
USA BECOMES 2ND RATE POWER
Lecture Guide # 23
I. OVERVIEW:
A. US BEGINS TO ACT LIKE 2ND RATE POWER
B. WE WANT PORTS (more than Land)!
1 Peuget Sound, Wash.; San Francisco
2 Rebuilding Merchant Fleet in 1830s-40s: only truly American ship = CLIPPER ship
II. WORLD-WIDE INTERESTS DEVELOP
A. 1844, TREATY with CHINA
1. 1st Major Asian Treaty
2. Capt. Charles Wilkes, 1833
B. 1850s, JAPAN Opening Up to TRADE
1. CLOSED SOCIETY under Shogunate
2WHY Interest in Japan?
a US Clippers took 106-116 days NYC to San Francisco (around Cape!); when blown off courst, wrecked along coast
of Japan, Japanese refused to allow sailors to leave
b Real interest in all things Eastern; We wanted to TRADE
3 1854, MATTHEW PERRY
4 1855, TOWNSHEND HARRIS (movie: “The Barbarian and the Geisha” starring John Wayne)
a 1st Full-Scale Treaty w/ Japan, 1858
b Irony? 1st Port opened to US ships = Nagasaki!
C. 1850s, INTEREST IN PANAMA
1WHY: 106-116 days around Cape of So. America! CUT Across!
2 A LOT of filibustering / free-booting / soldier-of-fortune-ing by Americans in Nicarauga & area
III. ACHIEVEMENT OF PRESENT CONTINENTAL BOUNDARIES
A. SPANISH TERRITORIES TROUBLED
1 Spain was getting increasingly weaker and feared for her sparsely populated border territories w/ USA
a MISTAKE! Encouraged Americans to settle in borderlands (Texas) hoping they would become good Spaniards &
Catholics
b Instead, they were troublesome
1) Spain was freeing slaves in Mexico & Americans HELD SLAVES!
2) Stephen F. Austin, Samuel Houston
2 THEN, Mexican Revolution —> Republic Of Mexico, recognized 12/12/1822
3 & THEN: Texas Rebellion (Americans vs. Mexican Gov’t) of 1835
a Took Alamo, San Antonio: Feb. 23 to Mar 6, 1836 til overrun by Santa Ana
b “Remember the Alamo” = Battle Cry at San Jacinto, Apr. 21, 1836 = defeat of Santa Ana
c USA technically Neutral; but John Poinsett (–> Poinsettia) tried to BUY Texas
4 & THEN: REPUBLIC OF TEXAS, 1836 - 1845
a Texas = touchy subject thru presidencies of Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison
b Election of 1844: Texas became Election Issue: “Reannexation of Texas” implied it was ours
c Then, Tyler (1st Vice President to take office) pushed for Treaty to ANNEX Texas
5 SO, Texas = ANNEXED 1845 by Joint Resolution (Tyler)
a NOW, Texas = State & has UNCLEAR southern Border w/ Mexico (Nueces River)
b Skirmishing all border –> War!
B. MEXICAN WAR, 1846-48, (President James K. Polk, 1845-49)
1. Nueces River = “technical” & Legal Border between Texas & Mexico
a BUT Rio Grande was further south AND bigger River, so USA invoked Doctrine of “Natural Boundaries”
b Polk sent troops to occupy territory between Nueces & Rio Grande:
1 Troops drew fire: “American blood has been shed on American soil”
2 A. Lincoln in US HOR: “Where shed?” Kicked out of Congress in 1846
2. Gen. Winfield Scott –> Vera Cruz & on to Mexico City, 1847
a Meanwhile California rebelled against Mexico
b & US forces helped Californians
c Brought Mexico to the Table
3. 1847, TREATY OF GUADALUPE=HIDALGO
a. Rio Grande = So border of Texas
b. MEXICAN CESSION made in 1848: SW United States from Utah to California !!!
c USA assumed War Debts from Mexico
4. 1853, GADSDEN PURCHASE from Mexico = complete Continental USA
C CUBA = of Interest to USA – particularly to SOUTHERN Slave States
1. Make 2 to 6 States of it (south says “Slave states”)
2 “Sell it or lose it!” OSTEND MANIFESTO, 1854 (Cuba essential to safety of slavery; buy it or take it!)
3 BUT, we DID NOT Take Cuba ! – Why NOT?
a Slavery Issue heating up in 1850s – Northerners don’t want any more Slave States
b Republican Party formed & Slavery-issue pre-empted the Cuba-Issue
D OREGON: We got it by bluffing!
1 BRITISH = Only group to settle or economically exploit
a 1818 US & Britain agreed to Joint Occupation
b Meantime, US expanding WEST & Britain tied up in Europe
2 USA had claims
a Capt. Gray, 1792 had sailed up a River & named it Columbia after ship
b USA invoked Doctrine of “Political Gravitation” (we’re closer, it should gravitate to us)