Chapter 9: Expanding Markets and Moving West



Chapter 9: Expanding Markets and Moving West

Section 1: The Market Revolution

*Samuel F. B. Morse- built an electromagnetic telegraph that could send signals through copper wire. This established new communications systems that could instantly link people with one another.

-In the early 19th century, rural American workers were very self-sufficient.

-By mid-century, however, the US had become more industrialized, especially in the Northeast where textile mills and the factory system changed the lives of everyone.

-Now, workers spent their earnings on goods produced by other workers.

-Farmers began to shift to *specialization- raising one or two cash crops to sell.

-These developments led to a *Market Revolution- in which people bought and sold goods rather than making them for their own use.

-The quickening pace of the US economic growth depended on *capitalism- the economic system in which private businesses and individuals control the means of production.

*Entrepreneurs- a person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture.

-Inventor-Entrepreneurs- 1839 -Charles Goodyear invents vulcanized rubber. I.M. singer invents a foot-treadle sewing machine.

-As American agriculture continued to flourish, farmers began to use mechanized farm equipment. -Manufactured items grew less expensive as technological advances lowered expenses.

-New inventions contributed immensely to the changes in American life. Some simply made life more enjoyable, while others fueled the economic revolution of the mid-century and transformed manufacturing, transportation and communication.

-Railroads expanded, becoming a faster way to transport goods and services.

-Growing links between American regions contributed to the development of regional specialties.

-South- exported its cotton, West- grain and livestock, East- textiles and machinery.

-As the Northeast began to industrialized, many people moved to farm the fertile soil of the Midwest.

-Two ingenious inventors allowed farmers to develop farmland more efficiently and cheaply while making it more profitable.

-1837 *John Deere- invented the steel plow to slice through heavy soil easier.

*Cyrus McCormick- invented the mechanical reaper that permitted one farmer to do the work of five hired hands.

Section 2: Manifest Destiny

-Thomas Jefferson had dreamed that the US would become an "Empire for liberty" by expanding across the continent.

-In the 1840s, Americans began to believe that their movement westward and southward was destined and ordained by God.

*Manifest Destiny- was the phrase to express people's beliefs that the destiny of the US was to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican territory.

-The abundance of land in the West was the greatest attraction to move there. Whether for farming or speculation, land ownership was an important step towards prosperity.

-As farmers and miners moved west, merchants followed seeking new markets.

-As settlers moved west confrontations with Native Americans became a problem. Because of the 1830 Indian Removal Act and other treaties, Native Americans were well west of the Mississippi.

-Native Americans and settlers would sometimes fight until new treaties demanded that Native Americans abandoned their lands and move to reservations.

-One of the busiest and well-known avenues of trade was the *Santa Fe Trail- which ran 708 miles from Missouri to New Mexico.

*Oregon Trail- a route from Missouri to Oregon, use by pioneers traveling to the Oregon territory. The trip took months, but the rewards were great.

-One group that migrated westward along the Oregon Trail consisted of the *Mormons- a religious community that would play a major role in the settling of the West.

-Its history began in western New York in 1827, when *Joseph Smith and five associates established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

-Smith decided to move to West Illinois in 1839. Within five years, the community numbered 20,000.

-When neighbors started to protest against polygamy, Smith destroyed the towns’ printing press.

-As a result, in 1844, he was jailed for treason. While he was locked up, a mob broke into the jail and killed Smith and his brother.

-Smith's successor, *Brigham Young, decided to move his followers beyond the boundaries of the United States, stopping near the Great Salt Lake.

-The Oregon Territory was only one point of contention between the US and Britain.

-In the early 1840s, England still claimed parts of Maine and Minnesota.

-The two nations continued "joint occupation" of the Oregon Territory.

-In 1844, Democrat James K. Polk called for annexation of the Territory.

-In turn the newspaper of adopted the slogan *Fifty-four or Fight!

-The slogan referred to the latitude 54° 40’, the northern limit of the disputed territory.

-The two countries agreed in 1846 to extend the mainland boundary with Canada along the 49th parallel and westward from the Rocky Mountains, which established the current US boundary.

-Unfortunately, establishing the boundary in the Southwest would not be so easy.

Section 3: Expansion in Texas

-In 1821 *Stephen F. Austin led the first of several groups of settlers to a fertile area along the Brazos River.

American Settle in the Southwest

-Since the earliest Spanish settlements, the Native American and Mexican population in the Southwest had come into close contact.

-In 1821, and again in 1823 and 1824, Mexico offered enormous *land grants to agents, who were called empresarios.

-The empresarios, in turn, attracted American settlers, who eagerly bought cheap land in return for a pledge to obey Mexican laws and observe the official religion of Roman Catholicism.

-Many Americans as well as Mexicans rushed at this chance.

-The most successful empresarios, Stephen F. Austin, established a colony between the Brazo and Colorado Rivers.

-Word about Texas spread throughout the US. Confident that Texas eventually would yield great wealth, Americans increasingly discussed extending the US borders to the river they called the Río Grande. (Known in Mexico as the Rio Bravo).

-Both presidents, Adams and Jackson, offer to buy Texas. Mexico not only refused to sell Texas but also began to regret its hospitality to Anglo immigrants.

-As Texas’s Anglo population surged, tensions grew with Mexico over cultural differences, as well as slavery.

-Mexico, which had abolished slavery in 1824, insisted in vain that the Texans free their slaves.

-In 1830, Mexico sealed its borders and slapped a heavy tax on the importation of American goods.

-As Mexican politics became increasingly unstable, Austin went to Mexico City late in 1833 to present petitions for greater self government for Texas to Mexican President *Antonio López de Santa Anna.

-When Austin left, Santa Anna suspended the 1824 Mexican constitution and had Austin imprisoned for inciting revolution.

-Several rebellions erupted, including what would eventually be known as the *Texas Revolution.

-Determined to force Texas to obey the laws he had established, Santa Anna march toward San Antonio at the head of a 4,000-member army.

-At the same time, Austin issued a call for Texans to arm themselves.

-Late in 1835, the Texans attacked. They drove Mexican forces from the *Alamo- an abandoned mission used as a fort.

-In response, Santa Anna swept northward storming and destroying the small American garrison in the Alamo.

-All 187 US defenders died, including the famous frontiersman Jim Bowie who had designed the razor-sharp Bowie knife, and Davy Crockett, who sported a raccoon With a long tail hanging down his back.

-Only a few women and children were spared.

-Led by *Sam Houston, the Texans defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto.

-In only 18 minutes, the Texans killed 306 Mexican soldiers and captured Santa Anna.

-They set him free after he signed the Treaty of Velasco, which granted independence to Texas.

-Houston became president of the *Republic of Texas, the new "Lone Star Republic."

-In 1838, Houston invited the US to *annex- or incorporate, the Texas Republic into the US.

-The debate was now about slavery. Would Texas be a slave state or free state?

*James K. Polk would win the presidency in 1844. He was a slaveholder who firmly favored annexation of Texas.

-On December 29, 1845, Texas became the 28th state in the union.

-A furious Mexican government recalled its ambassador from Washington.

-Events were moving quickly toward war.

Section 4: The War with Mexico

Polk Urges War

-Polk believed that war with Mexico could not only bring Texas, but also New Mexico and California into the Union.

-In 1844, Santa Anna was ousted as Mexico's president.

-When Polk sent an emissary to Mexico to purchase California and New Mexico and to gain approval of the Río Grande as the Texas border, Mexican officials refused to receive him.

-Polk sent General *Zachary Taylor to march to the Río Grande and blockade the river. Mexicans viewed this action as a violation of their rights.

-The *Wilmot Proviso- a proposed amendment to the military appropriations bill of 1846, prohibited slavery in any lands that might be gained from Mexico. This attack on slavery solidified Southern support for war by transforming the debate on war into a debate on slavery.

-As John C. Fremont led an exploration party through Mexico's Alta California province, breaking yet another one of Mexico's territorial rights, the Mexican government had had enough.

-Mexico attacked and Polk was able to get Congress to declare war.

-June 1846- the *Republic of California was proclaimed.

-Because of poor Mexican leadership, the US was able to win one military victory after another.

-The American invasion of Mexico lasted for about one year.

-Mexican casualties = 25,000 -- US casualties = 13,000… 2,000 died in battle and 11,000 from diseases.

-On February 2, 1848, the US and Mexico signed *The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande border for Texas and ceded New Mexico and California to the US.

-The US agreed to pay a $15 million for the Mexican cession, which included present-day California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and most of Arizona, as well as parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

-The treaty granted Mexicans living in these parts of freedom of religion, protection of property, bilingual elections, and open borders.

-Five years later, President Pierce authorized $10 million for another piece of territory south of the Gila River.

-Along with the settlement of Oregon and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the *Gadsden Purchase establish the current borders of the lower 48 states.

Gold!

-In 1848 gold was discovered in California. Soon after the rush began.

-As gold fever traveled eastward, overland migration to California skyrocketed, from 400 to 44,000 in 2 years.

-Among the so-called *Forty-niners- the prospectors who flock to California in 1849 in the *gold rush, were people from Asia, South America, and Europe.

-San Francisco became "a city of pandemonium" gaining 34,000 people in two years.

-By 1849, California's population exceeded 100,000. The Chinese were the largest group to come from overseas.

-By 1855, the wealthiest African-Americans in the country were living in California.

-California became a state in 1850 despite outlawing slavery in their constitution in 1849.

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