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Prelude to War

Westward Expansion & Sectional Conflict, 1845-1860

What do you know?

� Why did the Alamo occur and why should we

remember it?

� What was the consequences of US victory in

the Mexican-American War?

� What was the Compromise of 1850 and did it

work?

� What were the consequences of popular

sovereignty? 2

John Tyler’s Presidency

� President by Default

� Remembering Tippecanoe

� Rouge Whig

� States’ Righter, lower tariffs, keep

BUS dead

� Sought to annex Texas

� Belonged to Mexico

� Spirit of Manifest DestinyManifest Destiny

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Manifest Destiny

� Trails West

�� Oregon TrailOregon Trail

� Opened up the West

�� Mormon TrailMormon Trail

� Religious freedom

�� California TrailCalifornia Trail

� Gold rush

�� Santa Fe TrailSanta Fe Trail

� Silver mines & trade

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Manifest Destiny

� Texas Revolution

� US citizens invited to settle

� 30,000 white, 5,000 black by 1836

� Contentions: slavery & Catholicism

� Declared independence (1836)

�� Santa Anna Santa Anna restricted Americans

� Fighting broke out

� Remember the AlamoAlamo

� 1,500 Mexican troops killed--

187 Americans

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Manifest Destiny

� Texas Revolution cont’d

�� Sam HoustonSam Houston

� Battle of San JacintoSan Jacinto

� Texas Independence

� Texas Annexation

� Whigs blocked Texas statehood

� Spread of slavery

� Congress promised not to intervene

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Manifest Destiny

� Election of 1844

� Henry Clay (Whig)

�� James K. Polk James K. Polk (Democrat)

� James G. Birney (Liberty Party)

� Clay and Birney opposed annexing

� Polk supported Texas statehood

� Polk squeezed out a victory

� Tyler requests annexation

� Received a joint resolution for annexation

� Texas became a state (1845)7

Polk’s Presidency

� 3-pronged agenda

� Reduce Tariffs

� Oregon

� Fifty-four Forty or Fight!

� Oregon Treaty (1846)

� California

� US tries to buy Mexican land

� John Slidell-$25 million

� John C. Fremont-California “science mission”

�� Zachary TaylorZachary Taylor-2,000 troops to Rio Grande8

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Polk’s Presidency

�� MexicanMexican--American War American War (1846-1848)

� Mexican troops attack Taylor’s force

� Polk asks for War

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“American blood has

been shed on

American soil!”

Polk’s Presidency

� US-Mexican War cont’d

� US troops took N. Mexico & AZ (summer 1846)

� Fremont w/ navy seized California (early 1847)

� Battle of Buena Vista (Feb 1847)

� US took No. Mexico

� Siege of Veracruz

� Mexico City (Fall 1847)

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US-Mexican War (1846-1848)

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Polk’s Presidency

� US-Mexican War cont’d

�� Treaty of GuadalupeTreaty of Guadalupe--Hidalgo Hidalgo (1848)

� Mexico gave up California, New Mexico, Arizona,

Nevada, Colorado & Wyoming

� Mexico dropped Texas

� Rio Grande border

� US paid $15 million for territory

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Polk’s Presidency

� US-Mexican War cont’d

� Lincoln’s “spotspot” resolutionresolution

� Legacy of the War

� 12,000 US dead

� Fought in the name of Manifest Destiny

� Fueled arguments about the spread of slavery

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A veritable “WA veritable “Who’s Who” of the Civil War received their training in the ho’s Who” of the Civil War received their training in the

USUS--Mexican War: Mexican War:

Sectional Difficulties

� Election of 1848

� Lewis Cass—popularpopular sovereigntysovereignty

�� Zachary TaylorZachary Taylor—war hero, ignored slave issue

� Martin Van Buren—FreeFree SoilSoil partyparty, abolition

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Sectional Difficulties

�� Compromise of 1850Compromise of 1850

� California to be a free state

� All others decided by popular sovereignty

� Texas gave up claims of eastern New Mexico

� Washington D.C. abolished slave trade

� Congress passed Fugitive Slave LawFugitive Slave Law

� North had to return runaway slaves to the South

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Taylor opposed the compromise

but died in 1850. Millard Millard

Fillmore Fillmore took over and signed the

bill.

Sectional Difficulties

� Importance of the Compromise

� North gained political advantage

� West moves toward free soil

� Averted war—allowing northern industrialization

� Northern Reaction to the Compromise

� Helped fuel radical abolition

�� Underground RailroadUnderground Railroad

�� Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman

� 19 missions, freed 300 slaves16

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Sectional Difficulties

� Flames of sectionalism were fanned by Uncle Uncle

Tom’s CabinTom’s Cabin

� Abolitionist work by Harriet Beecher StoweHarriet Beecher Stowe

� Upset most pro-slavery southerners

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When Lincoln met Stowe in

1863 he commented, “So

you’re the little woman who

wrote the book that made

this great war!”

Sectional Difficulties �� KansasKansas--Nebraska Act Nebraska Act (1854)

� Created present-day states

�� Popular sovereigntyPopular sovereignty: let the people decide issue

of slavery

� Missouri Compromise revoked

� Riots broke out

� Slavers from MO seized land in KA

� Northerners also seized land

� Pottawatomie Massacre

�� John Brown John Brown killed 5 slavers (civil war in KA)18

Section Difficulties

� Caning of Charles Sumner

� Dred Scott Case (1857)

� MO slave sued master for freedom

� Lived with master in free territory

� Supreme Court ruled against freedom

� Slaves property, MO Compromise

unconstitutional

� Northerners angered

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Sectional Difficulties

� Lincoln-Douglass Debates

� Series of debates between A. Lincoln and

Stephen Douglass (KA-NB fame)

� Lincoln-slavery wrong but union

needs to be saved

� Douglass-people in the West should

decide the slave issue

�� Popular sovereigntyPopular sovereignty

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Sectional Difficulties

�� John Brown’s Raid John Brown’s Raid (1859)

� Brown raided federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, VA

� Hoped to encourage a massive slave revolt

� Brown trapped and surrendered after much

bloodshed

� Speedy trial—hanged

� Further divided America

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Now what do you know?

� Why did the Alamo occur and why should we

remember it?

� What was the consequences of US victory in

the Mexican-American War?

� What was the Compromise of 1850 and did it

work?

� What were the consequences of popular

sovereignty? 22