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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