Ari Gilder, 3-201L

 

Social Studies HW#2

 

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.