ACQUISITION OF

LAND +
THE MEXICAN-
AMERICAN WAR
6 March 2017
MANIFEST DESTINY
Manifest Destiny = the idea that the United States
had the God-given right and fate to control more
and more land in order to spread democracy

John OSullivan coined the term manifest destiny

It is Americas manifest destiny to overspread and to

possess the whole continent which Providence ahs
given us for the development of the great experiment
of liberty
TEXAS
1844 Texas (an independent nation) signs a
peace treaty with Mexico
TEXAS
1844 Texas (an independent nation) signs a
peace treaty with Mexico
Texas wanted statehood from the United States, but
whats the problem?
TEXAS
1844 Texas (an independent nation) signs a
peace treaty with Mexico
Texas wanted statehood from the United States, but
whats the problem?
Texas would be a slave state (below the Missouri
Compromise line)
So the United States ignored the request
until... James Polk won the election in 1844 with
an expansionist platform
Congress, seeing the popularity of expansion in
the nation, approved annexation of Texas in
1845
OREGON TERRITORY
Jointly settled by Americans and the British
As Americans more heavily settled Oregon, they
began asking the US for statehood.
Congress negotiated with Britain (1846)
Expansionists wanted Fifty-four Forty or fight! =
to control Oregon to 5440 N line of latitude.
Congress wanted to avoid war with Britain and
settled at 49 N
MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR
1845 James Polk orders General Zachary
Taylor into disputed territory south of the
Nueces River in southern Texas
GADSDEN PURCHASE -
1854