Going West

• GTT (gone to Texas)
• Settlement of Texas
  • 1819- The Panic of 1819
  • 1820- Missouri Compromise: The Southerners didn't care much about the 36 30 line since lots of people were moving to Texas
  • 1821- Mexico won independence from Spain; very bloody, lots of lives lost
  • 1823- Mexican government decides to sell chunks of land in Texas to Americans in order to pay back war debts
    • Mexico wanted to do this in an orderly fashion, so they created the empressarios
    • Empressarios were Americans who wanted land, and therefore led familes into Texas. The most famous was Moses Austin
    • Mexico had 3 rules in order to settle in Texas
  • 1824- Mexico writes their consittution
  • 1832- Second Texas Revolution. Santa Ana says that if the Texans support him, then he will uphold the Constitution (he lied and is actually a dictator).
  • 1835- San Antonio de Santa Ana becomes the Mexican dictator, or a caudillo
• Texas Revolution 1836
  • JQA and Jackson had previously tried to buy Texas
  • Santa Ana ordered a general to go and seize one cannon from the Texans, and sure enough a fight broke out
  • The Mexican army fled from General William Travis and hid in the Alamo, but they soon surrendered.
  • Sam Houston ordered Travis to tear down and abandon the Alamo because it is a terrible fort, but Travis does not listen and eventually gets trapped inside.
  • All American soldiers in the Battle of the Alamo were killed and burned as an example, but this just made Texans more angry.
  • Battle of San Jacinto was the biggest battle in Texas history.
  • Houston won the battle of San Jacinto and becomes the first president of Texas
  • Texas Independence
    • Jackson helps Texas win their independence, but does not offer Texas statehood in order not to aggravate the slavery issue
    • Van Buren didn't face the Texas issue head on either since he was dealing with depression from the Panic of 1837
    • William Henry Harrison didn't last long
    • Tyler wanted to admit Texas into statehood, but congress wouldn't let him
• Manifest Destiny
  • Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, said "Go West, young man." and John O'Sullivan, also a newspaper man, is credited with creating the phrase Manifest Destiny.
  • Reasons for Manifest Destiny
    • Commodore Matthew Perry wanted to open trading posts on the West coast
    • people wanted to go west and escape diseases such as consumption (tuberculosis), cholera, dysentery, malaria, yellow fever
    • escape economic disasters like the Panics of 1819 and 1837
    • nationalism, the second great awakening, mountain men stories (famous mountain men Jedediah Smith was the first man to cross the Sierra Nevada, and John Sutter had an important fort near present day Sacramento)
• More Texas News
  • Jackson ignored the Texas issue
  • so did MVB. He also ignored it since he was dealing with the Independent Sub Treasury and economic depression
  • William Henry Harrison didn't last long
  • and finally Tyler had nothing to loose since he wasn't going to be president very long
  • Joint Resolution passed (The House and Senate vote as one) 120-98 to admit Texas as one state. Texas admitted as one state was somewhat a compromise with the North since it really ought to be 4-5 states.
• Oregon Country
  • The Americans claimed Oregon all for themselves up to 54 40 line, and the British claimed Oregon all fro themselves down to the 42 degree line.
  • The Oregon country wasn't really an issue until the Oregon trail
  • was an issue in the 1844 election
• California- Illegal??
  • John Bidwell is called the father of California because he led people and families into California, and made money selling land (that wasn't even his).
  • Spanish Missions
  • Whaling was profitable for lamp oil before it was replaced by kerosine
  • The Donner-Reed party
    • Lansford Hastings: a legend in his own mind, wrote a booklet called an Emigrant's Guide to Oregon to California in 1845. It told about a shortcut on the Oregon Trail that went south of the Great Salt Lake
    • Hastings never actually rode the whole trail, let alone with a wagon team.
    • The Donner-Reed Party decided to take the shortcut and got stuck right before they crossed the Sierra Nevada because of the first winter snow.
    • The Forlorn Hope group scaled the Sierra Nevada summit to go find help and in desperation, roasted and ate their dead friends after they had died.
• Election of 1844
  • Issues
    • The Panic of 1837: people were still feeling the effects of this panic in 1844. It was the worst panic other than the Great Depression!
      • What are we going to do for banking and money? paper money vs. backed money
      • The Labor vs. Capital issue, working conditions, socialism
      • Struggle between the farmers and the people in the city
    • The Expansion of Slavery, especially in Texas was a big issue. The North was mad at the way that Tyler had dealt with Texas and passed the sneaky joint resolution.
    • Manifest Destiny- do we really have the God-given right to expand from sea to shining sea?
  • The Whigs nominated Henry Clay which was not a great idea because:
    • they needed someone without a bunch of political experience
    • people liked the war heros
    • someone who is not outspoken and has no enemies
  • The Democrats
    • Democrats were very much in disarray because of MVB
    • nominated Dark Horse James K. Polk "Young Hickory" on the 9th ballot
    • the first Dark Horse candidate to run and win
  • James G. Birney from the third party (the Liberty Party) goes from 7,000 popular votes to 62,000 popular votes in the 1844 election. Big picture was that Birney caused the North to feel very strongly about slavery and oppose slavery in the new territories.
  • The Results 170-105 to Polk
    • Polk made his expansionist policies very clear. If I win I want it all!
  • Polk as President
    • Background
      • Polk was a lawyer, planter, slave holder, graduate of UNC Chapel Hill
      • called "Young Hickory" because he admired Jackson
      • moved to Tennessee
      • He was not very talented, but was stubborn and an incredibly hard worker
    • Issues/Events
      • Domestic Issues
        • Walker Tariff of 1846 changed the tariff from 38% to 25%. There was much rejoicing in the South, but not in the North
        • Polk opposed the establishment of a third BUS, but brought back the Independent Sub Treasury system.
        • opposed spending money on internal improvements
      • The Joint Resolution of Texas shouldn't have been an issue, but the Northerners thought it was suspicious that Texas was accepted into statehood without being approved by the Senate.
      • The Buchanan-Pakenham Treaty of 1846 split Oregon with the British in half along the 54 40 line with no issues. Polk got what he wanted here.
      • The US helps Santa Ana the Mexican dictator come into power again if he sells California to him at a good price. Santa Ana lies (yet again). Santa Ana tells John Slidell to take his 40 million and leave. This leads to a war with Mexico.
    • War with Mexico
      • Causes
        • Mexico was in deep debt to the US, and they thought that if they went to war that it would relieve their debts. Debt is not really a cause for war by itself, but combined with other things, it was.
        • Mexico threatened that if the US annexed Texas, they would declare war. If the US annexed Texas it would look like they used the Texans to win independence in order to gain statehood.
        • The Rio Grande and the Nueces river were disputed as Texas's southern border.
        • The US was mad because Santa Ana lied to John Slidell about selling California for $40 million
      • In 1846 Polk orders 1500 troops under General Zachary Taylor to move across the Nueces River into the disputed area. The Mexicans open fire, and the war begins. Polk started his opening remarks with, "American blood has been spilled on American spoil."
      • Lincoln didn't believe Polk and he actually wanted to see the spots of blood on the ground. This became known as the Spot Resolution.
      • Fun Fact Henry David Thoreau spent a night in jail since he refused to pay poll tax for this war.
      • This war ranks #3 in the most unpopular war (#1 being Vietnam, #2 being the War of 1812)
      • The Northern whig/Republican people were mad because they thought this war basically a war to extend slavery. The southern Democrats were all for the war. The Northern Democrats were the deciding vote in the war vote.
      • US commanders in the war with Mexico: all of them ran for president before the Civil War, except for Kearney
        • Zachary Taylor: nicknamed rough and ready, some say he started the war
        • Winfield Scott: old fuss and feathers, was the Marine Crops leader
        • John C Frémont: the guy who took California, nicknamed the Pathfinder
        • Stephen F Kearney: didn't have a nickname
      • Battle of Buena Vista, just north of Mexico City. Here the two army accidentally collided. The US won this battle
      • Battle of Mexico City: General Winfield Scott fought the Mexicans from Vera Cruz all the way back to Mexico City
      • John C. Frémont was very important to California History bringing families in and helping settle.
      • Kearney was the first Governor of California, but died of yellow fever.
      • The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848 negotiated by Nicholas Trist
        • all the Mexican cession land and the disputed area of Western Texas
        • neither north nor south was happy with the treaty since southerners wanted all of Mexico, and the north wanted none of it
        • the US paid Mexico $15 million and another $3.2 million in forgiven debts since they were feeling guilty about picking a fight in order to get the land.