MANIFEST DESTINY &

EXPANSION
American History I - Unit 7

9.4 MEXICANAMERICAN WAR

Tensions between US and Mexico

1836 Texas independence = The Republic of Texas
1844 Polk becomes 11th POTUS
Expansionist (believed in Manifest Destiny)
Pushed for Texas annexation
Polk the Purposeful
1845 Texas = 28th US State
Made Mexico furious with the US!
Polk believed that war with Mexico might result in MORE

land gains for the US (California, New Mexico)

Disputed Mexico-US Border

Border as seen
by Mexico
(Nueces River)

Border as
seen by US
(Rio Grande)

Slidells Rejection
1845 Polk sent Spanish-

speaking representative John

Slidell to Mexico to try to
Purchase California and New Mexico
Establish the Rio Grande as the US-

Mexico border

Mexican officials refused to meet

with Slidell

Taylor Takes Troops to the Border

Mexican officials refused to meet with Slidell Polk sent

General Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grande

Polk hoped this would push Mexico into aggression and then

Americans would support war

Mexico viewed this as an invasion into their land

Sectional Attitudes Towards War

North
South
Anti-war with Mexico
Pro-war with Mexico
Whigs and abolitionists Wanted to extend
saw the war as a plot
slavery into new
to expand slavery into
territories = more $
new territories
Southern and western
slave states would
Northern free states
would lose power in
have more power in
Congress
Congress

The Mexican-American War

Mexico fed up US expansion into its territories.
General Zachary Taylor Rio Grande River
John C. Frmont California
1846 - Mexican troops cross the Rio Grande and kill 11 US

soldiers.
Polk asks Congress to declare war on Mexico.
American blood upon American soil! Polk
Wants Mexican lands manifest destiny!
May 13, 1846 Congress declared war on Mexico

Kearny in New Mexico

Polk sent Stephen Kearny

to New Mexico.
When Kearny arrived in NM,

he was met by a group of

upper-class Mexicans who
wanted to join the US NM
was won without a single
shot fired.
Kearny and troops on to

California next

Republic of California
By the 1840s, about 500 US settlers lived in California

(Mexican land).
Polks rejected offer to buy California caused US settlers

and Frmont to rebel and declare independence from

Mexico Republic of California
Raised a flag with a grizzly bear on it

Kearny arrived and helped

Frmont defeat Mexican

troops in California.

The War in Mexico

American troops won many

victories fighting in Mexico.

Mexican troops were dedicated to

defending lands, but the leadership was

poor.
Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott (Old
Fuss and Feathers) won many battles

US General Robert E. Lee and

Capitan Ulysses S. Grant became

the best American officers.
Later will be head-to-head on opposite

sides of the Civil War.

Santa Annas Return

After (former Mexican dictator) Santa Anna was forced to

give Texas their independence, he went into exile in Cuba.

1847 - Polk promised to sneak Santa Anna back into

Mexico if he would end the war and give the US the land
in NM and CA.
Santa Anna broke the promise and resumed dictatorship

of Mexico, took command of the presidency and attacked

General Taylors troops.
Taylors troops pushed very tired Mexican troops further into the

interior of Mexico.

War Ends
General Winfield Scotts troops

defeated Mexican troops at

Veracruz, then captured
Mexico City (Mexicos capital).
1848 Treaty of Guadalupe

Hidalgo
Ended Mexican-American War
Rio Grande = Texas/Mexico border
$15 million for CA, NV, NM, UT,

and parts of AZ, CO, and WY

Mexicans living in these areas were
guaranteed freedom of religion,
property protections, and bilingual
elections.

War Ends
1853 Gadsden Purchase
US bought a small section of land in AZ and NM from Mexico
Established the current US/Mexico border

Election of 1848
Democrats Lewis Cass (split about slavery)
Free-soil Party Martin Van Buren (anti-slavery in new

lands)
Whigs Zachary Taylor (split about slavery)
Zachary Taylor = 12th POTUS
War hero

California Gold Rush (1848-1850)

1848 Gold discovered in California soil rush of

settlers to California
49ers name for the settlers that traveled to California looking

for gold in 1849

San Francisco grew and became a large port
California became very diverse (Chinese, free blacks, Mexicans)

1850: CA became a state

CA Constitution outlawed slavery