Destiny, Texas, and Mexico

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was destined to extend its territory to the Pacific Ocean. The phrase was coined in 1845 by magazine editor John O’Sullivan.

Why did Americans support manifest destiny? Southerners desired more land for cotton production and Northerners believed expansion would relieve population pressures in the crowded urban centers of the Northeast.

Some Americans were opposed to manifest destiny because other nations (Mexico & Great Britain) claimed the land and because they felt an expansive nation would be too large to govern. Abolitionists feared new territory would expand slavery.

Texas

Only a few hundred Americans resided in the area that is now Texas in 1815. Immigration to Texas increased after Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821 after ten years of war. Mexico began to encourage U.S. immigration to Texas so that whites and Tejanos (native Mexicans living in Texas) would be able to form a barrier to stop Apache and Comanche raiders. By 1821 there were 4,000 non-Indian settlers in Texas. Americans set up farms and ranches in Texas.

Empresarios were business people who were given grants of land and who agreed to recruit and take responsibility for new settlers. They attracted thousands of settlers to Texas. By 1830 Stephen F. Austin and other empresarios had relocated 7,000 Americans to Texas. Americans now outnumbered Tejanos two to one.

The Mexican government feared Texas was becoming dominated by the American settlers and tried to put a stop to immigration and the importation of slaves to Texas. Nonetheless, Americans continued to enter illegally and by 1835 there were 25,000 of them with 3,000 slaves. The Texans had negotiated a new law to have the slaves classified as indentured servants. Texans feared the Mexican government would threaten slavery, while Mexicans worried about Tejano rights.

In 1834 Santa Anna seized control of the Mexican government and eliminated state representation. Angry American settlers and Tejanos rose up in revolt.

In 1835 Texas rebels captured San Antonio. The Alamo – 187 Texans were killed, there were 1500 Mexican casualties. Texans declared independence on March 2, 1836. Santa Anna was taken prisoner by Sam Houston in the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. “Remember the Alamo” was the battle cry.

Santa Anna accepted defeat, agreed to remove his troops and grant Texas Independence. The independent Republic of Texas existed from 1836 to 1845 and was known as the Lone Star Republic due to the single star on the flag.

Texas Annexation

Tejanos faced discrimination in Texas and lost much of their land and property to Americans and European settlers, including French and German immigrants.

After Texas won independence in 1836, Americans debated the question of annexation. Supporters of annexation argued that Great Britain might influence Texas if America did not annex the Republic. Opponents believed annexation would increase the power of the South and upset the balance between slave and free states. Texas was large and was expected to enter the Union with slavery.

The 1844 presidential campaign was dominated by the issue of western expansion. Democrat James K. Polk of Tennessee called for the annexation of Texas and Oregon. The platform of his opponent Henry Clay, a Whig from Kentucky, did not mention Texas as an issue. The popular vote was close, but Polk was the clear winner in the electoral college.

Polk won the election and his immediate call for annexation pushed the U.S. closer to war with Mexico. Mexico had warned the U.S. that annexation would lead to war. On March 28, 1845 Mexico broke diplomatic relations with the U.S. after Congress passed a resolution annexing Texas. Polk then moved aggressively and hoped to find a pretext for war.

Polk demanded that Mexico recognized the Rio Grande as Mexico’s northern border, while the Mexicans claimed the proper border was the Nueces River further to the north. Polk ordered troops under General Zachary Taylor to the disputed territory. This angered the Mexican government, but they were willing to negotiate. Polk’s representative John Slidell offered to purchase the Mexican territories in the Southwest. However, the Mexican people were angered by this and demanded that the Mexican Government abstain from making a deal with Polk. Consequently the Mexican government withdrew from negotiations.

The Mexican War

On May 9, 1846 Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and attacked a U.S. Patrol. The impatient Polk had been waiting for just such an incident to justify a declaration of war. Congress declared war on May 13, 1846.

Some Americans criticized the War. They charged that Polk was trying to acquire more slave territory and that America was the true aggressor. They called the war “Mr. Polk’s War.” Lincoln, Henry David Thoreau, and Frederick Douglass all questioned American intentions. However, most Americans, especially westerners and southerners, fully supported the war, and young men rushed to enlist.

By September 1847, U.S. forces were in control of California and New Mexico. General Zachary Taylor’s troops occupied much of northern Mexico and Mexico city was occupied by the troops of General Scott.

The War ended in February 1848 with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The victorious U.S. dictated the terms of the treaty which forced Mexico to give up an area the size of Spain, France, and Italy combined: 525,000 square miles.

Mexico surrendered all claims to Texas and gave up a vast territory known as the Mexican Cession. The territory in the Mexican Cession eventually became the present day states of California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. The U.S. agreed to pay Mexico $15 million and take over payment of the damages claimed by Americans against Mexico.

The U.S. promised in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to grant full citizenship rights to Mexicans living in the Mexican Cession, and to respect religious beliefs and property rights. With the Gadsden purchase in 1853 (a strip of land in southern Arizona and New Mexico), the U.S. had acquired all of Mexico’s territory north of the Rio Grande.

Americans who settled in the new territories did not respect the rights of 80,000 Mexicans living there. Many of them lost their land and property and were transformed from prosperous landowners into poor laborers in mines, or on railroads. Many became field hands. The Mexican government was shattered by the defeat and could do little to protect the rights of its former citizens except protest.

The Mexican government was very unstable after the war and Mexico began to focus on its internal struggles rather than on its entry into the world marketplace. Mexico also struggled to prevent any further loss of its territory to the much more powerful United States.

Mexican culture was a blend of Spanish and Indian cultures, and many Americans looked down upon it. Prejudice and discrimination led to Mexican American rebellions in the Southwest. Nonetheless, Mexican Americans played important roles in the economy of the Southwest and their labor enabled others to prosper.

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