EXPANSIO

N

WEST

P E RI O

D 4

: 1 8 0 0 - 1

8 4 8

• Louisiana Purchase (1803)

• Florida (1819)

EXPANSION SO FAR…

Jefferson--1800

James Madison—1808

James Monroe—1816

James Q. Adams—1824

Jackson--1828

Jackson’s Presidency

B—Bank War

I—Indians

T—Tariffs

C—Common Man

H—hiring friends (spoils system)

I—?

N—Nullification Crisis

POLITICAL RECAP…

• Whig Party develops

• Diverse group unified in their hatred for Jackson

• Active in social reform, tended to be native born, economic nationalism…

AFTER JACKSON: WHIGS V. DEMOCRATS

Democrats • Martin Van

Buren

Whigs run multiple candidates

1. Daniel Webster (N)

2. Hugh Lawson White (S)

3. William Henry Harrison

ELECTION OF 1836

Political nightmare for Van Buren

Inflation, drastically cut wages, lack of available credit, etc…

Influenced by Jackson’s bank war

PANIC OF 1837

• “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”

• War hero strategy• Lacked strategy

for anything else• “puppet

president” for H. Clay and D. Webster

• John Tyler (VP) to carry the South

ELECTION OF 1840

• Harrison dies in office after one month

• “His Accidency” • Southerner, slave

owner, state rights, etc…

• Expelled from Whig party

• Congress was chaos

PLAN BACKFIRES…

• Mexican independence--1821

• Americans poured into Mexican territory

IN THE WEST…MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE--1821

1) Oregon Territory –shared w/ Great Britain “mountain men” & tradepanic of 1837 = “Oregon Fever”

mass migration: by 1845 there were 5,000 settlers in Willamette Valley

Oregon Trail 1845 = 5,000/year 1849 = 30,000 1850 = 55,000

THREE REGIONS OF WESTWARD EXPANSION

2) California • Franciscan friars—1769• 50 + years • Enslaved native population• 72,000 to 18,000

• Californios—1834• Confiscated mission territory • Large ‘rancho’ grants from

Mexican government • Occasional American trappers &

traders• By 1846 approx 800 Americans

and 10,000 Californios (settlers of Hispanic descent)

THREE REGIONS OF WESTWARD EXPANSION

3) Republic of Texas—1836

• Stephen Austin—land grant

• Buffer b/w Comanche & Texans • By 1824—20,000 white

settlers plus enslaved blacks• Mexico gov was worried• Slavery was illegal

• Outlawed immigration into Tejas (1830)• It didn’t work

THREE REGIONS OF WESTWARD EXPANSION

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

• Was elected president

• Dissolved congress

• “Napoleon of the West”

• Texans: “free our slaves to make slaves of us all”

• Volunteers from southern US defended Texans

• Battle of the Alamo

TEXAN INDEPENDENCE--1836

Sam Houston • Tennessee

frontiersman

• Fought w/ Jackson

• Moved to Texas in 1832

• Defeated Mexican army

• Santa Anna bought freedom by recognizing Texan independence

TEXAN INDEPENDENCE--1836

• Sam Houston elected president

• Jackson waited until last day in office to recognize the republic

• Van Buren ignored the issue

• Pro-slavery drew settlement • Population 1836 = 40,000• Population 1845 = 150,000

• Annexation Treaty was rejected in 1843

THE LONE STAR REPUBLIC

• Defeated Henry Clay

• Dedicated expansionist

• Southern Democrat

• Plantation and slave owner

• “Humorless, drab, workaholic, dogmatic”

• Platform: reduce tariffs, annex Texas, resolve border disputes w/ Britain, and acquire Oregon, California, and New Mexico

• He accomplished them all and died 3 months after leaving office

ELECTION OF 1844—JAMES K. POLK

• Expansionist prepared to go to war w/ Britain

• Polk supported it

• Britain proposed a treaty to extend 49th parallel

• James Buchanan (Sec. of State) signed in 1846

• Why no war?

OREGON COUNTRY-- 54°40' OR FIGHT

• Texas joins union—1845

• Mexico breaks off relations with US a few days later

• Polk orders several thousand US troops into disputed territory

• Provoked attach & declared war

• Army grew from 7,000 to 78,700 troops

• 40,000 + were state militia men unregulated and undisciplined

MEXICAN WAR

General Zachary Taylor

Fought on four fronts

• Southern Texas

• Central Mexico

• New Mexico

• California

THE WAR—1846-1848

Polk made a deal w/ Santa Anna (exiled to Cuba)

• End the war

• US pays Santa Anna for territory

• Backfired

SHADY DEALS

• US defeated Mexico City

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

• US acquired border at Rio Grande, New Mexico, and California for 15 million

• Very deadly

• “first” imperial war

• Ulysses S. Grant: “one of the most unjust wars ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation” –Cival War was “our punishment” for the “unholy Mexican war”

• Necessitated the Department of the Interior

THE END & THE LEGACY