Rivalry in the Northwest
- The Oregon Country was a huge area located north of California, between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains.
- In the early 1800's, four nations claimed the vast, rugged land.
- In 1819 Secretary of State John Quincy Adams got Spain to approve the Adams-Onís Treaty.
- In 1818 Adams worked out an agreement with Britain for joint occupation.
Mountain Men in Oregon
- Fur traders were the first Americans to take up the challenge of living in the Oregon Country.
- Tough, independent men spent most of their time in the rocky Mountains and were known as mountain men.
- Over time, mountain men could no longer make a living by trapping.
What did America gain from the Adams-Onís Treaty?
They gained the Pacific Ocean. John Quincy Adams got Spain to approve the Adams-Onís Treaty. The Spanish agreed to set the limits of their territory at what is now California's northern border and to give up all claims to Oregon.
Oregon and Manifest Destiny
- In the 1830's Americans began traveling to the Oregon Country to settle.
- Economic troubles in the East and reports of Oregon's fertile land drew many people.
- The first settlers were Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife.
- New settles brought measles. Native Americans had never been exposed to this disease before. Many Cayuse children were killed from this. They blamed the Whitmans.
- They attacked the mission in November 1847 and killed the Whitmans and 11 others
Along the Oregon Trail
- The Whitman massacre was a shocking event, but it didn't stop new settlers on their way to Oregon.
- Drawn in by fertile land many emigrants took the trail to Oregon.
- They turned north and west along the Snake and Columbia Rivers into the Oregon Country.
America Seeks its Manifest Destiny
- Many believed that the nations mission was to spread freedom by settling the entire continent.
- In 1819 John Quincy Adams expressed what many Americans were thinking when he said expansion to the Pacific was as certain as the Mississippi River flowing to the sea.
- In the 1840's, New York newspaper editor John O'Sullivan expressed in more specific words the idea of a national mission.
Fifty-Four Forty or Fight
- Many Americans wanted the United States to take over all of Oregon. In the 1844 presidential election, James K. Polk, the Democratic nominee, supported this desire.
- Democrats used the slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight," referring to the line of latitude they believed should be the nation's northern border in Oregon.
- Polk's Whig opponent, Henry Clay, did not take a strong position on the Oregon issue.
- Polk won the election because Whig support was not united behind Clay.
- A firm believer in Manifest Destiny, Polk was focused on acquiring Oregon.
How did Polk's views differ from Clay's in the 1844 Election?
Henry Clay didn't care about the expansion as much as Polk, Polk won the election because Whig support was not united behind Clay.
How did Florida become a state?
Spain transferred Florida to the United States on July 17, 1821.
- Florida had an appointed territorial governor, a territorial legislature, and a nonvoting delegate to the United States Congress.
- Tallahassee became the territorial capital in 1824.
- Small farms and cattle ranches dotted the region of central Florida.
The territory Grows
- In 1837 the census for the territory of Florida reported that 48,000 people lived thee, enslaved people made up one-half of that.
- Florida's desire to enter the Union as a slave state causes some difficulty.
Statehood for Florida
- Florida became the twenty-seventh state in the United States on March 3, 1845.
What caused the population of Florida to grow?
Many planters from other states moved there because there soil had been worn out from years of heavy use.
- In 1821 Mexico won independence from Spain. Mexico controlled the land that is now Texas.
- Wishing to increase settlement, Mexico offered vast tracts of land to people who would agree to bring families to settle there-as citizens of Mexico.
- Tensions with Mexico developed when Americans refused to follow Mexico's rules.
- For 13 long days, through several attacks, the defenders of the Alamo kept Santa Anna's army at bay with rifle fire.
- On March 6, 1836, Mexican cannon fire smashed the Alamo's walls.
- The Mexican army was too large to hold back. They entered the fortress, killing all the defenders including Travis, Crockett, Bowie, and a number of Tejanos.
Texas Declares Its Independence
- On March 2, 1836-four days before the fall of the Alamo-they declared independence from Mexico. They then established the Republic of Texas.
- On May, 14, 1836, Santa Anna signed a treaty that recognized the independence of Texas.
The Lone Star Republic
- Sam Houston sent a delegation to Washington, D.C., to ask the United States to annex, or take control of Texas.
- Andrew Jackson, however, refused their request. Texas remained an independent country.
Texas Becomes a State
- Southerners favored Texas annexation, but northerners opposed admitting another slave state to the Union.
- In 1845 Texas Joined the Union.
Why did it take a long time for the U.S. to annex Texas?
It was a slave state
How did the Santa Fe Trail benefit the New Mexico Territory?
Brought American settlers to Mexico
The New Mexico Territory
- In the early 1800's, the land called New Mexico was a vast region between the Texas and California territories.
- Mexico-including New Mexico-won its independence from Spain in 1821.
- The Santa Fe Trail started near Independence, Missouri.
How did William Becknell influence the American settlement of the New Mexico?
The settlers followed him through the trail
California's Spanish Culture
- Spanish explorers and missionaries from Mexico settled California in the 1700's.
- After Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, California became a Mexican state.
- President James K. Polk was determined to get the California and New Mexico territories from Mexico.
- Polk sent a representative, John Slidell, to Mexico to propose a deal. Slidell could offer $30 million for California and New Mexico as long as Mexico accepted the Rio Grande as the Texas border.
- On May 13, Congress passed a declaration of war against Mexico.
A War Plan
- Polk planned to defeat Mexico by accomplishing three goals. 1. The Unites States would drive Mexican forces out of Texas. 2. It would seize New Mexico and California. 3. American forces would advance into Mexico and capture the capital, Mexico City.
- By 1847, Zachary Taylor had accomplished the first goal.
- Even before war with Mexico officially began, American settlers in northern California had begun an uprising.
- On June 14, 1846, the Americans declared California independent.
- Finally, in September 1847, six months after Scott's forces landed in Veracruz, they captured Mexico's capital. Polk's plan for the war had succeeded.
- Defeated on February 2, 1848, Mexico's leaders signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
- The question of whether the new lands should allow slavery, however, would lead the country toward another bloody conflict.
How did the discovery of gold help California?
Brought more people there.
California Gold Rush
- When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in 1848, people from all over the world traveled to California in search of riches.
- Those who arrived in 1849 were called forty-niners.
- Americans made up about 80 percent of the forty-niners.
- The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war with Mexico and made Californios-Mexicans living in California- citizens of the United States.
The life of a forty-Niner
- As people rushed to a new area to look for gold, they built new communities.
- Cities also flourished during the Gold Rush. As ships arrived daily with gold seekers, San Francisco became a boomtown, growing quickly from a tiny village to a city of about 20,000 people.
Gold Rush Society
- Mining towns had no police or prisons so people know as vigilantes formed committees to protect themselves.
Economic and Political Progress
- In 1849, Californians applied for statehood and wrote a constitution.
How did the California Gold Rush lead to the expansion of cities?
More people came and were looking for gold.
A religious Refuge in Utah
- While the Gold Rush was transforming Califronia, change was also taking place in nearby Utah. There, Mormons, or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were building a new community and fulfilling their vision of the godly life.
The Mormons Move on
- Joseph Smith started preaching Mormon ideas in 1830.
- Smith formed a community in New York but neighbors disapproved of the Mormons' religion and forced him to leave.
- In 1844 a mob of local residents killed Joseph Smith.
A haven in the desert
- The Mormon migration began in 1846. About 12,000 Mormons made the trek in the largest single migration in American history.
- At first life was difficult for the settlers. The Mormons, however, made Deseret flourish through hard work and determination.
- In 1857 and 1858, war almost broke out between the Mormons and the United States Army.
- Utah did not become state until 1896, after the Mormons officially gave up the practice of polygamy.
Why did the Mormons have to keep moving from one place to another?
No one liked their religious beliefs.