POLK URGES WAR

• Polk wanted Texas for America
• Polk supported the Texans

Slidell's Rejection

• Polk sent Slidell to Mexico
• Mexicans refused to see him
• Polk sent Gen. Zachary Taylor to march to Rio Grande river

Sectional attitudes toward War

• Idea of war created great public celebration
• Not everyone agreed/cheered
• They saw perils of expansion of slavery

Southern Attitude

• Saw Texas as an opportunity to expand slavery

Northern Attitude

• Manly against the war
• Expansion was a plot to expand slavery and insure Southern domination

THE WAR BEGINS

• Mexico sends troops across Rio Grande
• Mexico started the War
• US voted for war 174 to 14

Kearny Marches West

• Kearny plan was to seize New Mexico and California in 1846

California

• Spanish settlers set up 20 missions California coast
• After Mexican independece late 1830s 12,000 Mexican settlers
• US took California from Mexico

War in Mexico

• Americans had victory after Victory
• Mexicans had poor leadership
• Americans invasion of Mexico lasted for a year
• Taylor pushed Santa Anna into Mexico

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Americans Gains the Spoils of War

• US territory grew by one third

The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• Agreed to Rio Grande border of Texas
• Americans paid15 mil for California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, most of Arizona

Taylor's election 1848

• Zachary wig nominee
• was war hero, and won the election

California golf rush

• in 1848 James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's mill

The Rush Begins

• Gold fever traveled east
• 44,000 migrated west

Gold rush brought diversity

• 1849 California exceeded 100,000
• People from all races
• Chinese, African Americans, numbers of Mexicans

NICK VAN ATTA AND AMERICO BERNABEI

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