Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy

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Chapter 18

• Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy

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William Henry Harrison

• He was the first president to die in office.
• He served one month, the shortest term of any
  president.
• He gave the longest inauguration speech of any
  president.
• He was the first candidate to have a campaign
  slogan---"Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too."

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John Tyler

• Became president after the death of Harrison
• Former Democrat turned Whig due to dislike of the
  dictatorial tactics of Jackson.
• He was against almost everything Whigs were for.
• National Bank
• Protective Tariff
• Internal Improvements
• His entire cabinet resigned, except for Webster.
• Tyler had 15 children, the most of any president.

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Tyler receiving the news of Harrison's death,
April 5, 1841. CREDIT "Tyler receiving the
news of Harrison's death, April 5, 1841." Wood
engraving. No artist listed. Library of Congress,
General Collections. Reproduction Number
LC-USZ62-5997 (bw film copy neg.)
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Caroline Affair

• The Caroline was an American steamship that had
  been aiding rebels in Canada. Canadian militia,
  on orders of the British, seized the Caroline in
  American waters. They set the ship on fire, and
  sent it hurling over the Niagara Falls. These
  actions strained US relations with Great Britain
  almost to the point of war.

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Aroostook War

• Feb.May, 1839, border conflict between the
  United States and Canada. In 1838, Maine and New
  Brunswick both claimed territory left
  undetermined on the U.S.-Canadian border,
  including the valley of the Aroostook River.
  Maine farmers were interested in the valley's
  farmlands, and when New Brunswick sent Canadian
  lumbermen to do logging there, Maine authorities
  raised a force to eject them. New Brunswick asked
  for British regular troops and full-scale
  fighting seemed imminent, but Gen. Winfield
  Scott, who had been sent to the area with a small
  U.S. force, managed to reach an agreement (Mar.,
  1839) that prevented trouble. The boundary was
  later settled by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty
  (1842).

www.state.me.us/.../ history/fortkent/war.gif
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Webster-Ashburton Treaty

• The Webster-Ashburton Treaty, signed August 9,
  1842, settled the dispute over the location of
  the Maine-New Brunswick border between the United
  States and Canada as well as the location of the
  border (at the 49th parallel) in the westward
  frontier up to the Rocky Mountains and the shared
  use of the Great Lakes. It also called for a
  final end to the slave trade on the high seas, to
  be enforced by both signatories.

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The Lone Star Republic

• After Texas won their independence from Mexico it
  remained an independent country. (Lone Star
  Republic)
• Texas asked the United States to grant them
  statehood but the U.S. refused because of fear of
  war with Mexico and fear of inflaming the slave
  issue.
• Due to fear of an attack by Mexico Texas made
  treaties with France, Holland, and Belgium.
• When Texas began negotiations with Great Britain
  the U.S. was forced to act.

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• James Polk responded by becoming the candidate in
  favor of national territorial expansion. Polk
  avoided trouble over his desire to annex Texas
  (which would become a slave state) by proposing
  to add Oregon as a free state.

New Yorkers opposed the annexation of Texas in
this petition.
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Election of 1844

• Whigs Henry Clay
• Third run at the presidency
• Leading spokesman for the Whig Party
• Desperate to become president
• Democrats James K. Polk
• A dark-horse candidate who had been picked
  because the Democrats couldnt agree on anyone
  else.
• Called Young Hickory
• He and the Democrats advocated Manifest
  Destiny.
• Plan Annex Texas and annex the Oregon Territory
  and whenever a slave state was added from the
  south a free state would be added from the north.
• Clay desperately tried to promote the same plan
  and he contradicted himself and lost the
  election thus becoming a three time loser for
  the presidency.

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Annexation of Texas

• After the landslide victory of James Polk, who
  ran on a ticket supporting annexation of Texas,
  Congress approved the annexation by joint
  resolution. In years past, Congress had blocked
  the Tylers' treaties for these annexations.

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Oregon Territory

• The Oregon territory stretched from the northern
  tip of California to the 54 40 line.
• Once claimed by Russia, Spain, England, and the
  U.S.
• England had good reasons for its claims north of
  the Columbia River, since it was populated by
  British and by the Hudsons Bay Company.
• Americans had strong claims south of the Columbia
  River due to the voyage of Robert Grey and the
  population explosion as a result of the Oregon
  trail.

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Oregon Trail
By the middle of the 19th century, the Oregon
Trail had become the main route to the American
Northwest. Thousands traveled the route, which
took six months by covered wagon. Deeply rutted
roads cut by wagon wheels can still be seen today
in many places along the trail.
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A Man and Woman With a Covered Wagon, Prospect,
Oregon, George E. Nichols, photographer,1913.
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54º40' or Fight!
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Compromise

• The 1844 Democratic presidential candidate James
  K. Polk ran on a platform of taking control over
  the entire Oregon Territory and used the famous
  campaign slogan, "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!"
• Through negotiations with the British after James
  K. Polk's inauguration, the boundary between the
  U.S. and British Canada was established at 49

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James K. Polk

• Polk promised to lower the tariff and he
  delivered by reducing the tariff from 32 to 25
  despite complaints by the industrialists.
• He also restored the independent treasury in 1846
  and wanted to acquire California and settle the
  Oregon dispute.
• President Polk was the first president in office
  to have his photo taken (1849).
• Polk had ruined his health from overwork while in
  office. He died of exhaustion only 3 months after
  his term ended.

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Polks Desire for California

• Polk had a strong desire for California but
  Mexico refused to negotiate due to the annexation
  of Texas.
• The U.S. then sent John Slidell to Mexico City
  with instructions to buy California for 25
  million, however, once he arrived, the Mexican
  government refused to see him.
• This angered Polk to the point of war.

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American Blood on American (?) Soil

• A frustrated Polk now forced a showdown, and on
  Jan. 13, 1846, he ordered 4000 men under Zachary
  Taylor to march from the Nueces River to the Rio
  Grande, provocatively near Mexican troops.
• Congress refused to give Polk a declaration of
  war unless Mexico fired the first shot. As
  events would have it, on April 25, 1846, news of
  Mexican troops crossing the Rio Grande and
  killing of wounding 16 Americans came to
  Washington.
• Polk received his declaration of war

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Spot Resolution

• Congressman Abraham Lincolns demand to know the
  exact spot where American blood had been shed on
  American soil.
• Lincoln insisted that Polk instigated the war.
• Northerners questioned Polks motives because
  Mexican territory would be slave territory.

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Mexican-American War

• In the Southwest, U.S. operations led by Stephen
  W. Kearny and John C. Fremont (leader of the Bear
  Flag Revolt in California) were successful.
• Old Rough and Ready Zachary Taylor, fought into
  Mexico, reaching Buena Vista, and repelled 20,000
  Mexicans with only 5000 men, instantly becoming a
  hero.
• General Winfield Scott led American troops into
  Mexico City.

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Bear Flag Republic

• The first "stars and Stripes were raised over
  Monterey, California by Commodore John C. Sloat
  commander of U.S. Naval Forces on July 9, 1846.
  At that time the flag had 28 stars.  California
  became a state on September 9, 1850. It was
  represented on the flag by the 31st star.

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Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo

• Called for Mexico to cede 55 of its territory
  (present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico, and
  parts of Colorado, Nevada and Utah) in exchange
  for fifteen million dollars in compensation for
  war-related damage to Mexican property.
• Mexico was forced to recognize Texas as part of
  the U.S.
• The southern border of Texas was set at the Rio
  Grande River.
• Seeds planted for Civil War

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Wilmot Proviso

• The Wilmot Proviso, first suggested on August 8,
  1846 in the House of Representatives and attached
  to many bills in the United States Congress,
  would have outlawed slavery in any territory
  acquired from Mexico by the United States as a
  result of the recently begun Mexican-American
  War.
• The proviso, which was never passed, was named
  for Congressman David Wilmot, a Democrat from
  Pennsylvania.