The Mexican-American War 04/03/2015
A. Lone Star State
a) Texas annexed to the US March 1, 1845
b) Texas enters as a slave state, no free blacks are allowed in the state.
c) Rio Grande est as its border
d) Mexico invades to take back its land
B. California Separates
a) “Bear Flaggers”, 300 strong militia raised in Sacramento Valley
b) storm Mexican gov’t outpost in Sonoma
c) joined by John Fremont and 62 US soldiers and marched south to take
LA and San Diego
d) commodore John Stockton with 1 ship of the line and 3 Frigates
support this unopposed conquest
C. Outbreak of War
a) Polk sends Gen Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grande with 2,500 US troops,
only a few miles from a 4,000 Mexican army marching to defend the land
it claimed
b) May 9th, 1846, skirmishes began between the two armies
c) May 13th, war declared by Polk and the US Congress
d) At outset of way Mexico looked good (75,000 men vs 8,000 men)
D. Two-Pronged Assault on Mexico
a) Gen Zachary Taylor:
- “Old Rough and Ready”
- Won battles at Monterrey and Buena Vista
- US occupied all of Northern Mexico by March of 1847
- Taylor’s political aspirations caused Polk to recall him before he took all
of Mexico
b) Gen Winfield Scott:
- “Old Fuss and Feathers”
- Invades Mexico by sea, landing at Veracruz in March 1847
- 12,000 fresh troops, all new recruits
- Many future Civil War generals served Scott (R.E. Lee, Longstreet, Grant,
Meade, Stonewall Jackson)
- Disease killed about 4,000 troops but Scott pressed on
E. Conquest of Mexico City
a) Santa Anna had about 15,000 troops protecting Mexico City
b) US forces attack major points protecting the city
c) Battle of Chapulteca (150 US casualties, 3,000 Mex. Casualties)
d) US forces enter Mexico City (September 13th, 1847)
e) Flawless Victory
Gold Rush 04/03/2015
1. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
2. Gold Strike!
Sutter’s Farm and the discovery of gold (Jan 1848)
Over 100,000 Americans rush to California in 1849-largest
immigration movement in American history
300,000 would reach California in total
Like the lottery, many tried, only a small fraction (1-2%) ever found
a fortune in gold (wild west culture)
Popular Sovereignty Granted and Individualism
Capitulated 04/03/2015
1. Abraham Lincoln
Illinois Lawyer turned politician
opracticed law in Springfield
oIllinois State Legislature Representative 1834-1842
oUS Congress House of Representatives 1847-1849
Used his legal training (self trained) in logic and reason to prove not
only the immorality of slavery but the absurdity of its existence
within the US
Lincoln-Douglass debates
2. Dred Scott and the loss of individualism
A slave who had lived in a free state (Minnesota) while his master
did business there
Married and had children there
Supreme Court ruled he had no rights and so much return with his
master to the South
3. John Brown and Harper’s Ferry
State of the Union of 1860 04/03/2015
1. Buchanan’s failed presidency
James Buchanan had campaigned as a unifier and great diplomat
Upheld a mostly pro-slavery agenda
A bachelor, the president was a recluse upon occasion and often
gave into pressure from other politicians
Did nothing
owhle the Dred Scott decision occurred
owhile Kansas bled
owhile recession hit in 1857
owhile South Carolina seceded from the Union (Dec 20th, 1860)
only responded to John Brown at Harper’s Ferry
