1. US history survey
March 27, 2012
expansion of US, Manifest Destiny

2. announcements
• Paper # 1 is due.
• Late papers will be penalized by lowered
grades.
• European Association for American Studies
conference at Ege U this weekend.

3. Constant desire for land
• Forced removal of Indians to take over their
land.
• Extension of slavery farther west.
• War with Mexico.
• Negotiation with Britain.
• “Manifest Destiny.”
• By 1853, continental US had reached its
present boundaries.

5. Indian removal, 1830s
• Indian Removal Act, 1830 – funds to relocate
Indians from SE. Contradicted earlier law.
• Cherokees won 2 Supreme Court cases –
“domestic dependent nation.”
• “Five Civilized Tribes” forced off lands in SE to
Indian Territory (Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska).
• Cherokees, who had adopted white ways, forced
west in winter, 1838 – 1839. 7,000-man army
escort. ¼ of 16,000 died.

6. Trail of Tears

9. Mexican independence, 1821
• Mexico ended policies of New Spain: slavery &
racially discriminatory laws.
• Wanted to develop northern provinces.
• Invited Anglos to settle in Tejas, via empresarios,
Moses & Stephen Austin, 1821.
• Rapid settlement by southern whites with slaves,
extension of cotton economy. It was legal
settlement, unlike most westward expansion.
• Settlers required to become citizens of Mexico &
Catholics.

10. Americans in Texas
• Lived mostly in E, cotton plantations, slaves.
• Little contact with Tejanos or Indians.
• Defined selves as Americans & Protestants.
• Mexican government abolished slavery, restricted
American immigration, levied taxes, 1828.
• War, 1835. Battles of Alamo (San Antonio) & San
Jacinto.
• Mexico recognized independent Republic of
Texas, 1836.

11. San Antonio

12. Republic of Texas, 1836 - 1845
• Texas applied for
admission to US as
state, 1837.
• Rejected by Congress –
another slave state.
• Joined 1845, making 15
slave states, 13 free.
• Replica of first capitol of • Conflict with Mexicanos
Republic of Texas. & Indians.

13. • Americans claim Texas
was part of Louisiana
Purchase.
• Texans claim S & W
borders farther than
Mexico agrees.

15. Mexican-American War, 1846 - 1848

16. President Polk, expansionist
• Unnecessary war?
• Polk sends army to
Texas, & naval squadron
to California, secretly.
• Attempts to buy S.
Texas, New Mexico, &
California from Mexico.
• US wins war with
capture of Mexico City.
• Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, 1848.

18. Gadsden Purchase, 1853
• $10 million to facilitate a southern
railroad.

19. • New Mexico.
• Tucson, Arizona.

21. Results of Mexican American War
• Residents able to choose Mexican or US
citizenship.
• Residents guaranteed rights as citizens – not
honored by states or US, re slavery, land-
owning, language, property.
• Mexico loses half its land.
• US grows enormously.

22. Gold discovered in California, 1848

24. rapid growth of California
• Men converge on
California from around
world; 80% from US.
• Separate Californio/
Mexican culture along
coast, & miners inland.
• San Francisco major
city.
• California becomes a
state in 1850.

25. • California gold country.

26. California coastal ranch

27. Oregon Territory/Pacific NW
• Claimed by Spain, Russia, Britain, US.
• Treaty of Ghent, 1814 (War of 1812)
• Adams-Onis Treaty, 1819 – Spanish claim to
42nd parallel.
• Hudson’s Bay Company (British) – fur trading
on Snake & Columbia Rivers.
• Negotiated with British for 49th
parallel as boundary, 1846.

28. Overland Trail to Oregon
• “Oregon fever.”
• Beginning 1840, settlers
arrive from mid-west.
• 7-months journey
overland.
• Ruts from wagon
wheels can still be seen
today.
• 300,000 to Oregon &
California by 1860.

29. Oregon Territory
• Oregon, Washington,
Idaho, parts of Montana
& Wyoming.
• Settlers in what
becomes state of
Oregon settle in
Willamette Valley.

31. In 3 years US territory grows by 70%
• Politics changes.
• Whigs opposed Polk’s expansionism on anti-
slavery grounds.
• Wilmot Proviso, 1846 – ban slavery in all
territories acquired from Mexico – not passed.
• N & S wings of parties cannot agree.
• New parties: Liberty Party, Free Soil Party – no
extension of slavery.
• Sectional conflict increasing over slavery
extension.

32. announcements
• Paper # 1 is due.
• Late papers will be penalized by lowered
grades.
• European Association for American Studies
conference at Ege U this weekend.

33. reading for next week
• Sojourner Truth, 33 – 44.
• Grimke sisters, 64 – 75
• In American Women Activists’ Writings, ed.
Kathryn Cullen DuPont.