War With Mexico

1. War With Mexico

2. Texas Revolution • 1821 – Stephen Austin had led American settlers to Texas • 1833 – Austin petitions Mexican President Santa Anna for self government • Santa Anna imprisons Austin and incites rebellion • 1835 – Texans attack Mexican forces at the Alamo • Texans win initial victory • Santa Anna strikes back, killing all 187 defenders

3. “Remember the Alamo!” • Sam Houston leads Texan forces against Santa Anna at Battle of San Jacinto • Killed 630 men in 18 minutes and captured Santa Anna • Santa Anna was released after signing the Treaty of Velasco – granting independence • Houston becomes first President of the Republic of Texas

4. Texas Joins the Union • 1838 – Houston invites U.S. to annex Texas • Texas (a slave territory) sparked controversy • Winner of election of 1844, James K. Polk, favored the annexation • Texas becomes 28th state in 1845 • Mexico, enraged, recalls ambassador

5. Building to War • Polk had great territorial aspirations • War = New Mexico and California • U.S.: Texas border extends to Rio Grande • Mexico: border stops at Nueces River

6. “Polk the Purposeful” • 1845: Polk sends John Slidell to Mexico to purchase California and New Mexico and establish Rio Grande as border • Mexican officials refuse to receive him • Polk sends General Zachary Taylor to blockade Rio Grande River

7. Dissenting Opinions • [The war is a] “national crime committed in behoof of slavery, our common sin.” • James Russell Lowell, abolitionist • [Mexico is] “the forbidden fruit; the penalty of eating it would be to subject our institutions to political death.” • John C. Calhoun

8. Sectional Attitudes • Southerners: Texas provides an opportunity to extend slavery • The Wilmot Proviso had outlawed slavery in any territory gained from Mexico • Northerners: war is a plot to extend slavery and strengthen Southern political power

9. War Begins • Polk sends John Fremont to explore California • Mexico has had enough, sends troops to attack soldiers at Rio Grande, kills 9 • Congress declares war by a vote of 174-14 • Marks U.S.’s first war on foreign territory

10. New Mexico Falls • Polk sends Colonel Stephen Kearny from Kansas to New Mexico • Kearny is met by upper class Mexicans in Santa Fe who wished to join the U.S. • New Mexico falls without the firing of a single shot

11. California Follows Suit • American settlers, under Fremont, take the town of Sonoma • Americans raise flag declaring themselves the Republic of California (“Bear Flag Rebellion”) • U.S. troops soon arrive and defeat Mexican forces

12. Military Leaders • Mexicans fought valiantly, but suffered under poor leadership • Taylor, Winfield Scott, Robert E. Lee, and Ulysses S. Grant lead American forces • Zachary Taylor would become President following the War

13. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo • Mexico suffered 25,000 casualties • U.S.: 13,000 (2,000 in battle, 11,000 to disease) • Treaty signed 1848 • Texas border extends to Rio Grande • Mexican Cession: California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming

14. Mexican Cession

15. Gold Rush! • 1848 - Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California • People all over “drop and dig” hoping to strike it rich • 1848: 400 travel to California over land • 1850: 44,000 “forty-niners” travel to California • People from Asia, South America, and Europe come as well

16. Impacts • San Francisco grows from 1,000 in 1848 to 35,000 in 1850 • 1849 – California population exceeds 100,000 • Large numbers of Chinese immigrants flock to California • Free blacks seek opportunity • California wins statehood in 1850 (free state)