1 / 11

Polk and Expansion

Polk and Expansion. 1844-1846. Background: Texan Independence. 1824: Mexico granted empresarios (Austin) large land grants, abolished slavery Many Americans moved to Texas, with slaves, violating Mexican law 1835: Santa Anna invaded Texas; Alamo defeat, massacre

binh
Download Presentation

Polk and Expansion

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Polk and Expansion 1844-1846

  2. Background: Texan Independence • 1824: Mexico granted empresarios (Austin) large land grants, abolished slavery • Many Americans moved to Texas, with slaves, violating Mexican law • 1835: Santa Anna invaded Texas; Alamo defeat, massacre • 1836: Houston & Texans defeated Santa Anna: recognition of Independent Texas • Border agreement was not clear: Which river was the border? • Key question for Americans: Would slavery in Texas cause slavery to spread Westward?

  3. James Polk • Stiff, politically astute, energetic work ethic • Promised to expand US to fulfill Manifest Destiny • Promised to serve only one term • Polk cleverly used circumstances to add Oregon, Texas, California, southwest territories to US

  4. Annexation of Oregon Andrew Melrose, westward the star of empire takes its way--near Council Bluffs Iowa, 1867 • Before 1846, Northwest territory administration was shared between US and Britain • Extreme believers in Manifest Destiny demanded US control up to 54°40’; rest of US-Canada border suggested 49° • Polk knew 54°40’ would require war; knew that UK couldn’t afford war • Polk ended joint occupation: gave UK year to negotiate • 1846: UK chose negotiations over war: 49° treaty

  5. Mexican American War: Causes • Mexico failed to pay $2 million owed to US citizens • Alamo massacre stirred American patriotism • Polk’s election increased strength of pro-annexationists • 1845: Congress voted to annex Texas, but Texas refused, fearing Mexican invasion • Polk promised Texas to extend border to Rio Grande • Mexican government politically could not make concessions to US, so refused to negotiate • Polk ordered General Taylor to move troops to Rio Grande “border”, baiting Mexico to attack

  6. Mexican American War: Events • When Mexico attacked, Polk claimed to Congress that war had already started • Anti-war Whigs had little choice but to support Polk (remember Federalists in 1812) • US artillery, weapons, training easily defeated Mexico, despite fewer troops • 1847: Mexico City taken, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo by which US paid $15M and assumed debt to US citizens

  7. Mexican American War: Results • US territory expanded to Rio Grande • Texas annexed into US • California became US territory (gold rush soon to follow) • Southwest became US territory (including western Colorado) • Polk achieved goals of dramatically enlarging country

More Related