Chapter 12: Territorial and Economic Expansion (1830 - 1860)

1. Causes of manifest destiny

a. nationalism- Murica is destined for all of North America and the white, “racially-superior”
Americans must be taken over through Manifest Destiny
b. population increase
i. improvements in public health
ii. birth rate still very high (6.14 children each)
iii. not from immigration b/c of economic problems in America and wars in Europe, until the
1830s
c. rapid economic development
d. technological advances
e. reform ideals- ‘altruistic attempt to extend democracy into new realms
2. manifest destiny fervor spread through the penny press
3. Texas
a. pioneers migrated into these lands during the 1820s-1830s
b. 1823- Mexico won independence from Spain and began to attract settlers with a colonization
law (cheap land and four year exemption from taxes)
i. wanted to farm the land and increase tax revenues
ii. wanted a buffer zone between Mexico and the US/Indian tribes
iii. people like Austin bought land grants from Mexico and then sold them to settlers
c. steady migration of Americans led to a ratio of 3:1, Americans to Mexicans
d. revolt led by an intermediary was crushed
e. 1829- Mexico outlawed slavery and required all immigrants to convert to Roman Catholicism
f. no one obeyed, so closed immigration, but Americans didn’t listen so the immigration law was
dropped in 1833
g. Revolt and independence
i. Santa Anna declared himself dictator of Mexico, became stricter in entire country, tried
to enforce laws in Texas
ii. Sam Houston revolted and declared Texas independent
iii. Anna forced to sign, but the Mexican legislature refused to recognize Texas as
independent
h. Annexation denied
i. Houston applied to US for Republic of Texas to be annexed
ii. supporters were expansionists
iii. Jackson and Van Buren refused because northerners objected to the expansion of
slavery and the addition of five new slave states from Texas
iv. they also didn’t want to fight a war with Mexico
v. Texas wanted to rival the United States
4. Boundary Dispute in Maine
a. Arrostook War (battle of the maps) over the boundary between Maine and the Canadian
province of New Brunswick
b. still much resentment between British (who rule Canada still) and Americans
c. Webster-Ashburton Treaty split the disputed territory between Maine and British Canada
5. Boundary Dispute in Oregon
a. claimed by Spain, Russia, Great Britain and the US
i. but Spain gave up its claim to Oregon in the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819
ii. Britain claimed Oregon because of the Hudson Fur Company but there were few
British people living in Oregon
 iii. US claim:
1. discovery of Columbia River
2. Lewis and Clark expedition
3. fur and trading post/fort in Oregon
4. many Americans caught “Oregon fever” after hearing about the fertile Oregon
land
b. most people were fur traders
c. religiously motivated: 1. tried to convert natives 2. when unsuccessful, they said that they didn’t
deserve their land, lawl
d. nationalistic Americans wanted Oregon, Texas and Mexico’s California
i. Mexico’s California had more Native Americans than Spanish-Mexicans, so Americans
migrated by the masses so they could take it just like they took Texas
6. The Election of 1844
a. Democratic nominee candidates
i. Martin Van Buren opposed annexation
ii. Calhoun was proslavery and proannexation
iii. deadlocked, so they picked James K. Polk who was proannexation. He had four goals:
1. settle Oregon
2. bring California into the union
3. independent treasury to solve Jackson’s debt
4. lower tariffs
iv. “Fifty-four Forty or Fight!”- refers to the latitude line between Oregon and Alaska
b. Whigs nominated Clay, who was neutral about annexation
c. Democrats won because of their appeal to expansionist democrats
“The re-occupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas at the earliest practicable period
are great American measures.”
7. Annexing Texas and Dividing Oregon
a. after the election of 1844, as one of his last acts of his presidency, John Tyler annexed Texas
b. compromised with Britain on Oregon, fighting only for the southern half of it at the 49th parallel
c. Northerners angry, because the 49th parallel was the boundary between free and slave states
d. didn’t want to fight a war with both Mexico and Britain, so compromise was ratified
8. War with Mexico (1846-1847)
a. Polk sent Slidell to 1. persuade Mexico to sell the California and New Mexico territories to the
US 2. settle dispute concerning Mexico-Texas border (US wanted border to be along Rio
Grande, not along the Nueces)
b. Immediate Causes of the War
i. also, New Mexico was becoming more American than Mexican, booming trade made it
desirable to annex as well
ii. California had a lot trade with Mexicans and Indians, settlers wanted to annex California
iii. Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to move his army toward the Rio Grande
iv. Mexicans kill some Americans, and they start fighting a war
“War exists by the act of Mexico herself.”
c. Military Campaigns
i. not a popular war, people were upset about Polk’s concessions to the British regarding
Oregon
ii. small American armies took Santa Fe, New Mexico and southern California
iii. Zachary Taylor captured Mexico City
d. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Mexican Cession) (1848)
i. Rio Grande is the boundary of Texas
 ii. US pays $15 million for California and New Mexico
iii. some Whigs opposed because they thought it was an immoral attempt to expand slavery
iv. some southern Democrats opposed because they wanted to take all of Mexico
e. acquisition of new territories renewed sectional debate about slavery
f. political conflict that would lead to civil war
9. The Sectional Debate
a. Wilmot Proviso- failed bill that proposed new territories from Mexico would be free; brought up
and debated often
b. debated about popular sovereignty
c. 1848, Zachary Taylor elected
i. Free-Soil party got 10% of the vote, showed inability of existing parties to contain the
political passions slavery was creating
10. Manifest Destiny to the South
a. Southerners, disappointed with Mexican War spoils, wanted slave Cuba
b. Ostend Manifesto
i. Polk wanted to buy Cuba from Spain, but Spain pridefully refused
ii. Pierce later wanted to secretly buy Cuba from Spain, but it was leaked and the
antislavery people got angry, forcing him to drop it
iii. Pierce’s secondary motivation was also to divert attention away from the issue of slavery
to American nationalism, contrasting with the European revolutions of 1848
c. Walker Expedition
i. William Walker wanted to create a proslavery Central American empire
ii. captured Nicaragua
d. Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850)
i. Britain and America both agreed not to take exclusive control of any future canal route in
Central America
e. Gadsden Purchase
i. Pierce bought a strip of the American Southwest for the southern terminus of a railroad
ii. increased sectional rivalries, because North wanted eastern terminus to be Chicago,
South wanted it to be in St. Louis, Memphis or New Orleans
f. Seward bought Alaska
g. However, Southerners rejected the annexation of Canada and Hawaii because they would have
been antislavery
11. Settlement of the Western Territories
a. Southerners went to Texas, but most settlers were from the Northwest who wanted economic
opportunities
b. young, relatively prosperous people who traveled in families (except for the gold diggers and
miners :b )
c. otherwise, you worked as LENNY!! (migrant farm/ranch hand) or as Curley’s wife (prostitute!!) or
teacher, domestic servant
d. Fur trappers- hardy band of explorers and trappers provided early information about trails and
frontier conditions
e. Overland Trails
i. started in Missouri/Iowa, then took the Oregon Trail over the Great Plains, then Rockies,
Sierras/Cascades
ii. lasted five or six months, always trying to beat the snow, moved very slowly
iii. died more from disease and depression than Indian attacks; actually, the Indians were
helpful
iv. work divided among gender roles, solitude and intensity of the trip made it a bonding
 family time!!
f. Mining Frontier (Gold Rush)
i. started in California in 1848
ii. the “forty-niners” (California migrants) abandoned farms, jobs, homes, families to gold
mine
iii. brought many people into the mountains to create short-lived mining camps and towns
iv. Chinese people came too, lol, for gold but also to fill in the job shortages created
because of the gold rush
v. gold rush made California a very diverse place, created turbulence and pressure on the
federal government resolve the slavery issue
g. Farming Frontier
i. Preemption Acts- gave squatters the right to settle public lands and purchase them for
low prices once the government put them up for sale
1. small areas of land also put up for sale-- made it easier for small families to settle
ii. mostly middle class families attempted the trek because of the cost of the overland trip
iii. initially isolated, but communities developed with institutions modeled after the East or
their respective countries of origin
h. Urban Frontier
i. San Francisco, Denver and Salt Lake City came as a result of railroads, mineral wealth,
farming and supplying travelers on their overland trails
12. The Expanding Economy
a. Industrial Technology
i. industrialization spread from New England to the other states of the Northeast
ii. Elias Howe’s sewing machine moved production of clothing from the home to the
factory
iii. growth of Morse’s telegraph literally ran parallel to the growth of railroads, speeding up
communication and transportation
b. Foreign Commerce
i. shipping firms encouraged trade and travel across the Atlantic by having a regular
departure schedule
ii. demand for whale oil caused a whaling boom, in which New england merchants took the
lead
iii. steamships replaced clipper ships-- had greater storage capacity, lower maintenance
costs and better able to follow regular schedule
iv. Commodore Perry forced Japan to open up its ports to trade
c. Panic of 1857
i. big drop in prices, many jobless
ii. South’s cotton prices remained high, gave them the impression that they were superior
iii. in the North, strengthened the Republicans because they believed that the depression
was caused by the south’s Democratic administration