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Texas
In 1823, after winning its national independence from Spain, Mexico hoped to attract
settlers to farm its northern frontier province of Texas. Moses Austin, a Missouri
banker, obtained a large land grant, but died before he could carry out his plan to
recruit American settlers for the land. His son, Stephen Austin, succeeded in bringing
300 families into Texas and began a steady migration of Americans settlers to the
area. By 1830, Americans outnumbered the Mexicans in Texas by three to one.
Problems developed between the Americans and the Mexicans when, in 1829, Mexico
outlawed slavery and required all immigrants to convert to Roman Catholicism. When
many settlers refused to obey the laws, Mexico closed Texas to additional American
immigration. Many Americans ignored the new law and poured into Texas by the
thousands.
A change in Mexico’s government intensified the conflict. In 1834, General Antonio
Lopez de Santa Anna made himself dictator of Mexico and abolished the nation’s
existing government. When he tried to enforce Mexican law in Texas, a group of
settlers led by Sam Houston revolted and declared Texas an independent republic in
March of 1836.
Santa Anna led the Mexican Army and captured the town of Goliad. He followed this
by attacking the Alamo in San Antonio, where all of the American defenders where
killed including Jim Bowie, William B. Travis, and Davy Crockett. The Texans followed
up by surprising the Mexicans at San Jacinto and capturing Santa Anna. The Mexican
General was forced to sign a treaty recognizing Texas’ independence. The Mexican
legislature would reject the treaty and continue to insist that Texas was still part of
Mexico.
As the first president of the Republic of Texas, Houston applied for his country to be
annexed to the United States. Both Presidents Jackson and Van Buren, however,
delayed this request because of the opposition of northerners to adding more slave
territory (there was the potential for the area to be divided up into five new slave
states). The threat of war with Mexico also added to the negatives associated with
adding Texas. President John Tyler, however, worried about British influence in
Texas and pushed Congress to make the deal. During Polk’s presidency in 1845, Texas
finally became a state.
MAKE SURE YOU CAN TEACH SOMEONE:
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ORIGINALLY BELONGED TO…
THIS MAN AND HIS SON LED AMERICAN SETTLERS INTO MEXICO…
WHAT BEGAN PROBLEMS BETWEEN THE SETTLERS AND MEXICO?
WHAT FAMOUS AMERICANS DIED AT THE ALAMO?
WHO WAS THE MEXICAN GENERAL IN CHARGE AT THE ALAMO?
HE WAS THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS…
BECAME A STATE IN…
Oregon
In the 1840S one of the more serious British-American disputes involved Oregon. It
stretched as far north as the Alaskan border. At one time the territory had been
claimed by four different nations: Spain, Russia, Great Britain, and the United
States. Spain ended its claim to the region with the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819.
Britain’s claims remained because of the the Hudson Fur Company’s profitable fur trade
with the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. By 1846, however, there were
fewer than a thousand British citizens living north of the Columbia River.
The U.S. based their claims on the discovery of the Columbia River by Captain Robert
Gray in 1792, the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1805, and the fur trading post and
fort in Astoria, Oregon. Protestant missionaries and farmers from the United Sates
had settled the area in the 1840s. 5,000 Americans had traveled 2,000 miles over
the Oregon Trail to settle the area south of the Columbia River.
By the time of the election in 1844, many Americans believed their country’s manifest
destiny included undisputed possession of all of Oregon and to annex Texas as well.
When James K. Polk of Tennessee was elected in 1844 (the lesser known or “dark
horse” candidate) with the Democratic slogan of “Fifty-four Forty or Fight!” it became
clear that American westerners and southerners were in an expansionist mood. This
slogan referred to the line of latitude that marked the border between the Oregon
Territory and Russian Alaska. Polk decided to compromise with Britain and actually
backed down from the campaign slogan. Rather than fighting for all of Oregon, the
president settled for just the southern half of it. The territory was divided at the
49th parallel (which had been established in 1818 for the Louisiana territory). Final
settlement of the issue was delayed until the U.S. agreed to grant Vancouver Island
to Britain and guaranteed its rights to navigate the Columbia River. Although some
northerners views this treaty as a sellout because it removed British Columbia as a
source of potential free states, by this time war had broken out with Mexico and
Americans did not want to fight two nations at once. Senate opponents of the treaty
reluctantly voted for the compromise.
MAKE SURE YOU CAN TEACH SOMEONE:
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WHAT TRAIL DID AMERICANS TRAVEL TO SETTLE IN OREGON?
WHAT WAS POLK’S CAMPAIGN SLOGAN?
WHERE WAS THE TERRITORY DIVIDED?
WHY DID THE AMERICANS AGREE TO THE BORDER (WHAT DID THEY NOT WANT)?
California
While the United States sent John Slidell to hold talks with Mexico in 1845 in
response to their anger over the annexation of Texas, he also ordered General
Zachary Taylor to place his army along the Rio Grand River. When the Mexican army
crossed the river and captured an American army patrol on April 24,1846, the
Mexican-American War officially began. Polk used the killing of 11 American soldiers
as the catalyst for his war message presented to Congress. A large majority in both
houses approved the war resolution.
Most of the war was fought in Mexican territory; however, General Stephen Kearney
succeeded in taking Santa Fe, New Mexico, and southern California. John C. Fremont
used the aid of several dozen soldiers, a few navy officers, and American civilians who
had recently settled California to overthrow the Mexican rule in Northern California in
June of 1846. California was proclaimed to be an independent republic with a bear on
its flag (this was known as the Bear Flag Revolt).
After General Winfield Scott’s army captured Mexico City in September of 1847, the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Mexican Cession) was signed. Mexico recognized the Rio
Grande as the southern border of Texas and the U.S. took possession of the former
Mexican provinces of California and New Mexico. The U.S. paid $15 million and
assumed the claims of Americans against Mexico in return. From this war America
gained parts of Arizona, New Mexico, California, Nevada, and Utah.
The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in California in 1848 set off a rush of migration
to California over the next two years. The 49ers and those that followed later caused
California’s population to soar from 14,000 in 1848 to 380,000 by 1860.
California was made a state in 1850 by the Compromise of 1850.
The gold rush to California was followed by gold or silver rushes in Colorado, Nevada,
the Black Hills of the Dakotas, and other western territories. What is often
forgotten is that these discoveries also brought miners from around the world. By the
time of the Civil War, almost one-third of the miners in the West were Chinese.
MAKE SURE YOU CAN TEACH SOMEONE:
1. WHEN DID THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR BEGIN?
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WHAT GENERAL TOOK SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA?
WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE REVOLT IN WHICH CALIFORNIA DECLARE ITSELF INDEPENDENT?
WHAT WAS THE TREATY OF MEXICAN CESSION ALSO KNOWN AS?
WHAT SET OFF A RUSH OF MIGRATION TO CALIFORNIA?
WHAT MADE CALIFORNIA A STATE?
Utah
Joseph Smith founded the Mormon religion, also known as the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints in 1830. Smith based his religious thinking on the Book of
Mormon, which traced a connection between the Native Americans and the lost tribes
of Israel. Smith gathered a following and moved from New York State to Ohio,
Missouri, and, finally Illinois. In 1844, Smith and his brother were murdered by a
local mob. To escape persecution, the Mormons under the leadership of Brigham Young
migrated to the far west frontier where they established what they referred to as
the “New Zion” on the banks of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The Mormons prospered
in the desert; however, accusations of polygamy (allowing a man to have more than one
wife) aroused hostility against the group. By the end of 1848 some five thousand
settlers had arrived in the new Mormon settlement.
Although the church had traveled to Mexican territory, the Mexican-American War
soon made this part of the United Sates. Brigham Young was made territorial
governor in 1850. There was armed conflict with the U.S. Army in 1857, but the
quarrel was finally ended after an invasion of Utah by the U.S. Army. Young agreed
to step down and was replaced by a non-Mormon territorial governor named Alfred
Cumming. Antipolygamy laws were passed by Congress in 1862 and 1882 and this issue
also further delayed statehood for the area until 1896. The Mormon Church officially
abandoned the practice of polygamy in 1890 which was upheld by church documents
again in 1904. “Fundamentalist” groups still practicing polygamy today are not part of
the official Mormon Church
The Mormon Church was part of a Second Great Awakening that swept the United
States in the early 19th century.
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WHO FOUNDED THE MORMON RELIGION?
WHO LED THE MORMON CHURCH INTO UTAH?
TO WHOM DID THE SALT LAKE AREA BELONG WHEN THE CHURCH FIRST TRAVELED THERE?
WHAT IS POLYGAMY?
WHAT MADE THE TERRITORY PAR T OF THE UNITED STATES?
WHEN DID UTAH BECOME A STATE?
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny expressed the belief that the United States had a divine mission to
extend its power and civilization across North American from coast to coast. It was
driven by a number of forces: nationalism, population increase, rapid economic
development, technological advances, and reform ideas. It did, however, help to
accentuate the growing problems of the debate over slavery.
As the first year of the war between Mexico and American came to a close in 1846,
Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot proposed that a bill be amended to forbid
slavery in any of the new territories acquired by Mexico. It was known as the Wilmot
Proviso, and although it passed the House, it was defeated twice in the Senate. Some
historians see this as the first round in an escalating political conflict that eventually
led to the Civil War.
For some, Manifest Destiny extended beyond the continental borders. The Ostend
Manifesto was an attempt of Franklin Pierce to secretly negotiate to buy Cuba from
Spain. When it was leaked to the press in the U.S., an angry reaction from
antislavery members of Congress forced Pierce to drop the idea. (Polk had originally
offered to buy Cuba from Spain during his administration but the idea was rejected by
Spain).
The Walker Expedition was an attempt of Southern adventurer William Walker to take
Baja California from Mexico in 1853. Walker eventually took over Nicaragua (1955)
and stayed in control gaining temporary recognition from the U.S. in 1856. He
planned to set up a proslavery Central American empire. He was invaded and defeated
by a coalition of Central American countries and then executed by Honduran officials in
1860.
The Gadsden Purchase gave President Pierce a strip of land in the American Southwest
for a railroad. In 1853, Mexico agreed to sell thousands of acres o for $10 million.
This land formed the southern sections of present-day New Mexico and Arizona.
MAKE SURE YOU CAN TEACH SOMEONE:
1. WHAT IS MANIFEST DESTINY?
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WHAT FORCES DROVE THIS IDEA?
WHAT DO SOME HISTORIANS SEE THIS AS?
WHAT WAS THE WILMOT PROVISO?
WHAT WAS THE GADSDEN PURCHASE?