FRUITS OF MANIFEST DESTINY
➢Continental Expansion
○ In the 1840s, slavery moved to the center stage of American politics as a
result of the nation’s territorial expansion
○ Oregon and California
○ The depression that began in 1837 sparked a large migration of settlers
further west
○ Some headed to Oregon, whole Willamette Valley was reputed to be one
of the continent’s most beautiful and fertile regions
○ The American presence in the area was a fee fur traders and explorers
○ 1840-45, some 5k emigrants made the 2k mi journey
○ In 1860, nearly 200k people traveled to Oregon and California
○ Adopt the old belief of manifest destiny, the belief that God intended the
American nation to reach all the way to the Pacific Ocean
➢The Mexican Frontier: New Mexico and California
○ Settlement of Oregon did not directly raise the issue of slavery buyt the
acquisition of part of Mexico did
○ Mexico won its indepenence from Spain in 1821
■ Nearly as large as the United States
■ Population of 6.5 million
■ The northern frontier of Mexico was California, New Mexico and
Tx
○ California
■ Indians, vastly outnumbered California’s non-Indian population in
1821
■ California also attracted a small number of American newcomers.
In 1846, Alfred Robinson, who had moved from Boston, published
Life in California. “In this age of annexation, why not extend the
‘area of freedom’ by the annexation of California?
■ Californios vs. Indios
● Californios referred to themselves as people capable of
reason as opposed to the Indios, whom they called people
without reason
➢The Texas Revolt
○ The first part of Mexico to be settled by significant numbers of Americans
was Texas
■ Tejanos: non-India, Spanish population in Mexico
○ Spanish gov agreed to let aAmericans colonize it to develop the region
■ Moses Austin
● In order to develop the region, the Mexican government
accepted an offer by Moses Austin, a Connecticut-born
farmer, to colonize it with Americans
