Manifest Destiny and
War with Mexico
History 103
Nov. 16, 1998
Civil War Causation:
Major Schools of Interpretation
Fundamentalist
Texas
Mexican independence from Spain (1821)
Stephen Austin’s colony
Growth of American population
Mexican efforts to assert authority
Texan Revolution (1836)
Texan independence and request for annexation to U.S. (1836)
American rejection of annexation (1837-38)
Second Party System after Jackson
Van Buren’s troubled presidency (1837-41)
Election of 1840
William Henry Harrison’s brief presidency (1841)
John Tyler’s peculiar Whiggery
Politics of Manifest Destiny
Tyler’s Texas strategy
Clay-Van Buren agreement re: annexation issue (1844)
Democrats nominate James K. Polk (1844)
Polk’s platform
Oregon and Texas
Logic of expansionism
Polk’s victory (1844)
Annexation of Texas (1845)
Oregon settlement (1846)
Mexican-American War
Tensions and provocations
U.S. Declaration of War (1846)
"All Mexico!"
Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo (1848)