Chapter 12: Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny, 1841-1849

1. The Explosion Westward
   1. The Complicated Worlds of the West
      1. With the arrival of Spanish, French, Russian, and other Europeans, the alreadycomplex world of intergroup relations in the West became even more complicated.
         1. William H. Ashley established an innovation in the fur business, the rendezvous system, in the Rocky Mountains.
         2. Their great success led to the decline of the fur trade.
         3. Former fur trappers founded new communities in the West, while the former organizers became general developers in the West.
      2. Land speculators also contributed to the opening of the West.
         1. They bought land at low rates and then resold it in smaller parcels.
      3. Gold prospectors penetrated farther west.
         1. Not finding gold, they turned to permanent settlement.
   2. The Attraction of the West
      1. The main reason for western migration was hope of economic self-betterment.
      2. Migrants from New England went west rather than to eastern cities.
         1. They left New England because of a shortage of land caused by family land-division traditions and by the growth of sheep raising.
      3. Most migrants to the West went in groups.
         1. Small and midsize parties going to Texas purchased land from impresarios like Moses Austin and Stephen Austin.
         2. Large groups traveled from Missouri to Oregon, drawn there by missionaries who had preceded them.
         3. The Mormons left Illinois as a community under the leadership of Brigham Young and established themselves in Utah.
      4. Most pioneers lacked cash.
         1. They squatted on unsold public lands.
         2. Western congressmen ensured passage of a pre-emption bill.
2. The Social Fabric in the West
   1. The New Cotton Country
      1. Native Americans had prepared the way for white settlers by clearing the land for agriculture.
      2. Differing land quality allowed some settlers to prosper while others did not.
         1. The Southwest replicated the South’s hierarchical structure.
   2. Westering Yankees
      1. Settlers in the former Northwest Territory found that the way had been prepared for them.
         1. Native Americans had cleared the land for farming.
         2. Surveyors had laid out the land.
      2. The Old Northwest quickly replicated many features of New England.
         1. Traditional institutions were established.
         2. Class differences were not as pronounced as in the Southwest, because ofrelatively uniform land quality.
      3. Conditions in Oregon were favorable for settlers.
         1. Open, fertile prairies provided good farmland.
         2. Relations with Native Americans were at first quite good, until the Cayuse War in 1847.
      4. Religious revivals were a feature of life in all three regions.
         1. In the Old Northwest and in Oregon, they reinforced town life.
   3. The Hispanic Southwest
      1. Missions provided the backbone for the Spanish settlement of California.
         1. Native Americans provided the labor that made the region prosper agriculturally.
         2. Following independence, the Mexican government sold off the missions to private individuals, who formed a Spanish-speaking landed elite.
      2. Interethnic and interracial harmony prevailed in some sections of the Spanish Southwest:
         1. In northern California, around John Sutter’s settlement.
         2. In Santa Fe, where an ethnically mixed elite based on commerce developed.
         3. In Texas, until the American population became large.
   4. The Mormon Community
      1. Climatic conditions in Utah made central management and control desirable.
         1. The Mormon Church parceled out land according to need and organized communal work.
         2. The Mormons did all they could to exclude non-Mormons from Utah.
         3. On the other hand, they cultivated close relations with the Native Americans.
3. The Triumph of "Manifest Destiny"
   1. he Rise of Manifest Destiny
      1. The concept of manifest destiny contributed to westward expansion.
         1. The ideology of manifest destiny drew from religion: American possession of all of North America was God’s design.
         2. Christian missionary organizations were advocates of expansion for this reason.
         3. Politicians followed suit.
   2. Expansion to the North and West
      1. Expansion led to tension between the United States and Britain over territorial differences.
      2. In the Northeast, conflict flared over the border between Maine and Canada; a truce prevented outright war.
      3. In the Northwest, both England and the United States claimed Oregon.
         1. The two agreed to joint occupation after the War of 1812, extending this arrangement in 1827 indefinitely.
         2. American settlers established a governmental structure in 1843 despite British objections, and aimed at union with the United States
   3. Revolution in Texas
      1. After winning independence, Mexico owned the regions in the American Southwest that were formerly part of the Spanish Empire.
      2. Tensions between the Mexican government and American settlers in Texas came to a head in the early 1830s.
         1. After negotiating amicably with the Mexican government, Stephen Austin was arrested.
         2. Regaining his freedom, Austin led a revolt against Mexico.
      3. Santa Anna and the Mexican army invaded Texas.
         1. The American settlers declared independence.
         2. They were defeated at the Alamo and at Goliad, where they suffered a massacre.
         3. Following defeat and capture at San Jacinto, Santa Anna agreed to withdraw south of the Rio Grande.
      4. The Texans requested that the United States annex Texas.
   4. The Politics of Manifest Destiny
      1. President Tyler favored U.S. expansion.
         1. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty settled the border between Maine and Canada; the United States retained more than half of the disputed area.
         2. Tyler asserted the U.S. claim to Oregon by appointing a territorial Indian agent.
         3. His administration negotiated a treaty to annex Texas, which the Senate declined to ratify because of the slavery issue.
      2. Expansion was the major issue in the presidential election of 1844.
         1. The Whigs’ candidate (Clay) opposed the immediate annexation of Texas.
         2. Positions on the annexation of Texas led the Democrats to nominate Polk rather than Van Buren.
         3. The Democrats called for immediate annexation of Texas and the acquisition of all of Oregon to 54' 40".
      3. Congress approved a joint resolution annexing Texas prior to Tyler’s departure from office.
      4. Polk acquired much of Oregon for the United States
         1. He demanded 54' 40" as Oregon’s northern border; the British wanted it farther south at the Columbia River.
         2. The two sides agreed on the 49th parallel.
4. Expansion and Sectional Crisis
   1. The Texas Crisis and Sectional Conflict
      1. Tension rose with Mexico after Texas’s annexation.
         1. Texas’s boundary provided the focal point for controversy.
      2. Polk ordered the American army to the Rio Grande after Mexico refused to receive his envoy to discuss the issue.
         1. The United States declared war after a Mexican attack at the Rio Grande.
      3. Many in the United States protested against the war.
         1. Their concern arose from the connection between expansion and slavery.
      4. The annexation of Texas focused intense attention on slavery.
         1. Southerners saw greater economic and congressional power in the expansion of slavery.
         2. Northerners found slavery’s expansion into Texas proof that there was a "Slave Power" conspiracy.
         3. Appropriations for the war effort were held up by the debate over the proposed Wilmot Proviso.
   2. War with Mexico
      1. In California, American settlers revolted against Mexico.
         1. They established the Bear Flag Republic.
      2. Polk sent an army to Santa Fe which seized the entire region without opposition.
      3. In Mexico, the Mexicans were defeated on several fronts.
         1. Taylor defeated Santa Anna at Buena Vista.
         2. Scott marched overland and seized Mexico City.
      4. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war.
         1. The United States obtained Texas’s border at the Rio Grande, all of New Mexico, and California.
         2. Mexico received $15 million and U.S. payment for war damages caused by Mexico in Texas.
   3. The Antislavery Crusade and Women’s Rights
      1. Antislavery sentiment, though still unpopular, was on the increase; the abolitionist movement was growing larger.
         1. Moderate abolitionists, alienated by Garrison’s tactics and by his association with radical black abolitionists, formed their own organization.
      2. Some became prominent in the abolitionist movement, notably in the Garrison wing.
         1. Rebuffs in the movement led to advocacy of women’s own equality.
      3. At the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, women formulated a program for equality and political rights.
   4. Issues in the Election of 1848
      1. The two major parties tried to avoid the issue of slavery in the territories.
      2. The Free-Soil party insisted that slavery must be excluded from the territories.
      3. A surge in the number of people moving to California added to the growing split over slavery in the territories.