Chapter 14 The Territorial Expansion of the United States

Chapter Fourteen

The Territorial

Expansion of the

United States,

1830s–1850s

Chapter Focus Questions

How did the political effects of expansion

heighten sectional tensions?

How did the concept of manifest destiny affect

continental expansion?

How was the frontier development in Oregon,

Texas, and California similar and different?

Remember the Alamo

The Texas uprising was an alliance between American and native-Spanish speakers, Tejanos.

The Tejano elite welcomed American entrepreneurs and shared power with them.

The Mexican state was unstable and the conservative centralists decided Americans had too much power and tried to crack down on local autonomy.

Tejanos played key roles in the Texas Revolution, though once independence was secured they were excluded from positions of power.

The frontier pattern of dealing with native people was by: first, blending with them

second, occupying the land

third, excluding or removing native settlers.

The Fur Trade

The fur trade was the greatest spur to exploration in North America.

Not until the 1820s could American companies challenge the British.

Trappers known as mountain men:

accommodated themselves to local Indians

rarely came in contact with whites

might be viewed as the advance guard of the market revolution.

By the 1840s, however, the beaver was virtually trapped out.

The artist Alfred Jacob Miller, a careful observer of the western fur trade, shows a mountain

man and his Indian wife in his 1837 Bourgeois Walker & His Wife. Walker and his wife worked

together to trap and prepare beaver pelts for market, as did other European men and their

Indian wives. SOURCE:The Walters Art Museum,Baltimore (37.1940.78).

Government-Sponsored Exploration

Map: Exploration of the Continent, 1804–

1830.

The federal government promoted western

expansion by sending out exploratory and

scientific expeditions that mapped the West

and brought back artists’ re-creations.

MAP 14.1 Exploration of the

Continent, 1804–30 Lewis and

Clark’s “voyage of discovery” of

1804–06 was the first of many

government-sponsored western

military expeditions. Crossing

the Great Plains in 1806,

Lieutenant Zebulon Pike was

captured by the Spanish in their

territory and taken to Mexico,

but returned in 1807 via Texas.

Major Stephen Long, who

crossed the Plains in 1819–20,

found them “arid and

forbidding.” Meanwhile, fur

trappers, among them the

much-traveled Jedediah Smith,

became well acquainted with

the West as they hunted

beaver for their pelts.

Expansion and Indian Policy

Government policy looked upon the West as a refuge for eastern Indians who were removed.

Encroachment on the new Indian Territory was not long in coming.

The government pushed for further land concessions from the western tribes, though the tribes in Oklahoma held on to their lands until after the Civil War.

The major battles between whites and Indians in the Great West occurred after the Civil War.

MAP 14.2 Indian Territory Before the

Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 Indian Territory

lay west of Arkansas, Missouri, and lowa and

east of Spanish Territory. Most of the Indian

peoples who lived there in the 1830s and the

1840s had been “removed” from east of the

Mississipi River. The southern part (now

Oklahoma) was inhabited by peoples from the

Old Southwest: the Cherokees, Chickasaws,

Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles. North of

that (in what is now Kansas and Nebraska)

lived peoples who had been removed from the

Old Northwest. All these Indian peoples had

trouble adjusting not only to a new climate and

a new way of life, but to the close proximity of

some Indian tribes who were their traditional

enemies.

Painted by George Catlin about 1834, this scene, Commanche Village Life, shows how the

everday life of the Comanches was tied to buffalo. The women in the foreground are scraping

buffalo hide, and buffalo meat can be seen drying on racks. The men and boys may be

planning their next buffato hunt. SOURCE:Art Resource,N.Y.

Manifest Destiny, an Expansionist

Ideology

In 1845, journalist John O’Sullivan coined the phrase ―manifest destiny‖ to imply Americans had a basic right to spread across the continent and conquer whomever stood in their way.

Westward expansion would increase trade and enable whites to ―civilize‖ the Indians. Democrats saw expansion as the cure for national ills by providing new opportunities in the West, leading to increased trade with Asia.

Whigs feared expansion would bring up the slavery issue.

The Overland Trails

Map: The Overland Trails, 1840, p. 397

The great trails started at the Missouri River.

The Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails followed the Platte River into Wyoming.

The Santa Fe Trail was much harsher.

The 2,000-mile Overland Trail was a long, expensive, and hazardous journey.

Pioneers traveled in groups and often hired a pilot who knew the terrain.

Men were responsible for care of the animals.

Women prepared food and took care of the children.

Problem arose when the parties reached the Rocky Mountains.

Though Indian attacks were few, throughout the journey disease plagued the pioneers.

MAP 14.3 The Overland

Trails, 1840 All the great trails

west started at the Missouri

River. The Oregon, California,

and Mormon Trails followed

the Platte River into Wyoming,

crossed South Pass, and

divided in western Wyoming.

The much harsher Santa Fé

Trail stretched 900 miles

southwest across the Great

Plains. All of the trails crossed

Indian Territory and, to greater

or lesser extent, Mexican

possessions as well.

Oregon

After 1818, the United States and Britain jointly controlled

Oregon territory, though the British dominated the region.

Along with fur trappers, missionaries were among the

earliest white settlers.

Conflicts with Indians resulted in periodic bloodbaths.

Disease greatly reduced the Indian population.

By the mid-1840s ―Oregon Fever‖ broke out, spurred by the

promise of free land. Joint occupation ended in 1846, when

the Canadian border was drawn in its current location.

Oregon: Settlements

White Oregonians built closely-knit communities.

African Americans were formally excluded.

Relations with the Indians were peaceful until 1847, when a series of wars broke out. In 1859, Oregon was admitted to the United States as a state.

FIGURE 14.1 Overland Emigration to Oregon, California, and Utah, 1840–60 Before 1849, the

westward migration consisted primarily of family groups going to Oregon or Utah. The discovery of

gold in California dramatically changed the migration: through 1854, most migrants were single men

“rushing” to California, which remained the favored destination up until 1860. Over the twenty-year

period from 1840 to 1860, the Overland Trails were transformed from difficult and dangerous routes

to well-marked and well-served thoroughfares. SOURCE:John Unruh Jr.,The Plains Across (Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois Press,1979),pp.119 –20

The Santa Fe Trade

After independence, New Mexico

welcomed American trade along the Santa

Fe Trail.

American trappers and traders assimilated

into the local population.

The trail was hard, arduous, and dangerous;

profits were high.

Mexican Texas

In Texas, multiethnic settlements revolved around the presidio, mission, and rancho. Mexican authorities sought American settlement as a way of providing a buffer between its heartland and the Comanches.

Stephen F. Austin promoted American emigration.

Generally, slaveholders came to grow cotton in their self-contained enclaves.

Americans viewed Texas as an extension of Mississippi and Louisiana.

Toward Texas Independence

For a brief period Texas was big enough to hold Comanche, Mexican, and American communities:

Mexicans maintained ranches and missions in the South.

Americans farmed the eastern and south central sections.

The Comanches held their hunting grounds on the frontier.

In 1828, a new Mexican centrist government broke the balance when it sought to control Texas by restricting immigration, outlawing slavery, and raising taxes.

Americans came to see their own culture as superior to that of the ―mongrel Spanish-Indian.‖

The Texas Revolt

War broke out in 1835.

The Mexican army overwhelmed Americans at the Alamo.

At the San Jacinto River, Sam Houston’s forces victory led to a treaty granting independence to the Republic of Texas and fixing the southern boundary at the Rio Grande.

This modern photograph of the Alamo chapel by the well-known landscape photographer

David Muench conveys the pristine and rather nostalgic atmosphere of the site that describes

itself as “the Cradle of Texas liberty.” SOURCE:© David Muench//CORBIS.

This sculpture is part of the Alamo Cenotaph, a memorial to the slain defenders of the Alamo

that was erected in Alamo Plaza in 1940. The two prominent figures are the famous

defenders William B. Travis (in uniform) and Davy Crockett. ©Lee Snider/Corbis.

Texas and the Election of 1844

The Texas Republic developed after the United States rejected admission for fear of rekindling slave state/free state conflicts.

Within the republic, conflicts between Anglos and Tejanos grew as Americans assumed themselves to be racially and culturally superior.

President Tyler raised the issue of annexation in 1844 with hopes of re-election—the debate over the ramifications of annexation ensued.

Polk won the 1844 election after calling for ―the re-occupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas at the earliest practicable period.‖

The 1844 election was widely interpreted as a mandate for expansion.

Texas became a state in 1845, becoming the eighth state of the Union and the fifteenth slave state.

Origins of the War

James K. Polk was committed to expanding U.S.

territory.

He peacefully settled the Oregon controversy.

Increasing tensions with Mexico led that nation to

break diplomatic relations with the United States.

Polk wanted to extend U.S. territory to the Pacific

and encouraged a takeover of California.

A border dispute led Polk to order troops to defend

Mexico.

Mr. Polk’s War

The dispute with Mexico erupted into war

after that nation refused to receive Polk’s

envoy and a brief skirmish occurred on the

Texas-Mexico border.

Polk asked for war with Mexico.

The call was politically divisive, particularly

among opponents of slavery and northerners.

Mass and individual protests occurred.

The Mexican-American War

Maps: The Mexican-American War, 1846–1848

Polk planned the war strategy, sending troops into the northern provinces of Mexico, conquering New Mexico and California.

MAP 14.5 The Mexican-American War 1846–1848 The Mexican-American War began with an

advance by U.S. forces into the disputed area between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande in

Texas. The war’s major battles were fought by General Zachary Taylor in northern Mexico and

General Winfield Scott in Vera Cruz and Mexico City. Meanwhile Colonel Stephen Kearny secured

New Mexico and, with the help of the U.S. Navy and John C. Frémont’s troops, California.

The Invasion of Mexico

Victories in Mexico came hard.

The fierce Mexican resistance was met by

American brutality against Mexican citizens.

When General Scott captured Mexico City,

the war ended.

General Winfield Scott is shown at moment of victory, riding into Mexico City’s central square

in 1847 to accept the Mexican surrender. Triumphant lithographs like this were very popular

with the American public, who knew very little about the hardship and brutality of the six-

month long campaign that preceded it. SOURCE:Carl Nebel,Lithegraph 1847.Special Collection University of Texas,Arlington.

American Expansion after the Mexican-

American War

Polk had ambitions of taking over Mexico, but strong opposition made him accept the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Territory Added, 1845–1853

MAP 14.6 Territory Added, 1845–

53 James K. Polk was elected

president in 1844 on an

expansionist platform. He lived up

to most of his campaign rhetoric by

gaining the Oregon Country (to the

forty-ninth parallel) peacefully from

the British, Texas by the presidential

action of his predecessor John

Tyler, and present-day California,

Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New

Mexico, and part of Colorado by

war with Mexico. In the short space

of three years, the size of the

United States grew by 70 percent.

In 1853, the Gadsden Purchase

added another 30,000 square miles.

The Press and Popular War Enthusiasm

The Mexican-American War was the first conflict

featuring regular, on-the-scene reporting.

The war reports united Americans into a temporary,

emotional community.

Popular war heroes like Zachary Taylor and

Winfield Scott later became presidential candidates.

California Before the Gold Rush

The Russians had enjoyed a brisk trade in California.

A Swiss immigrant who became a Mexican citizen, John Sutter, helped Americans emigrate to California.

An American community grew up around Sutter’s land grant, which participated in the independence movement from Mexico.

Gold!

Map: California in the Gold Rush

The discovery of gold in January 1848

triggered a massive gold rush of white

Americans, Mexicans, and Chinese.

Because it was the entry port and supply

point, San Francisco grew from a village of

1,000 in 1848 to a city of 35,000 in 1850.

MAP 14.7 California in the Gold Rush

This map shows the major gold camps

along the Mother Lode in the western

foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Gold seekers reached the camps by

crossing the Sierra Nevadas near

Placerville on the Overland Trail or by sea

via San Francisco. The main area of

Spanish-Mexican settlement, the coastal

region between Monterey and Los

Angeles, was remote from the gold fields. SOURCE:Warren A.Beck and Ynez D.Haase,Historical Atlas of California (Norman:University of

Oklahoma Press,1974),map 50.

The Forty-Niners

California’s white population grew by nearly tenfold.

Twenty percent of the miners came from foreign countries.

California gained enough residents to become a state in 1850.

―Where the Forty-Niners Came From‖

FIGURE 14.2 Where the Forty-Niners Came From Americans drawn to the California Gold

Rush of 1849 encountered a more diverse population than most had previously known.

Nearly as novel to them as the 20 percent from foreign countries, was the regional variety

from within the United States itself.

The Chinese Miners

The Chinese first came to California in 1849.

They were often forced off their claims.

The Chinese worked as servants and in other menial occupations.

Chinese first came to California in 1849 attracted by the Gold Rush. Frequently, however,

they were forced off their claims by intolerant whites. Rather than enjoy an equal chance in

the gold fields, they were often forced to work as servants or in other menial occupations. SOURCE:Head of Auburn Ravine ,1852,Gold miners with Chinese laborers,California State Library (912).

Mining Camps

The mining camps were generally

miserable, squalid, temporary communities

where racism was widespread.

Most of the miners were young, unmarried,

and unsuccessful.

A much more reliable way to earn wealth

was to supply the miners.

This drawing of the bar of a gambling saloon in San Francisco in 1855 shows the effects of the

Gold Rush on California. Men from all parts of the world are gathered at this elegant bar in the large

cosmopolitan city of San Francisco, which had been only a small trading post before gold was

discovered in 1849. SOURCE:Frank Marryat,The Bar of a Gambling Saloon , published 1855.Lithograph.Collection of the New York Historical Society,New York City (48381).

The Wilmot Proviso

Northern Whigs opposed expansion on

antislavery grounds.

The Wilmot Proviso caused a controversy

over the status of slavery in the new

territories.

A bitter debate on the Proviso raised serious

sectional issues and caused the first

breakdown of the national party system.

Free-Soil

The growth of the Liberty Party indicated northern public opinion was shifting toward an antislavery position.

The Free-Soil Party offered a compromise for northern voters by focusing on stopping the spread of slavery.

The Free-Soilers appealed to northern values of freedom and individualism, as well as racism, for they would ban all African Americans from the new territories.

The Election of 1848

In the election of 1848, candidates had to discuss their views on the slavery expansion. Lewis Cass, the Democrat, favored popular sovereignty but was vague on details.

The Whig war hero, Zachary Taylor, refused to take a position on the Wilmot Proviso. The Free-Soil Party ran Martin Van Buren as a spoiler.

By taking Democratic votes from Cass, Van Buren helped Taylor win the election. Unfortunately, Taylor died in office.

In 1848, the Whigs nominated a hero of the Mexican-American War, General ZacharyTaylor,

who ran on his military exploits. In this poster, every letter of Taylor’s name is decorated with

scenes from the recent war, wich had seized the popular imagination in a way no previous

conflict had done.