We are the nation of human progress, and who will, what can, set limits to our onward march?” -John O’Sullivan

We are the nation of human progress, and who will, what can, set limits to our

onward march?”

-John O’Sullivan

MANIFEST DESTINY

 Nation needed room to grow

 People believed it was their Manifest

destiny or obvious fate, to settle land all the way to the Pacific Ocean in order to spread democracy.

 Whether or not new territories will have slavery becomes an issue….

ACQUIRING NEW TERRITORY:

FLORIDA

• Came about because of increased boundary tensions.

• Spain also couldn’t afford to send settlers to Florida or the military to keep people from revolting like the rest of South America was doing at the time…

ACQUIRING NEW TERRITORY:

OREGON

• Why do we want Oregon?

• Oregon would be useful to the U.S. because it would provide a Pacific port for trade with China.

• American dispute with Britain over the Oregon territory

• “Fifty-four forty or fight!”

This meant that Americans wanted land north up to the 54º-40º line.

• Compromised in 1846 – land to be split at 49º Parallel

TEXAS!

• 1810 Mexico launches its War for Independence

against Spain

• 1835-1836 Texas fights Mexico for its

independence! They

become their own nation for nearly ten years.

• March 1845- congress approves annexation.

• December 1845-Texas

officially becomes a state.

• Angered Mexican

government: considered Texas a “stolen province”

• Other than Texas, Mexico

still controlled the southwest including California.

CONFLICTED BORDERS

• Dispute over southern border of Texas

• Mexico says it is the Nueces River.

• U.S. says it is the Rio Grande.

• President Polk sends John Slidell to Mexico

• Offers Mexico $30 million for

California and New Mexico territory.

• Mexico is insulted and refuses to

speak to him.

MEXICAN AMERICAN WAR

• March 1846-Gen. Zachary Taylor of the

United States casually led troops to the Rio Grande.

• Why would this anger Mexico?

• What message is the U.S. sending by doing this?

• Mexican Commander tells Taylor to leave, but he refuses

• On April 25, 1846, Mexican cavalry attacks his troops, killing about a dozen soldiers.President Polk’s Response:

“Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory, and shed American

blood upon American soil…”

U.S. MILITARY OCCUPIES CALIFORNIA

• July 1846- US naval forces arrive in California and raised the stars and stripes

• Bear Flag Revolt:

• June 1846- Sonoma, California is taken by a small group of

Americans

• They raise the Bear flag and

proclaim that California is now an independent nation.

• August 1846-US Navy Commodore Robert Stockton claims California for the United States

• They succeed in taking Cali because Mexico has very little military presence there…

• California would become a state in 1850.

THE WAR CONTINUES

• Commander Stephen Kearny invades and captures Santa Fe, New Mexico.

• General Taylor captured the city of Monterrey, California.

• With losses stacking up, Mexico called in General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who had participated in the Texas War and had been living in exile ever since his loss there.

• February 1847- Santa Anna and Taylor fight at Buena Vista.

• Heavy losses for both sides, but Mexico retreats

OPPOSITION TO THE WAR

• The United States’ attitude towards the war was very divided.

• Southerners and Westerners, for the most part, supported the war.

They wanted more land!

• Northerners opposed the war because they felt like the war was

provoked and that President Polk was just trying to extend the reach of slavery.

• Even Abraham Lincoln (a member of the House of Representatives at the time) believed that the disputed land really did belong to Mexico.

WAR’S END

• General Winfield Scott is sent to Mexico

• Sails to Veracruz

• The city falls in March, 1847

• Turns his focus to Mexico City (their capital)

• Falls September 14, 1847

• Santa Anna refuses to surrender!

• Scott pushed to capture Chapultepec, a stone

palace above Mexico City. The Mexican army fought bravely to

defend it, but at last they were defeated.

• The United states

officially won the war they started.

MEXICA N

CESSION

• February 1848-US and Mexico sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• Officially ends war

• The land that will become California, Nevada, Utah, and most of Arizona and New Mexico goes to the United States

• Sets U.S. Mexico border at the Rio Grande River

• U.S. territory grows by almost 25%!

• US paid Mexico $15 million in damages

• How much did the offer to Mexico to buy the land before the war?

GADSDEN PURCHASE

• Americans need a southern railroad to California

• December 1853, U.S. Minister to Mexico James Gadsden offers to buy Mexican land

• Gadsden Purchase

• US paid Mexico $10 million for southern parts of Arizona and New Mexico.

• Sets U.S. Mexico boundary at what it is today!

AFTERMATH OF THE WARS

• Americans flood into the Southwest

• Conflict with

Mexican-Americans and Native

Americans over land

• Manifest destiny is fulfilled– “sea to shining sea”

LASTING EFFECTS FOR AMERICANS, INCLUDING MEXICAN-AMERICANS

• Laws printed in both English and Spanish

• Places names: San Antonio, San Diego, Santa Barbara

• Knowledge and cultural tradition

OPINIONS ON THE WAR

“In our judgment, those who have all along been loudly in favor of the war… and heralding its bloody triumphs with apparent rapture… have succeeded in robbing Mexico of her territory… We are not the people to rejoice; we ought rather to blush and hang our heads for shame.”

-Frederick Douglas, former slave and abolitionist

“This is no war of defense, but one of unnecessary and offensive aggression. It is Mexico that is defending her firesides… not us.”

-Henry Clay

“Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation… whenever he may choose to…and you allow him to make war at pleasure.”

-Abraham Lincoln

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQmIb-18B_I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_CfjuxrTgw