Chapter 16
Journalist John O’Sullivan coined the phrase Manifest Destiny in 1845 to describe the belief that it was God’s will for the United States to expand westward. Settlers sought opportunities to spread American values across the trans-Mississippi West, driven
by Manifest Destiny,
as well as by the market revolution, transportation advancements, and increased nationalism.
By 1840, thousands had moved into what is now Texas, with a few braving the trail to present-day Oregon. Throughout the 1840s, a flood of settlers began traversing the dangerous Oregon Trail. Families traveled up to six months in caravans, covering only about 15 miles per day with good weather. While living on the trail, some women began to run prayer meetings and schools to maintain some vestiges of home. Women also began to take on new roles outside of homemaking and childcare, such as repairing wagons and tending to livestock.
As American settlers moved west, they encountered American Indian tribes, who had lived in the Great Plains region for centuries. Although there was occasional conflict between American Indians and American settlers, there were no large-scale clashes or battles. The lives of the Plains tribes, however, were dramatically altered by the increasing presence of the Sioux Indians. The Sioux had gradually moved westward since the mid-eighteenth century due to the spread of guns and horses, which they used to fight for territory and hunt buffalo. By the early nineteenth century, the Sioux had gained control over much of the Great Plains. However, they were unable to maintain their control of the land due to relentless westward expansion by American settlers.
In contrast to the experiences of Plains tribes, California tribes faced an organized extermination campaign by U.S. authorities. Between 1846 and 1873, the American Indian population in California plunged from approximately 150,000 to 30,000. Between 5,000 to 16,000 native peoples were directly killed in hundreds of massacres, while thousands more natives suffered due to disease and eviction from their ancestral lands. The new state government of California sided with settlers and gold prospectors over native claims to land. Between 1850 and 1863, a kind of legalized slavery for American Indians was authorized under the California Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. By the mid-1860s, the reservation system and assimilation of American Indian children via schooling became the preferred approaches.
Westward expansion became a major political issue when Martin Van Buren was elected president in 1836. Van Buren’s presidency was marred by an economic depression resulting from the policies of his predecessor, Andrew Jackson. The Panic of 1837, much like the Panic of 1819, was caused by overspeculation on western lands, faulty loans from “wildcat” western banks, the absence of a national bank, and Jackson’s Specie Circular, which decreed that all federal land be paid for in gold or silver. These factors placed enormous strain on the economy, and the impact of the depression lasted until the early 1840s.
Van Buren fought for reelection in 1840 against Whig Party candidate William Henry Harrison, hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe. Mudslinging was fierce in the election, with Whigs blaming “Martin Van Ruin” for the economic crisis and Democrats accusing Harrison of being an alcoholic. The lively campaign saw the Whigs cart model log cabins to towns and distribute hard cider to boast of Harrison’s poor background. His “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too” ticket easily defeated Van Buren in 1840. However, Harrison fell ill and died only a month into his term, leaving his vice president John Tyler to succeed him.
Americans still harbored hatred for the British after the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. British presence along what is now the Canadian border provoked tension, with conflict occurring when British lumber companies proposed building a road across contested land. In 1838, a group of British North American lumberjacks collided with Maine militia forces, and the lumberjacks took control of the Aroostook River Valley. The threatened war was quickly averted, as Secretary of State Daniel Webster and the British Foreign Minister Ashburton negotiated terms to settle the boundary dispute. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842) divided the contested territory between the United States and Britain and settled the northern boundary of Maine.
The conflict between the United States and Britain would not end with this treaty, however. The British had enjoyed a profitable fur-trading business in the Oregon Territory and believed their business interests granted them claim to the region. Conversely, the United States contended that it had first found and settled the region and could therefore rightfully claim it. The most ardent proponents of expansion demanded that the United States take the entire territory up to the 54°40' parallel, which ran along the southern shore of Alaska. As the ideology of Manifest Destiny swept the nation and the election of 1844 crept closer, Democrat James K. Polk sought to capitalize on the expansionist spirit with a campaign promise to extend the U.S. border up to Russian-controlled Alaska, using the slogan “Fifty-four forty or fight!” By the time he took office, Polk softened his demand for the entire Oregon Territory and was willing to negotiate with Britain. The border was drawn at the 49th parallel, which ceded what is now British Columbia, including Vancouver Island, and it granted navigation rights on the Columbia River to the British. Though the agreement represented a loss of U.S. territory, the Mexican-American War had erupted by this time, overshadowing concerns over the entrance of new free territories into the Union.
During this time, the status of Texas became a source of conflict. In 1821, Texas was officially a northern region of the newly independent Mexico. Mexico had attracted many American farmers and ranchers with cheap land and relative freedom from government intrusion. By the 1830s, Americans and slaves outnumbered Mexicans in the region. Mexico decided to regulate the Texans more strictly by banning slavery and demanding that all residents become Catholic. American settlers refused to abide by the new laws, and tensions escalated. In 1834, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna became the military dictator of Mexico and attempted to force American settlers to follow Mexican law. The settlers, led by Sam Houston, staged a revolt in 1836 and declared Texas a republic independent of Mexico.
In present-day San Antonio, Santa Anna’s forces attacked the Alamo, killing all Americans stationed there, and they marched to the San Jacinto River. There, a force led by Houston successfully captured Santa Anna. The Mexican dictator was forced to sign a decree granting independence to the Republic of Texas (Lone Star Republic). Houston was chosen to lead the new country, and he quickly applied for annexation, or adoption as a state into the Union. His petitions were initially rejected by Jackson and Van Buren, who feared tipping the balance in the Senate to favor slave states. Despite Tyler’s support for annexation, Congress rejected his bid to bring Texas into the Union in 1844.
The presidential election of 1844 brought expansion and the fate of Texas to the forefront. Outgoing President Tyler saw the election of the expansionist candidate Polk as a mandate to drive the annexation of Texas through Congress. A joint resolution was passed to accept Texas’s bid for annexation, which angered the Mexican government.