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The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846. By product of westward expansion Major issue – should U.S. annex the independent Texas republic? 1830’s were unsettled with issues relating to California, New Mexico, and Oregon 1840 -1842 economic recovery was the top political issue
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The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846 • By product of westward expansion • Major issue – should U.S. annex the independent Texas republic? • 1830’s were unsettled with issues relating to California, New Mexico, and Oregon • 1840 -1842 economic recovery was the top political issue • Only after politicians failed to answer economic issues were opportunist able to thrust issues relating to expansion to the forefront of the political agenda
The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846 • The Whig Ascendancy • The election of 1840 brought Whig candidate William Henry Harrison to the presidency • Installed Whig majorities in both houses of Congress • Whigs had come to power based on Henry Clay’s American System, (stimulate economic recovery) • Quickly repealed Van Buren’s Independent Treasury • They planned to substitute some type of “fiscal agent,” which like the no longer function Bank of the US was a private corporation, chartered by congress, and regulating the currency.
The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846 • The Whig Ascendancy • Whigs also favored a tariff (but a different kind of tariff). • Instead of being set high to protect US manufacturers, it would be modified to be a “revenue” tariff high enough to provide “incidental” protection for American industries (foreign products could enter the US). • Duties collected on these imports would accrue to the federal government as revenue. • The revenue would then be distributed to the states for internal improvements. • Just as popular among southern and western Whigs as the tariff was among northern Whigs.
The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846 • The Whig Ascendancy • All might have been well and moved quickly if it had not been for the untimely death of Harrison just one month after entering office.
The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846 • The Whig Ascendancy • Vice President John Tyler, an upper crust from Virginia, who had only been added to the ticket to strengthen the Whigs’ appeal in the South. • Tyler was a former Democrat who had split with Jackson over nullification, but he continued to favor the Democratic philosophy of states’ rights.
