Introduction to US History/Westward Expansion

Resource type: this resource contains a lecture or lecture notes.

This topic covers America's philosophy and expansion towards the Western coast of the US.

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny was a belief that Americans had to take up/expand to the Pacific Ocean and into the Mexican Territory because it was their "God-given" right. It was proposed by John L. O'Sullivan during President William H. Harrison's term. This policy is what gave the impression that the US was an "imperialistic bully". Examples of Manifest Destiny include the Trail of Tears, Oregon Trail, and Southerners moving west to Texas (which was under Mexico rule at the time).

After the death of William H. Harrison to pneumonia in 1841, president John Tyler (required reading!) was sworn into presidency. He is the first vice president to assume presidency due to the president's death in office.

Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail was a 2,000 mile journey where American settlers moved from about present-day Kansas to western Oregon. The typical means of transportation was the Conestoga wagon, going at 1-2 mph. The settlers had to go through about 100 miles per week, if the weather was good. Although the numbers are not clear, it is estimated that at least 20,000 people died. Majority of the cases had to deal with infectious diseases, such as cholera.

It doesn't seem like such a fun ride now, does it? The settlers, when deciding to make this journey, had a few reasons to go forth with such a plan. Since the western region of Mississippi was relatively unexplored, they were in for new geographical and animalia discoveries. Most of the settlers were also looking for a better life and hoped that the Oregon Trail would be the "hard work" to their success. The Oregon Trail was quite boring and hard on the body. Majority of the land was full of repetitive and bumpy roads. At the end of the journey, relief lives on in the folks that survived the six month trail. Not all journeyman had successful stories.

Texas

Texas, for our discussion, originates back to Mexico's win against Spain for independence in 1821. Mexico wanted their territory of Texas to be inhabited and not "go to waste". This is where Steven Austin comes into play, who sold Texan land to American families. He would advertise Texas to people around the US, convincing them to buy his land. In his advertisements, he would highlight the Gulf of Mexico - a big body of water.

By 1830, 25,000+ Americans moved to Texas. The American settlers had a few issues with the Mexican government's policies.

Texas was anti-slavery.
Forced conversion to Catholicism.
The American settlers had no representation in the Mexican government and had to become Mexican citizens.

In 1833, Mexico realized that the incoming American citizens were not obeying the strict demands set by the Mexicans. For this reason, they stopped American immigration. In 1835, a settlement, named Austin, boomed into popularity because of cotton. Soon, the Americans (& their slaves) outnumbered the Mexicans. Mexico's dictator, Santa Anna, imposed various harsh laws against the Americans. He imprisoned Stephen Austin for 8 months, stripped Americans of their rights, and used force to control the Americans and enact the anti-slavery policy.

Soon, the Texas Revolution started when Sam Houston became the Commander-in-Chief of the Americans in their rebellion after he abruptly left his term of office for Governor of Tennessee and re-settled in Texas.

Texas Revolution

The Texas Revolution (October 2, 1835 - April 21, 1836) began. Many series of battles took place all around Texas. However, the Americans won despite not being well trained and having no experience. The commanders are credited with housting the Americans to victory. The two major battles you need to know are listed below.

The Alamo - Texas rebellions were being chased by the Mexicans so hid in an old Spanish mission. Now, this really wasn't a bright idea because the Alamo wasn't ideal for war. The Mexicans surrounded the rebels and waited for them to come out. The rebellions had almost no food and ammo. After days of on-and-off altercations taking place between the two parties, the rebellions finally lost all of their ammo. In response, the Mexicans stormed the building and killed all 200 rebels, including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. The Alamo became a symbolic figure of the rebellion, chanting "Remember the Alamo!".

Battle of San Jacinto - On April 21, 1836, Sam Houston and his troops led a surprise attack on Santa Anna and his troops. This fight took place at the San Jacinto River. Two slogans were cried out during this battle: Remember the Alamo and Remember Goliad. Texas prisoners were killed by Santa Anne at Fort Goliaid. More than 600+ Mexicans were killed and 700 were captured. After this fight, Santa Anna was fled but he was captured the next day in a marsh near Vince's Bridge and was forced to sign the Velasco treaty with the Texan rebels. The capture of Santa Anna resulted in Texas' independence and crowned Sam Houston into the history books. Texas becomes an independent republic and the Rio Grande River serves as a border. San Jacinto was renamed to Houston.

Admittance of Texas as a US State

The US, during the revolution, remained neutral in order to prevent a war and upset the slave/free state balance. Andrew Jackson recognizes the Texan republic but refuses to grant them statehood, much to the surprise of the Texans. In response, Texas negotiates with foreign forces for protection and trade - which served as a potential danger to the US. They remained independent for nine years, creating negotations with the Netherlands, France, and Britain. If you read the John Tyler Wikiversity article linked above, you would know that Tyler annexed Texas in 1845. In the elections of 1844, James K. Polk (required reading!) campaigned for the admittance of Texas. In 1845, Texas became the 28th state of the US (and a slave-state).

This angered the Mexicans, leading them to declare war on America in 1846. More information on this war is found in the James K. Polk article linked above.

California

The Gasden Purchase, which included parts of Arizona and New Mexico.

As the result of the Mexican-American war, Mexico had to give up most of the Mexican Territory in the southwest (half of their country!). This included present day California, Nevada, Utah, parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. This land was called the Mexican Cession and in return for the land, Mexico was given 15 million dollars. During this period, James K. Polk was the president.

5 years later, the US bought additional land in present day Arizona and New Mexico, called the Gadsden Purchase.

Manifest Destiny was finally fulfilled. And in the awakening, gold was found in in California. This mass movement of people from the east to the west to find gold was called the Gold Rush. Many people traveled on the California trial or simply sailed to California. As the result of this, very few people who traveled to California for gold got rich. And since people didn't get rich there, they had to make a living. Some of them made a living by working in the log industry, some took advantage of the fertile land and became farmers, and runaway slaves went to the west to find their freedom. San Francisco also served as an exceptional harbor.

California later became a free state when California became the 31st state to the Union on September 9, 1850. This wasn't an easy move, however. At the time that California requested to be a part of the union, there were 15 free and 15 slave states. Pro-Southern president Zachary Taylor was accompanied by a pro-South majority of justices in the Supreme Court. Since they are pro-southern, they are pro-slavery as well. What came about was the following document

Compromise of 1850

The three men involved in this compromise were representators Henry Clay (western states), John Calhoun (southern states), and Daniel Webster (northern states). Taylor ends up dying during his presidency, so Millard Filmore signs the compromise into law.

The Compromise of 1850 states that CA is a free state, creates the principle of "popular sovereignty" (people get to decide), prohibits slave trade in the capital, creates fugitive slave laws that makes it compulsory for runaway slaves to be returned to the South to their headmaster, and forced Texas to give up their land of present-day New Mexico and recieves $10 million dollars from the government as a reward.

The "unorganized territory" of the Louisiana Purchase becomes Kansas and Nebraska as they have enough people to be admitted into the Union. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, authored by Stephen Douglas, states that popular sovereignty will be the deciding factor in which state becames free/slave. This possibly conflicted with the Missouri compromise, which writes that states above the 36.30 cannot be a slave state - so what if Nebraska becomes a slave state?

The Formation of the Republican Party & Bleeding Kansas

Well, the Missouri compromise is declared unconstitutional - much to the joy of the South, much to the dismay of the North. This is when the Republican party is created. Slavery becomes a major issue in the country now that the Republican party is created. The party is a combination of free slaves, northern Whigs and Democrats, and abolitionists. These were, essentially, all the people that were not Southerners. The divide was more evident than ever before.

Abraham Lincoln (required reading!), then a congressman from Illinois, breaks away from the Whigs and runs as the candidate for the Republican party in the 1860 presidential elections against his arch rival, Stephen Douglas. Stephen Douglas was a reknowned orator and lawyer. He was a US senate for Illinois and contributed to the Missouri compromise and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Although attaining success and expecting to easily beat Lincoln for presidency, he did not recieve the lovely hands of Mary Todd Lincoln. She was a mentally unstable, wealthy socalite who was part of a family that was confederate and owned many slaves.

Meanwhile, Kansas became "bloody". This was a result of violent conflicts going on between the pro-Southern and pro-Northern inhabitants. To understand this, you must know that both sides of the country were desperately sending settlers to Kansas and Nebraska to make them a free/slave state. The New England Immigrant Company sent 2,000 settlers to Kansas to make sure that Kansas comes out as a free state. In the end, the city of Lawrenceville, Kansas was burn to the ground by pro-Southern settlers. John Brown, a mentally unstable pro-Northern settler, led a gang of men to Pottawatomi, Kansas and murdered 5 pro-slave settlers. This type of violence will not end until the civil war's breakout in 1861.

Dred Scott case

Dred Scott attempted to sue for his freedom in 1857, eventually appealing the case so many times that it reached to the Supreme Court. His premise was that he was a slave in a free state, so he believed that he deserved freedom. He was not granted freedom because African-Americans were considered "property" and couldn't claim citizenship, sue anyone, and an owner could take his "personal property" anywhere. This was based on the 5th amendment, where the government cannot deprive citizens of their personal property. He eventually got his freedom by his master.