Unit 5 Test Notes
Westward Expansion
Causes for Expansion
Physiological factors.
Manifest Destiny
to express their belief that the United States’ destiny was to expand to the Pacific
Economic factors
Exhaustion of good lands in the east
Effects of the panic of 1837
Gold and silver
Market, Communication, Transportation Revolution
transportation
steamboat
canals
trains developed in 1840's
Market
People bought and sold goods, rather than making goods for themselves
Communication
people in better contact
telegraph
New Markets Link Regions
Northeast
West
South
Shipping and manufacturing
Farming cash crops: wheat and corn
Cash Crops: tobacco, cotton, rice
Texas Independence
Causes
Events
Results
Mexico won independence
Mexico invites U.S. settlers
Mexico wanted to improve economy
Increase trade with US
Increase manufactured goods in Mexico
Laws which tied North provinces to US trade rather than rest of Mexico
Reasons US settlers came
Manifest Destiny
Natural Resources and good farmland
Land grants by Mexican government = cheap large plots of land
Conflict between Texas and Mexico
Despite closed borders, Anglo population doubled between 1830 and 1834
Austin was arrested and imprisoned after he traveled to Mexico City to petition for greater self-government for Texas.
SLAVERY
War
Santa Anna marched toward San Antonio with 4,000 troops to make Texans obey laws
Austin returned to Texas in 1835 🡪 was convinced war was the only recourse
Austin called Texans to arms
The Alamo
The lone star republic
Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836
Annexation of Texas
Most Texans hoped US would annex Texas, but American public split
Southerners sought to extend slavery
Northerners feared unbalance in senate in favor of slave states, feared a potential war with Mexico
John Quincy Adams (as president wanted to Purchase Texas) opposed in 1838, also rejected by President Tyler’s Sec of State Daniel Webster in 1842
President James K. Polk, a slaveholder, firmly favored annexation, and Texas joined Dec. 29, 1845.
Oregon Treaty
Expansionists urged seizure of Oregon from England
"54 40' or Fight" became slogan
Oregon Treaty (1846) set boundary at 49th parallel
Missionaries enter the region
Oregon Trail
Disagreements with Natives upon arrival
Whitman Massacre - Native attack on Whitman Mission in Oregon Country
Mexican-American War
Polk Urges War
Polk has a vision of continental US from Atlantic to Pacific and to retire presidency after first term
Hostilities with Mexico flared again When US Annexed Texas in 1845.
Causes for Polk’s Military Action
Issues over border of Mexico and Texas
Domestic Dispute over Slavery
as a Cause
Southerners wanted war to gain more land to:
Expand Slavery
Gain more slave states in congress
North wanted Congress to pass Wilmot Provision
Proposed Amendment to military appropriations Bill of 1846 that prohibited slavery in lands that might be gained from Mexico
Southerners felt provision was attack on slavery, pushed for war even more.
Sectional conflict
Problems After Mexican War
Main Problem: What to do with the new land in regard to free or slave states.
Mexican Cession not yet organized
Texas-New Mexico border dispute
California joins as a free state
Options:
Missouri Compromise
Slave States and Free States
Popular sovereignty
Let the people vote whether they should be slave states or free states
Free soil
No slavery at all
Clays Compromise
Compromise of 1850
The North got
Slave trade banned in D.C.
No abolition unless residents and MD consent
Slave owners would be paid for loss
CA admitted as a free state
The South Got
Popular Sovereignty in New Mexico and Utah Territories
Pay $10 Million to Texas to give disputed land to New Mexico territory.
New and more effective Fugitive Slave Law
Getting the Compromise Passed.
Sen. Webster (W-MA) speaks to Northerners about passing stricter fugitive
slave laws
Southerners about danger of secession
Senate rejects compromise
sen. Douglas, Proposed introducing each resolution one at a time
President Taylor Dies!!!
PRESIDENT MILLARD FILMORE GETS IT PASSED!!!👍🎉🎊
September 1850, Compromise passed
Crisis averted for the time being
Underground Railroad
Secret network of people who hid fugitives
"Conductors" hid fugitives in secret tunnels and false cupboards, gave food, and clothing, help to next "station."
Harriet Tubman helps 300 slaves escape during 19 trips South
Tension over Kansas/Nebraska
Issue of slavery in new territories
Kansas/Nebraska
Sen. Douglas proposes Kansas Nebraska Act
Kansas Nebraska Act :
Divide area into 2 territories
Kansas
Nebraska
Repealed Missouri Compromise
Popular Sovereignty in both territories
Bill passed 1854, after moths of struggle in congress
Effects:
Both sides very bitter
Both rush into Kansas
Enough to make Kansas eligible to be a state by March, 1855
violence between two factions
“Free Staters” (N)
“Border Ruffians” (S)
Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas.
Fugitive Slave Law
Extremely Harsh Laws
No trial by jury
More money to return a slave than free them
Huge fines for those who help a fugitive(Slave)
Northern Reaction
Sent slaves to Canada
Boston Mob killed guard of imprisoned fugitive.
9 Northern states passed laws forbidding imprisonment of fugitives
Northern lawyers dragged trials out to increase cost for slave owners