MANIFEST DESTINY AND ITS LEGACY, 1841-1848

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MANIFEST DESTINY AND ITS LEGACY, 1841-1848

• Chapter 17

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THE ACCESSION OF TYLER TOO

• Clay and Websters presumptuous assumption.
• Webster was Sec. of State. Clay the leader of
  the party in Congress.
• Harrisons reaction
• Clay leads party in power and is ready to finally
  put his policies into law
• Harrison dies 40 days into presidency.
• Tyler takes over.

Wm. Henry Harrison Shortest Term of any President.
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John Tyler

• First vice president to take over for a president
  who died in office.
• Tyler is an old-school Virginian.
• Why did he leave the Democratic Party for the
  Whigs?
• Part of the minority wing of the Whig party that
  adhered to States rights.
• His views are quite different from Clay and
  Webster.

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Tyler at Odds with Clay

• Unofficial platform of the majority of the party
• Tylers views on unofficial platform
• Whigs accuse him of being a Democrat in Whig
  clothing
• Another defeat for Clay.

Henry Clay foiled again
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John Tyler A President Without A Party

• Whigs try to get their agenda enacted into law.
• Repeal Independent Treasury. Passed.
• Second part Renew the Bank of the US.
• Tylers reaction.
• His Ascendancy
• What do Whigs do to Tyler?
• What does his cabinet do?

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A War Of Words With England

• British-American relationship erupted in war of
  words in 1842.
• American still dislike the Brit
• Rebellion in Canada
• Recruits and weapons go north
• Caroline affair.
• Canadian rebels hiding in US
• Brits come after them
• Burn the US supplied ship Caroline
• One black Amos Durfee killed
• Americans outraged

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Maine Boundary Settlement, 1842

• Lumberjack warAroostook Valley, Maine. Maine
  boundary vague
• Canadian lumberjacks entered the Aroostook region
  to cut timber during the winter of 1838-1839, and
  they seized the American land agent who had been
  dispatched to expel them
• Maine actually sent 10,000 troops to the disputed
  area. President Martin Van Buren dispatched
  General Winfield Scott to the "war" zone
• Negotiated by Dan Webster

Webster-Ashburton treaty
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Texas Shines Alone

• Texas in a precarious position.
• US had spurned request for annexation.
• Mexico still claims Texas as its Territory,
• Threatened to take it back and threatened war
  with US if US annexed.
• Many European countries were courting Texas
• Britain especially was very interested.
• Why?

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The Belated Texas Nuptials

• Texas becomes a leading issue in election of
  1844.
• Dem. James K Polk vs. Whig Henry Clay.
• Democrats want Texas.
• Whigs position. Conscience Whigs oppose Texas,
  Clay waffles
• Polk wins.
• Lame Duck Tyler sees a mandate for Texas
• Mexico angry and accuses US of theft.
• Is Mexico right?

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Map 17.2 The Oregon Controversy, 1846
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Oregon Fever

• Oregon Territory everything North of California,
  West of the Rockies up to 54-40.
• Both US and Brit have claims to the Territory.
  So did Russia Spain
• Treaty of 1818 Joint occupation.
• In 1840s,Oregon Trail.
• 5000 American in Oregon by 1846. Brits had only
  700
• Only a small areas really in dispute. Columbia
  river north to the 49th Par.

Oregon Territory, as originally organized, in 1848 Oregon Territory (blue) with Washington Territory (green) in 1853 State of Oregon (blue) with Washington Territory (green) in 1859
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A Mandate For Manifest Destiny

• Election of 1844 Clay (Whig) against James K.
  Polk (Dem.).
• James K Polk of Tenn.
• First dark-horse nominee
• Had been Speaker of the House and governor of
  Tenn. for two terms.
• Jackson sponsored him.
• Democrats publicized him as a young Jackson.
• Southern expansionist

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Issues in 1844

• Democrats expansionist. Platform was for
  annexation of Texas and taking Oregon all the way
  up to 54-40. 54-40 or Fight
• Democrats campaigned on Manifest Destiny
• Other candidates included James Buchanan, General
  Lewis Cass, Cave Johnson, John C. Calhoun, and
  Levi Woodbury. The primary point of political
  contention involved the Republic of Texas
• Whigs were mostly against annexation of Texas,
  equating it with an expansion of slavery, but
  Clay couldnt win without votes in the south.
• He tried to be both for and against annexation,
  and his waffling hurt him
• Other issues tariff, slavery, the bank and
  internal improvements.

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Polk The Purposeful

• When he took office on March 4, 1845, Polk, at
  49, became the youngest man at the time to assume
  the presidency.
• Polk set four clearly defined goals for his
  administration
• Reestablish the Independent Treasury System.
• Reduce tariffs.
• Acquire some or all of Oregon Country.
• Acquire California and New Mexico from Mexico.
• Pledged to serve only one term,
• During his presidency James K. Polk was known as
  "Young Hickory", an allusion to his mentor Andrew
  Jackson, and "Napoleon of the Stump" for his
  speaking skills.
• Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Bill in
  1846 to provide 500,000 to improve rivers and
  harbors, but Polk vetoed the bill.

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Polks Four Goals

• One Reduced Tariff. Succeeded in reducing the
  tariff from 32 to 25.
• Two Restoration of Independent Treasury.
  Accomplished.
• Three Settlement of Oregon.
• Polk and southern Democrats. didnt want all of
  Oregon, despite platform. Why?
• Brits recognize that they must compromise.
• Why?
• Brits agree to divide at 49th Par.
• Four Acquiring California

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American Blood On American Soil

• Continuing dispute with Mexico over border of
  Texas. Nueces or Rio Grande?
• Polk sends Zachery Taylors troops across the
  Nueces into disputed Terr.
• Mexican troops cross Rio Grande and attack
  Taylor.
• Polk asks for a declaration of war claiming that
  US troops attacked on US soil.

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Going to War

• America catches war fever
• Many Whigs vehemently against the war.
• Free soil
• Oregon
• A freshman Whig Congressman from Illinois
  questioned whether the "spot" where blood had
  been shed was really U.S. soil. On December 22,
  1847, he introduced the "Spot Resolutions,
  Lincoln's action temporarily earned him a
  derisive nickname, "spotty Lincoln," coined by
  one Illinois newspaper.
• Mexicans spoiling for war, as well.

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Mexican-American War

• Santa Anna dupes the US
• Steven Kearny, Santa Fe 1846
• John C. Fremont (Great Pathfinder), Bear Flag
  Rebellion

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Capturing Halls of Montezuma

• Zachery Taylor defeats Santa Anna at Battle of
  Buena Vista
• Polk leaves Taylor where he is.
• Winfield Scott (Old Fuss and Feathers) Vera
  Cruz and March on Mexico City.
• One of the most brilliant campaigns in US
  history. Captures Mexico City.
• Scott hero during the war of 1812.

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Treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• 2/2/1848.
• American title to Texas confirmed with Rio Grande
  the border.
• Mexico yielded Arizona, New Mexico, California,
  Nevada to US. (with Texas, is about ½ of Mexico.)
  Land referred to as Mexican Cession.
• US to pay 15 Million and assume claims of
  citizens there against Mexico worth about 3
  Million. (18.5 Mill compared to 25 Mill.
  prepared to pay for Cal. before the war.)

Treaty clip
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Wilmot Proviso

• David Wilmot, a freshman Democratic congressman
  from Pennsylvania.
• Banned slavery from any territory that might be
  acquired from Mexico
• Never passed into law, it was several times
  resurrected in various forms and each time
  produced the same outcome Southern congressmen
  and senators voted against it without regard to
  party.
• It opened the door to the sectional controversy,
  the Wilmot Proviso was a fateful milestone on the
  road to civil war,

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End of Chapter

• Under James Knox Polk, the United States grew by
  more than a million square miles, adding
  territory that now composes the states of
  Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho,
  Washington, much of New Mexico, and portions of
  Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado.
• Polk, leaving office with his health undermined
  from hard work, died in June 1849.