1803 – 1850

•      Manifest Destiny – belief that it was the destiny of the United States to expand its borders from “sea to sea” across the North American continent

Major Elements of Manifest Destiny

[image]Westward Expansion

•      War with Mexico

•      Annexation of Texas

•      Gold Rush

Economic, Political, and Social Roots of Manifest Destiny

•  Economic:

–   New land for farmers

–   New trade routes and markets (Santa Fe Trail)

–   New opportunities to start a business

•    Political

–   Expansion of our nation’s borders/territories

–   Expansion of slavery

•    Social

–   Removal of Native Americans

–  Refuge for persecuted groups (Mormons)

Northwest Ordinance 1787

Had to be at least 5,000 men who owned at least 50 acres

•      60,000 people

•      An existing form of self-government

Relationship Between the Concept of Manifest Destiny and the Westward Growth of the Nation

The United States government and its citizens believed that the nation’s destiny or fate was to expand westward from sea to sea

•      Effects and Impact

–     Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) ends the war

•      Grants the United States the Mexican territory of New Mexico, Arizona and California

–     United States paid Mexico $10 million for the Gadsden Purchase to help repay Mexico for the annexation of Texas in 1845

Causes of the
United States-Mexican War

•      Annexation of Texas

•      Viewed as a “War of Aggression” by many Americans

•      Causes:

–     President Polk’s desire to expand the United States (Manifest Destiny)

Border disputes concerning the southern boundary of Texas (Rio Grande was claimed by Texas and disputed by Mexico.)

•      Louisiana Purchase

•      Mexican Cession

–     New Mexico, Arizona, California

•      Gadsden Purchase

•      Oregon Territory

•      Alaska Purchase

–     Seward’s Folly

Physical Characteristics of the Environment and their Influence on Population Distribution, Settlement Patterns, and Economic Activities in the US

•

•      Gold in California

–     Rush of settlers to California; pushed many American Indians off their lands; population of California quickly rises to the amount required for statehood

•      California’s proximity to the Pacific Ocean

–     Led to an increase of immigration from Asian nations

•      Rocky Mountains

Location between eastern and western parts of the United States resulted in a need for the Gadsden Purchase to put in a railroad train for transport of goods from East to West

Sectionalism

•      loyalty to the interests of one's own region or section of the country, rather than to the country as a whole

•      Regions: North, South, West, Slave States, Free States

•      States: Texas, California, Kansas, Nebraska

Cities: Washington, D.C.

Missouri Compromise, 1820

Nullification Crisis, 1828

•         Tariff of Abominations: resulted in higher tariffs

•         In 1832, a lower tariff was passed

−       Still angered South Carolinians, led by John C. Calhoun

−       South Carolina declared the federal tariff null and void within its borders

−       Delegates to a special convention urged the state legislature to take military action and secede from the union if the federal government demanded customs duties

−       To prevent a civil war, Henry Clay proposed the Compromise Tariff of 1833

−       The Government lowers the tariff and backs down

Compromise of 1850

•         Sponsored by Henry Clay

•         Allowed California to enter the Union as a free state (pleased the North)

•         The rest of the Southwest was left open to slavery, depending on a vote of the people (popular sovereignty) who settled there (pleased the South)

•         Ended the slave trade in Washington, DC

•         Allowed those owning slaves to keep them (pleased both sides)

•         INCLUDED The Fugitive Slave Law

−       Required the return of escaped slaves to their owners (pleased the South, angered the North because they felt it was immoral)

Kansas – Nebraska Act, 1854

•        Allowed for Kansas and Nebraska to be organized on the basis of popular sovereignty

−     That is, the people would vote themselves to decide if they would be Free or Slave