immigration, expansion, and sectional conflict 1840-1848 chapter 13

Immigration, Expansion, and Sectional Conflict1840-1848

Chapter 13

Introduction (cont.)

In the 1840’s, many American believed it was the “manifest destiny” of the U.S.A. to possess North America from coast to coast

Acting on that belief, the administration of James K. Polk between 1845 and 1849: Annexed Texas Divided the Oregon Territory with GB Fought the Mexican War

Resulting in the conquest of CA and NM


Also in the 1840’s and 1850’s a rising tide of new immigrants entered the country

Expansion and immigration were linkedThe overwhelming Democratic Party leaders

saw the acquisition of more land and a return to a republic of self-sufficient farmers A way of relieving growing class, ethnic, and

sectional conflicts Adding OR would please the North Adding TX would please the South


In fact, westward expansion had the opposite effect

It sharpened sectional strifeSplit the Democratic PartySet the nation on the path to the Civil War


1.) How did immigration in the 1840’s influence the balance of power between the Whig and Democratic Parties

2.) What economic and political forces fed westward expansion during the 1840’s

3.) How did westward expansion threaten war with Britain and Mexico

4.) How did the outcome of the Mexican-American War intensify intersectional conflict?

Newcomers and Natives

IntroductionBetween 1840 and 1860

4.2 million immigrants entered the U.S.A.

2 biggest groups came from Ireland and the German states

Expectations and Realities (cont.)

By 1860Irish and Germans accounted for about 50%

of the populations in the following cities: St. Louis New York Chicago Cincinnati Milwaukee Detroit San Francisco

The Irish

Between 1815 and 1844 almost 1 million Irish entered the U.S.A. Most were Catholic, poor, and seeking greater

economic opportunityFrom 1845-1855

Roughly 2 million arrived Overwhelming Catholic Fleeing from the potato famine in Ireland

They usually entered the urban work force at the bottom Competed for jobs with equally poor blacks

The Irish (cont.)

The competition for jobs between the Irish and poor blacks led to animosity between the 2 groups Made most Irish hostile to abolition and

abolitionistsThose Irish who rose to the level of

skilled and semi-skilled workers competed against native-born, white, Protestant mechanics Caused another level of hostilities Ethnic and religious

Anti-Catholicism, Nativism, and Labor Protest

Know-Nothing Party A.k.a. American Party

Mostly white, Protestant, native-born workers

anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant Ohio History link on Know Nothing Party Played a significant political role in the

1850’s

Immigrant Politics

Almost all Irish and German immigrants became supporters of the Democratic Party

Antiprivilege partyMore sympathetic to the common man than

the WhigsThey also resented Whig connections with

the temperance movement and nativismThe Irish suspected the northern Whigs of

antislavery views Irish feared economic competition from

emancipated slaves They wanted no part of abolitionism

The United States in 1840

The American Settlement of Texas to 1835

In the 1820’s the Mexican govt. gave generous land grants to Americans encouraged their settlement in TX

a way to guard against Indian attacks hasten the economic development of the

provinceMany Americans came

Mostly from southern statesIn the 1830’s, Mexican govt. attempted to

end American immigration and prohibit slavery in TX

The American Settlement of Texas to 1835 (cont.)

Its efforts antagonized the Americans but failed to stop the flood of immigrants

By 1836 the American population in TX was 30,000 free and 5,000 slaves

The American Settlement of Texas to 1835 (cont.)

Santa Anna New president-

dictator of Mexico 1834 Started to tighten his

hold on TX The Americans in the

province rebelled

The Texas Revolution, 1836

Fall of 1835Santa Anna led an

army into TX to suppress the uprising

The Mexicans defeated the Americans at the Alamo and at Goliad

The Battle of the Alamo

The Texas Revolution, 1836 (cont.)

In April 1836Sam Houston

Led the American route against the Mexicans at San Jacinto

Took Santa Anna prisoner Forced him to sign a treaty

granting TX independence The Mexican govt. later

refused to ratify the treaty But TX remained independent

American Settlements in CA, NM, and OR (cont.)

In the 1830’s, American missionaries entered Oregon’s Willamette Valley to attempt to convert the Indians there

The missionaries’ glowing reports of the territory’s climate and resources aroused keen interest back in the U.S.A.

The Overland Trails

In the 1840’s, 14,000 Americans joined wagon trains on the overland trails (or the OR and CA trails)

Headed for OR or CAProblems:

Faulty maps and guidebooks Fears of Indian attacks

The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846

Introduction At the start of 1840’s, western expansion

was not an important political issue Only after politicians failed to deal

effectively with troubling economic issues did some of these leaders seize on expansion as a primary goal

The Whig AscendancyThe Whig Party won the

election of 1840 William Henry Harrison

The Party planned to enact Clay’s American system of a new national bank, protective tariffs, and federal aid for internal improvements

The Whig Ascendancy (cont.)

Harrison died after only 1 month in the White House VP was John Tyler

Tyler was a states’ rights VirginianVetoed all the economic measures Congress

passedCreated tension in the Whig party

Tyler and the Annexation of Texas

Tyler supported the U.S. annexation of Texas

Appointed John C. Calhoun as his secretary of state

Draw up a treaty with Mexico to annex TX

Tyler and the Annexation of Texas (cont.)

Calhoun wrote undiplomatically that one reason for annexation was to provide more territory for the expansion and protection of slavery This added fuel to already existing northern

suspicions that acquiring TX was part of a southern conspiracy to expand slavery

The Senate rejected Tyler and Calhoun’s annexation treaty

The Election of 1844

Whigs nominated Henry Clay

Democrats nominated James Polk

Major issue of annexation of TX

The Election of 1844 (cont.)

Henry Clay waved on annexation First opposed it as sectionally divisive His shifts lost southern votes to Democrats and

northern antislavery votes to the LibertyJames Polk

Expansionist Called for admitting TX immediately

Many Irish and other recent immigrants voted for Polk They disliked the Whigs’ association with

nativism, temperance, and anti-CatholicismPolk won in a close election

Manifest Destiny, 1845

Expansionism had become a popular cause by the 1840’s

Many expansionists said it was “manifest destiny” to the U.S.A. to spread its experiment in liberty and self-govt. from coast to coast John L. O’Sullivan developed the phrase of

“manifest destiny”Expansionists eyed the excellent harbors of

CA and OR Natural outlets for American trade with Asia

Manifest Destiny, 1845 (cont.)

Expansionists argued that acquiring additional fertile soil would safeguard the U.S. future as a democratic republic of self-sufficient farmers Combat the social stratification and class strife that

accompanied industrialization and urbanization

These ideas, carried in the penny press, strongly appealed to struggling immigrants in the cities

Polk and Oregon

Polk wanted OR during the 1844 campaignManifest Destiny placed OR in its sightsNeither GB or U.S.A. wanted a war over OR

They settled for a compromise treaty Split OR at the 49th parallel

Senate ratified the treaty in 1846

The Mexican-American War and Its Aftermath, 1846-1848

The Origins of the Mexican-American War In Feb. 1845, Congress passed a joint

resolution to annex TX Mexico never recognized the

independence of TX TX claimed that its southern boundary was

the Rio Grande Mexico contented that it was the Nueces

River (100 miles to the northeast) Polk’s support encouraged Texas to accept

annexation on July 4, 1845

The Origins of the Mexican-American War (cont.)

Polk also wanted to gain CA and NM

He sent John Slidell to Mexico with an offer to buy them for $25 million

Mexico refused


Polk ordered American troops into the disputed region south of the Nueces River

Led by Zachary Taylor

Polk hoped to provoke a war that would give the U.S. a chance to seize CA and NM


When Mexican troops clashed with Taylor’s, Polk told Congress that Mexico had forced war with the U.S.

The Mexican-American War

Feb. 1847Taylor defeated a Mexican army at the Battle

of Buena VistaColonel Stephen Kearny

took NMCommodores John D. Sloat and David

Stockon and army officers Kearny and John C. Fremont Took CA combined naval and land assaults

The Mexican-American War (cont.)

General Winfield Scott Captured Mexico City

Mexico surrendered Sept. 1847Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Mexico accepted the Rio Grande boundary Mexico Ceded to U.S.A. almost all of the present-

day U.S. southwest region U.S.A. paid $15 million U.S.A. promised to pay claims of U.S. citizens

against Mexico

The War’s Effects on Sectional Conflict

Patriotism was generated by the warSectional conflict grew though between 1846

and 1848The Polk administration angered the North

and West by lowering tariffs and vetoing federal aid for internal improvements

The War’s Effects on Sectional Conflict (cont.)

Most important, arguments began over the expansion of slavery in the Mexican cessionNorthern Democrats worried that

the western expansion of slavery would close out opportunities for free laborers in the West and worsen class antagonism in the East

The Wilmot Proviso

1846David Wilmot

Northern DemocraticTacked on an appropriations bill an

amendment that would bar slavery from the new territory acquired from Mexico

Passed the House but not the SenateExtremist southerners led by Calhoun

claimed it was unconstitutional for Congress to forbid slavery in any territory

The Election of 1848

Whigs nominated Zachary Taylor

Democrats nominated Lewis Cass Tried to solve the

sectional controversy by proposing popular sovereignty which would give settlers who lived in a territory the right to decide whether to permit slavery


Free-Soil Party A faction of Democrats

called Barnburners joined antislavery “conscience” Whigs and Liberty Party abolitionists

Nominated Martin Van Buren

Opposed to any further spread of slavery


Taylor won the election A military hero position on slavery was unknown

The good showing of the Free-Soilers in the North demonstrated the popular appeal of keeping slavery out of the West and using it as a place of opportunity for poor white men

The California Gold Rush

Just before the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, an American carpenter living in CA discovered gold near Sacramento The news quickly reached the east Produced a rush of prospectors

CA’s population surgedThe weak military govt. proved unequal to

containing the violence and disorder of the gold fields and mining boomtowns

Californians demanded a civilian state govt.This brought to a head the issue of slavery in

CA and the rest of the Mexican cession

Panning Gold, California

Conclusion

Polk during his one term, nearly led the U.S.A. into a war against Britain and did fight Mexico.

The issue of the spread of slavery into the territories taken from Mexico fanned sectional strife and split the Democrats

Many northern Democrats joined others in 1848 to create the Free-Soil Party

The Compromise of 1850

Introduction When the treaty ending the Mexican War was signed

in 1848, a delicate balance existed between free and slave states 15 of each

All the proposed solutions for handling slavery in the Mexican cession were controversial Whether to prohibit it Open the whole area to slaveholders Extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Or apply popular sovereignty

Other issues also divided the North and South CA and UT asked Congress for admission to the Union

as free states

Compromise of 1850

* people in UT and NM used popular sovereignty to decide on the slavery issue

Compromise of 1850

I. California became a free state.

II. The rest of the Mexican Cession was divided into two parts; Utah (UT) and New Mexico (NM).

III. The slave trade ended in Washington, D.C.

IV. The Fugitive Slave Law was passed.

• You could be fined and/or imprisoned for helping a runaway slave.

Cazenovia, MA, Fugitive Slave Law Convention held on 21 and 22 August 1850; Frederick Douglass is seated at the right side of the table.

The Fugitive Slave Law

• All Americans, by law, were required to help catch runaway slaves.

• This law infuriated northerners!

Kansas-Nebraska Act

I. The Nebraska Territory was divided into two parts: Nebraska (NE) and Kansas (KS).

Kansas-Nebraska Act

II. The people of each territory voted on whether or not to allow slavery. (popular sovereignty)

Kansas-Nebraska Act

* The Kansas-Nebraska Act violated the Missouri Compromise. Both territories were north of 36,30’N and should NOT have been allowed to have slaves!

• Both sides claimed victory on the vote!

“Bleeding Kansas”

Before the vote on slavery:

• Northerners crossed the border to keep KS a free state.

• Southerners crossed the border to make KS a slave state.

immigration, expansion, and sectional conflict 1840-1848 chapter 13

Documents