.
Election of 1844
 James K. Polk (Democrat) v. Henry Clay (Whig)
 Polk favored annexation of Texas
 Polk won the election by a margin of 40,000 popular votes.
 Texas entered the Union in December 1845, as the 28th state, and the
15th slave state.
Mexican- American War
 In 1845, the Mexican government broke diplomatic relations with the US
 Polk sent General Zachary Taylor to Texas to defend against an invasion.
 He secretly instructed the Pacific naval squadron to seize ports in California
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if Mexico declared war led by Gen. Winfield Scott
On May 13, 1846, Congress declared war on Mexico.
Massachusetts passed a resolution condemning Polk’s declaration of war as
unconstitutional.
Henry David Thoreau wrote “Civil Disobedience”
Mexico was too weak.
In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 2, 1848, Mexico made
many agreements with the US which formally ended the war.
Popular attitudes toward the war were reported by journalists, not
politicians, for the first time in US History.
The Gold Rush
 Thousands of people, “forty-niners” left their
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farm and jobs and headed west to make a
fortune.
80% were Americans, while the rest were
from Mexico, Latin America, Asia and
Europe.
Many of the incoming forty-niners lived in
mines that were unsanitary.
Most miners were young men who were
unmarried and unsuccessful.
The majority of women in the early mining
camps were prostitutes.
After the Rush, California was left with a
booming, multi-cultural population and
mining industry.
The Wilmot Proviso
 In August of 1846, Wilmot proposed
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that slavery be banned in all the
territories acquired by Mexico.
Southern Whigs joined the southern
Democrats to vote against the measure.
Northerners of both parties supported
it.
Triggered the first breakdown in the
national party system and reopened the
slavery debate.
This posed a serious threat to party
unity.
Free-Soil Movement
 Liberty party was created by abolitionists and further, the free-soil party
 Free-soil movement shifted the idea of morality of slavery to the ways it
affected expansion.
 The Liberty party suggested that slave states should not be admitted to the
union
 “Free-soilers” really meant, “antiblack” when they said “antislavery”
 They proposed to ban all African Americans from new territories
 William Lloyd Garrison denounced the free-soil doctrine as “whitemanism,” a
racist effort to make territories white.
Election of 1848
 Lewis Cass of Michigan was the Democratic nominee for president.
 Zachary Taylor, war hero, was the Whig candidate.
 Zachary Taylor won the election with only 47% of the popular vote.
The End!!!
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