The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846

1
The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846

• By product of westward expansion
• Major issue should U.S. annex the independent
  Texas republic?
• 1830s were unsettled with issues relating to
  California, New Mexico, and Oregon
• 1840 -1842 economic recovery was the top
  political issue
• Only after politicians failed to answer economic
  issues were opportunist able to thrust issues
  relating to expansion to the forefront of the
  political agenda

2
The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846

• The Whig Ascendancy
• The election of 1840 brought Whig candidate
  William Henry Harrison to the presidency
• Installed Whig majorities in both houses of
  Congress
• Whigs had come to power based on Henry Clays
  American System, (stimulate economic recovery)
• Quickly repealed Van Burens Independent Treasury
• They planned to substitute some type of fiscal
  agent, which like the no longer function Bank of
  the US was a private corporation, chartered by
  congress, and regulating the currency.

3
The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846

• The Whig Ascendancy
• Whigs also favored a tariff (but a different kind
  of tariff).
• Instead of being set high to protect US
  manufacturers, it would be modified to be a
  revenue tariff high enough to provide
  incidental protection for American industries
  (foreign products could enter the US).
• Duties collected on these imports would accrue to
  the federal government as revenue.
• The revenue would then be distributed to the
  states for internal improvements.
• Just as popular among southern and western Whigs
  as the tariff was among northern Whigs.

4
The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846

• The Whig Ascendancy
• All might have been well and moved quickly if it
  had not been for the untimely death of Harrison
  just one month after entering office.

5
The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846

• The Whig Ascendancy
• Vice President John Tyler, an upper crust from
  Virginia, who had only been added to the ticket
  to strengthen the Whigs appeal in the South.
• Tyler was a former Democrat who had split with
  Jackson over nullification, but he continued to
  favor the Democratic philosophy of states
  rights.