Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy PDF

Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy r 1841–1848...

Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy r 1841–1848 Our manifest destiny [is] to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions. John L. O’Sullivan, 1845* T erritorial expansion dominated American diplomacy and politics in the 1840s. Settlers swarming into the still-disputed Oregon Country aggra- vated relations with Britain, which had staked its own overzealous Clay and pointedly remind him that he, William Henry Harrison, was president of the United States. Unluckily for Clay and Webster, their schemes soon claims in the Pacific Northwest. The clamor to annex hit a fatal snag. Before the new term had fairly started, Texas to the Union provoked bitter tension with Mexico, Harrison contracted pneumonia. Wearied by official which continued to regard Texas as a Mexican province functions and plagued by office seekers, the enfeebled in revolt. And when Americans began casting covetous old warrior died after only four weeks in the White eyes on Mexico’s northernmost province, the great prize House—by far the shortest administration in American of California, open warfare erupted between the United history, following by far the longest inaugural address. States and its southern neighbor. Victory over Mexico The “Tyler too” part of the Whig ticket, hitherto added vast new domains to the United States, but it also only a rhyme, now claimed the spotlight. What man- raised thorny questions about the status of slavery in ner of man did the nation now find in the presidential the newly acquired territories—questions that would be chair? Six feet tall, slender, blue-eyed, and fair-haired, answered in blood in the Civil War of the 1860s. with classical features and a high forehead, John Tyler was a Virginia gentleman of the old school—gracious and kindly, yet stubbornly attached to principle. He The Accession of “Tyler Too” had earlier resigned from the Senate, quite unnecessar- ily, rather than accept distasteful instructions from the A horde of hard-ciderites descended upon Washington Virginia legislature. Still a lone wolf, he had forsaken early in 1841, clamoring for the spoils of office. Newly the Jacksonian Democratic fold for that of the Whigs, elected President Harrison, bewildered by the uproar, largely because he could not stomach the dictatorial was almost hounded to death by Whig spoilsmen. tactics of Jackson. The real leaders of the Whig party regarded “Old Tyler’s enemies accused him of being a Democrat Tippecanoe” as little more than an impressive figure- in Whig clothing, but this charge was only partially head. Daniel Webster, as secretary of state, and Henry true. The Whig party, like the Democratic party, was Clay, the uncrowned king of the Whigs and their something of a catchall, and the accidental president ablest spokesman in the Senate, would grasp the helm. belonged to the minority wing, which embraced a The aging general was finally forced to rebuke the number of Jeffersonian states’ righters. Tyler had in fact been put on the ticket partly to attract the vote of this *Earliest known use of the term Manifest Destiny, sometimes called fringe group, many of whom were influential southern “Manifest Desire.” gentry. 360 Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.  John Tyler, Accidental President 361 Yet Tyler, high-minded as he was, should never Secretary of State Webster, who was then in the midst have consented to run on the ticket. Although the of delicate negotiations with England. dominant Clay-Webster group had published no plat- The proposed Whig tariff also felt the prick of the form, every alert politician knew what the unpublished president’s well-inked pen. Tyler appreciated the neces- platform contained. And on virtually every major issue, sity of bringing additional revenue to the Treasury. But the obstinate Virginian was at odds with the major- old Democrat that he was, he looked with a frosty eye ity of his adoptive Whig party, which was pro-bank, on the major tariff scheme of the Whigs because it pro- pro–protective tariff, and pro–internal improvements. vided, among other features, for a distribution among “Tyler too” rhymed with “Tippecanoe,” but there the the states of revenue from the sale of public lands in harmony ended. As events turned out, President Har- the West. Tyler could see no point in squandering fed- rison, the Whig, served for only 4 weeks, whereas Tyler, eral money when the federal Treasury was not over- the ex-Democrat who was still largely a Democrat at flowing, and he again wielded an emphatic veto. heart, served for 204 weeks. Chastened Clayites redrafted their tariff bill. They chopped out the offensive dollar-distribution scheme and pushed down the rates to about the moderately JWithout ohn Tyler: A President a Party protective level of 1832, roughly 32 percent on duti- able goods. Tyler had no fondness for a protective tar- iff, but realizing the need for additional revenue, he After their hard-won, hard-cider victory, the Whigs reluctantly signed the Tariff of 1842. In subsequent brought their not-so-secret platform out of Clay’s waist- months the pressure for higher customs duties slack- coat pocket. To the surprise of no one, it outlined a ened as the country gradually edged its way out of the strongly nationalistic program. depression. The Whig slogan, “Harrison, Two Dollars a Financial reform came first. The Whig Congress Day and Roast Beef,” was reduced by unhappy Demo- hastened to pass a law ending the independent treasury crats to “Ten Cents a Day and Bean Soup.” system, and President Tyler, disarmingly agreeable, signed it. Clay next drove through Congress a bill for a “Fiscal Bank,” which would establish a new Bank of the United States. A War of Words with Britain Tyler’s hostility to a centralized bank was notori- Hatred of Britain during the nineteenth century came ous, and Clay—the “Great Compromiser”—would to a head periodically and had to be lanced by treaty have done well to conciliate him. But the Kentuck- settlement or by war. The poison had festered omi- ian, robbed repeatedly of the presidency by lesser men, nously by 1842. was in an imperious mood and riding for a fall. When Anti-British passions were composed of many the bank bill reached the presidential desk, Tyler flatly ingredients. At bottom lay the bitter, red-coated memo- vetoed it on both practical and constitutional grounds. ries of the two Anglo-American wars. In addition, the A drunken mob gathered late at night near the White genteel pro-British Federalists had died out, eventu- House and shouted insultingly, “Huzza for Clay!” “A ally yielding to the boisterous Jacksonian Democrats. Bank! A Bank!” “Down with the Veto!” British travelers, sniffing with aristocratic noses at the The stunned Whig leaders tried once again. Striv- crude scene, wrote acidly of American tobacco spitting, ing to pacify Tyler’s objections to a “Fiscal Bank,” they slave auctioneering, lynching, eye gouging, and other passed another bill providing for a “Fiscal Corpora- unsavory features of the rustic Republic. Travel books tion.” But the president, still unbending, vetoed the offensive substitute. The Democrats were jubilant: they had been saved from another financial “monster” only by the pneumonia that had felled Harrison. Frances Trollope (1780–1863), an English writer Whig extremists, seething with indignation, con- disillusioned by the failure of a utopian community demned Tyler as “His Accidency” and as an “Executive she had joined in Tennessee, wrote scathingly of the Ass.” Widely burned in effigy, he received numerous Americans in 1832, letters threatening him with death. A wave of influ- enza then sweeping the country was called the “Tyler grippe.” To the delight of Democrats, the stiff-necked Virginian was formally expelled from his party by a “ Other nations have been called thin-skinned, but the citizens of the Union have, apparently, no skins at all; they wince if a breeze blows caucus of Whig congressmen, and a serious attempt to over them unless it be tempered with impeach him was broached in the House of Represen- tatives. His entire cabinet resigned in a body, except adulation. ” Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 362 Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy , 1841–1848 overflowing coffers, was a lending nation. The well- heeled creditor is never popular with the down-at- the-heels debtor, and the phrase “bloated British bond-holder” rolled bitterly from many an American tongue. When the panic of 1837 broke and several states defaulted on their bonds or repudiated them openly, honest Englishmen assailed Yankee trickery. One of them offered a new stanza for an old song: Yankee Doodle borrows cash, Yankee Doodle spends it, And then he snaps his fingers at The jolly flat [simpleton] who lends it. Troubles of a more dangerous sort came closer to home in 1837 when a short-lived insurrection erupted in Canada. It was supported by such a small minority of Canadians that it never had a real chance of suc- cess. Yet hundreds of hot-blooded Americans, hop- ing to strike a blow for freedom against the hereditary enemy, furnished military supplies or volunteered for armed service. The Washington regime tried arduously, though futilely, to uphold its weak neutrality regula- Granger Collection tions. But again, as in the case of Texas, it simply could not enforce unpopular laws in the face of popular opposition. A provocative incident on the Canadian fron- The Land of Liberty, 1847 This British cartoon tier brought passions to a boil in 1837. An American reflected the contemptuous view of American culture, steamer, the Caroline, was carrying supplies to the politics, and diplomacy that was common in early- insurgents across the swift Niagara River. It was finally nineteenth-century Britain. attacked on the New York shore by a determined Brit- ish force, which set the vessel on fire. Lurid American illustrators showed the flaming ship, laden with shriek- ing souls, plummeting over Niagara Falls. The craft in penned by these critics, whose views were avidly read fact sank short of the plunge, and only one American on both sides of the Atlantic, stirred up angry outbursts was killed. in America. This unlawful invasion of American soil—a coun- But the literary fireworks did not end there. Brit- terviolation of neutrality—had alarming aftermaths. ish magazines added fuel to the flames when, enlarging Washington officials lodged vigorous but ineffective on the travel books, they launched sneering attacks on protests. Three years later, in 1840, the incident was dra- Yankee shortcomings. American journals struck back matically revived in the state of New York. A Canadian with “you’re another” arguments, thus touching off the named McLeod, after allegedly boasting in a tavern of “Third War with England.” Fortunately, this British- his part in the Caroline raid, was arrested and indicted American war was fought with paper broadsides, and for murder. The London Foreign Office, which regarded only ink was spilled. British authors, including Charles the Caroline raiders as members of a sanctioned armed Dickens, entered the fray with gall-dipped pens, for force and not as criminals, made clear that his execu- they were being denied rich royalties by the absence of tion would mean war. Fortunately, McLeod was freed an American copyright law.* after establishing an alibi. It must have been airtight, Sprawling America, with expensive canals to for it was good enough to convince a New York jury. dig and railroads to build, was a borrowing nation The tension forthwith eased, but it snapped taut again in the nineteenth century. Imperial Britain, with its in 1841, when British officials in the Bahamas offered asylum to 130 Virginia slaves who had rebelled and captured the American ship Creole. Britain had abol- ished slavery within its empire in 1833, raising south- *Not until 1891 did Congress extend copyright privileges to foreign ern fears that its Caribbean possessions would become authors. Canada-like havens for escaped slaves. Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.  Tensions with Britain 363 Manipulating the Maine Maps but won the desired Halifax-Québec route. During the negotiations the Caroline affair, malingering since 1837, An explosive controversy of the early 1840s involved was patched up by an exchange of diplomatic notes. the Maine boundary dispute. The St. Lawrence River An overlooked bonus sneaked by in the small print is icebound several months of the year, as the British, of the same treaty: the British, in adjusting the U.S.- remembering the War of 1812, well knew. They were Canadian boundary farther west, surrendered 6,500 determined, as a defensive precaution against the Yan- square miles. The area was later found to contain the kees, to build a road westward from the seaport of priceless Mesabi iron ore of Minnesota. Halifax to Québec. But the proposed route ran through disputed territory—claimed also by Maine under the misleading peace treaty of 1783. Tough-knuckled lum- berjacks from both Maine and Canada entered the dis- The Lone Star of Texas Shines Alone puted no-man’s-land of the tall-timbered Aroostook During the uncertain eight years since 1836, Texas had River valley. Ugly fights flared up, and both sides sum- led a precarious existence. Mexico, refusing to recog- moned the local militia. The small-scale lumberjack nize Texas’s independence, regarded the Lone Star clash, which was dubbed the Aroostook War, threat- Republic as a province in revolt, to be reconquered in ened to widen into a full-dress shooting war. the future. Mexican officials loudly threatened war if As the crisis deepened in 1842, the London Foreign the American eagle should ever gather the fledgling Office took an unusual step. It sent to Washington a republic under its protective wings. nonprofessional diplomat, the conciliatory financier The Texans were forced to maintain a costly mili- Lord Ashburton, who had married a wealthy American tary establishment. Vastly outnumbered by their woman. He speedily established cordial relations with Mexican foe, they could not tell when he would strike Secretary Webster, who had recently been lionized dur- again. Mexico actually did make two halfhearted raids ing a visit to Britain. that, though ineffectual, foreshadowed more fearsome The two statesmen, their nerves frayed by pro- efforts. Confronted with such perils, Texas was driven tracted negotiations in the heat of a Washington to open negotiations with Britain and France, in the summer, finally agreed to compromise on the Maine hope of securing the defensive shield of a protectorate. boundary (see Map 17.1). On the basis of a rough, split- In 1839 and 1840, the Texans concluded treaties with the-difference arrangement, the Americans were to France, Holland, and Belgium. retain some 7,000 square miles of the 12,000 square Britain was intensely interested in an independent miles of wilderness in dispute. The British got less land Texas. Such a republic would check the southward surge of the American colossus, whose bulging biceps posed a constant threat to nearby British possessions in the New World. A puppet Texas, dancing to strings pulled by Britain, could be turned upon the Yankees. QUÉBEC 70°W 65°W N 0 50 100 Km. Subsequent clashes would create a smokescreen diver- sion, behind which foreign powers could move into the 0 50 100 Mi. R. NEW Americas and challenge the insolent Monroe Doctrine. Québec BRUNSWICK k French schemers were likewise attracted by the hoary oo t. o os eR Ar e nc St. John R game of divide and conquer. These actions would wr a result, they hoped, in the fragmentation and militari-..L St 45°N zation of America. Montréal Halifax Dangers threatened from other foreign quarters. MAINE VT. NOVA SCOTIA British abolitionists were busily intriguing for a foot- hold in Texas. If successful in freeing the few blacks N.H. AT L A N T I C there, they presumably would inflame the nearby slaves OCEAN of the South. In addition, British merchants regarded Proposed road route Texas as a potentially important free-trade area—an Webster-Ashburton treaty line offset to the tariff-walled United States. British manu- Given up by United States facturers likewise perceived that those vast Texas plains Acquired by United States constituted one of the great cotton-producing areas of the future. An independent Texas would relieve Brit- ish looms of their chronic dependence on American Map 17.1 Maine Boundary Settlement, 1842 © Cengage Learning fiber—a supply that might be cut off in time of crisis by embargo or war. Houghton-Mifflin No bleeds Kennedy, The American Pagent 14e, ©2010 kennedy_17_01_Ms00381 Maine Boundary Settlement, 1842 TrimCopyright 20p6 2012 x 19p0 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Final Proof: Editorial 8/8/08 review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.  Saint Louis Art Museum, Eliza McMillan Trust St. Louis in 1846, by Henry Lewis Thousands of pioneers like these pulling away from St. Louis said farewell to civilization as they left the Mississippi River and headed across the untracked plains to Oregon in the 1840s. The Belated Texas Nuptials opposition, Tyler despaired of securing the needed two-thirds vote for a treaty in the Senate. He therefore Partly because of the fears aroused by British schem- arranged for annexation by a joint resolution. This ers, Texas became a leading issue in the presidential solution required only a simple majority in both houses campaign of 1844. The foes of expansion assailed of Congress. After a spirited debate, the resolution annexation, while southern hotheads cried, “Texas or passed early in 1845, and Texas was formally invited to Disunion.” The pro-expansion Democrats under James become the twenty-eighth star on the American flag. K. Polk finally triumphed over the Whigs under Henry Mexico angrily charged that the Americans had Clay, the hardy perennial candidate. Lame duck presi- despoiled it of Texas. This was to some extent true in dent Tyler thereupon interpreted the narrow Demo- 1836, but hardly true in 1845, for the area was no lon- cratic victory, with dubious accuracy, as a “mandate” to ger Mexico’s to be despoiled of. As the years stretched acquire Texas. out, realistic observers could see that the Mexicans Eager to crown his troubled administration with would not be able to reconquer their lost province. Yet this splendid prize, Tyler deserves much of the credit Mexico left the Texans dangling by denying their right for shepherding Texas into the fold. Many antislavery to dispose of themselves as they chose. Whigs feared that Texas in the Union would be red By 1845 the Lone Star Republic had become a dan- meat to nourish the lusty “slave power.” Aware of their ger spot, inviting foreign intrigue that menaced the American people. The continued existence of Texas as an independent nation threatened to involve the United Thomas J. Green (1801–1863), who served as a brigadier States in a series of ruinous wars, both in America and general in the Texas Revolution, published a pamphlet in Europe. Americans were in a “lick all creation” mood in 1845 to make the case for American support of an when they sang “Uncle Sam’s Song to Miss Texas”: independent Texas: If Mexy back’d by secret foes, “ Both the government of the United States and Texas are founded upon the same political code. Still talks of getting you, gal; Why we can lick ’em all you know And then annex ‘em too, gal. They have the same common origin—the same language, laws, and religion—the same pur- What other power would have spurned the imperial suits and interests; and though they may remain domain of Texas? The bride was so near, so rich, so fair, independent of each other as to government, so willing. Whatever the peculiar circumstances of the they are identified in weal and wo’—they will Texas Revolution, the United States can hardly be accused flourish side by side and the blight which affects of unseemly haste in achieving annexation. Nine long the one will surely reach the other. ” years were surely a decent wait between the beginning of the courtship and the consummation of the marriage. 364 Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.  Oregon Fever 365 Oregon Fever Populates Oregon In winning Oregon, the Americans had great faith in their procreative powers. Boasted one congressman in The so-called Oregon Country was an enormous wil- 1846, derness. It sprawled magnificently west of the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean, and north of California to the line of 548 40’—the present southern tip of the Alaska pan- handle. All or substantial parts of this immense area “ Our people are spreading out with the aid of the American multiplication table. Go to the West and see a young man with his mate of were claimed at one time or another by four nations: eighteen; after the lapse of thirty years, visit him Spain, Russia, Britain, and the United States. again, and instead of two, you will find twenty- Two claimants dropped out of the scramble. Spain, two. That is what I call the American multiplica- ” though the first to raise its banner in Oregon, bartered tion table. away its claims to the United States in the so-called Florida Treaty of 1819. Russia retreated to the line of 548 40’ by the treaties of 1824 and 1825 with America and Columbia River, which he named after his ship; and Britain. These two remaining rivals now had the field the famed Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–1806 to themselves. had ranged overland through the Oregon Country British claims to Oregon were strong—at least to to the Pacific. This shaky American toehold was ulti- that portion north of the Columbia River. They were mately strengthened by the presence of missionaries based squarely on prior discovery and exploration, and other settlers, a sprinkling of whom reached the on treaty rights, and on actual occupation. The most grassy Willamette River valley, south of the Colum- important colonizing agency was the far-flung Hud- bia, in the 1830s. These men and women of God, in son’s Bay Company, which was trading profitably with saving the soul of the Indian, were instrumental in the Indians of the Pacific Northwest for furs. saving the soil of Oregon for the United States. They Americans, for their part, could also point pride- stimulated interest in a faraway domain that countless fully to exploration and occupation. Captain Rob- Americans had earlier assumed would not be settled ert Gray in 1792 had stumbled upon the majestic for centuries. Pundt and Koenig’s General Store, Omaha City, Nebraska, 1858 Settlers bound for Colorado and California stopped here for provisions before venturing farther west across the open plains. The Huntington Library & Art Collections, San Marino, California Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 366 Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy , 1841–1848 Scattered American and British pioneers in Oregon Polk may have been a dark horse, but he was hardly continued to live peacefully side by side. At the time an unknown or decrepit nag. Speaker of the House of of negotiating the Anglo-American Convention of Representatives for four years and governor of Tennes- 1818 (see pp. 239–240), the United States had sought to see for two terms, he was a determined, industrious, divide the vast domain at the forty-ninth parallel. But ruthless, and intelligent public servant. Sponsored the British, who regarded the Columbia River as the St. by Andrew Jackson, his friend and neighbor, he was Lawrence of the West, were unwilling to yield this vital rather implausibly touted by Democrats as yet another artery. A scheme for peaceful “joint occupation” was “Young Hickory.” Whigs attempted to jeer him into thereupon adopted, pending future settlement. oblivion with the taunt “Who is James K. Polk?” They The handful of Americans in the Willamette Val- soon found out. ley was suddenly multiplied in the early 1840s, when The campaign of 1844 was in part an expression “Oregon fever” seized hundreds of restless pioneers. of the mighty emotional upsurge known as Manifest In increasing numbers, their creaking covered wag- Destiny. Countless citizens in the 1840s and 1850s, ons jolted over the two-thousand-mile Oregon Trail feeling a sense of mission, believed that Almighty God as the human rivulet widened into a stream.* By 1846 had “manifestly” destined the American people for a about five thousand Americans had settled south of the hemispheric career. They would irresistibly spread their Columbia River, some of them tough “border ruffians,” uplifting and ennobling democratic institutions over expert with bowie knife and “revolving pistol.” at least the entire continent, and possibly over South The British, in the face of this rising torrent of America as well. Land greed and ideals—”empire” and humanity, could muster only seven hundred or so sub- “liberty”—were thus conveniently conjoined. jects north of the Columbia. Losing out lopsidedly in Expansionist Democrats were strongly swayed by the population race, they were beginning to see the the intoxicating spell of Manifest Destiny. They came wisdom of arriving at a peaceful settlement before out flat-footedly in their platform for the “Reannex- being engulfed by their neighbors. ation of Texas”† and the “Reoccupation of Oregon,” A curious fact is that only a relatively small seg- all the way to 548 40’. Outbellowing the Whig log- ment of the Oregon Country was in actual controversy cabinites in the game of slogans, they shouted “All of by 1845. The area in dispute consisted of the rough quadrangle between the Columbia River on the south *The United States had given up its claims to Texas in the so-called and east, the forty-ninth parallel on the north, and Florida Purchase Treaty (Adams-Onís Treaty) with Spain in 1819 (see the Pacific Ocean on the west. Britain had repeatedly p. 240). offered the line of the Columbia; America had repeat- edly offered the forty-ninth parallel. The whole fateful issue was now tossed into the presidential election of 1844, where it was largely overshadowed by the ques- tion of annexing Texas. A Mandate (?) for Manifest Destiny The two major parties nominated their presidential standard-bearers in May 1844. Ambitious but often frustrated Henry Clay, easily the most popular man in the country, was enthusiastically chosen by the Whigs at Baltimore. The Democrats, meeting there later, seemed hopelessly deadlocked. Van Buren’s opposition to annexing Texas ensured his defeat, given domina- Library of Congress tion of the party by southern expansionists. Finally party delegates trotted out and nominated James K. Polk of Tennessee, America’s first “dark-horse” or “sur- prise” presidential candidate. Manifest Destiny: A Caricature The spirit of Manifest Destiny swept the nation in the 1840s, and threatened to *The average rate of progress in covered wagons was one to two miles sweep it to extremes. This cartoon from 1848 lampoons an hour. This amounted to about one hundred miles a week, or about proslavery Democratic presidential candidate Lewis Cass as five months for the entire journey. Thousands of humans, in addition a veritable war machine, bent on the conquest of territory to horses and oxen, died en route. One estimate is seventeen deaths a ranging from New Mexico to Cuba and even Peru. mile for men, women, and children. Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC/Art Resource, NY Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way This romantic tribute to the spirit of Manifest Destiny was commissioned by Congress in 1860 and may still be seen in the Capitol. Oregon or None.” (The slogan “Fifty-four forty or the voters to take Texas. But a presidential election is fight” was not coined until two years later, in 1846.) seldom, if ever, a clear-cut mandate on anything. The They also condemned Clay as a “corrupt bargainer,” a only way to secure a true reflection of the voters’ will dissolute character, and a slaveowner. (Their own can- is to hold a special election on a given issue. The pic- didate, Polk, also owned slaves—a classic case of the ture that emerged in 1844 was one not of mandate but pot calling the kettle black.) of muddle. What else could there have been when the The Whigs, as noisemakers, took no backseat. They results were so close, the personalities so colorful, and countered with such slogans as “Hooray for Clay” and the issues so numerous—including Oregon, Texas, the “Polk, Slavery, and Texas, or Clay, Union, and Lib- tariff, slavery, the bank, and internal improvements? erty.” They also spread the lie that a gang of Tennessee Yet this unclear “mandate” was interpreted by President slaves had been seen on their way to a southern market Tyler as a crystal-clear charge to annex Texas—and he branded with the initials J. K. P. (James K. Polk). signed the joint resolution three days before leaving On the crucial issue of Texas, the acrobatic Clay the White House. tried to ride two horses at once. The “Great Compro- miser” appears to have compromised away the presi- dency when he wrote a series of confusing letters. They seemed to say that while he personally favored annex- Polk the Purposeful ing slaveholding Texas (an appeal to the South), he “Young Hickory” Polk, unlike “Old Hickory” Jackson, also favored postponement (an appeal to the North). was not an impressive figure. Of middle height (five He might have lost more ground if he had not “strad- feet eight inches), lean, white-haired (worn long), gray- dled,” but he certainly alienated the more ardent eyed, and stern-faced, he took life seriously and drove antislaveryites. himself mercilessly into a premature grave. His burdens In the stretch drive, “Dark Horse” Polk nipped were increased by an unwillingness to delegate author- Henry Clay at the wire, 170 to 105 votes in the Electoral ity. Methodical and hard-working but not brilliant, he College and 1,338,464 to 1,300,097 in the popular col- was shrewd, narrow-minded, conscientious, and persis- umn. Clay would have won if he had not lost New York tent. “What he went for he fetched,” wrote a contempo- State by a scant 5,000 votes. There the tiny antislavery rary. Purposeful in the highest degree, he developed a Liberty party absorbed nearly 16,000 votes, many positive four-point program and with remarkable suc- of which would otherwise have gone to the unlucky cess achieved it completely in less than four years. Kentuckian. Ironically, the anti-Texas Liberty party, One of Polk’s goals was a lowered tariff. His secre- by spoiling Clay’s chances and helping to ensure the tary of the Treasury, wispy Robert J. Walker, devised a election of pro-Texas Polk, hastened the annexation of tariff-for-revenue bill that reduced the average rates of Texas. the Tariff of 1842 from about 32 percent to 25 percent. Land-hungry Democrats, flushed with victory, With the strong support of low-tariff southerners, the proclaimed that they had received a mandate from Walker Tariff bill made its way through Congress, 367 Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 368 Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy , 1841–1848 “Reoccupation” of the “whole” of Oregon had been Table 17.1 House Vote on Tariff of 1846 promised northern Democrats in the campaign of Region For Against 1844. But southern Democrats, once they had annexed New England 9 19 Texas, rapidly cooled off. Polk, himself a southerner, had no intention of insisting on the 548 40’ pledge of Middle states 18 44 his own platform. But feeling bound by the three offers West and Northwest 29 10 of his predecessors to London, he again proposed the South and Southwest 58 20 compromise line of 498. The British minister in Wash- ington, on his own initiative, brusquely spurned this total 114 93 olive branch. The next move on the Oregon chessboard was though not without loud complaints from the Clayites, up to Britain. Fortunately for peace, the ministry especially in New England and the middle states, who began to experience a change of heart. British anti- cried that American manufacturing would be ruined expansionists (“Little Englanders”) were now per- (see Table 17.1). But these prophets of doom missed the suaded that the Columbia River was not after all the St. mark. The Walker Tariff of 1846 proved to be an excel- Lawrence of the West and that the turbulent American lent revenue producer, largely because it was followed hordes might one day seize the Oregon Country. Why by boom times and heavy imports. fight a hazardous war over this wilderness on behalf A second objective of Polk was the restoration of of an unpopular monopoly, the Hudson’s Bay Com- the independent treasury, unceremoniously dropped by pany, which had already “furred out” much of the area the Whigs in 1841. Pro-bank Whigs in Congress raised anyhow? a storm of opposition, but victory at last rewarded the Early in 1846 the British, hat in hand, came around president’s efforts in 1846. and themselves proposed the line of 498. President The third and fourth points on Polk’s “must list” Polk, irked by the previous rebuff, threw the decision were the acquisition of California and the settlement of squarely into the lap of the Senate. The senators speed- the Oregon dispute (see Map 17.2). ily accepted the offer and approved the subsequent treaty, despite a few diehard shouts of “Fifty-four forty forever!” and “Every foot or not an inch!” The fact that the United States was then a month deep in a war with 130°W 120°W 110°W 60°N Mexico doubtless influenced the Senate’s final vote. 0 150 300 Km. Focus of dispute by 1846 Satisfaction with the Oregon settlement among 0 150 300 Mi. Area of original dispute Americans was not unanimous. The northwestern over Oregon states, hotbed of Manifest Destiny and “fifty-four forty- ALASKA (Russia) ism,” joined the antislavery forces in condemning what 54°4 BRITISH they regarded as a base betrayal by the South. Why all 0 'N NORTH AMERICA (CANADA) of Texas but not all of Oregon? Because, retorted the expansionist Senator Benton of Missouri, “Great Britain is powerful and Mexico is weak.” So Polk, despite all the campaign bluster, got nei- ther “fifty-four forty” nor a fight. But he did get some- RO 50°N Frase thing that in the long run was better: a reasonable Va CK 49°N r R. n co ve compromise without a rifle being raised. Y u rI. Compromise Treat y of 1818 line, 1846 b i a R. MO Colu m Ft. OREGON M i s s o u r i R. Misunderstandings with Mexico UN PAC I F IC COUNTRY Vancouver to ne R. l lo ws TA I OCEAN Ye Ore UNITED Faraway California was another worry of Polk’s. He and go NS Willamette N STATES other disciples of Manifest Destiny had long coveted its n Valley Tr 42°N. a verdant valleys, and especially the spacious bay of San R il Ad a m s k e - Onís Tr e a t y o f 18 1 Sna 9 Francisco. This splendid harbor was widely regarded as 40°N MEXICO America’s future gateway to the Pacific Ocean. The population of California in 1845 was curiously mixed. It consisted of perhaps thirteen thousand sun- Map 17.2 The Oregon Controversy, 1846 © Cengage Learning blessed Spanish Mexicans and as many as seventy-five thousand dispirited Indians. There were fewer than HMCo No bleeds Kennedy, The American Pageant, 4e ©2010 Oregon Boundary Copyright 2012Dispute, 1846 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). kennedy_17_02_Ms00340a Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinicke Rare Book Room and Manuscript Library, Yale University Fort Vancouver, Oregon Country, ca. 1846 Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River near its confluence with the Willamette River, was the economic hub of the Oregon Country during the early years of settlement. Founded as a Hudson’s Bay Company fur-trading outpost, the fort was handed over to the Americans when Britain ceded the Oregon Country to the United States in 1846. a thousand “foreigners,” mostly Americans, some of The Mexicans were far less concerned about this whom had “left their consciences” behind them as they boundary quibble than was the United States. In their rounded Cape Horn. Given time, these transplanted eyes all of Texas was still theirs, although temporarily in Yankees might yet bring California into the Union by revolt, and a dispute over the two rivers seemed point- “playing the Texas game.” less. Yet Polk was careful to keep American troops out Polk was eager to buy California from Mexico, but of virtually all of the explosive no-man’s-land between relations with Mexico City were dangerously embit- the Nueces and the Rio Grande, as long as there was tered. Among other friction points, the United States any real prospect of peaceful adjustment. had claims against the Mexicans for some $3 million The golden prize of California continued to cause in damages to American citizens and their property. Polk much anxiety. Disquieting rumors (now known to The revolution-riddled regime in Mexico had formally have been ill-founded) were circulating that Britain was agreed to assume most of this debt but had been forced about to buy or seize California—a grab that Americans to default on its payments. could not tolerate under the Monroe Doctrine. In a last A more serious bone of contention was Texas. The desperate throw of the dice, Polk dispatched John Slidell Mexican government, after threatening war if the to Mexico City as minister late in 1845. The new envoy, United States should acquire the Lone Star Republic, had among other alternatives, was instructed to offer a recalled its minister from Washington following annex- maximum of $25 million for California and territory to ation. Diplomatic relations were completely severed. the east. But the proud Mexican people would not even Deadlock with Mexico over Texas was further permit Slidell to present his “insulting” proposition. tightened by a question of boundaries. During the long era of Spanish Mexican occupation, the southwestern boundary of Texas had been the Nueces River. But the expansive Texans, on rather far-fetched grounds, were AAmerican merican Blood on (?) Soil claiming the more southerly Rio Grande instead. Polk, for his part, felt a strong moral obligation to defend A frustrated Polk was now prepared to force a showdown. Texas in its claim, once it was annexed. On January 13, 1846, he ordered four thousand men, 369 Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 370 Chapter 17 Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy , 1841–1848 “spotted fever.” The more extreme antislavery agitators On June 1, 1860, less than a year before he became of the North, many of them Whigs, branded the presi- president, Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) wrote, dent a liar—“Polk the Mendacious.” “ The act of sending an armed force among the Mexicans was unnecessary, inasmuch as Mex- Did Polk provoke war? California was an impera- tive point in his program, and Mexico would not sell it at any price. The only way to get it was to use force or ico was in no way molesting or menacing the wait for an internal American revolt. Yet delay seemed United States or the people thereof; and... it dangerous, for the claws of the British lion might was unconstitutional, because the power of snatch the ripening California fruit from the talons of levying war is vested in Congress, and not in the American eagle. Grievances against Mexico were the President. ” annoying yet tolerable; in later years America endured even worse ones. But in 1846 patience had ceased to be a virtue, as far as Polk was concerned. Bent on grasping under General Zachary Taylor, to march from the Nueces California by fair means or foul, he pushed the quarrel River to the Rio Grande, provocatively near Mexican to a bloody showdown. forces. Polk’s presidential diary reveals that he expected Both sides, in fact, were spoiling for a fight. Feisty at any moment to hear of a clash. When none occurred Americans, especially southwestern expansionists, after an anxious wait, he informed his cabinet on May 9, were eager to teach the Mexicans a lesson. The Mexi- 1846, that he proposed to ask Congress to declare war on cans, in turn, were burning to humiliate the “Bul- the basis of (1) unpaid claims and (2) Slidell’s rejection. lies of the North.” Possessing a considerable standing These, at best, were rather flimsy pretexts. Two cabinet army, heavily overstaffed with generals, they boasted members spoke up and said that they would feel better of invading the United States, freeing the black slaves, satisfied if Mexican troops should fire first. and lassoing whole regiments of Americans. They That very evening, as fate would have it, news of were hoping that the quarrel with Britain over Oregon bloodshed arrived. On April 25, 1846, Mexican troops would blossom into a full-dress war, as it came near had crossed the Rio Grande and attacked General Tay-