1. Part One: Texas’ Entry Into the Union

2. Denied Annexation Texas’ First Application to join the Union denied!
Northerners were concerned about tipping the balance in favor of a slave state
Cotton had begun to be grown in Texas, requiring an importation of slaves
Great Britain pleased
Source of raw materials other than Southern United States
No need to deal with the Tariffs of the US
Tariffs had gone up in 1842 to the percentages of the 1832 Tariff of Abominations

3. Texas
Was recognized by Andrew Jackson as an independent Republic
Despite expansionist sentiments in the country, denied annexation
Stated reason was to avoid war with Mexico
Mexico had never recognized Texas’ independence
Underlying reason: to avoid the controversy of adding slave territory to the Union

4. Slavery in Texas Mexico had outlawed slavery in 1829
Texans “freed” their slaves
Slaves were forced to sign indentured servant contracts
In reality – slavery continued in Texas

5. Polk and Manifest Destiny
The Politics of Expansion

6. John Sullivan on Manifest Destiny
John Sulllivan, a newspaper editor, describes why so many Americans were driven to settle the West.
His terminology became how Americans referred to this desire to settle the land from Atlantic to Pacific Oceans.
“Yes, we are the nation of progress, of individual freedom, of universal enfranchisement. Equality of rights is the cynosure of our union of States, the grand exemplar of the correlative equality of individuals; and while truth sheds its effulgence, we cannot retrograde, without dissolving the one and subverting the other. We must onward to the fulfillment of our mission -- to the entire development of the principle of our organization -- freedom of conscience, freedom of person, freedom of trade and business pursuits, universality of freedom and equality. This is our high destiny, and in nature's eternal, inevitable decree of cause and effect we must accomplish it. All this will be our future history, to establish on earth the moral dignity and salvation of man -- the immutable truth and beneficence of God. For this blessed mission to the nations of the world, which are shut out from the life-giving light of truth, has America been chosen; and her high example shall smite unto death the tyranny of kings, hierarchs, and oligarchs, and carry the glad tidings of peace and good will where myriads now endure an existence scarcely more enviable than that of beasts of the field. Who, then, can doubt that our country is destined to be the great nation of futurity?”
Excerpted from "The Great Nation of Futurity," The United States Democratic Review, Volume 6, Issue 23, pp The complete article can be found in The Making of America Series at Cornell University

7. Manifest Destiny Causes Nationalism Religious fervor Economic motives
Spurred by the War of 1812
Religious fervor
Convert the Indian, heathens
Spread reforms sparked by the Second Great Awakening
Economic motives
Fur trade
Homesteads
Gold Rush

8. Territories in Dispute in 1845
Polk wanted to settle border issues regarding Oregon and Texas

9. Oregon
According to Treaty of 1818 with England the administration of Oregon was to be shared between the 2 countries
By 1845 there were Americans greatly outnumbered British settlers
Polk offers to split the territory at the 49th parallel
At first England hesitates, but later gives in when Polk talks about abrogating the Treaty of 1818 at the end of one year’s time
British gain Vancouver Island

10. Texas: War with Mexico Mexico owed United States money
Polk wanted the Rio Grande to be the border between Texas and Mexico
Mexico claimed the Nueces River (150 miles north of the Rio Grande) as the border
Sent John Slidell to negotiate (secretly)
Mexicans refused to accept him
Polk orders army to the Rio Grande
Mexicans conduct an ambush of Americans
11 American dead, 52 captured
Congress declares war

11. The Peace America gains the lands to the Pacific
Zachary Taylor (general during the Mexican American War) elected in 1848
Gold discovered in California in 1848
By ,000 Americans had come to California (Gold Rush of 1849)
Mostly males
In need of a government
Taylor suggests admitting California to the union immediately