Manifest DestinyManifest Destiny

Chapter 10 Expansion and Conflict

Section 1: The Lure of the WestSection 2: American ExpansionismSection 3: The Far WestSection 4: The Rush to California

Terms for Chapter 10

Manifest Destiny John L. O'Sullivan empresario Joe MeekJedediah Smith John Jacob Astor Mormons Jim Bowie The Lone Star

Republic Oregon Trail Stephen F. Austin Rio GrandeSanta Fe Trail General de Santa Anna Sutter’s MillVaquero Sam Houston Nauvoo, IllinoisMountain men William Barret Travis St. Joe, MORendezvous Juan Seguin Salt Lake City, UtahTexian/Tejano Davy Crockett California gullDonner Party Joseph Smith Nueces RiverTippicanoe and Tyler, Too! Brigham Young the AlamoFifty-four Forty or Fight! Narcissa Prentiss Whitman San JacintoMexican War John Slidel GoliadMexican Cession James K. Polk TejasThe Bear Flag Republic General Zachary Taylor San Antonio Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo General Winfield ScottGadsden Purchase Stephen KearnyForty-niners John C. FremontThe Gold Rush Levi StraussGam Saan Samuel Brannan Wilmot Proviso Johann SutterCompromise of 1850 James Marshall Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 Millard FillmoreFree-Soilers Mark TwainFire-eaters

Manifest Destiny

• Manifest Destiny is a phrase that expressed the belief that the United States had a divinely inspired mission to expand, to progress, and to spread its form of democracy and freedom. Originally a political catch phrase of the nineteenth century, Manifest Destiny eventually became a standard historical term, often used as a synonym for the territorial expansion of the United States across North America towards the Pacific Ocean.

John L. O'Sullivan on

Manifest Destiny, 1839 • In 1845, a democratic leader and influential editor by the name of

John L. O'Sullivan gave the movement its name.

• In an attempt to explain America's thirst for expansion, and to present a defense for America's claim to new territories he wrote: ".... the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federaltive development of self government entrusted to us. It is right such as that of the tree to the space of air and the earth suitable for the full expansion of its principle and destiny of growth."

• Manifest Destiny became the rallying cry throughout America. The notion of Manifest Destiny was publicized in the papers and was advertise and argued by politicians throughout the nation. The idea of Manifest Destiny Doctrine became the torch, that lit the way for American expansion.

Mountain Men• Jedediah Smith is probably the most famous of all "Mountain

Men" -- those fur-clad, grizzled individuals who were first to explore the American West in search of pelts and adventure. He was the first American (after the Astorians) to cross west over the Continental Divide, rediscovering South Pass, and the first American to traverse California's rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains. He was also first to open the coastal trade route from California to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River. In 1823 he was almost killed by a grizzly bear.

• The bear came out of the thicket and mauled Smith violently, throwing him to the ground, smashing his ribs and literally ripping off his scalp. His head was in the bear's mouth and it chewed off his ear, but somehow, perhaps playing dead, Smith survived. The scalp was hanging on to his head by an ear.

• As he waited for his men to come with help, he found comfort in the 23rd Psalm. The men found him in such condition and were horrified. Calmly, Smith instructed Jim Clyman to sew the hanging flesh back on. Clyman did the best he could, but thought nothing could be done for the severed ear. Smith insisted that he try. According to Clyman, Within a few days, Smith was again leading his expedition forward.

Liver-Eatin’Smith

Joseph Lafayette Meek(1810-1875)

• Born in Washington County, Virginia, Meek was propelled westward at an early age by a disagreeable stepmother, traveling first to Missouri where he joined two of his brothers. By 1829, however, Meek had signed on with William Sublette as a Rocky Mountain trapper, and for the next eleven years he lived the strenuous life of a mountain man.

• Meek's stories of these years included a hand-to-paw encounter with a grizzly bear, a narrow escape in a confrontation with a Blackfoot warrior, the death of his first Indian wife in an attack by a Bannock raiding party, and his second marriage to the daughter of a Nez Percé chief. Early in his mountain man career, Meek had also been among the first Americans to travel overland to California, accompanying Joseph Walker on his 1833 expedition across the Sierras to the Yosemite Valley. By 1840, the year of the last rendezvous, the decline of the fur trade had forced Meek to come in from the mountains, and he partnered with another ex-trapper, Robert Newell, to take a wagon train up the Oregon Trail to the Willamette Valley, one of the first wagon trains to make the trip. Meek settled in Oregon with his third Indian wife and their family, becoming a farmer and an activist in the effort to make Oregon part of the United States. In 1843, he served as sheriff under the newly formed provisional government, and he was elected to the legislature in 1846 and 1847.

• Following the Whitman Massacre in November of 1847, Meek led a delegation across the continent to Washington, D. C., to ask for protection and urge formal organization of Oregon as a territory. On this trip Meek met with President James K. Polk, whose wife was Meek's cousin, and demonstrated for Washington society his remarkable talent for roistering tall tales. When Congress approved Oregon's territorial status on August 14, 1848, Polk appointed Meek the territory's federal marshal, a post he held for the next five years.

• As marshal, Meek officiated at the 1850 execution of the five Cayuse Indians found guilty of the Whitman Massacre. Later, in 1855, he played a leading part in the Yakima War, organizing the Oregon Volunteers and winning the rank of major for his service. Toward the end of the decade, as the nation moved closer to civil war, Meek became an avid Unionist and helped organize the Republican Party in Oregon.

Marcus & Narcissa Prentiss Whitman

• Among the first American settlers in the West, the Whitmans played an important role in opening the Oregon Trail and left a tragic legacy that would continue to haunt relations between whites and Indians for decades after their deaths.

• Marcus and Narcissa Whitman were both from upstate New York. Narcissa Prentiss was born in 1808 in Prattsburgh, New York, into a devout Presbyterian family. She was fervently religious as a child, at age sixteen pledging her life to missionary work.

• Marcus Whitman was born in 1802 at Rushville, New York. After studying under a local doctor, he received his degree from the medical college at Fairfield, New York, in 1832.

• After Marcus visited the Prentiss family for a weekend, the couple -- who may have had a passing acquaintance beforehand -- agreed to be married, and the Board in turn offered them positions as missionaries.

• The Whitmans reached the Walla Walla river on September 1, 1836, and decided to found a mission to the Cayuse Indians at Waiilatpu in the Walla Walla Valley. The Spaldings travelled on to present-day Idaho where they founded a mission to the Nez Percé at Lapwai.

• The Whitmans made little effort to offer their religious message in terms familiar to the Cayuse, or to accommodate themselves even partially to Cayuse religious practices. Gift-giving was essential to Cayuse social and political life, yet the Whitmans saw the practice as a form of extortion. For the Cayuse, religion and domestic life were closely entwined, yet Narcissa reacted with scorn when they suggested a worship service within the Whitman household. Even a sympathetic biographer admits that "her attitude toward those among whom she lived came to verge on outright repugnance."

• Childless since their daughter had drowned, they took in eleven children of deceased immigrants, including the seven Sager children whom they adopted in 1844. Their mission also served as a kind of boarding school for early Oregon settlers like Joe Meek, whose daughter lived there for a time.

• The swelling number of whites coming into Oregon brought with them numerous diseases which ravaged the Cayuse, and the Whitmans' aid to the wagon trains made the Cayuse especially suspicious of them. The Indians' suspicions gave way to rage in late 1847, when an epidemic of measles struck nearby whites and Cayuse alike. Although the Whitmans ministered to both, most of the white children lived while about half of the Cayuse, including nearly all their children, died. On November 29, 1847, several Cayuse took revenge for what they perceived as treachery. They killed fourteen whites, including the Whitmans, and burnt down the mission buildings.

Oregon Trail

On to Oregon! It all began with a crude network of rutted traces across the land from the Mississippi River that was used by nearly 400,000 people. Today the 2,170 mile Oregon Trail still evokes an instant image, a ready recollection of the settlement of this continent, of the differences between American Indians and white settlers, and of new horizons.

On The TrailWe started out from Independence, to find us a new home.We wandered mile after lonely mile, trying to make it to Oregon.Along the way, things happened ; some good and some bad.The dusty wind’s unending and it really makes you sad.The weather’s been real ornery with mud and hail and rain.Wild fires, snakebites and broken bones, all add to our pain.But we’re on the trail, and it’s been so longWe’re gonna find us a new homeGonna make it to Oregon.The wagon’s swaying made me sick as we crossed the old prairie.Bad water, prairie fever, and cholera have killed more than two or three.There are crosses marking the path behind usWe’ve lost friends and family, too.We buried them and left them, leaving their care to others who pass through.We are on our own with no one to rely on ‘cept for God and one another.We all miss the ones we left behind—sister, father, brother, mother.If the Injuns try to attack us, we’ll all pull up in a circle for safe grace.We’ll fight ‘em till they ain’t no more, or die without a trace.It sure do get lonesome. It just adds to our woe;To listen to those coyotes howl and that mournful wind to blow.Not a tree in sight on the horizon,But we’re bound for a new home.A new start, our new arising,In a place called Oregon. Caitlin Rieffel

John Jacob Astor• JOHN JACOB ASTOR(1763-1848), was a famous American

businessman. He built a large fortune through his involvement in the fur trade and through his extensive real estate investments in New York. The investments increased in value over the years, and Astor's family became one of the wealthiest in the United States. Astor was born on July 17, 1763, in Walldorf, Germany, near Heidelberg. He came to New York City when he was 20 years old. There, he worked as a baker's boy and peddler and ran a music store before entering the fur trade in about 1787. Astor was in New York by 1784, married in 1785, and had opened a shop by 1786. He would purchase furs and sell musical instruments of his brother's initially. Soon, Astor established connections in the rising industry, and, along with Montreal fur traders, began to look East to the Orient, where American furs were in high demand.

• He shipped his furs to China and Europe, often in his own vessels. Astor's Pacific Fur Company established the trading post of Astoria, Oregon, in 1811, but lost it during the War of 1812. His fur companies won an almost complete monopoly of the trade in the United States. Astor invested his profits principally in Manhattan Island farmland, which became the heart of New York City. Astor retired from the fur trade in 1834. At his death on March 29, 1848, his estate was estimated at more than $20 million.

• John Jacob Astor established Astoria, Oregon in 1811 in hopes of developing the Far East market but the War of 1812 blockaded the post and he eventually sold it to the British. John Jacob Astor  monopolized the fur trade until 1834 when he retired from the fur business. Investments in real estate in New York made him the richest man in the United States and its' first millionaire on record.

• The Mormon Trail As the Mormons traveled across the United States they established thriving communities, but were continually forced to move. Finally, under the leadership of Brigham Young, they found a permanent home in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Mormonism

• The term Mormon is a colloquial name referring to Latter Day Saints, derived in the 1830s from the Book of Mormon, one of their books of scripture, whose compiler was called the prophet Mormon. It is also an adjective referring to various aspects of Mormonism. Most often, the term refers to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest and most well-known denomination within the Latter Day Saint movement, who are also commonly called Latter-day Saints or LDS. In September 1823, Joseph Smith was visited by a heavenly messenger named Moroni, in the same way that angels often appeared to Church leaders in the New Testament (see especially the book of Acts). He informed Joseph that God had a work for him to do. Moroni told Joseph that a record of the ancient inhabitants of the American continent was buried in a nearby hill and that the record contained the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In September 1827, Joseph received the record, which was written on thin plates of gold. We now know it was not uncommon for people from the era of ancient America to keep records on metal plates. These artifacts, Smith claimed, were buried centuries earlier by the messenger himself around 400 CE

• Joseph translated the book into English by the inspiration of God. The book is called the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It is named after Mormon, an ancient prophet who compiled the sacred record. The book verifies, as another testament of Christ, the reality and divinity of Jesus Christ. It is, then, a second witness that affirms the truth of the Bible.

• The Book of Mormon was published in 1830. Since that time it has blessed the lives of millions of people through its powerful message about Jesus Christ and His gospel.

Joseph Smith

• Joseph Smith acquired many opponents and enemies because the doctrines he declared were very controversial for the religious societies of his day—during his ministry he was a mayor, an opponent of slavery, and the commander of at least two militias (Zion's Camp and the Nauvoo Legion). Many of his detractors also opposed his unique religion and his practice of polygamy.

• Tensions with his enemies continuously escalated until on June 27, 1844, Smith and his brother Hyrum were shot and killed by a large mob.

Brigham Young

• BRIGHAM YOUNG(1801-1877), led the Mormons from Illinois to what is now Utah, and established their church there. Young was the second president of the Mormon church, which is officially called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He became the Mormon leader in 1844, after Joseph Smith, the church founder, was shot to death. Young was a tireless worker. A strong will, engaging personality, and deep convictions made him an outstanding leader.

• Non-Mormons forced the Mormons to leave Illinois in 1846. Starting in midwinter, Young led his followers on a long journey across the Mississippi River and through Iowa to the region near present-day Omaha, Nebraska. But Young decided that there could be no lasting peace for his people until they were completely separated from the gentiles. So, in 1847, Young led an advance party of 148 Mormon settlers west to a previously planned refuge in the Great Basin. When the group arrived in the Great Salt Lake valley in what is now Utah, Young said, "This is the right place. Drive on." He supervised the migration of thousands of other Mormons to the valley. Young was formally elected president of the Mormon church in 1847.

• The Mormons prospered in Utah. Under Young's leadership, they developed irrigation techniques, and parts of the barren desert blossomed into rich and fruitful land. The United States government established the Territory of Utah in 1850 and made Young its first governor. Young still found time to direct missionary work and set up hundreds of Mormon settlements in the West.

• But the move to Utah did not end the Mormons' troubles. Gentiles came to the territory, and some who opposed them held political posts under the United States government. False reports circulated that the church was in rebellion against the government. These reports alarmed the federal government. In 1857, President James Buchanan replaced Young with a gentile governor and sent troops to Utah. The Mormons prepared to defend themselves, and the Utah War (also called the Mormon War) followed. However, no battles were fought between the Mormons and the federal troops. Although the Mormons raided some troop wagon trains as a delaying action, they then temporarily abandoned Salt Lake City to the army. The troops established a camp near the western mountains. During the winter of 1857 and 1858, Young and the federal troops discussed peace terms. The hostilities ended in 1858 when Young accepted the new governor and President Buchanan fully pardoned all concerned. Even though Young stepped down as governor, he remained the most powerful man in Utah until his death on Aug. 29, 1877.

• Young's place in history. Critics have accused Young of intolerance to opposition. Many people opposed his practice of polygamy. Young took a number of wives, 16 of whom bore him children. But Young's leadership and pioneering efforts rank him as one of the most important colonizers of the American West. Mormon history records that Young brought 100,000 people to the mountain valleys, founded more than 200 cities, towns, and villages, and established many schools and factories.

Salt Lake City

• Once in Utah, the Mormons worked like “bees in a hive” to “make the desert bloom”. They do, but are very clannish and secretive. Polygamy is practiced and is held in contempt by all “Gentiles”

Statue of CA Gull• The California gull, even without official status, was long

considered the state bird of Utah due to its storied role as a protector of crops. It gained this reputation during the summer of 1848 when swarms of crickets attacked pioneer food supplies.

• "The gull is considered the state bird of Utah by common consent, probably in commemoration of the fact that these gulls saved the people of the State by eating up the Rocky mountain crickets which were destroying the crops in 1848."

• It was reported that flocks of the birds arrived, settled in the "...half-ruined fields" and "gorged themselves" on the attacking crickets. It's often stated that the California gull was made the state bird in return for saving the settler's lives.

• It was a long way from 1848 but, over 100 years later, a bill was introduced in the Utah House of Representatives by Richard C. Howe promoting the California gull as the official state bird.

Seagull Monument on Temple Square

The settlers' first winter in the Salt Lake Valley had been a hard one. Food was scarce, and all hoped that the next year would bring a large harvest. Crop failure meant disaster for the present colony and no food for the more than 2,000 Saints planning to immigrate to the Salt Lake Valley that year.When spring came, the hopeful pioneers planted grain and vegetables. Unfortunately, catastrophe after catastrophe hit. First, a late frost damaged much of the crops. Then, in May and June, a drought injured more of their potential harvest. Finally, hordes of crickets descended from the foothills and began devouring the remaining crops. For two weeks the pioneers battled the crickets and prayed for relief.Seagulls from the Great Salt Lake flew to the fields and began devouring the crickets. For two weeks they continued their attacks and many of the crops were preserved.The Seagull Monument was designed and created by Mahonri M. Young, a grandson of Brigham Young.

Tejas

• Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821. In order to encourage more people to settle in Mexico, certain men were named as empresarios. One of these men who were to screen potential settlers was named Moses Austin. When he died, the title passed to his son, Stephen Austin. The best land was in the province of Tejas—that had land perfect for farming and raising cattle and cotton.

• The newcomers were often American and promised to do the following: • 1) convert to Catholicism, • 2) free their slaves, • 3) learn Spanish fluently, • 4) become Mexican citizens, renouncing their US citizenship and rights.• Once they had settled in, almost all of the newcomers conveniently forgot their

promises. They called themselves Texians and looked down upon the native Hispanic population, called Tejanos. Most of these ex-Americans brought their slaves with them and continued to own them although Mexico had abolished slavery in 1827.

• These African American slaves were the first ones to learn many of the cowboy ways (roping, herding, branding) and raise cattle and horses—they will be our first cowboys!

STEPHEN FULLER AUSTIN

• STEPHEN FULLER AUSTIN (1793-1836), was an American colonizer and pioneer. He started the first American colony in Texas, which was then part of Mexico. His father, Moses Austin, had obtained a grant of land on the Brazos River from Spanish authorities in Mexico in 1821. Moses planned to bring 300 families to settle the land. But he died before establishing the colony. Stephen obtained permission to continue the project—first from Spain, and later from Mexico after it won independence from Spain in 1821. The main settlement was named San Felipe de Austin in Stephen's honor. Later, Austin, Texas, was named for him.

• Austin managed the affairs of the colony wisely. By 1830, there were more than 20,000 Americans in Tejas. That year, the Mexican government prohibited further immigration of Americans to Tejas. This action increased the desire of many Texans for a more independent government. In 1833, when Austin asked Mexico for a separate state government for Tejas, he was accused of trying to annex Texas to the United States. He was sent to prison, but never received a trial. He returned to Texas in 1835. There he found the people ready to fight for freedom from Mexico. Austin took command of the Texian army, but soon resigned. He went to the United States for money and supplies for the Texians.

• Texas became a republic in 1836. Austin was a candidate for President, but Sam Houston was elected. Austin was named secretary of state. He worked secretly for the U.S. annexation of Texas but died on Dec. 27, 1836, before it happened.

• Stephen F. Austin has been called the "Father of Texas" for his role in bringing Anglo Americans to the Mexican province of Texas beginning in the 1820s. While this title ignores the community-building of the Tejanos who settled the area prior to Austin's arrival, it is certain that Austin was the founder of Anglo Texas.

El Presidente/Generalissimo Antonio López de Santa Anna

Antonio López de Santa Anna is perhaps one of the most colorful figures of the nineteenth century. Having served as president of Mexico eleven times, the self-proclaimed "Napoleon of the West" became indelibly associated with much of that country's tumultuous and unstable history. He figures in American history, too, in the story of the Texas Revolution and most notably, his defeat of the rebel forces at the Alamo.

William Barret Travis

• Settler and AgitatorWilliam Barret Travis arrived in San Felipe de Austin in 1831 after abandoning a wife and two children in Alabama. He set up a law practice in Anahuac and quickly became acquainted with other Anglo settlers who were agitating against Mexican rule. In 1835 Travis took matters in his own hands when he attacked the Mexican garrison at Anahuac with a group of twenty-five men. The act fueled the wrath of Mexican president Santa Anna against the Anglo colonies of Texas. And it made matters especially difficult for the Tejano leaders of the state.

• Default CommanderTravis' aggressive tactics established him as one of the ringleaders among a growing "war faction" in the Anglo colonies. By the following January, Travis had orders to recruit men to assist in the fortification of the Alamo. Soon, however, when Commander Neill departed the fort to attend to his sick family. Though he was only twenty-six years-old -- and quite inexperienced -- Travis became the default commander of the regular army troops. James Bowie, popular among the men but not a commissioned officer, took over the command of the volunteer soldiers.

• Under SiegeTravis was quick to call for reinforcements, knowing full well that the oncoming Mexican army would far outnumber the Alamo forces, which numbered fewer than 200 men. Despite sending many impassioned pleas to Texas delegates to the Independence Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos, Travis received little help. On March 1, the seventh day of the siege, thirty-two volunteer soldiers from Gonzales managed to get through the Mexican cordon to join the rebel army. Ammunition, food, and other supplies were dangerously low.

• A Legend in DeathPopular legend has it that on March 5, Travis drew a line in the sand with his saber and asked those men who were committed to defending the Alamo to the death to cross. Mexican soldier José Enrique de la Peña's diary tells a different story: that Travis was considering an honorable surrender. In either case, it is evident that Travis and his men did not surrender the fort, and indeed fought to the end. Travis was among the first men to die when, on the morning of March 6, he was shot from his post atop the Alamo wall. He was survived by his slave, Joe, who later recounted his experience inside the Alamo and the circumstances of Travis' death.

•"God and Texas -- Victory or Death!"-- William Travis, March 3, 1836

Travis' Slave, Joe

•

William Travis brought his slave, Joe, with him into the Alamo. Joe fought valiantly and became the only adult male survivor of the battle, though he was shot and bayoneted during the attack. A U.S. army officer later heard Joe's story of the assault. Joe never wrote his own account or told it to a journalist or historian, but the officer retold Joe's story from memory in a letter written in May 1836:

• The Garrison was much exhausted by hard labor and incessant watching and fighting for thirteen days. The day and night previous to the attack, the Mexican bombardment had been suspended. On Saturday night, March 5, the little Garrison had worked hard, in repairing and strengthening their position, until a late hour. And when the attack was made, which was just before daybreak, sentinels and all were asleep, except the officer of the day who was just starting on his round.

• There were three picket guards without the Fort; but they too, it is supposed, were asleep, and were run upon and bayoneted, for they gave no alarm that was heard. The first that Joe knew of it was the entrance of Adjutant Baugh, the officer of the day, into Travis' quarters, who roused him with the cry -- "the Mexicans are coming." They were running at full speed with their scaling ladders, towards the Fort, and were under the guns, and had their ladders against the wall before the Garrison were aroused to resistance. Travis sprung up, and seizing his rifle and sword, called to Joe to take his gun and [uncertain]. He mounted the wall, and called out to his men -- "Come on Boys, the Mexicans are upon us, and we'll give them Hell." He immediately fired his rifle.

• Joe followed his example. The fire was returned by several shots, and Travis fell, wounded, within the wall, on the sloping ground that had recently been thrown up to strengthen the wall. There he sat, unable to rise. Joe, seeing his master fall, and the Mexicans coming over the wall and ran, and ensconced himself in a house, from the loop holes of which, he says, he fired on them several times after they had come in.

• After the Alamo fell, Joe was taken to Santa Anna, and then returned to the Travis estate. A little over a year later, Joe took two horses and escaped to freedom.

Jim Bowie

• When he came to Texas in 1830, James Bowie was already a celebrity of sorts for his adventurousness and expert fighting ability. In 1827, a feud in which Bowie brandished a large butcher knife to defend himself established him as one of the best fighters in the South -- and the "Bowie" knife became forever associated with his prowess. After serving in the militia during the War of 1812, James Bowie established a profitable slave trading business. As a cohort of the notorious pirate, Jean Lafitte, Bowie sold the slaves that Lafitte had captured from slave ships in the Atlantic. Later in the 1820s, Bowie settled on a sugar plantation in Louisiana.

• Expanding Into TexasExtending his land speculation activities into Texas, Bowie quickly made the acquaintance of Stephen F. Austin at the San Felipe Colony in 1830. In anticipation of claiming one of the generous parcels of land being doled out to American settlers by the Mexican government, Bowie became a Mexican citizen. He established friendships with the leading Tejanos of Béxar including Juan N. Seguín. At the latter's palace in San Antonio, Bowie met his soon-to-be wife. Ursula de Veramendi was the oldest daughter of the wealthy and influential Tejano family. While the marriage was not wholly political, it was a powerful symbol of the ways in which the Tejanos' and Anglos' futures were tied together. Ursula and her child died in the cholera epidemic that swept Béxar in 1833. The elder Veramendi and his wife Josefa also died. Struck with grief, Bowie took to drinking heavily and sequestered himself for some time.

• Inside the AlamoAs a volunteer officer in the fight for independence, Bowie was pivotal in the skirmishes with Mexican forces in 1835. William B. Travis, a commissioned officer, took charge of the enlisted men while Bowie commanded the volunteers. Under this arrangement, the Alamo defenders held out over a 12-day siege in late February and early March of 1836. By the second day, however, Bowie had taken severely ill and commanded as best he could from his sick bed. According to a young boy who survived the Alamo massacre, Enrique Esparza, the ailing Bowie occasionally had his bed brought out into the main plaza in order to encourage his men. By the time of the final assault on March 6th, however, Bowie was in a delirious state. As Mexican soldiers stormed the compound, they killed Bowie in his bed. In later accounts, he was fondly remembered by his Tejano family. According to Juana Navarro, he was "affectionate, kind, and so acted as to secure the love and confidence of all."

Juan Seguín

• At the AlamoAs Antonio López de Santa Anna marched his Mexican Army toward San Antonio to seek retribution, Seguín's company served as scouts for the Texas forces inside the Alamo. By mid-February of 1836, they reported that Santa Anna had crossed the Río Grande. Seguín and his men joined Colonel William B. Travis in the Alamo when Santa Anna arrived on February 23. They were soon surrounded. Travis sent Seguín across enemy lines to ask for reinforcements, hoping his knowledge of Spanish would help get him through the lines.

• Tejanos for Texas When the Alamo fell on March 6, Seguín organized a company of nineteen to fight as the rear guard of Sam Houston's retreating army. As Sam Houston and Santa Anna faced each other's forces at San Jacinto, Houston ordered the Tejano company to stay behind and guard the army's baggage. He was worried that anti-Mexican sentiment would cause those in his own army to be indiscriminate in finding worthy targets, Seguín was angrily adamant that his men be allowed to fight for the freedom of their homeland. Houston welcomed his enthusiasm and requested that the Tejano company place pieces of cardboard in their hats in order to identify them as allies for the cause of Texas. Thus outfitted, Seguín's company fought in the San Jacinto battle and assisted in the victory that established Texas independence.

Davy Crockett

• Like many of the men who fought at the Alamo in 1836, David "Davy" Crockett was a recent arrival in Texas. Received as a celebrity, he had represented Tennessee in the U.S. Congress. He was renowned as an adventurer, Indian fighter, and bear hunter. In private and political circles, he championed the cause of the "common man" -- and occasionally dressed the part. As the subject of so many legends, "The Lion of the West" was something of an enigma. Nevertheless, accounts from Alamo eyewitnesses shed some light on Crockett's character and his role in the famous San Antonio battle.

• Adventurous SpiritBorn in Tennessee in 1786, Crockett exhibited his adventurous spirit early when he ran away from home to escape school. He married Mary (Polly) Finley in 1806 and had two sons, John Wesley and William, and a daughter, Margaret. Crockett volunteered as a scout in the local militia and later served in the Creek Indian War under future president Andrew Jackson.

• Political Animal In 1821, Crockett ran for a seat in the Tennessee legislature and won. Six years later, he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Throughout his political career Crockett had created an image of himself as a homespun, "common" man. He advertised the fact that he had never read a law book and possessed only a rudimentary education. Crockett served two terms, but when he argued against Andrew Jackson's Indian removal bill, his supporters deserted him and he lost a close bid for a third term.

• The Coonskin CapBy the early 1830s, Crockett was nationally known. His hunting and fighting exploits, recounted in a book and in a play, "The Lion of the West," contributed to his mystique. Not a few outrageous stories circulated about "Davy's" frontier adventures. Crockett returned to Congress in 1833 and published his autobiography, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee, partly to correct the growing popular legend of his life. After losing his campaign for a fourth term, Crockett gave up on politics and uttered the now famous statement, "You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas." Sporting a hunting shirt and a raccoon cap -- for the first time, historians say -- Crockett left Tennessee with several men in November of 1835, and headed for Texas.

Davy• Don Benito• During the siege of the Alamo, Crockett was reportedly

vital to the defenders' morale. According to Alamo survivor Susanna Dickenson, Crockett often played his fiddle to rouse the troops. Another Alamo survivor, Enrique Esparza, recalled that Crockett was the "leading spirit" in the camp and provided support and advice to military commanders William Travis and Jim Bowie. "Don Benito," as the Mexicans called him, went "to every exposed point and personally directed the fighting."

• Death in the AlamoCrockett was one of the last men standing after the fall of the Alamo. He and six of his men continued to fight until they were surrounded. As Mexican General de Santa Anna entered the compound, he ordered the men executed. According to the diary of Mexican soldier José Enrique de la Peña, several Mexican officers hacked the prisoners to death with their swords and burned the bodies.

Davy & Disney

• Lasting Legend• Davy Crockett's name and reputation -- along with the

tall tales of his life -- have not faded much over time. Over a hundred years after his death, Davy Crockett tales thrilled Americans tuning in to a new storytelling medium -- television -- when Walt Disney premiered "Davy Crockett Indian Fighter" in December 1954. The show's theme song sold ten million copies, and Crockett quickly became a Fifties icon.

• Davy Crockett was our hero. And to prove it, we all went out and bought coonskin caps. About 100 million dollars worth of raccoon caps sold in one year certainly qualifies as a fad of serious economic proportions.

Fess Parker portrayed both Davy Crockett and later Daniel Boone on TV. Many historians feel that this caused a permanent blurring of the two real life men into one entity forever making each less distinct.

What's curious about this is that Davy Crockett was only a five feature Frontierland adventure which aired as part of Disneyland.

The first episodes were: "Davy Crockett Indian Fighter"

• "Davy Crockett Goes to Congress" • "Davy Crockett At the Alamo" • "Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race" • "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates"

• David "Davy" Crockett was a frontiersman, politician and folk hero from Tennessee who joined Texas forces in 1836 and was killed in battle at the Alamo. Crockett was raised in eastern Tennessee and served in the Creek War (1813-14) under Andrew Jackson. A charismatic and well-known figure in Tennessee, he served two terms in the state legislature (1821-24) and three terms in the United States House of Representatives (1827-29, 1829-31 and 1833-35). Crockett was known as an expert shot and a humble and witty orator, and he became a national celebrity. In 1836 he joined those fighting for expansion in Texas, but shortly after his arrival he was among those caught and killed at the Alamo by Mexican forces led by Santa Ana. His "martyrdom" at the Alamo made him a folk hero, especially in Texas, and apocryphal stories of his heroism spread far and wide. In the 1950s the studios of Walt Disney resurrected his fame in a series of episodes for television (later made into feature films), sparking a popular craze that included coonskin caps and a hit song, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett."

Ballad of Davy Crocketthttp://www.goahead.org/

Music: George Bruns Lyrics: Tom Blackburn Born on a mountain top in Tennessee greenest state in the land of the free raised in the woods so he knew ev'ry treekilt him a b'ar when he was only three Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier! In eighteen thirteen the Creeks uprose addin' redskin arrows to the country's woes Now, Injun fightin' is somethin' he knows, so he shoulders his rifle an' off he goes Davy, Davy Crockett,the man who don't know fear! Off through the woods he's a marchin' along makin' up yarns an' a singin' a song itchin' fer fightin' an' rightin' a wrong he's ringy as a b'ar an' twict as strong Davy, Davy Crockett,the buckskin buccaneer!

Andy Jackson is our gen'ral's name his reg'lar soldiers we'll put to shame Them redskin varmints us Volunteers'll tame 'cause we got the guns with the sure-fire aim Davy, Davy Crockett, the champion of us all!Headed back to war from the ol' home place but Red Stick was leadin' a merry chase fightin' an' burnin' at a devil's pace south to the swamps on the Florida Trace Davy, Davy Crockett, trackin' the redskins down! Fought single-handed through the Injun War till the Creeks was whipped an' peace was in store An' while he was handlin' this risky chore made hisself a legend for evermore Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier!

"I leave this rule when I am dead. Be always sure you are right,

then Go Ahead.“ Col. David Crockett • He heard of Houston an' Austin so • to the Texas plains he jest had to go • Where freedom was fightin' another foe • an' they needed him at the Alamo • Davy, Davy Crockett, the man who don't know fear!

• His land is biggest an' his land is best • from grassy plains to the mountain crest • He's ahead of us all meetin' the test • followin' his legend into the West • Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier!

Mission San Antonio de Valero "The Alamo"

• Bearing the history of Texas itself, the Mission San Antonio de Valero (known as the Alamo) has passed through multiple hands in its nearly 300-year history. It has belonged to Spain, Mexico, Texas, the United States, and the Confederacy. Though the structure is famous for being the site of the 1836 battle between Texas revolutionary forces and the Mexican army, it played an important role in the events that led up to that infamous battle and the later course of Texas history.

The Alamo

•Nevertheless, the Mexican Army reached San Antonio in February of 1836. The nearly 1,800 Mexican troops far outnumbered the band of 188 men who had retreated into the Alamo compound. A twelve-day siege ended in a bloody battle on March 6 in which Santa Anna and his army captured the Alamo. During the Texas Revolution against Mexican rule it was besieged (February 24 to March 6, 1836) by the Mexican army, who killed all 187 members of the Texas garrison; the Mexican army sustained nearly 600 casualties.

Who defended the Alamo and why were they fighting?

•Traditional accounts emphasize William Barrett Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett -- the so-called Alamo "trinity" -- but in a larger sense each member of the garrison was a hero because each paid the last full measure of devotion. In most battles (if I can appropriate an old cliché) all give some; some give all. At the Alamo, all gave all.

• Each man had his own reason for being there. It is clear that Travis was fighting for Texas independence. "Under the flag of independence, we are ready to peril our lives a hundred times a day, and to dare the monster who is fighting us under a blood-red flag, threatening to murder all prisoners and to make Texas a waste desert," he wrote. A youthful idealism propelled most volunteers from the United States. In a letter to his brother, Kentuckian Daniel W. Cloud explained: "The cause of Philanthropy, of Humanity, of Liberty and human happiness throughout the world, called loudly on every man who can to aid Texas.... If we succeed, the Country is ours. It is immense in extent, and fertile in its soil, and will amply reward all our toil. If we fail, death in the cause of liberty and humanity is not cause for shuddering."

• Tejano defenders were fighting against a dictatorial regime that had abolished the Mexican Constitution of 1824. Before or soon after the siege began, Santa Anna offered amnesty to all Tejanos. The knowledge that they could have left renders the dedication of the nine Tejanos who remained to the end -- and perished -- all the more impressive.

• The defenders came to the Alamo for abstract philosophical and political reasons. But when the final assault came, they stayed -- and died -- for each other.

Remember Goliad!

• Still heavily outnumbered and with no water and few supplies, the Texians waved the white flag of truce the following morning. Believing that they would be taken captive and eventually returned to their homes, the Texans surrendered the morning of March 20. They were escorted back to Goliad as prisoners.

• When news of their capture reached Santa Anna, however, he was furious that the Texians had not been executed on the spot. Citing a recently passed law that all foreigners taken under arms would be treated as pirates and executed, Santa Anna sent orders to execute the Goliad prisoners.

• Santa Anna's orders were followed. On Palm Sunday, the 27th of March, the prisoners were divided into three groups, marched onto open prairie, and shot. Thus, all of Fannin's command except a few that managed to escape and several physicians and others deemed useful by the Mexicans, were massacred, collected into piles, and burned.

• Goliad, where, in 1836, three weeks after the battle of the Alamo, a force of more than 300 Texians, commanded by Colonel James Fannin, surrendered to Mexican troops and were executed on orders from Santa Anna.

Sam Houston• Samuel Houston, like many of the other celebrated figures of the Alamo battle,

was a relative newcomer to Texas.• Background in Politics

Under the mentorship of Andrew Jackson, Houston had risen to political heights in his native Tennessee. He served in the militia, as congressman, and even as governor prior to 1832. Houston resigned this last position after a failed marriage to nineteen-year-old Eliza Allen, and embarked on a self-imposed exile among the Cherokee Indians in 1829. For several years he remained with them, participating in their affairs and even marrying Diana Rogers Gentry, a Cherokee woman of mixed blood. He would leave her, however, when he chose to enter the Mexican territory of Texas in 1832.

• Land of Plenty After Stephen F. Austin granted him land in his San Felipe colony, Houston settled in Nacogdoches, where he set up a law practice and became a Mexican citizen. With a large, imposing figure and notoriously heavy drinking habits, Houston quickly made his presence known. Like many Anglo colonists, Houston perceived Texas as a land of plenty where the future held great promise. There, Houston believed, he would find the opportunity to distinguish himself. His chance for glory came in the Texas Revolution, just a few years after his arrival.

• Rebel CommanderHouston quickly joined a radical faction of Anglo colonists including William B. Travis and William H. Wharton. As tensions flared between Texas and Mexico City, members of the so-called "war party" argued for independence. Yet Houston broke with them and voted, with Stephen Austin, not to declare independence at an 1835 political assembly known as the Consultation. Both men thought it was too early to risk alienating Mexican liberals. Houston's moderate position notwithstanding, delegates to the Consultation unanimously elected Houston to command the army of Texas.

• Hero at San Jacinto In March 1836, as Santa Anna's army marched through Texas, Houston's army retreated to the east. The two forces met at San Jacinto, where the rebel army crept up on Santa Anna's forces on the afternoon of April 21. The element of surprise proved decisive: the Texans won the battle and captured Santa Anna the following day. The Texas Revolution ended with this rebel victory, and Houston, as commander of the victorious forces, was a hero.

More Sam Houston

• Political Service to TexasAfter the Texas Revolution, the citizens of the new Republic of Texas elected Houston as their first president. His popularity was so widespread that he beat Stephen F. Austin for the position by nearly 5,000 votes. While most of his presidential term was successful, he failed to secure annexation by the United States due to sectional disputes in Washington, D.C.

• He left the executive office in 1838 only to return three years later. Drawing on his past relationships with Indian tribes, he was instrumental in negotiating peace treaties between them and the people of Texas. Houston was again elected governor of Texas in 1859 after serving in the U.S. Senate, but was removed from the governor's office in 1861 after he refused to pledge allegiance to the Confederacy.

• National PoliticianWhen Texas finally become a state, Houston served as one of its first U.S. senators, from 1846 to 1859. A staunch supporter of the Union, he naturally opposed secession during the Civil War, and voted for compromises between pro-slavery and abolitionist forces in a shifting political landscape. Despite Houston's efforts to prevent it, Texas seceded from the Union and set up a Confederate government. He died of pneumonia on July 26, 1863, in Huntsville, Texas, not surviving to see the end of the Civil War.

The Battle of San Jacinto

• After another violent defeat of rebel forces at Coleto, Santa Anna moved on to fight Sam Houston's Texas rebel forces at San Jacinto. The actual battle of San Jacinto lasted less than twenty minutes. Caught in an unexpected attack (during siesta) by Houston's men, including Juan Seguin's company of Tejanos, the rebels beat the Mexican army on April 21, 1836. After being captured the next day, Santa Anna surrendered to Houston and recognized Texas independence.

• The battle at San Jacinto helped to establish "The Republic of Texas" that flourished for a decade. The Republic eventually added over one million square miles of territory to the United States. From this vast territory came the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma.

• When Houston's long awaited order to advance was given, the Texans did not hesitate. When within seventy yards the word "fire" was given, the Texan shouts of "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad" rang along the entire line. Within a short time, 700 Mexicans were slain, with another 730 taken as prisoners. The battle for

Texas was won.

The Battle of San Jacinto

• When surviving soldiers gave away Santa Anna’s true identity, he is marched over to the wounded Houston and made to sign a treaty recognizing Texan independence.

• The guy with his hand to his ear is “Deaf” Smith.

The Lone Star

Republic

• The 28th U.S. State, but not yet…

• Though its sovereignty was recognized by other nations, the Republic of Texas was short-lived. Many Texans had always wanted to join the United States, and the U.S. government had been attempting to purchase Texas from Mexico on and off since 1826.

• For a decade, TX was its own country.

• On December 29, 1845, Texas statehood became official. Texas was admitted as a slave state, and became the largest state in America, in total area.

• It would hold that distinction until Alaska joined the union over a century later.

• OverviewBorn: March 15, 1767, in Waxhaw, South Carolina... Jackson embodied the ideal of the self-made American man, and his populist appeal lay in his message of inclusion against what he characterized as entrenched establishment interests. He frustrated the professional politicians of Congress with his insistence that any man should be able to hold elected (or appointed) office and by his forceful and effective use of the presidential veto and bully pulpit. Critics charged that his ballyhooed disenfranchisement of establishment interests was just a cover for the patronage and installation of his own supporters... Died: June 8, 1845.

Andrew Jackson, continued• Domestic Policy

Economic policy cemented Jackson's legacy as a populist. When South Carolina nullified a federal tariff that displeased the state, Jackson threatened to collect the funds at gunpoint. The state backed down. When Whigs in Congress brought up a bill to charter the Second Bank of the United States -- a private institution that held Federal funds, sold U.S. bonds, and had undue influence over interest rates, but was beholden to no voter -- in 1832, Jackson vetoed it, dismantling the bank; this was the first time a president justified a veto on policy grounds, rather than on constitutionality. For much of the American public however, Jackson's reputation was built not on money matters but on a lady's honor. When Peggy Eaton, the wife of the secretary of war, was snubbed by other wives of cabinet members, Jackson saw parallels with his own late wife's reputation and took the opportunity to dissolve his cabinet for a year, meeting with an informal group of advisors he called the "kitchen cabinet" instead. Not coincidentally, he was able to purge anyone who supported his hated vice president, John Calhoun.

• Foreign AffairsBritain and France both tried to keep the United States from freely trading with the other. In 1830, however, Jackson negotiated an exchange of shipping rights with the British West Indies. By 1836, problems with France dating from the Napoleonic Wars reached an amiable conclusion. Closer to home, Jackson recognized the independence of Texas in 1837 and his administration instituted a policy of forced relocation of Native American nations.

• Presidential PoliticsAlthough Jackson won more electoral and popular votes than any of his opponents in 1824, his lack of a majority gave the House of Representatives the power to choose a president. Frustrated by what he considered a stolen election, Jackson ran again and won in a landslide in 1828. His connection to the working man ensured him reelection to a second term in 1832. After his presidency, Jackson remained a potent force in American politics and the success of two of his protégés, Martin Van Buren and James Polk, can be traced to "Old Hickory."

• OverviewBorn: February 9, 1773, in Berkeley, Virginia... Martin Van Buren allied himself with President Andrew Jackson, who in turn rewarded Van Buren with cabinet positions and the vice presidency. As president, however, Van Buren maintained Jacksonian policies that magnified an economic downturn, leading to the Panic of 1837. "Martin Van Ruin" was not re-elected... Died: April 4, 1841, in Washington, D.C.

Illustration of the Amistad Mutiny published in 1839. • In 1839 Jose Ruiz purchased 49 slaves in Havana, Cuba. With his

friend, Pedro Montez, who had acquired four new slaves, Ruiz hired Ramon Ferrer to take them in his schooner Amistad, to Puerto Principe, a settlement further down the coast.

On 2nd July, 1839, the slaves, led by Joseph Cinque, killed Ramon Ferrer, and took possession of his ship. Cinque ordered the navigator to take them back to Africa but after 63 days at sea the ship was intercepted by Lieutenant Gedney and the United States brig Washington, half a mile from the shore of Long Island. The Amistad was then towed into New London, Connecticut.

• Joseph Cinque and the other Africans were imprisoned in New Haven. James Covey, a sailor on a British ship, was employed to interview the Africans to discover what had taken place. The Spanish government insisted that the mutineers be returned to Cuba. President Martin van Buren was sympathetic to these demands but insisted that the men would be first tried for murder. Lewis Tappan and James Pennington took up the African's case and argued that while slavery was legal in Cuba, importation of slaves from Africa was not. The judge agreed, and ruled that the Africans had been kidnapped and had the right to use violence to escape from captivity.

The United States government appealed against this decision and the case appeared before the Supreme Court. The former president, John Quincy Adams, was so moved by the plight of Joseph Cinque and his fellow Africans, that he volunteered to represent them. Although now seventy-three, his passionate eight-hour speech won the argument and the mutineers were released.

Lewis Tappan and the anti-slavery movement helped fund the return of the 35 surviving Africans to Sierra Leone. They arrived in January, 1842, along with five missionaries and teachers who formed a Christian anti-slavery mission in the country.

• The Whigs, led by Henry Clay, fielded Harrison as a war hero candidate in 1840. During the campaign, they downplayed Harrison's genteel origins and portrayed him as a hard cider drinking, log cabin westerner in contrast to the sophisticated Democratic nominee, President Martin Van Buren. "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" was the folksy and amiable sounding slogan devised for Harrison and his running mate.

• OverviewBorn: February 9, 1773, in Berkeley, Virginia... William Harrison, a frontier army general whose fame (and nickname) was assured at the battle of Tippecanoe, spent only 32 days in office before dying. He caught pneumonia after delivering a 90-minute inaugural address in freezing rain... Died: April 4, 1841.

• OverviewBorn: March 29, 1790, in Greenway, Virginia... Following the sudden death of William Henry Harrison, Vice President John Tyler assumed the presidency. "His Accidency" quickly ran afoul of his own party; they repudiated him, and some Whigs in Congress attempted to impeach him. His entire cabinet, except Secretary of State Daniel Webster, resigned.

• A Southern states' rights advocate, he died during the Civil War while serving in the Confederate Congress... Died: January 18, 1862.

Tyler, Too• Almost impeached by his own party for vetoing a tariff bill, Tyler had a tough

presidency. He was the first VP to take over the Oval Office.• Foreign Affairs

Tyler's major foreign policy achievement was the Webster-Ashburton Treaty with Great Britain. Without a proper demarcation between the United States and British North America (later Canada), skirmishes had broken out along the Maine-New Brunswick line. British Foreign Secretary Lord Ashburton and Daniel Webster worked out the details of a border that bisected the Great Lakes and granted open navigation on those waters to both countries. Elsewhere, Tyler opened diplomatic relations with China, and soured relations with Mexico following the annexation of Texas in 1845.

• Presidential PoliticsAmericans who voted for "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" were suddenly left with just "Tyler Too" in the White House. Tyler's firm conviction that Harrison's death made him the president in every sense of the word set a precedent that provided for smooth transitions for other sitting vice presidents, from Millard Fillmore to Lyndon Johnson (letters addressed to "Acting President Tyler" were returned, unopened). Tyler's social life provoked scandal; just months after the death of his first wife, he married Julia Gardiner, who at 22 was thirty years his junior and younger than some of his children. The marriage prospered, and it was Julia who introduced the custom of playing "Hail to the Chief" upon the arrival of the president.

• Foreign Affairs

• Polk arrived in the White House with two major foreign policy objectives: settling the borders of the Oregon territory, and acquiring California (his plan to annex Texas was pre-emptively passed in a bill in Congress). The American position on Oregon is summed up by the rallying cry of "Fifty-four forty or fight!" Americans wanted to set its borders at the southern tip of Alaska. The British refused to relinquish their hold on British North America and a compromise was reached, extending the border between the United States and what would soon become Canada to the 49th parallel, excluding the southern tip of Vancouver Island. To the south, Polk offered to buy California for $20 million but the Mexican government refused. Polk sent General Zachary Taylor into the still-disputed Texas territory, and the presence of American troops on recently Mexican soil set off a war with Mexico. By 1848, Mexico was defeated and agreed to sell territory that included California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and parts of Colorado and Wyoming for $15 million plus reparations.

• Domestic Policy

• Polk was the last strong president before Lincoln, and he achieved most of the stated domestic goals of the Democratic Party, namely, substantially curtailing the use of federal funds for internal improvements, the restoration of an independent treasury and a reduction in tariffs.

Polk’s Presidential Politics

• Polk began 1844 as a strong contender for the Democratic vice presidential nomination. However, the likely presidential nominee, Martin Van Buren, was a polarizing figure. When Van Buren's position against the annexation of Texas became known, ex-president Andrew Jackson and others threw their support behind Polk, as an expansionist candidate. His territorial ambitions allowed him to win a thin majority over the Whig Henry Clay, who also opposed annexation.

• Having achieved all the goals he set for himself in an exhausting four year term, Polk retired to Nashville and died three months later.

Fifty-four Forty or Fight!• In U.S. history, phrase commonly used by extremists in the controversy with

Great Britain over the Oregon country. The rights of the United States, they maintained, extended to the whole region, i.e., to lat. 54°40′N, the recognized southern boundary of Russian America. It was used as a campaign slogan in the presidential election of 1844 by Democrat James K. Polk , who was elected.

• In 1818, the United States and the United Kingdom (controlling British Canada) established a joint claim over the Oregon Territory - the region west of the Rocky Mountains and between 42° North and 54°40' North (the southern boundary of Russia's Alaska territory).

• Joint control worked for over a decade and a half but ultimately, the parties decided that joint occupancy wasn't working well so they set about to divide Oregon.

• The 1844 Democratic presidential candidate James K. Polk ran on a platform of taking control over the entire Oregon Territory and used the famous campaign slogan, "Fifty-four Forty or Fight!" (after the line of latitude serving as the northern boundary of Oregon at 54°40'). Polk's plan was to claim and go to war over the entire territory for the United States.

• Polk won the election with a popular vote of 1,337,243 to Henry Clay's 1,299,068 (the electoral vote yielded Polk 170 votes vs. 105 for Clay).

• Through negotiations with the British after Polk's inauguration, the boundary between the U.S. and British Canada was established at 49° with the Treaty of Oregon in 1846. The exception to the 49th parallel boundary is that it turns south in the channel separating Vancouver Island with the mainland and then turns south through the Juan de Fuca Strait. This maritime portion of the boundary wasn't officially demarcated until 1872.

• The boundary established by the Oregon Treaty still exists today between the United States and independent Canada.

The Mexican War

• Throughout the course of the war, approximately 13,000 American soldiers were killed. Of these, only about 1,700 were from actual combat; the other casualties stemmed from disease and unsanitary conditions during the war. It is also estimated that-- if post-war deaths from war-related causes are considered-- the combined U.S. casualty rate for the war was very high, 30-40%. Mexican casualties remain somewhat of a mystery, and are estimated at 25,000.

• Mexico of course did not like the idea of its breakaway province becoming an American state, and the undefined and contested border now became a major international issue. Texas, and now the United States, claimed the border at the Rio Grande River. Mexico claimed territory as far north as the Nueces River. Both nations sent troops to enforce the competing claims, and a tense standoff ensued. On April 25, 1846, a clash occurred between Mexican and American troops on soil claimed by both countries. The war had begun.

v.

• Despite the rupture of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the United States that followed congressional consent to the admission of Texas into the Union, President Polk sent John Slidell to Mexico to negotiate a settlement. Slidell was authorized to purchase California and New Mexico, part of which was claimed by Texas, and to offer the U.S. government's assumption of liability for the claims of U.S. citizens in return for boundary adjustments. When Mexico declined to negotiate, the United States prepared to take by force what it could not achieve by diplomacy.

• Texas, and now the United States, claimed the border at the Rio Grande River. Mexico claimed territory as far north as the Nueces River. Both nations sent troops to enforce the competing claims, and a tense standoff ensued. On April 25, 1846, a clash occurred between Mexican and American troops on soil claimed by both countries. The war had begun.

•On April 24 Taylor’s forces clashed with Arista’s at Carricitos on the northern bank of the Río Grande. Polk used this skirmish to justify his war message to Congress when he declared that Mexico had “shed American blood on American soil.”

• Although a young congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln challenged Polk to show him the spot where blood had been shed, a majority of the members of Congress were ready to approve a bill authorizing war.   

• January 1, 1846 - President Polk orders General Zachary Taylor to march to the Rio Grande from the Nueces.April 25, 1846 - Thornton Affair  and the First Shots of the Mexican WarMay 3-9, 1846 - Siege of Fort Texas. May 8, 1846 - Battle of Palo Alto.May, 1846 - President Polk addresses Congress, and Declaration of War. July 4, 1846 - Captain John C. Fremont proclaims the independence of California. September 20-24, 1846 - Battle of Monterrey 1847

• February 23, 1847 - Battle of Buena Vista - General Taylor’s 4,700 soldiers withstand the attack of Santa Anna’s 20,000 Mexicans.February 28, 1847 - Battle of the Sacramento. March 9-29, 1847 - Siege of Vera Cruz. March 27, 1847 - General Winfield Scott captures Vera Cruz. April 18, 1847 - General Scott, with 800 men, drives 15,000 Mexicans from the pass of Cerro Gordo. June 6, 1847 - Affair at Las Vegas, New Mexico. August 19-20, 1847 - Battles of Contreras and Churubusco. September 8, 1847 - Battle of El Molino del Rey. September 13, 1847 - Battle of Chapultepec. September 13-15, 1847 - Battles for the City of Mexico. September 14, 1847 - American troops enter City of Mexico. September 14, 1847 - October 12, 1847 - Siege of Puebla. October 5, 1847 - Huamantla Affair. October 19, 1847 - Atlixco Affair. 1848

• February 2, 1848 - Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.

Timeline of the Mexican War

• In 1845 the United States annexed the Republic of Texas, which had recently won its independence from Mexico. Tension between the United States and Mexico mounted following a dispute over the location of the Texas border. This dispute led to the Mexican War (1846-1848). At the conclusion of the war, Mexico ceded a large tract of territory that composes much of what is now the southwestern United States.

General Zachary Taylor"Old Rough and Ready"

• In 1845, Texas was granted statehood. Mexico disputed lands along the new state's border, and President James Knox Polk ordered Taylor and his troops into the contested area, a deployment that ignited the Mexican-American War. After winning two decisive encounters, Taylor, facing overwhelming odds, triumphed in a battle against the Mexican General Santa Anna at Buena Vista. When the smoke cleared, Taylor's army of 6,000 had defeated a Mexican force of 20,000, and Zachary Taylor, "Old Rough and Ready," as he was known because of his willingness to share his troops' hardships, was a national hero.

Stephen Watts Kearny

• GENERAL STEPHEN W. KEARNY was placed in command of the Army of the West, with instructions to conquer New Mexico and California. He left Fort Leavenworth in June, 1846, and, after a journey of 900 miles over the great plains and among mountain ranges, he arrived at Santa Fe, Aug. 18, having met with no resistance. Appointing Charles Brent governor, he marched towards California, and was soon met by an express from COMMODORE ROBERT F. STOCKTON, and LIEUT-COL. JOHN C. FREMONT, informing him that the conquest of California had been achieved. Fremont and a party of explorers, sixty in number, joined by American settlers in the vicinity of San Francisco, had captured a Mexican force at Sonoma pass, June 15, 1846, with the garrison, nine cannon, and 250 muskets. He then defeated another force at Sonoma, and drove the Mexican authorities out of that region of country. On July 5 the Americans in California declared themselves independent, and put Fremont at the head of affairs.

General Winfield Scott

• With Zachary Taylor's troops stuck in northern Mexico, General Winfield Scott proposed a bold plan, an amphibious attack on the coastal Mexican town of Vera Cruz. Scott used his extensive experience with similar operations on the Canadian frontier during the War of 1812 in planning the attack. The attack was the largest amphibious landing of any nation up to that date.

• Beginning in February, 1847, Scott amassed nearly 12,000 troops at the Rio Grande on the border of Texas and Mexico. Opposing him would be more than 20,000 Mexicans, some of whom were seasoned veterans under the command of Santa Anna, the Centralist leader who 10 years earlier invaded Texas, ordered the massacre at Goliad and led the attack on the Alamo.

• General Winfield ScottCommanding the largest amphibious force in history (to that date), Scott captures Vera Cruz in 20 days. Scott landed about three miles south of the city on March 10, 1847, and encircled Vera Cruz in four days, laying siege to the Mexican city. By the end of the month the encircled city surrendered. It was the first in a series of successes that would make General Scott an American hero.

Old Fuss and Feathers

• Moving inland, Scott encountered 12,000 Mexican nationals at Cerro Gordo or El Telegrafo. In what was a textbook execution of a brilliant plan, Scott encircled Santa Anna's army and forced it to withdraw. A mistake by Gideon Pillow unfortunately cost the lives of hundreds of men, however, because of Pillow's close association with then President Polk, the error was downplayed in Scott's report.

• As the General approached Mexico City he stopped. He could not attack the city because he needed General Santa Anna to remain as head of government. If he attacked and won, the general might have been relieved of duty. This upset some of his higher ranking subordinates, many of whom wanted to attack the city for personal reasons.

• Finally, facing recruitment deadlines and financial problems, Scott was forced to attack. A three-prong advance caught the Mexican Army off-balance and sent them scurrying from the city and the surrounding countryside. The Mexican Army removed to Buena Vista. From here Santa Anna negotiated a peace treaty, then was quickly overthrown.

• Winfield Scott had so impressed the people of Mexico that a delegation visited his camp to find out what he would require to lead the new government. Scott refused politely. His eye was on a bigger prize (President of the United States).

• Even though the Civil War broke out after his 75th birthday the corpulent commander continue to lead his men. Too large to mount a horse, Scott formulated a detailed plan for the defeat of the Confederacy that included a blockade of southern ports. Some thought he was senile because the common belief on both sides was it would be a quick war. He was removed as commander by President Lincoln before the end of 1861, however, almost all of the elements of his "Anaconda Plan" would later be used by a desperate Lincoln in an attempt to win the war.

Old Fuss and Feathers

• Although thin and handsome in his youth, Scott puts on tons of weight.

John C. Fremont

• John Charles Frémont was an American military officer, explorer, the first candidate of the United States Republican Party for the office of President of the United States, and the first Presidential candidate of a major party to run on a platform of opposition to slavery. During seven scientific expeditions, covering over 20,000 miles of western exploration and mapping surveys, Frémont became internationally known as The Pathfinder.

Fremont’s expeditions, while not accomplishing a great deal scientifically, were very important in advancing the cause of Manifest Destiny.

The Bear Flag Republic

• Brown Bear Flag of the California Republic

The settlers of California revolted against the Mexican government. Having won such a surprising and effortless victory, the Americans, (now twenty-four strong), were at a temporary loss.   Fremont and Kearney were delighted to see that CA had already declared their independence before the troops arrived. To legitimize their conquest, the rebels decided to raise a new flag over the plaza.

• Their flag remains in use today and consists of a white field with a brown bear on green grass, a red star, and a red border at the bottom.  Just above the border are the words "CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC".

Why a bear?The original flag was supposed to be a golden PEAR, but the Word BEAR was substituted by illegibility.

A Rehearsal for The Civil War

• Ulysses S. Grant, who served in the war under Scott's command, would later consider the war to be one of the causes of the American Civil War: "The occupation, separation and annexation [of Texas] were ... a conspiracy to acquire territory out of which slave states might be formed for the American Union."

• Many of the generals of the latter war had fought in the former, including Grant, Ambrose Burnside, Stonewall Jackson, George Meade, and Robert E. Lee, as well as future President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis.

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo

• By the treaty concluded at Guadalupe-Hidalgo, February 2, 1848, Mexico was required to cede California and New Mexico to the United States and to recognize the Rio Grande as the southern and western boundary of Texas. In return, the United States paid Mexico $15,000,000 cash and assumed some $3,250,000 more in claims of American citizens on the Mexican government. Considering the facts that California was scarcely under Mexican control at all and might have been taken at any moment by Great Britain, France, or Russia; that New Mexico was still the almost undisturbed home of Indian tribes; that the land from the Nueces to the Rio Grande was almost a desert; and that the American troops were in possession of the Mexican capital, the terms offered Mexico were very generous. Polk was urged by many to annex the whole country of Mexico to the United States, but he refused to consider such a proposal.

• Red outline is the Mexican Cession, but Gadsden Purchase is in orange.

Gadsden Purchase

• President Franklin Pierce was convinced by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to send James Gadsden (who had personal interests in the rail route) to negotiate the Gadsden Purchase with Mexico. Under the agreement, the U.S. paid Mexico US $10 million to secure the land. The acquisition of land in this purchase secured the final boundaries of the continental United States. The purpose of the purchase was to allow for the construction of a southern route for a transcontinental railroad.

The Gold Rush/Forty-niners

• Barely a week before the Mexican War's end, however, there occurred a chance event that would destroy all John Sutter's achievements and yet at the same time link his name forever to one of the highpoints of American history. On the morning of January 24, 1848, a carpenter named James Marshall, who was building a sawmill for Sutter upstream on the American River near Coloma, looked into the mill's tailrace to check that it was clear of silt and debris and saw at the water's bottom nuggets of gold. Marshall took his discovery to Sutter, who consulted an encyclopedia to confirm it and then tried to pledge all his employees to secrecy. But within a few months, word spread by Sam Brannan, had reached San Francisco and the gold rush was on.

• Suddenly all of Sutter's workmen abandoned him to seek their fortune in the gold fields. Squatters swarmed over his land, destroying crops and butchering his herds. Both Marshall and Sutter lost as a result of the Gold Rush in 1849.

John Augustus Sutter

James Marshall

Samuel Brannan

• After a brief period as publisher of a San Francisco newspaper, Brannan moved to John Sutter's settlement on the Sacramento and American Rivers and soon established a general store. The Mormon church claimed that he had diverted tithe money to this commercial enterprise, and expelled Brannan when he refused to return it.

• When James Marshall discovered gold on Sutter's land in 1848, Brannan seized the opportunity by widely publicizing the discovery and then selling his goods to the flood of men who came in search of gold.

• Within several years, Brannan's meteoric commercial success had made him California's first millionaire. In 1849 he returned to San Francisco, where he continued his business activity, was elected to the City Council, and played a leading role in organizing the controversial Committee of Vigilance, which served as a citizen's police force. Throughout the 1850's his wealth and influence continued to grow; he became a major California landowner and helped to establish several banks and railroad and telegraph companies. Serious alcoholism and a volatile temperament, however, were his eventual undoing. He lost his fortune and health, as did many of those who first benefited from the gold rush, and died an unnoticed death in rural San Diego county.

Mark Twain

• It was in the West that Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain, and although the landscape and characters of frontier life play only a small part in his writings, one can always detect a tang of the region where he found his literary voice and identity in his distinctively colloquial style.

• The experience of filing daily reports on the picturesque doings in a Nevada mining town helped Clemens sharpen and broaden his abilities as a writer. After two years, he carried those talents to San Francisco, where he wrote for a variety of newspapers and periodicals, among them The Californian, edited by Bret Harte. Though they were to quarrel later, at this time Clemens and Harte shared a common ambition, and the more experienced Harte proved a valuable guide as Clemens tried to work the comic artifice out of his humor and develop a more natural, conversational style. With "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," published in 1865 by The Saturday Press of New York, and reprinted by newspapers across the country, this style made its first appearance, a style readers would soon come to recognize as the voice of Mark Twain.

• His books Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are American classics.

Levi Strauss

• One of the best-known beneficiaries of California's gold rush economic boom, Levi Strauss was born in Bavaria and came to San Francisco in 1850, one of the thousands hoping to strike it rich. Trained as a tailor, he planned to manufacture tents and wagon covers for the Forty-niners, but finding no market for these items, he instead used the stout canvas he had brought with him to make especially durable pants, which miners found perfect for their close-to-the-ground line of work. He quickly began selling these "wonderful pants of Levi's" as fast as he could make them.

• Strauss opened a factory at 98 Battery Street in San Francisco, began adding copper rivets at the stress points in his pants and switched from canvas to a heavy blue denim material called genes in France, which became "jeans" in America.

Gam Saan

• Thousands of Chinese immigrants poured into CA, looking for what they called “Gam Saan”, or the Golden Mountain. Few found gold, but met lots of prejudice, vice, and violence.

• Most of the Chinese were young single men who had no plans to settle in the US, but dome, make a fortune, and go back to China. They find a goldmine in the service industry instead—laundries, groceries, restaurants…and later are perfect to build the Transcontinental railroad—agile, nimble, fearless, tireless, and used to working with explosives...

Donner Party

• The Donner Party was a group of California-bound American settlers caught up in the "westering fever" of the 1840s. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the winter of 1846–1847, many of the emigrants resorted to cannibalism.

• The nucleus of the party consisted of the Donner and Reed families plus their employees—some 32 people—who departed from Springfield, Illinois in mid-April, 1846. The emigrants arrived at Independence, Missouri, on May 11, 1846, and left the following day. They joined a larger wagon train with which they traveled until they reached the Little Sandy River in what is now Wyoming, where they camped alongside several other emigrant parties.

• There, those emigrants who had decided to take a new route called the "Hastings Cutoff”, formed a new wagon train. They elected George Donner their captain, creating the Donner Party, on July 19, 1846.

• The party continued westward, encountering great hardships while crossing the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake Desert in present-day Utah. When they finally rejoined the California Trail near modern Elko, Nevada, they had lost three weeks' time on the "shortcut."

• When they finally reached the Sierra Nevada, a snowstorm blocked the pass. Demoralized and low on supplies, about two thirds of the emigrants camped at a small lake (now called Donner Lake), while the Donner families and a few others camped about six miles away, at Alder Creek.

The Donner Party• Cannibalism• Cannibalism is the best-known feature of the

Donner Party story, but the facts are often misrepresented. The emigrants ate everything else they could—animals, rawhide, bones, leather—before finally turning to the only food source that remained, the bodies of the dead. The documentary record makes it clear that cannibalism occurred among the snowshoers and at the Donner Lake camp; the evidence of cannibalism at the Alder Creek camp, though not as good, is still strong. Several survivors spoke or wrote of their own consumption of human flesh, and dozens of people who visited the remains of the lake camp in 1847–1849 reported seeing the physical evidence.

• In August 2003, archaeologists investigated the Donner camp at Alder Creek, recovering many small artifacts and pieces of bone. One of the largest bone fragments, from a "large mammal", bears butcher marks from an axe. A second excavation in July 2004 recovered more artifacts and bone fragments. As of August 2005, the species of animals represented by the bone fragments have not been identified; if some turn out to be human, it will be the first physical evidence of cannibalism from a Donner Party site.

• The emigrants slaughtered their oxen, but there was not enough meat to feed so many for long. In mid-December, fifteen of the trapped emigrants set out on snowshoes for Sutter's Fort, about 100 miles away, to seek help. When one man gave out and had to be left behind, the others continued, but they soon became lost and ran out of food. Caught without shelter in a raging blizzard, four of the party died. The survivors resorted to cannibalism. Three more died and were eaten before finally, nearly naked and close to death, seven of the original fifteen snowshoers reached safety on the western side of the mountains on January 19, 1847.

• Californians rallied to save the Donner Party and equipped a total of four rescue parties. By the time the second of these parties arrived in March, the emigrants at the two camps had also begun to eat the dead. On April 29, the last refugee arrived at Sutter's Fort.

• Of the original 87 pioneers, 41 died and 46 survived.• Donner Memorial State Park, near the eastern shore of Donner Lake, commemorates the disaster;

the area where the Donner families camped at Alder Creek has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

• Cannibalism• Cannibalism is the best-known feature of the Donner Party story, but the facts are often

misrepresented. The emigrants ate everything else they could—animals, rawhide, bones, leather—before finally turning to the only food source that remained, the bodies of the dead. The documentary record makes it clear that cannibalism occurred among the snowshoers and at the Donner Lake camp; the evidence of cannibalism at the Alder Creek camp, though not as good, is still strong. Several survivors spoke or wrote of their own consumption of human flesh, and dozens of people who visited the remains of the lake camp in 1847–1849 reported seeing the physical evidence.

• In August 2003, archaeologists investigated the Donner camp at Alder Creek, recovering many small artifacts and pieces of bone. One of the largest bone fragments, from a "large mammal", bears butcher marks from an axe. A second excavation in July 2004 recovered more artifacts and bone fragments. As of August 2005, the species of animals represented by the bone fragments have not been identified; if some turn out to be human, it will be the first physical evidence of cannibalism from a Donner Party site.

Wilmot Proviso

• Wilmot Proviso, 1846, amendment to a bill put before the U.S. House of Representatives during the Mexican War; it provided an appropriation of $2 million to enable President Polk to negotiate a territorial settlement with Mexico. David Wilmot (D PA) introduced an amendment to the bill stipulating that none of the territory acquired in the Mexican War should be open to slavery. The amended bill was passed in the House, but the Senate adjourned without voting on it. In the next session of Congress (1847), a new bill providing for a $3-million appropriation was introduced, and Wilmot again proposed an antislavery amendment to it. The amended bill passed the House, but the Senate drew up its own bill, which excluded the proviso. The Wilmot Proviso created great bitterness between North and South and helped crystallize the conflict over the extension of slavery. In the election of 1848 the terms of the Wilmot Proviso, a definite challenge to proslavery groups, were ignored by the Whig and Democratic parties but were adopted by the Free-Soil party. Later the Republican party also favored excluding slavery from new territories.

Millard Fillmore• Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March

8, 1874) was the thirteenth President of the United States, serving from 1850 until 1853, and the last member of the Whig Party to hold the nation's highest office. He succeeded from the Vice Presidency on the death of President Zachary Taylor, who died of acute indigestion, becoming the second U.S. President to gain the office in this manner. Fillmore was never elected President in his own right; after serving out Taylor's term he was not nominated for the Presidency by the Whigs in the 1852 Presidential election, and in 1856 he failed to win election as President as the Know Nothing Party candidate.

Compromise of 1850• Henry Clay, U.S. senator from Kentucky, was determined to find a solution. In 1820 he had

resolved a fiery debate over the spread of slavery with his Missouri Compromise. Now, thirty years later, the matter surfaced again within the walls of the Capitol. But this time the stakes were higher -- nothing less than keeping the Union together.

There were several points at issue:

€ The United States had recently acquired a vast territory -- the result of its war with Mexico. Should the territory allow slavery, or should it be declared free? Or maybe the inhabitants should be allowed to choose for themselves?

€ California -- a territory that had grown tremendously with the gold rush of 1849, had recently petitioned Congress to enter the Union as a free state. Should this be allowed? Ever since the Missouri Compromise, the balance between slave states and free states had been maintained; any proposal that threatened this balance would almost certainly not win approval.

€ There was a dispute over land: Texas claimed that its territory extended all the way to Santa Fe.

€ Finally, there was Washington, D.C. Not only did the nation's capital allow slavery, it was home to the largest slave market in North America.

• On January 29, 1850, the 70-year-old Clay presented a compromise. For eight months members of Congress, led by Clay, Daniel Webster, Senator from Massachusetts, and John C. Calhoun, senator from South Carolina, debated the compromise. With the help of Stephen Douglas, a young Democrat from Illinois, a series of bills that would make up the compromise were ushered through Congress.

According to the compromise, Texas would relinquish the land in dispute but, in compensation, be given 10 million dollars -- money it would use to pay off its debt to Mexico.

• Also, the territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah would be organized without mention of slavery.

• (The decision would be made by the territories' inhabitants later, when they applied for statehood—popular sovereignty.)

• Regarding Washington, DC, the slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia, although slavery would still be permitted.

• Finally, California would be admitted as a free state. To pacify slave-state politicians, who would have objected to the imbalance created by adding another free state, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed.

• Of all the bills that made up the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was the most controversial. It required citizens to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves. It denied a fugitive's right to a jury trial. (Cases would instead be handled by special commissioners -- commissioners who would be paid $5 if an alleged fugitive were released and $10 if he or she were sent away with the claimant.) The act called for changes in filing for a claim, making the process easier for slaveowners. Also, according to the act, there would be more federal officials responsible for enforcing the law.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

• Of all the bills that made up the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was the most controversial. It required citizens to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves. It denied a fugitive's right to a jury trial. (Cases would instead be handled by special commissioners -- commissioners who would be paid $5 if an alleged fugitive were released and $10 if he or she were sent away with the claimant.) The act called for changes in filing for a claim, making the process easier for slaveowners. Also, according to the act, there would be more federal officials responsible for enforcing the law.For slaves attempting to build lives in the North, the new law was disaster. Many left their homes and fled to Canada. During the next ten years, an estimated 20,000 blacks moved to the neighboring country.

• For Harriet Jacobs, a fugitive living in New York, passage of the law was "the beginning of a reign of terror to the colored population." She stayed put, even after learning that slave catchers were hired to track her down. Anthony Burns, a fugitive living in Boston, was one of many who were captured and returned to slavery. Free blacks, too, were captured and sent to the South. With no legal right to plead their cases, they were completely defenseless.

• Private citizens were also obligated to assist in the recapture of runaways. Furthermore, people who were caught helping slaves served jail time as well as pay fines and restitution to the slaveowner. Passage of the Fugitive Slave Act made abolitionists all the more resolved to put an end to slavery. The Underground Railroad became more active, reaching its peak between 1850 and 1860. The act also brought the subject of slavery before the nation. Many who had previously been ambivalent about slavery now took a definitive stance against the institution. The Compromise of 1850 accomplished what it set out to do -- it kept the nation united -- but the solution was only temporary. Over the following decade the country's citizens became further divided over the issue of slavery. The rift would continue to grow until the nation itself divided.

Free-Soil Party

• In August 1848 at Buffalo, New York, a meeting of anti-slavery members of the Whig Party and the Liberty Party established the Free-Soil Party. The new party opposed the extension of slavery into the western territories. The main slogan of the party was "free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men".

In the 1848 presidential election, Martin Van Buren, the party's candidate, polled 10 per cent of the vote. He split the traditional Democratic support and enabled the Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor, to win.

By 1852 the Free-Soil Party had 12 congressmen but in presidential election, John P. Hale won over 5 per cent of the vote. Two years later, remaining members joined the Republican Party.