History
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- Many American expansionists cast their eyes toward the Texas territory, which contained millions of acres of fertile land and a climate well suited for southern crops.
- The Spanish governor of Texas had encouraged Americans to move into the area by granting men such as Moses Austin huge tracts of land on which to settle several hundred families. Moses died before he was able to carry out his plan but his son Stephen Austin was able to finish it.
- Most of the Texiansremained Protestant, violating their agreement to become Catholic. Additionally, the Mexican government abolished the sale of slaves in 1823 and abolished slavery outright in 1829, which angered many of the settlers.
- The Mexican government realized too late that allowing so many Americans to move into Texas jeopardized Mexican authority there. In an attempt to reverse the situation, Mexico closed the border, restricted trade in Texas, disbanded the Texas legislature, jailed some Texans, and denied Texans representation in the Mexican congress.
- As Santa Anna rode north with his army to conquer the settlers in Texas, the Texans turned to Sam Houston , a soldier and a statesman. As the commander in chief of the Texas army, he prepared to face the larger army of the dictator Santa Anna.
- On March 2, 1836, whilethe Battle of the Alamo still raged, Texas declared itself an independent republic. The Texians later adopted a flag modeled after the Stars and Stripes—red, white, and blue—but with only one star. Thus, Texas became known as the Lone Star Republic.
- Using mobile tactics of mounted cavalry and am-bush, about 800 Texians defeated 1,500 Mexicans in the Battle of San Jacinto, which lasted only eighteen minutes. Even though Houston’s men lacked the proper ammunition, the battle cry “Remember the Alamo!” gave them the determination they needed to defeat and scatter the enemy.
- During this time, many people were pulled to move to the west because of the farmland and lots of opportunity. People were also being pushed out of the east because of fever and there was not much room for opportunity. This is what we call the push-pull factor.
- Jedediah Smith (1799–1831), a dedicated trail-blazer from New York, played an important role in exploring the West and opening it to settlers. Smith began his first journey into the West in 1822 with an expedition seeking new areas in which to trap fur-bearing animals. In 1824, Smith and his men crossed over the Rockies, becoming the first Americans to enter California by land from the east. This South Pass was later used by thousands of Americans moving west.
- With Americans interested in annexing both Texas and Oregon, expansion was a major issue in the election of 1844. The Whigs nominated Henry Clay to be their presidential candidate, but their platform said nothing about expansion. When the Democratic Party held its national convention, territorial expansionists unexpectedly nominated James K. Polk of Tennessee as the party’s presidential candidate. in December 1845, Texas entered the Union as a slave state.
- While northern expansionists chanted, “Fifty-four Forty or Fight,” the South and Britain were opposed to conflict. Therefore, when the British showed a willingness to compromise on the Oregon question, President Polk was cooperative. The British indicated that they would settle for extending the boundary to the Pacific at the forty-ninth parallel, keeping all of Vancouver Island as well as the right to navigate the Columbia River.
- James Beckwourth (1798–1866), who worked for a fur trading company in the Rocky Mountains, became a respected leader while living among the Crow Nation. Around 1850, Beckwourth discovered a mountain pass through the Sierra Nevada. It was named Beckwourth Pass. Beckwourth Pass became one of the main wagon routes into California’s Sacramento Valley.
- In 1836,the American Board of Foreign Missions sent the medical missionary Dr. Marcus Whitman (1802–1847) and the Reverend Henry Spalding (1803–1874) to work among the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest. The Whitmans established a mission among the Cayuse near the present-day city of Walla Walla, Washington, and the Spaldings settled among the Nez Percé nearby in present-day Idaho.
- After Congress had declared war, the Mexican War (1846–1848) officially began. Polk sent General Taylor with an army of over six thousand men to capture the Mexican city of Monterrey. After the victory at Monterrey, Americans planned an attack upon Mexico City from the East Coast.
- General Winfield Scott (1786–1866) was sent by water to attack the Mexican port city of Veracruz and to press an attack from there to Mexico City. When some of Taylor’s troops were sent to assist Scott, Santa Anna took advantage of the opportunity to attack Taylor’s weakened forces. However, at the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847, Taylor won a decisive victory against overwhelming odds. Within a few weeks, Scott took Veracruz in the first major amphibious landing of American forces and pressed toward Mexico City, defeating Santa Anna in several encounters along the way.
- In the summer of 1846, American settlers in the Sacramento Valley of California revolted against Mexican authority. In what became known as the Bear Flag Revolt, American settlers raised the Bear Flag, a homemade flag with a grizzly bear and a single star, for the Republic of California. They were assisted by forces led by Captain John C. Frémont (1813–1890) and by a naval squadron commanded by Commodore Sloat. The Mexicans in California put up very little resistance—many of them welcomed the possibility that a union with the United States would benefit them.
- Having been defeated on all fronts, Mexico had little choice but to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. By the terms of the treaty, Mexico recognized the Rio Grande as the southern boundary of Texas and ceded California and New Mexico to the United States.
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