APUSH Chapter 12
Dispute in Maine
- Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick had an unclear boundary -open fighting began at the border: "Aroostook War" -Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842: Daniel Webster and British ambassador negotiated a treaty to split the territory between Maine and Canada -the treaty also set the boundary for the Minnesota territory
Revolt and Independence
-1834: General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna became dictator of Mexico -attempted to enforce Mexico's laws in Texas, causing a group of settlers under Sam Houston revolted and declared Texas independent in 1836 -an army led by Santa Anna attacked the Alamo in San Antonio and killed all the Americans there -Battle of San Jacinto: Sam Houston caught the Mexicans and forced Santa Anna to sign Texas's independence and recognize the territory north of the Rio Grande -The Mexcian legislatures rejected the theory
Industrial Technology
-Elias Howe invented the sewing machine -Samuel F. B. Morse invented the telegraph -railroads grew and so did communications
Military Campaigns
-General Stephen Kearny took Santa Fe, New Mexico, and southern California -John C. Fermont took northern California -Zachary Taylor drove the Mexicans out of Texas and won a battle at Buena Vista -General Winfield Scott invaded Central Mexico, took Vera Cruz, and captured Mexico City
Annexation Denied
-Houston: first president of Texas -applied for annexation of Texas as a state -both Jackson and Van Buren postponed the request -president John Tyler, a southern Whig wanted to annex Texas but the Senate refused
Texas
-Moses Austin had obtained a large grant in Texas but died before he could recruit Americans to the territory -His son Stephen Austin succeeded in bringing 300 Americas into the territory -Most of the population where white farmers and slaves -Tensions grew when Mexico outlawed slavery and made Catholicism the official religion -Settlers ignored the prohibition and continued to move into Texas
Gadsden Purchase
-Pierce bought thousands of acres of semidesert land from Mexico for a railroad in the Southwest ($10 mil.) -southern parts of present-day New Mexico and Arizona
Manifest Destiny to the South
-Polk offered to buy Cuba from Spain for $100 million but Spain refused -Franklin Pierce was elected president in 1852 -Ostend Manifesto: diplomats secretly negotiated to buy Cuba from Spain, but it leaked to the press and was opposed by antislavery Congressmen -Pierce was forced to drop the scheme
Beginning of the War
-Polk wanted to buy California and the New Mexico territories -he wanted to settle the Mexico-Texas border -the war began in 1846 -Northern whigs including Lincoln opposed the war because they didn't believe Polk's claim
Settling the West
-Preemption Acts 1830s and 40s: gave squatters the right to buy and settle public lands -trips to the west were expensive $300-400 -schools, churches, clubs, and political parties modeled after those in the East -San Francisco and Denver emerged as a result of the gold/silver rush -Lake City grew because of its supplies
Manifest Destiny
-Term spread by expansionists during the 1840s and 1850s who wanted to see the United States extend westward to the Pacific and southward expansion, into Mexico, Cuba, and Central America -the U.S had the divine right to expand its power and civilization to the rest of North America
Consequences
-Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: the Rio Grande would be the border for Texas, the U.S paid 15 million for the California and New Mexico territories -opposition from Whig abolitionists and southern Democrats who wanted ALL of Mexico
Texas and Oregon
-Tyler persuaded Congress to pass a joint resolution to annex Texas -Tyler negotiated with the British to divide the Oregon territory at the 49th by giving Vancouver Island to the British and allowing them to navigate the Columbia river
Election of 1844
-Van Buren from the Democratic Party opposed annexation -John C. Calhoun was also from the Democratic party but he was a proslavery and pro-annexation southerners -the debate between the two led to a deadlock so the Democrats nominated dark horse James K. Polk who supported expansion ("fifty-four forty or fight") -Henry Clay was the Whig nominee, he had no clear stance on the Texas Annexation -Democratic dark horse James K. Polk won
Dispute in Oregon
-claimed by Spain, Russia, Britain, and the U.S -Spain gave up its claim in the Adams-Onis Treaty -The U.S based its claim on the discovery of the Hudson River, Lewis and Clark, and on ht e fur trading post established there -by 1844 Americans believed that Manifest Destiny gave them the right to annex both Oregon and texas -Americans also wanted California
Railroads
-emerged as America's largest industry -merchants and farmers bought stocks in the railroad companies -the govt. provided loans and tax breaks -first federal land grant : Illinois Central Railroad -fast and cheap transportation promoted agriculture -the midwest was now more connected to the North (sectionalism) though railroads and canals
Panic of 1857
-ended the midcentury economic boom -prices fell in the Midwest -unemployment increased in the North -the South wasn't as affected due to the high cotton prices -The Southerners believed that their plantation economy was stronger than the North so the Northern economy was not needed (secession)
Mining
-gold was discovered in California in 1848 -mining camps and towns were settled as a result of the gold and silver rushes -many of the miners were Chinese immigrants
Foreign Commerce
-large growth of exports and imports -shipping firms encouraged trade and travel -New England merchants took the lead in whaling boom -improvements in ship design -steamships replaced the clipper ship (already fast) because it was cheaper to maintain -Kanagawa Treaty: import of coal from Japan
Wilmot Proviso
-meant to forbid slavery in any of the new territories acquired from Mexico -did not pass in the Senate -led to sectionalism
The Great American Desert
-the area between the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Coast -California and Oregon were settled relatively fast -fur traders known as mountain men were the first to settle in the west -people would travel 15 miles to get to the Far West
