Ari Gilder, 3-201L
Social Studies HW#2
- In
1792, an American captain named Robert Gray discovered the Columbia
River and began trading furs along it through Oregon.
In 1818, the US
and Great Britain
had agreed to occupy Oregon jointly for 10
years. From then on, many more Americans began to trade furs in Oregon
country and in 1808, John Jacob Astor founded the
successful American Fur Company. However by 1840, the US-Britain agreement
was not sufficient. Americans demanded that Britain
withdraw all claims to any land south of the 54º40´ line. In 1846, Britain
had compromised and agreed to relinquish land south of the 49th
parallel.
- Many
disputes between Mexico
and America
caused unrest between the two nations. For example, 22 Americans were
suspected of plotting a revolution in Mexico,
and Mexico
had owed the US
large debts. On May 13, 1846,
Congress declared war on Mexico
after many aggravated attempts to infringe on US
territory. When the war ended in 1848, upper
California, New Mexico and
the entire Southwest had been conquered by the Americans. As a result, Mexico
surrendered by signing the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo.
- Americans
viewed the acquisitions of Florida,
Texas and war with Mexico
each in a different way. Florida
was gained from spain
after the US
had acquired parts of it previously by the Adams-Onis Treaty – this was a
peaceful resolution to the problem for both Spain
and the US.
The acquisition of Texas had
divided the opinions of the nation – since Texas
wished to support slavery, the Northerners felt that it might increment
the South’s power in Congress, while others feared that if Texas
were admitted as a state, it would cause a war between Mexico
and the US.
This did end up happening, but by then there were many other American
grievances against Mexico,
such as debts and revolutions, and by then the Americans were gung-ho
about going to war readily, and in the end they came out of the war with a
large amount of additional territory.