HIS 2213 Learning Unit Thirteen Lecture

1. Learning Unit #13 Lecture
“Was the U.S.-Mexican War an Act
of American Imperialism?”

2. U.S. Territorial Expansion & the
Ideology of Manifest Destiny
2

3. U.S. Territory (Free & Slave) After the
Missouri Compromise

4. Obstacles to Expansion
• Oregon
Territory
was
claimed
by both
the USA
and Great
Britain.
• CA, AZ,
NM, NV,
TX -- all
were part
of Mexico
after its
independ-
ence from
Spain.

5. “Manifest Destiny” and U.S.
Expansionism
• The idea of Manifest Destiny, a term
coined in 1845 by newspaperman John L.
Sullivan, expressed the belief in the
superiority of the United States and the
“white race” over other peoples and
countries, and in the God-given right of the
US to territorial expansion.
• It also summarized views about US
exceptionalism, its permanent quest for
national greatness, and the “mission” it
had for spreading democracy. These were
seen not as choices, but as sacred
obligations.

6. “American This image
perfectly
Progress” expresses
by John the ideology
Gast of “Manifest
Destiny.’”
“Civilization, or extinction, has been the fate of all people who have found themselves in the trace of the advancing
Whites, and civilization, always the preference of the Whites, has been pressed as an object, while extinction has
followed as a consequence of its resistance.” – Sen. Thomas Hart Benton (1846)

7. Senator Thomas Hart Benton on
Manifest Destiny (1846)
“It would seem that the White race alone
received the divine command, to subdue and
replenish the earth: for it is the only race that has
obeyed it- the only race that hunts out new and
distant lands, and even a New World, to subdue
and replenish . . . .
“The Red race has disappeared from the
Atlantic coast; the tribes that resisted civilization
met extinction. This is a cause of lamentation
with many. For my part, I cannot murmur at what
seems to be the effect of divine law.”

8. The Independence & Annexation of
Texas
8

9. Early map of
1821: 2,240 Texas
Spanish-
Speaking
residents in
Texas

10. The Independence and Annexation
of Texas
• Mexico granted Moses Austin (and later
his son Stephen) an area in the territory
of Texas to be settled
• 1828: Mexican state tried to regain
control:
– restricted U.S. immigration
– outlawed slavery
– imposed new or increased existing taxes

11. Stephen F.
Austin –
“Father of
Texas”

12. Political
Instability in
Mexico
• Constant changes in
government, civil wars,
and political instability
• Antonio López de Santa
Anna was Mexico’s
strongest political/
military figure:
“If the U.S.
helps the rebels I will
march my army to
Washington and place
upon its Capitol the
Mexican flag.”

13. Texas War for Independence
(1835-36)
• Pres. Jackson was sympathetic to Texans but USA
remained neutral; many American volunteers fought
for Texas’ ‘right’ to keep slavery.
• Sam Houston led Texas forces
• Isolated Texans/Americans were surrounded and
massacred at the Alamo & Goliad.
• Battle of San Jacinto – Houston’s soldiers surprised
the Mexicans during the siesta hour, turned into a
rout.
• Defeated, Santa Anna agreed to withdraw from TX
and recognize its independence; he and Mexico’s
congress later disowned the agreement.

14. Sam Houston
was a protégé
of Andrew
Jackson’s and
a former
governor of
Tennessee.
He defeated
the Mexican
Army at San
Jacinto.

15. Text
Sam Houston commanded a rag-tag militia that included Texians
(whites), as well as Tejanos & free blacks.

16. The Surrender of Santa Anna –
Houston is lying beneath the tree--wounded
in the battle--receiving Santa Anna (white
pants) as a prisoner of war

17. Lone Star Republic
• Existed for about a decade w/o recognition
from Mexico; USA recognized TX in 1837.
• Mexico talked of re-conquest.
• USA believed annexation would mean:
war with Mexico; disputed boundaries;
renewal of crisis over slavery.
• Houston was ambivalent; flirted with Great
Britain; Texans wanted annexation.
• Dispossession of Tejanos, outnumbered
by whites 6 to 1; Juan Seguin.

18. Lone Star
Republic

19. President
James • 1844: Polk won the
Polk US presidency. He
offered 30 million for
New Mexico &
California; Mexico
refused.
• December 1845:
Texas joined the USA.
Mexico broke
diplomatic relations.
• Polk sent U.S.
troops into territory
that Mexico
considered its own.

20. The Mexican-American War,
1846-1848
20

21. • Slidell’s secret
mission to the
Mexican govt. failed. John Slidell
• April 1846 – Gen.
Taylor & 4000 troops
advanced to Rio
Grande.
• Polk received news
Mexicans had
skirmished with
Americans in the
disputed territory.
• Polk claimed the U.S.
had been provoked
into war, said Mexico
had “shed American
blood on American
soil.”
• Rep. Lincoln’s “Spot
Resolutions”
questioned Polk’s
truthfulness.

23. The Mexican War (1846-48)
• Congress declared war, May 13, 1846 (174 to
14; 40 to 2);
– War popular w/ younger white men, esp. those in the
states of the ‘Old Southwest’
• Polk wanted quick war but did not get it; 17,000
U.S. soldiers died, many from disease.
• Although some Whigs became war critics, they
would not withhold supplies from troops already
committed to combat.
• First war to be extensively covered by war
correspondents; telegraphy, railroads, “pony
expresses,” all facilitated more rapid
communication.

24. The Mexican Cession
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo: USA gained 1 million square miles; Mexico
reduced by half; Rio Grande boundary recognized; USA paid $15 million.

25. The Mexican War (1846-48)
• War of conquest; land was motive for war;
California; Pacific Ocean ports.
• Racism undermined the (take) ‘All-of-Mexico’
Movement.
– Mexicans seen as too ‘alien’ to absorb into USA;
“mongrel” & Catholic
• Was the war an act of U.S. imperialism?
– A ‘continental’ empire, yes, but not overseas, yet
• Polk put new twist on Monroe Doctrine: U.S. not
just defender of the hemisphere but its rightful
dominator.

26. Mexicans as Indians
“The Mexicans are Indians—Aboriginal Indians.
Such Indians as Cortez conquered three
[hundred] years ago, only rendered a little more
mischievous by a bastard civilization…. They
do not possess the elements of an independent
national existence. Providence has so ordained
it, and it is folly not to recognize the fact. The
Mexicans are Aboriginal Indians, and they must
share the destiny of their race.” (New York
Evening Post).

27. Critics of the U.S.-Mexican War
• Until Vietnam, it was most criticized war in U.S. history.
• Many people in the US criticized the war and the
appropriation of Mexican territory (intellectuals such as
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau;
abolitionists; and others).
• Sources of criticism included Polk’s dubious justifications
for the war; the death and destruction it caused; and its
long-lasting effects on US-Mexico relations
• Ulysses Grant, who served in the war as a junior officer,
is quoted as saying, “I do not think there was ever a
more wicked war than that waged by the United States
on Mexico.... I thought so at the time, when I was a
youngster, but I had not moral courage enough to
resign.”

28. Lee Grant
Future generals-in-training who will go on to lead armies during the Civil War
(1861-65). The U.S.-Mexican War was their only combat experience.

29. The War Viewed from a Mexican
Perspective
• "Yankeephobia“: negative stereotypes of
Americans, who were portrayed as
treacherous, devious, malicious,
perfidious, godless, predatory, greedy,
materialistic, and usurpers.
• Nearly unanimous view of the war as
unjust –a view that is still held today in
Mexico.

30. Recent Vodka Ad Imagines a Restoration of the Mexican Cession

31. The Mexican War’s Aftermath
(Some material is also covered
in Learning Unit 14a.)
31

33. New Territory, Old Problem
• Slavery, again.
• Wilmot Proviso, 1846.
• Positions on Extending Slavery into New
Territories:
• Extreme Pro-Southern – slavery is legal
everywhere; slaveholders should be able to
exercise their property rights over other humans
anywhere in the country.
• “Free Soil” – keep slavery out of new territories
• Polk’s Solution (extend 36° 30’ line to Pacific)
• Moderate (Lewis Cass) – “popular sovereignty”

34. Presidential Election of 1848

35. This 1848 Democratic political
cartoon:
• attacks General Taylor (or
possibly General Scott, also a
contender for the Whig
nomination) as a butcher in the
Mexican War because of the
atrocities committed by his troops.
• points out how Whigs like to run
famous generals as their
presidential candidates. (The only
Whigs ever elected were Gens.
Harrison [1840] and Taylor
[1848].)
• plays upon longstanding fears
that the American republic could
lose its liberties if it elects an
ambitious 'military chieftain,' who
might become a dictator.

36. Zachary Taylor, 11th
President of the
USA. A famous
general but an
‘unknown
quantity’
politically at the
time of his
nomination.
Southern Whigs
thought they were
getting a pro-
slavery candidate
because Taylor
himself was a
slaveholder.

37. California Statehood
• Gold discovered, 1848.
• At time Taylor took office CA had 100,000 white
male voters.
• Skipped “territory” status.
• CA wrote constitution excluding slavery; passed
by wide margin.
• Sen. John C. Calhoun (SC) denounced CA
constitution b/c southerners could not bring
slaves; what about ‘states rights,’ Mr. Calhoun?
– Whole episode shows Southerners really cared about
property rights, not “states’ rights”

39. The Crisis of 1850
• Pres. Taylor surprised his fellow
southerners by favoring admission of CA
as a free state.
• Threats of secession became frequent.
• Mystery surrounds the death of Taylor,
July 1850. Rumors that he was poisoned
persist to this day.

40. The Compromise of 1850
• Clay’s Omnibus Bill:
– CA admitted as free state.
– Slave trade (not slavery) abolished in D.C.
– More effective fugitive slave law.
• Citizens required to turn in runaways; no jury trial;
special commissioners.
– Popular sovereignty in UT and NM territories

41. The Compromise of 1850