Mexican Cession, 1848

Mexican Cession, 1848

Texas joined the United States in 1846. A boarder disagreement broke out almost immediately between the United States and Mexico, the country from which Texas had won its’ independence a decade earlier. The U.S. said the southern boundary of the state should be the Rio Grande, which was further south of the original boundary set by the Nueces River. On April 25, 1846, after the U.S. cavalry ignored an order from the Mexican army to retreat to the Nueces River and instead advanced south to the Rio Grande, fighting broke out. Three weeks later, Congress declared war on Mexico. Many believed that President James Polk intentionally put soldiers in a spot where they would be attacked by Mexicans so we could start a war. President Polk had tried to buy this land from Mexico for 20 Million dollars and Mexico was not interested in selling. Polk had promised the citizens that he would be the President to fulfill “Manifest Destiny” bringing the US ocean to ocean. If Mexico was not willing to sell the land the only way to get it was through war and many believed he wanted it to look like Mexico started the war so he put soldiers in a spot he knew they would get shot.

Fighting continued for more than a year, and ended in September 1847. In February 1848, the two countries signed the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. The treaty recognized Texas as a U.S. state, and ceded a large chunk of land — about half the area that belonged to the Mexican republic — to the United States for the cost of $15 million. The Mexican Cession included land that would later become California, Nevada, and Utah, as well as portions of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.

The treaty also stated that Mexicans who remained in the state would be permitted to become U.S. citizens, and that they would be allowed to keep their property. However, the treaty was never fully honored. In the decades following the signing of the treaty, Mexican-Americans were stripped of nearly 20 million acres of their land by American businessmen, ranchers and railroad companies, as well as by the U.S. Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture.

1. Who did the US get this land from?
2. Summarize how the US got this land in 30 words or less
3. Was adding this land as part of “Manifest Destiny” bad for anyone? If so, who/why?
4. Critical Thinking:

A: Do you think President Polk WANTED US soldiers to get shot by Mexicans? Why or why not?

B. Why would the US have paid $15 million for the land after winning the war? They could have taken it without paying for it.

Oregon Country, 1846

Oregon Country was a portion of land between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains in the northwest portion of the present-day United States. In 1818, the United States and Britain agreed to a "joint occupation" of Oregon, allowing citizens of both countries to settle there. Over the next several decades, American and British settlers came to Oregon for different reasons. Many Americans traveled the Oregon Trail to get to the Oregon Country. The British came mostly for the fur trade, while Americans came to be missionaries or to start farms or larger settlements. By the 1840s, Americans outnumbered the British, and the fur trade was no longer as good as it had once been. Americans who wanted to expand — among them President James Polk — were increasingly looking to end the joint occupation and claim Oregon for America alone. Finding themselves in a weakened position, the British agreed to negotiate peacefully.

Negotiations between the United States and Britain over the Oregon Country began in the summer of 1845. Because any states that would eventually be formed out of the territory would be free states, anti-slavery Northerners were strongly in favor of acquiring as much of the territory as possible. America's first proposal was that the territory be divided roughly in half, with the boundary drawn at the 49th parallel. When the British rejected this offer, expansionist Northerners called for greater American aggression, using the slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!" ("Fifty-four Forty" referred to the latitude line marking the northernmost boundary of the territory.) Pro-slavery Southern Congressmen, however, made it clear that they would not support a war with Britain over the territory.

Britain did not want to go to war over the issue either, and in 1846, the two countries reached an agreement to divide the territory at the 49th parallel. Oregon Country would later become the modern-day states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as portions of Montana and Wyoming.

1. Who did the US get this land from?

2. Summarize how the US got this land in 30 words or less

3. Was adding this land as part of “Manifest Destiny” bad for anyone? If so, who/why?

4. Critical Thinking:

A: Do you think President Polk would have gone to war with Britain if they did not agree to the 49th parallel as the point to split the territory? Why or why not?

B. Why would southern states have preferred to keep sharing Oregon with Britain as a territory instead of claiming our own part of it?

C. What “pull factors” would have made people want to move to the Oregon Country?

Texas Annexation, 1845

In the 1820’s Texas was a piece of land controlled by Mexico. Not very many people lived there and Mexico was worried it would get overtaken by Natives Americans so they offered anyone from the United States free land if they moved into Texas. Stephen Austin led over 300 families from the United States to Mexico. They were all supposed to follow Mexico’s laws. By 1835, approximately 20,000 American, Mexican, and European settlers had arrived in Texas, bringing with them an additional 4,000 slaves. Slavery was against the law in Mexico.

In 1835, fighting broke out between the Mexican army and American colonists who were angry with the Mexican government for trying to limit the practice of slavery. In 1836, the Americans living in Texas declared Texas an independent state, called the Republic of Texas. In one of the early battles 4,000 Mexican soldiers killed the entire Texan army of 180 inside the Alamo at San Antonio. The bravery of this defeat inspired other Texans to fight and even some other citizens from the United States came to help. The US army never got involved in this conflict. An inspired Texan army won victory at the Battle of San Jacinto later that year, ending the Texas Revolution with the Texans victorious. For 9 years Texas was its’ own country with former army leader Sam Houston serving as President for much of that time.

In 1845, the Republic of Texas voluntarily asked to become a part of the United States, and the government of the United States agreed to add the nation as a new state. We technically then got Texas from themselves. Mexican leaders had long warned the United States that if it tried to make Texas a state, it would declare war. And, almost immediately after Texas joined the union, the United States and Mexico went to war about where the proper border for the state of Texas should be.

1. Who did the US get this land from?

2. Summarize how the US got this land in 30 words or less

3. Was adding this land as part of “Manifest Destiny” bad for anyone? If so, who/why?

4. Critical Thinking:

A: Despite losing at the Battle of the Alamo, how did it help Texas win independence from Mexico?

B. What was the main “pull factor” that got Americans to move to Texas while it was still owned by Mexico?

C. Why do you think would many members of congress did NOT want to add Texas to the US?

Florida, 1819

Although Spain, France, and Britain all held Florida (or parts of Florida) prior to the American Revolution, by the end of the war, it belonged to Spain. However, the location of the border between the United States and Spanish-owned Florida remained an issue of dispute between the two countries.

The American acquisition of Florida actually occurred in small steps. Americans had long settled in the territory, and throughout the early years of the 19th century American settlers in Florida periodically rebelled against Spanish authorities, sometimes with the support of American officials who wanted to add Florida to the country. Moreover, the use of the region as a popular safe hideout for runaway slaves, as well as ongoing Native American hostilities, also gave American leaders reasons to get Florida from Spain.

In 1814 and then again in 1817-1818, future American president Andrew Jackson led frontier forces in defeating and removing various Native American tribes who called the region home, even as Spain retained official control. At this point, the United States and Spain had to either fight or negotiate over which country would retain possession of Florida. At the time, Spain was dealing with serious problems with its other colonies in America. They were all declaring and winning independence from Spain. Because Spain did not want war, in 1819, the two countries signed the Adam-Onís Treaty. The treaty, named after Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Spanish minister Louis de Onís, ceded Florida to the United States. In exchange, the United States agreed to pay up to $5 million to Spain. They never paid it however claiming that Spain owed $5 million in damages caused by their lack of proper governance of the colony resulting in the loss of slaves and destruction and theft of property by Native Americans.

1. Who did the US get this land from?

2. Summarize how the US got this land in 30 words or less

3. Was adding this land as part of “Manifest Destiny” bad for anyone? If so, who/why?

4. Critical Thinking:

A: Do you think the US would have gone to war to get Florida if Spain did not agree to sell?

B. Why do you think Spain losing their Latin and South American colonies made them decide to give up Florida?

Louisiana Purchase, 1803

Stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border, the enormous Louisiana territory was originally settled by the French in the early 18th century.

In 1802, France stopped allowing U.S. merchants to use the city of New Orleans, an important city for trading due to its’ locationwhere the Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico. It was a busy trading port. President Thomas Jefferson was concerned about this situation and sent James Monroe to Paris to try to help Robert Livingston, the American minister to France, negotiate a deal hoping the US could buy the port city of New Orleans.

At first French leader Napolean was not interested in selling any land. 2 things happened however that changed his mind. One of his colonies in the Caribbean had a successful slave uprising (now the Dominican Republic) where the slaves took control of the island beating the French. Secondly, Britain and France were back into another war with one another meaning Napolean needed money. France decided to make the Americans a surprising offer. Jefferson was astonished when the French minister offered to sell America all 828,000 square miles of the Louisiana territory for the price of $15 million. The Americans jumped at the offer, and on April 30, 1803, the deal was finalized.

The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the country at a cost of approximately four cents an acre. It was met with overwhelming approval by Americans eager to expand the borders of their new country. Thirteen states, among them Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado and Nebraska, later developed either entirely or partly from the land gained by the purchase.

1. Who did the US get this land from?

2. Summarize how the US got this land in 30 words or less

3. Was adding this land as part of “Manifest Destiny” bad for anyone? If so, who/why?

4. Critical Thinking:

A: Why do you think Jefferson authorized this purchase without asking Congress for their approval first?

B. What would Jefferson want done with this land before people move there? Why?

C. What would be a “pull factor” that would get someone to move to the Louisiana Territory?