Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Americanpageantchapter17 PDF
Americanpageantchapter17 PDF
Manifest Destiny
and Its Legacy
18411848
aggravated relations with Britain, which had staked A horde of hard-ciderites descended upon Washing-
its own claims in the Pacific Northwest. The clamor ton early in 1841, clamoring for the spoils of office.
to annex Texas to the Union provoked bitter tension Newly elected President Harrison, bewildered by
with Mexico, which continued to regard Texas as a the uproar, was almost hounded to death by Whig
Mexican province in revolt. And when Americans spoilsmen.
began casting covetous eyes on Mexicos northern- The real leaders of the Whig party regarded Old
most province, the great prize of California, open Tippecanoe as little more than an impressive fig-
warfare erupted between the United States and its urehead. Daniel Webster, as secretary of state, and
southern neighbor. Victory over Mexico added vast Henry Clay, the uncrowned king of the Whigs and
new domains to the United States, but it also raised their ablest spokesman in the Senate, would grasp
thorny questions about the status of slavery in the the helm. The aging general was finally forced to
newly acquired territoriesquestions that would be rebuke the overzealous Clay and pointedly remind
answered in blood in the Civil War of the 1860s. him that he, William Henry Harrison, was president
of the United States.
Unluckily for Clay and Webster, their schemes
*Earliest known use of the term Manifest Destiny, sometimes soon hit a fatal snag. Before the new term had fairly
called Manifest Desire. started, Harrison contracted pneumonia. Wearied
370
The Whigs in Power 371
Whig extremists, seething with indignation, moderately protective level of 1832, roughly 32 per-
condemned Tyler as His Accidency and as an cent on dutiable goods. Tyler had no fondness for a
Executive Ass. Widely burned in effigy, he received protective tariff, but realizing the need for addi-
numerous letters threatening him with death. A wave tional revenue, he reluctantly signed the law of
of influenza then sweeping the country was called 1842. In subsequent months the pressure for higher
the Tyler grippe. To the delight of Democrats, the customs duties slackened as the country gradually
stiff-necked Virginian was formally expelled from his edged its way out of the depression. The Whig slo-
party by a caucus of Whig congressmen, and a seri- gan, Harrison, Two Dollars a Day and Roast Beef,
ous attempt to impeach him was broached in the was reduced by unhappy Democrats to, Ten Cents
House of Representatives. His entire cabinet resigned a Day and Bean Soup.
in a body, except Secretary of State Webster, who
was then in the midst of delicate negotiations with
England. A War of Words with Britain
The proposed Whig tariff also felt the prick of
the presidents well-inked pen. Tyler appreciated the
necessity of bringing additional revenue to the Trea- Hatred of Britain during the nineteenth century
sury. But old Democrat that he was, he looked with a came to a head periodically and had to be lanced by
frosty eye on the major tariff scheme of the Whigs treaty settlement or by war. The poison had festered
because it provided, among other features, for a dis- ominously by 1842.
tribution among the states of revenue from the sale Anti-British passions were composed of many
of public lands in the West. Tyler could see no point ingredients. At bottom lay the bitter, red-coated
in squandering federal money when the federal memories of the two Anglo-American wars. In addi-
Treasury was not overflowing, and he again wielded tion, the genteel pro-British Federalists had died
an emphatic veto. out, eventually yielding to the boisterous Jacksonian
Chastened Clayites redrafted their tariff bill. Democrats. British travelers, sniffing with aris-
They chopped out the offensive dollar-distribution tocratic noses at the crude scene, wrote acidly
scheme and pushed down the rates to about the of American tobacco spitting, slave auctioneering,
Tensions with Britain 373
lynching, eye gouging, and other unsavory features steamer, the Caroline, was carrying supplies to the
of the rustic Republic. Travel books penned by these insurgents across the swift Niagara River. It was
critics, whose views were avidly read on both sides of finally attacked on the New York shore by a deter-
the Atlantic, stirred up angry outbursts in America. mined British force, which set the vessel on fire.
But the literary fireworks did not end here. Lurid American illustrators showed the flaming
British magazines added fuel to the flames when, ship, laden with shrieking souls, plummeting over
enlarging on the travel books, they launched sneer- Niagara Falls. The craft in fact sank short of the
ing attacks on Yankee shortcomings. American jour- plunge, and only one American was killed.
nals struck back with youre another arguments, This unlawful invasion of American soila
thus touching off the Third War with England. For- counterviolation of neutralityhad alarming after-
tunately, this British-American war was fought with maths. Washington officials lodged vigorous but
paper broadsides, and only ink was spilled. British ineffective protests. Three years later, in 1840, the
authors, including Charles Dickens, entered the fray incident was dramatically revived in the state of
with gall-dipped pens, for they were being denied New York. A Canadian named McLeod, after
rich royalties by the absence of an American copy- allegedly boasting in a tavern of his part in the Caro-
right law.* line raid, was arrested and indicted for murder. The
Sprawling America, with expensive canals to dig London Foreign Office, which regarded the Caroline
and railroads to build, was a borrowing nation in raiders as members of a sanctioned armed force
the nineteenth century. Imperial Britain, with its and not as criminals, made clear that his execution
overflowing coffers, was a lending nation. The well- would mean war. Fortunately, McLeod was freed
heeled creditor is never popular with the down-at- after establishing an alibi. It must have been air-
the-heels debtor, and the phrase bloated British tight, for it was good enough to convince a New York
bond-holder rolled bitterly from many an Ameri- jury. The tension forthwith eased, but it snapped
can tongue. When the panic of 1837 broke and sev- taut again in 1841, when British officials in the
eral states defaulted on their bonds or repudiated Bahamas offered asylum to 130 Virginia slaves who
them openly, honest Englishmen assailed Yankee had rebelled and captured the American ship
trickery. One of them offered a new stanza for an old Creole.
song:
Yankee Doodle borrows cash,
Yankee Doodle spends it, Manipulating the Maine Maps
And then he snaps his fingers at
The jolly flat [simpleton] who lends it.
An explosive controversy of the early 1840s involved
Troubles of a more dangerous sort came closer the Maine boundary dispute. The St. Lawrence River
to home in 1837, when a short-lived insurrection is icebound several months of the year, as the
erupted in Canada. It was supported by such a small British, remembering the War of 1812, well knew.
minority of Canadians that it never had a real They were determined, as a defensive precaution
chance of success. Yet hundreds of hot-blooded against the Yankees, to build a road westward from
Americans, hoping to strike a blow for freedom the seaport of Halifax to Quebec. But the proposed
against the hereditary enemy, furnished military route ran through disputed territoryclaimed also
supplies or volunteered for armed service. The by Maine under the misleading peace treaty of 1783.
Washington regime tried arduously, though futilely, Tough-knuckled lumberjacks from both Maine and
to uphold its weak neutrality regulations. But again, Canada entered the disputed no-mans-land of the
as in the case of Texas, it simply could not enforce tall-timbered Aroostook River valley. Ugly fights
unpopular laws in the face of popular opposition. flared up, and both sides summoned the local mili-
A provocative incident on the Canadian frontier tia. The small-scale lumberjack clash, which was
brought passions to a boil in 1837. An American dubbed the Aroostook War, threatened to widen
into a full-dress shooting war.
As the crisis deepened in 1842, the London For-
*Not until 1891 did Congress extend copyright privileges to for- eign Office took an unusual step. It sent to Washing-
eign authors. ton a nonprofessional diplomat, the conciliatory
374 CHAPTER 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy, 18411848
o
sto
ro o
R. A
St. John R.
ce
r en
aw
The Lone Star of Texas
t. L
S (Acquired by
Montreal United States) Halifax Shines Alone
MAINE NOVA SCOTIA
VT. During the uncertain eight years since 1836, Texas
N.H. had led a precarious existence. Mexico, refusing
Proposed road route to recognize Texass independence, regarded the
Webster-Ashburton treaty line
Lone Star Republic as a province in revolt, to be
reconquered in the future. Mexican officials loudly
Maine Boundary Settlement, 1842 threatened war if the American eagle should ever
gather the fledgling republic under its protective
wings.
The Texans were forced to maintain a costly mil-
financier Lord Ashburton, who had married a itary establishment. Vastly outnumbered by their
wealthy American woman. He speedily established Mexican foe, they could not tell when he would
cordial relations with Secretary Webster, who had strike again. Mexico actually did make two half-
recently been lionized during a visit to Britain. hearted raids that, though ineffectual, foreshad-
The two statesmen, their nerves frayed by pro- owed more fearsome efforts. Confronted with such
tracted negotiations in the heat of a Washington perils, Texas was driven to open negotiations with
summer, finally agreed to compromise on the Britain and France, in the hope of securing the
Maine boundary. On the basis of a rough, split-the- defensive shield of a protectorate. In 1839 and 1840,
difference arrangement, the Americans were to the Texans concluded treaties with France, Holland,
retain some 7,000 square miles of the 12,000 square and Belgium.
miles of wilderness in dispute. The British got less Britain was intensely interested in an independ-
land but won the desired Halifax-Quebec route. ent Texas. Such a republic would check the south-
During the negotiations the Caroline affair, malin- ward surge of the American colossus, whose bulging
gering since 1837, was patched up by an exchange biceps posed a constant threat to nearby British
of diplomatic notes. possessions in the New World. A puppet Texas,
dancing to strings pulled by Britain, could be turned
upon the Yankees. Subsequent clashes would create
a smoke-screen diversion, behind which foreign
powers could move into the Americas and challenge
The London Morning Chronicle greeted the the insolent Monroe Doctrine. French schemers
Webster-Ashburton treaty thus: were likewise attracted by the hoary game of divide
See the feeling with which the treaty has and conquer. These actions would result, they
been received in America; mark the hoped, in the fragmentation and militarization of
enthusiasm it has excited. What does this America.
mean? Why, either that the Americans have Dangers threatened from other foreign quarters.
gained a great diplomatic victory over us, or British abolitionists were busily intriguing for a
that they have escaped a great danger, as foothold in Texas. If successful in freeing the few
they have felt it, in having to maintain their blacks there, they presumably would inflame the
claim by war. nearby slaves of the South. In addition, British mer-
chants regarded Texas as a potentially important free-
trade areaan offset to the tariff-walled United
Disputes over Texas and Oregon 375
States. British manufacturers likewise perceived that If Mexy backd by secret foes,
those vast Texas plains constituted one of the great Still talks of getting you, gal;
cotton-producing areas of the future. An independent Why we can lick em all you know
Texas would relieve British looms of their chronic And then annex em too, gal.
dependence on American fibera supply that might
What other power would have spurned the
be cut off in time of crisis by embargo or war.
imperial domain of Texas? The bride was so near,
so rich, so fair, so willing. Whatever the peculiar
circumstances of the Texas revolution, the United
The Belated Texas Nuptials States can hardly be accused of unseemly haste in
achieving annexation. Nine long years were surely a
decent wait between the beginning of the courtship
Partly because of the fears aroused by British
and the consummation of the marriage.
schemers, Texas became a leading issue in the presi-
dential campaign of 1844. The foes of expansion
assailed annexation, while southern hotheads cried, Oregon Fever Populates Oregon
Texas or Disunion. The proexpansion Democrats
under James K. Polk finally triumphed over the
Whigs under Henry Clay, the hardy perennial candi- The so-called Oregon Country was an enormous
date. Lame duck president Tyler thereupon inter- wilderness. It sprawled magnificently west of the
preted the narrow Democratic victory, with dubious Rockies to the Pacific Ocean, and north of California
accuracy, as a mandate to acquire Texas. to the line of 54 40'the present southern tip of the
Eager to crown his troubled administration with Alaska panhandle. All or substantial parts of this
this splendid prize, Tyler deserves much of the immense area were claimed at one time or another
credit for shepherding Texas into the fold. Many by four nations: Spain, Russia, Britain, and the
conscience Whigs feared that Texas in the Union United States.
would be red meat to nourish the lusty slave Two claimants dropped out of the scramble.
power. Aware of their opposition, Tyler despaired Spain, though the first to raise its banner in Oregon,
of securing the needed two-thirds vote for a treaty in bartered away its claims to the United States in the
the Senate. He therefore arranged for annexation by so-called Florida Treaty of 1819. Russia retreated to
a joint resolution. This solution required only a sim- the line of 54 40' by the treaties of 1824 and 1825
ple majority in both houses of Congress. After a spir- with America and Britain. These two remaining
ited debate, the resolution passed early in 1845, and rivals now had the field to themselves.
Texas was formally invited to become the twenty- British claims to Oregon were strongat least
eighth star on the American flag. to that portion north of the Columbia River. They
Mexico angrily charged that the Americans had were based squarely on prior discovery and explo-
despoiled it of Texas. This was to some extent true in
1836, but hardly true in 1845, for the area was no
longer Mexicos to be despoiled of. As the years
stretched out, realistic observers could see that the
Mexicans would not be able to reconquer their lost In winning Oregon, the Americans had great
province. Yet Mexico left the Texans dangling by faith in their procreative powers. Boasted one
denying their right to dispose of themselves as they congressman in 1846,
chose. Our people are spreading out with the aid of
By 1845 the Lone Star Republic had become a the American multiplication table. Go to the
danger spot, inviting foreign intrigue that menaced West and see a young man with his mate of
the American people. The continued existence of eighteen; after the lapse of thirty years, visit
Texas as an independent nation threatened to him again, and instead of two, you will find
involve the United States in a series of ruinous wars, twenty-two. That is what I call the American
both in America and in Europe. Americans were in a multiplication table.
lick all creation mood when they sang Uncle
Sams Song to Miss Texas:
376 CHAPTER 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy, 18411848
ration, on treaty rights, and on actual occupation. the United States had sought to divide the vast
The most important colonizing agency was the far- domain at the forty-ninth parallel. But the Brit-
flung Hudsons Bay Company, which was trading ish, who regarded the Columbia River as the St.
profitably with the Indians of the Pacific Northwest Lawrence of the West, were unwilling to yield this
for furs. vital artery. A scheme for peaceful joint occupation
Americans, for their part, could also point was thereupon adopted, pending future settlement.
pridefully to exploration and occupation. Captain The handful of Americans in the Willamette Val-
Robert Gray in 1792 had stumbled upon the majes- ley was suddenly multiplied in the early 1840s,
tic Columbia River, which he named after his ship; when Oregon fever seized hundreds of restless
and the famed Lewis and Clark expedition of pioneers. In increasing numbers, their creaking cov-
18041806 had ranged overland through the Oregon ered wagons jolted over the two-thousand-mile
Country to the Pacific. This shaky American toehold Oregon Trail as the human rivulet widened into a
was ultimately strengthened by the presence of mis- stream.* By 1846 about five thousand Americans
sionaries and other settlers, a sprinkling of whom had settled south of the Columbia River, some of
reached the grassy Willamette River valley, south of them tough border ruffians, expert with bowie
the Columbia, in the 1830s. These men and women knife and revolving pistol.
of God, in saving the soul of the Indian, were instru- The British, in the face of this rising torrent of
mental in saving the soil of Oregon for the United humanity, could muster only seven hundred or so
States. They stimulated interest in a faraway domain
that countless Americans had earlier assumed *The average rate of progress in covered wagons was one to two
would not be settled for centuries. miles an hour. This amounted to about one hundred miles a
Scattered American and British pioneers in Ore- week, or about five months for the entire journey. Thousands
of humans, in addition to horses and oxen, died en route. One
gon continued to live peacefully side by side. At the estimate is seventeen deaths a mile for men, women, and
time of negotiating the Treaty of 1818 (see p. 251), children.
The Oregon Controversy 377
The Whigs, as noisemakers, took no back seat. Land-hungry Democrats, flushed with victory,
They countered with such slogans as Hooray for proclaimed that they had received a mandate from
Clay and Polk, Slavery, and Texas, or Clay, Union, the voters to take Texas. But a presidential election
and Liberty. They also spread the lie that a gang of is seldom, if ever, a clear-cut mandate on anything.
Tennessee slaves had been seen on their way to a The only way to secure a true reflection of the vot-
southern market branded with the initials J. K. P. ers will is to hold a special election on a given issue.
(James K. Polk). The picture that emerged in 1844 is one not of man-
On the crucial issue of Texas, the acrobatic Clay date but of muddle. What else could there have been
tried to ride two horses at once. The Great Compro- when the results were so close, the personalities so
miser appears to have compromised away the colorful, and the issues so numerousincluding
presidency when he wrote a series of confusing let- Oregon, Texas, the tariff, slavery, the bank, and
ters. They seemed to say that while he personally internal improvements? Yet this unclear mandate
favored annexing slaveholding Texas (an appeal to was interpreted by President Tyler as a crystal-clear
the South), he also favored postponement (an charge to annex Texasand he signed the joint res-
appeal to the North). He might have lost more olution three days before leaving the White House.
ground if he had not straddled, but he certainly
alienated the more ardent antislaveryites.
In the stretch drive, Dark Horse Polk nipped Polk the Purposeful
Henry Clay at the wire, 170 to 105 votes in the Elec-
toral College and 1,338,464 to 1,300,097 in the popu-
lar column. Clay would have won if he had not lost Young Hickory Polk, unlike Old Hickory Jack-
New York State by a scant 5,000 votes. There the tiny son, was not an impressive figure. Of middle height
antislavery Liberty party absorbed nearly 16,000 (five feet eight inches), lean, white-haired (worn
votes, many of which would otherwise have gone to long), gray-eyed, and stern-faced, he took life seri-
the unlucky Kentuckian. Ironically, the anti-Texas ously and drove himself mercilessly into a prema-
Liberty party, by spoiling Clays chances and helping ture grave. His burdens were increased by an
to ensure the election of pro-Texas Polk, hastened unwillingness to delegate authority. Methodical and
the annexation of Texas. hard-working but not brilliant, he was shrewd,
Polk Takes Command 379
House Vote on Tariff of 1846 senators speedily accepted the offer and approved
the subsequent treaty, despite a few diehard shouts
Regions For Against of Fifty-four forty forever! and Every foot or not
New England 9 19 an inch! The fact that the United States was then a
Middle states 18 44 month deep in a war with Mexico doubtless influ-
West and Northwest 29 10 enced the Senates final vote.
South and Southwest 58 20 Satisfaction with the Oregon settlement among
TOTAL 114 93 Americans was not unanimous. The northwestern
states, hotbed of Manifest Destiny and fifty-four
fortyism, joined the antislavery forces in condemn-
ing what they regarded as a base betrayal by the
London, he again proposed the compromise line of South. Why all of Texas but not all of Oregon?
49. The British minister in Washington, on his own Because, retorted the expansionist Senator Benton
initiative, brusquely spurned this olive branch. of Missouri, Great Britain is powerful and Mexico is
The next move on the Oregon chessboard was weak.
up to Britain. Fortunately for peace, the ministry So Polk, despite all the campaign bluster, got
began to experience a change of heart. British anti- neither fifty-four forty nor a fight. But he did get
expansionists (Little Englanders) were now per- something that in the long run was better: a reason-
suaded that the Columbia River was not after all the able compromise without a rifle being raised.
St. Lawrence of the West and that the turbulent
American hordes might one day seize the Oregon
Country. Why fight a hazardous war over this wilder- Misunderstandings with Mexico
ness on behalf of an unpopular monopoly, the Hud-
sons Bay Company, which had already furred out
much of the area anyhow? Faraway California was another worry of Polks. He
Early in 1846 the British, hat in hand, came and other disciples of Manifest Destiny had long
around and themselves proposed the line of 49. coveted its verdant valleys, and especially the spa-
President Polk, irked by the previous rebuff, threw cious bay of San Francisco. This splendid harbor
the decision squarely into the lap of the Senate. The was widely regarded as Americas future gateway to
the Pacific Ocean.
The population of California in 1845 was curi-
ously mixed. It consisted of perhaps thirteen thou-
The Oregon Controversy, 1846
sand sun-blessed Spanish-Mexicans and as many as
54
40' British treaty line, 1818
seventy-five thousand dispirited Indians. There were
Compromise line, 1846 fewer than a thousand foreigners, mostly Ameri-
Focus of dispute by 1846 cans, some of whom had left their consciences
Area of original dispute behind them as they rounded Cape Horn. Given
F r aser R.
over Oregon
time, these transplanted Yankees might yet bring Cal-
BRITISH ifornia into the Union by playing the Texas game.
49 NORTH AMERICA Polk was eager to buy California from Mexico,
(CANADA)
OREGON but relations with Mexico City were dangerously
embittered. Among other friction points, the United
Puget Sound bia R.
States had claims against the Mexicans for some $3
Colum
Willamette R.
U N I T E D STATES had formally agreed to assume most of this debt but
42 had been forced to default on its payments.
A more serious bone of contention was Texas.
R
Spanis S n a ke ail
h treaty
line, 1819 go n Tr
Ore The Mexican government, after threatening war if
MEXICO the United States should acquire the Lone Star
Republic, had recalled its minister from Washington
Causes of the Mexican War 381
upon the country by the shedding of American In his message to Congress, Polk was making
blood upon the American soil. A patriotic Congress historynot writing it. If he had been a historian, he
overwhelmingly voted for war, and enthusiastic vol- would have explained that American blood had
unteers cried, Ho for the Halls of the Montezumas! been shed on soil that the Mexicans had good
and Mexico or Death! Inflamed by the war fever, reason to regard as their own. A gangling, rough-
even antislavery Whig bastions melted and joined featured Whig congressman from Illinois, one Abra-
with the rest of the nation, though they later con- ham Lincoln, introduced certain resolutions that
demned Jimmy Polks war. As James Russell Lowell requested information as to the precise spot on
of Massachusetts lamented, American soil where American blood had been
shed. He pushed his spot resolutions with such
Massachusetts, God forgive her, persistence that he came to be known as the spotty
Shes akneelin with the rest. Lincoln, who could die of spotted fever. The more
War with Mexico 383
extreme antislavery agitators of the North, many of he returned to Mexico, proceeded to rally his coun-
them Whigs, branded the president a liarPolk the trymen to a desperate defense of their soil.
Mendacious. American operations in the Southwest and in
Did Polk provoke war? California was an imper- California were completely successful. In 1846 Gen-
ative point in his program, and Mexico would not eral Stephen W. Kearny led a detachment of seven-
sell it at any price. The only way to get it was to use teen hundred troops over the famous Santa Fe Trail
force or wait for an internal American revolt. Yet from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe. This sunbaked
delay seemed dangerous, for the claws of the British outpost, with its drowsy plazas, was easily captured.
lion might snatch the ripening California fruit from But before Kearny could reach California, the fertile
the talons of the American eagle. Grievances against province was won. When war broke out, Captain
Mexico were annoying yet tolerable; in later years John C. Frmont, the dashing explorer, just hap-
America endured even worse ones. But in 1846 pened to be there with several dozen well-armed
patience had ceased to be a virtue, as far as Polk men. In helping to overthrow Mexican rule in 1846,
was concerned. Bent on grasping California by fair he collaborated with American naval officers and
means or foul, he pushed the quarrel to a bloody with the local Americans, who had hoisted the ban-
showdown. ner of the short-lived California Bear Flag Republic.
Both sides, in fact, were spoiling for a fight. General Zachary Taylor meanwhile had been
Feisty Americans, especially southwestern expan- spearheading the main thrust. Known as Old
sionists, were eager to teach the Mexicans a lesson. Rough and Ready because of his iron constitution
The Mexicans, in turn, were burning to humiliate and incredibly unsoldierly appearancehe some-
the Bullies of the North. Possessing a considerable times wore a Mexican straw hathe fought his way
standing army, heavily overstaffed with generals, across the Rio Grande into Mexico. After several
they boasted of invading the United States, freeing gratifying victories, he reached Buena Vista. There,
the black slaves, and lassoing whole regiments of on February 2223, 1847, his weakened force of
Americans. They were hoping that the quarrel with five thousand men was attacked by some twenty
Britain over Oregon would blossom into a full-dress thousand march-weary troops under Santa Anna.
war, as it came near doing, and further pin down the The Mexicans were finally repulsed with extreme
hated yanquis. A conquest of Mexicos vast and arid difficulty, and overnight Zachary Taylor became the
expanses seemed fantastic, especially in view of the Hero of Buena Vista. One Kentuckian was heard to
bungling American invasion of Canada in 1812. say that Old Zack would be elected president in
Both sides were fired by moral indignation. The 1848 by spontaneous combustion.
Mexican people could fight with the flaming sword Sound American strategy now called for a
of righteousness, for had not the insolent Yankee crushing blow at the enemys vitalsMexico City.
picked a fight by polluting their soil? Many earnest General Taylor, though a good leader of modest-
Americans, on the other hand, sincerely believed sized forces, could not win decisively in the semi-
that Mexico was the aggressor. deserts of northern Mexico. The command of the
main expedition, which pushed inland from the
coastal city of Vera Cruz early in 1847, was entrusted
The Mastering of Mexico to General Winfield Scott. A handsome giant of a
man, Scott had emerged as a hero from the War of
1812 and had later earned the nickname Old Fuss
Polk wanted Californianot war. But when war and Feathers because of his resplendent uniforms
came, he hoped to fight it on a limited scale and and strict discipline. He was severely handicapped
then pull out when he had captured the prize. The in the Mexican campaign by inadequate numbers of
dethroned Mexican dictator Santa Anna, then exiled troops, by expiring enlistments, by a more numer-
with his teenage bride in Cuba, let it be known that ous enemy, by mountainous terrain, by disease, and
if the American blockading squadron would permit by political backbiting at home. Yet he succeeded in
him to slip into Mexico, he would sell out his coun- battling his way up to Mexico City by September
try. Incredibly, Polk agreed to this discreditable 1847 in one of the most brilliant campaigns in
intrigue. But the double-crossing Santa Anna, once American military annals. He proved to be the most
384 CHAPTER 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy, 18411848
distinguished general produced by his country recalled Trist. The wordy diplomat then dashed off a
between 1783 and 1861. sixty-five-page letter explaining why he was not
coming home. The president was furious. But Trist,
grasping a fleeting opportunity to negotiate, signed
Fighting Mexico for Peace the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2,
1848, and forwarded it to Washington.
The terms of the treaty were breathtaking. They
Polk was anxious to end the shooting as soon as he confirmed the American title to Texas and yielded
could secure his territorial goals. Accordingly, he the enormous area stretching westward to Oregon
sent along with Scotts invading army the chief clerk and the ocean and embracing coveted California.
of the State Department, Nicholas P. Trist, who This total expanse, including Texas, was about one-
among other weaknesses was afflicted with an over- half of Mexico. The United States agreed to
fluid pen. Trist and Scott arranged for an armistice pay $15 million for the land and to assume the
with Santa Anna, at a cost of $10,000. The wily dicta- claims of its citizens against Mexico in the amount
tor pocketed the bribe and then used the time to of $3,250,000 (see Makers of America: The Cali-
bolster his defenses. fornios, pp. 386387).
Negotiating a treaty with a sword in one hand Polk submitted the treaty to the Senate. Although
and a pen in the other was ticklish business. Polk, Trist had proved highly annoying, he had generally
disgusted with his blundering envoy, abruptly followed his original instructions. And speed was
The Peace Settlement with Mexico 385
386
San Francisco Solano
S
(1823)
San Rafael
I E
(1817)
San Francisco de Ass
San Francisco (1776)
R
San Jos
(1797)
R
Santa Clara
(1777)
A
Santa Cruz
(1791)
San Juan Bautista
N E
(1797)
Monterey
San Carlos
V A
Borromeo
(1770) Soledad
(1791)
San Antonio
D A
de Padua
(1771)
San Miguel
(1797)
La Pursima
Concepcin
(1787)
Santa Ynez
(1804)
Santa Barbara
(1786)
San Buenaventura
(1782) San Fernando Rey
(1797)
trade. The frocked friars had commanded their fief- San Gabriel
doms so self-confidently that earlier reform efforts (1771)
land and their assets were confiscated by the Cali- El Camino Ral
(Royal Road) San Diego
fornios. Vast ranchos (ranches) formed, and from de Alcal
(1769)
those citadels the Californios ruled in their turn
until the Mexican War.
The Californios glory faded in the wake of the Spanish Missions and Presidios
American victory, even though in some isolated
places they clung to their political offices for a
decade or two. Overwhelmed by the inrush of Anglo
gold-diggerssome eighty-seven thousand after rags in the face of the Anglo onslaught. Half a cen-
the discovery at Sutters Mill in 1848and undone tury later, beginning in 1910, hundreds of thou-
by the waning of the pastoral economy, the Cali- sands of young Mexicans would flock into California
fornios saw their recently acquired lands and their and the Southwest. They would enter a region liber-
recently established political power slip through ally endowed with Spanish architecture and arti-
their fingers. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, facts, bearing the names of Spanish missions and
so harshly did the word Yankee ring in their ears that Californio ranchos. But they would find it a land
many Californios supported the South. dominated by Anglos, a place far different from that
By 1870 the Californios brief ascendancy had which their Californio ancestors had settled so
utterly vanisheda short and sad tale of riches to hopefully in earlier days.
387
388 CHAPTER 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy, 18411848
Most ominous of all, the war rearoused the The disruptive Wilmot amendment twice
snarling dog of the slavery issue, and the beast did passed the House, but not the Senate. Southern
not stop yelping until drowned in the blood of the members, unwilling to be robbed of prospective
Civil War. Abolitionists assailed the Mexican conflict slave states, fought the restriction tooth and nail.
as one provoked by the southern slavocracy for its Antislavery men, in Congress and out, battled
own evil purposes. As James Russell Lowell had no less bitterly for the exclusion of slaves. The
Hosea Biglow drawl in his Yankee dialect, Wilmot Proviso, eventually endorsed by the legis-
latures of all but one of the free states, soon came
They jest want this Californy
to symbolize the burning issue of slavery in the
Sos to lug new slave-states in
territories.
To abuse ye, an to scorn ye,
In a broad sense, the opening shots of the Mexi-
An to plunder ye like sin.
can War were the opening shots of the Civil War.
In line with Lowells charge, the bulk of the Ameri- President Polk left the nation the splendid physical
can volunteers were admittedly from the South and heritage of California and the Southwest but also
Southwest. But, as in the case of the Texas revolu- the ugly moral heritage of an embittered slavery dis-
tion, the basic explanation was proximity rather pute. Mexico will poison us, said the philosopher
than conspiracy. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Even the great champion
Quarreling over slavery extension also erupted of the South, John C. Calhoun, had prophetically
on the floors of Congress. In 1846, shortly after the warned that Mexico is to us the forbidden fruit . . .
shooting started, Polk had requested an appropria- the penalty of eating it would be to subject our insti-
tion of $2 million with which to buy a peace. Repre- tutions to political death. Mexicans could later take
sentative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, fearful of the some satisfaction in knowing that the territory
southern slavocracy, introduced a fateful amend- wrenched from them had proved to be a venomous
ment. It stipulated that slavery should never exist in apple of discord that could well be called Santa
any of the territory to be wrested from Mexico. Annas revenge.
Chronology 389
Chronology
1837 Canadian rebellion and Caroline incident 1846 United States and Mexico clash over
Texas boundary
1841 Harrison dies after four weeks in office Kearny takes Santa Fe
Tyler assumes presidency Frmont conquers California
Wilmot Proviso passes House of
1842 Aroostook War over Maine boundary Representatives
Webster-Ashburton treaty
1846-
1844 Polk defeats Clay in Manifest Destiny 1848 Mexican War
election
1847 Battle of Buena Vista
1845 United States annexes Texas Scott takes Mexico City
For further reading, see page A12 of the Appendix. For web resources, go to http://college.hmco.com.