MANIFEST DESTINY

In 1845 Texas annexation was approved by Congress

Manifest Destiny was a concept which heavily influenced American policy in the

1800s. The idea was the driving force behind the rapid expansion of America into the West from the East, and it was heavily promoted in newspapers, posters, and

through other mediums.

While Manifest Destiny was not itself an official government policy, it led to the passage

of legislation such as the Homestead Act, which encouraged Westward colonization and

territorial acquisition. It also played an important role in American thought.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h306.html

In the 1820s, Stephen Austin won the Mexican government's approval to bring American

families into the sparsely settled Tejas (Texas) region. Vast land grants would be awarded to the settlers if Austin could sponsor 300 families and assure the officials that the newcomers would:

1. Be loyal to the Mexican government 2. Learn the Spanish language 3. Convert to Roman Catholicism

Only the earliest Texans paid much attention to these requirements and the vast distance from the Mexican

central government left the settlers free to follow their own inclinations. This area's great attraction was

the fertile soil, ideal for cotton production. By the early 1830s, transplanted Americans, many of them

slave owners, outnumbered the Tejanos; the Mexican government soon understood that it had committed a

great error by encouraging the migration of U.S. citizens.

At first, the settlers were content to live under Mexican rule, but several events helped to incline Texan minds toward independence:

1. In 1831, Mexico abolished slavery, following the lead of

most western nations.

2. The Mexican government, recognizing its diminished control in Tejas, abolished immigration. The residents there, who had friends and relatives in the United States, were outraged

REMEMBER THE ALAMO!

In December 1835, a group of disgruntled settlers took control of the Alamo, an old mission in San Antonio. Santa Anna moved his army of several thousand men into the area and decided to make an example of the insurgents. Only a few dozen fellow settlers arrived from other areas in Texas to reinforce their compatriots in the Alamo.

The defenders, hoping to be rescued by Samuel Houston’s forces, refused to surrender. The siege of the Alamo lasted two weeks and ended in hand-to-hand fighting on March 6, 1836. More than 180 defenders lost their lives, including such notables as William Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett. Losses among the Mexican forces were estimated at 600.

On Santa Anna’s orders, all prisoners were executed; the only survivors were a woman, her infant child, and a slave, who were directed to take word of the Mexican victory to other Texan rebels.

Later that year, 342 Texans were captured and executed near Goliad.

The two massacres, the Alamo and Goliad, served to bring bickering Texans together in opposition to Santa Anna. On April 21, 1836, the Mexicans were surprised by a Texan force and completely routed in the Battle of San Jacinto.

In the fall of 1836, Samuel Houston was inaugurated as president of the Republic of Texas. The new administration promptly sent a representative to Washington, and repealed the prohibition on slavery. Andrew Jackson believed that Texas should be admitted to the Union as a slave state, but withheld action out of fear of the political consequences.

With the Texas Revolution, the question arose again. After San Jacinto, Texas formally proposed annexation to the United States, and many Texans expected it to follow within a matter of months. Sam Houston was a protégé and close friend of President Andrew Jackson, who was known to favor the annexation to secure and expand the western border of the United States. Business interests in the United States also wanted to move in and develop Texas commercially. And powerful senators from slave states saw the chance to extend the reach of slavery across thousands of miles of additional territory.

But there was heated opposition to annexation as well. First, Mexico did not recognize Texas independence, meaning Texas was still at war with Mexico. To annex Texas would be to commit the United States to that war, with the possibility that England might enter the war on the side of the Mexicans. Secondly, the annexation of Texas would breach the 1819 treaty with Mexico. And most importantly, northern states and anti-slavery advocates objected strongly, warning that the annexation could lead to civil war. Opposition to annexation in the North was so overwhelming that the measure had no chance of passing.

In 1844, Congress again took up the matter of annexing Texas. This time, advocates introduced not a treaty, which required a two-thirds vote in the Senate, but a joint resolution, which required a simple majority in both houses of Congress. The resolution passed the Senate by a narrow margin on February 27, 1845. The next day, it passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming margin.

WAR WITH MEXICOAlso called the Mexican War

The Mexican government had long warned the United States that annexation would mean

war.

On April 25, 1846, a 2,000-strong Mexican cavalry detachment attacked a 63-man U.S. patrol that had been sent into the contested territory north of the Rio Grande and south of the Nueces River. The Mexican cavalry routed the patrol, killing 11 U.S. soldiers in what later became known as the Thornton Affair after the U.S. officer who was in command.

In the United States, increasingly divided by sectional rivalry, the war was a partisan issue and a key part of the origins of the American Civil War. Most Whigs in the North and South opposed it; most Democrats supported it. Southern Democrats, animated by a popular belief in Manifest Destiny, supported it in hopes of adding territory to the South and avoiding being outnumbered by the faster-growing North.

Fellow Whig Abraham Lincoln, who had been elected to Congress several months after the declaration of war, contested the causes for the war and demanded to know exactly where Thornton had been attacked and American blood shed. "Show me the spot," he demanded. Northern abolitionists attacked the war as an attempt by slave-owners—frequently referred to as "the Slave Power" — to expand the grip of slavery and thus assure their continued influence in the federal government.

Show me the spot, is formally referred to as the Spot Resolutions.

Results of the War

From US point of view

From the US point of view, America gained the following territories

From Mexico’s point of view

From Mexico’s point of view, the US gained all the white areas on the map... This will be important in World War I.

The treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the war.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What were some of the things settlers had agreed to do for the Mexican Government before settling in Texas?

2. What are some things that happened to encourage Texans to seek Independence?

3. What was the Alamo?4. What happened at Goliad?5. Where was the final battle of the War for

Texas Independence?

6. What event was the primary cause of the Mexican War?

7. What event near the border gave President Polk the reason to declare war?

8. What were the Spot Resolutions and who called for them?

9. What were some of the territories gained through the Mexican War?

10. What potential problem comes with these new territories?