US History

U.S. History Study Guide

• The southern boundary of Texas was disputed. The U.S. argued that the southern Texas border lay along the Rio Grande River, while Mexico insisted that the border lay much farther north. • Mexican was suspicious about the U.S. intentions on California when a U.S. naval force, under Commodore Thomas Catsby Jones, had seized the province in the mistaken belief that war had broken out between the U.S. and Mexico in 1842. When the mistake was discovered, the province was returned and apologies were made. • Mexican politicians had inflamed the Mexican people against the U.S. so much so that no Mexican leader could afford to take the risk of appearing to make concessions to the U.S. for fear of being overthrown. Though Mexico broke diplomatic relations with the U.S. immediately upon Texas' admission to the Union, there still seemed to be some hope of a peaceful settlement. In the fall of 1845, Polk sent John Slidell to Mexico City with a proposal for a peaceful settlement of the differences between the two countries Slidell was empowered to cancel the damage claims and pay for the disputed land in southern Texas. He was also authorized to offer money for California and other Mexican territory in the far West. Polk was especially anxious to obtain California because he feared the British would take it fromMexico. Nothing came of these attempts at negotiation. The Mexican government refused even to receive Slidell. 10.24 The Mexican American War Polk sent U.S. troops into the disputed territory in southern Texas. A force under General Zachary Taylor (who was nicknamed "old Rough and Ready") took up a position just north of the Rio Grande. Eight days later, on April 5, 1846, Mexican troops attacked an American patrol. When news of the clash reached Washington, Polk asked and received a declaration of war from Congress against Mexico on May 13, 1846. The MexicanWar spread throughout Texas, NewMexico, and California, and into the Mexican interior, finally ending in a U.S. victory. 10.25 The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 1848, Mexico ceded Texas, New Mexico, and California to the U.S. for fifteen million dollar. (Note that this ceded territory encompassed present-day Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming.) The treaty secured the West for American settlement thus stretching the U.S. continuously from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. 10.26 California Gold Rush The question of the status of slavery of the western territories was made more immediate when, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill on January 24, 1848, not far from Sacramento California. The next year

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