Lecture 30 + 31

Question 1

What started the Mexican-American War? And when?

Answer 1

• Polk promised to add Texas, which already happened, but he wanted its border to be at the rio grande. Spain says no to American efforts to buy the land.
• In response, Polk sends Zachary Taylor (big general) with a bunch of American troops into the disputed territory, below the Nueces River.
• Mexico sees this as invasion.
• Taylor blockades the Rio Grande, which even if it were the border of Texas, would be aggressive af.
• Mexican troops attack Taylor.
• Polk asks Congress to declare war on Mexico on the basis that Mexico invaded US soil, and Congress agrees. Starts in 1846.

Question 2

What ended the Mexican-American War?

Answer 2

• Winfield Scott captured Mexico City in 1847, which ends aggression and treaty signing takes place in 1848.
• Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo. Signed 1848; adds present day states of Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and California, and a bit of Wyoming. Sets Texas border at the Rio Grande.

Question 3

What were the results of the Mexican-American War other than geographical changes?

Answer 3

• Zachary Taylor gets experience and becomes President later from his popularity.
• 13000 Americans died. More from disease than from battle. 50000 Mexican soldiers die.
• Prolonged resentment towards US from Mexico becomes a thing.
• US pays $15 million to Mexico in reparations.
• 80000 Mexicans were now American citizens. US gives them option: move to Mexico or stay in the US as citizens. Most don’t move. However, they typically had communal farms and villages, and those were stolen despite full citizenship promised to Mexicans.
• Texas is economically depressed.

Question 4

Explain religious motives for travels West (aka mormons).

Answer 4

• Mormons! Joseph Smith, makes Book of Mormon, makes Church of Latter Day Saints. Rejected from New York.
• Mormonism was rejected bc. they “undermined” the Bible, tended to vote in blocks, didn’t really recognize separation of church and state, practiced polygamy.
• Mormons run away from New York, go to Ohio, then to Missouri, then to Illinois. Joseph Smith is jailed and killed by an angry mob. Leadership is replaced by Brigham Young.
• Finally they end up in Utah. Where land sucked. They develop advance agricultural techniques to survive and eventually Utah is a state in 1896 with 263000 irrigated acres of land.

Question 5

Explain the land motivation in travels to the west.

Answer 5

• Free land. 1850, US passes Donation Land Claim Act. Provided free land (approx 320 acres) in the Oregon Territory to white male citizens over 18. They had to live on the land for 4 years; got more land if they had a wife. Had to improve the land also.
• Ethnic minorities and women were excluded from the free land.
• 2.2 million acres were given to 7000 peeps.

Question 6

Explain the gold motivation in travels west.

Answer 6

• Gold Rush. 1848, John Sutter found gold on his property in Sacramento.
• First prospectors arrive at 1849, called the 49ers.
• Miners show up, driving Cali. pop. from 14000 to 22000 in a short period.
• Miners literally sifted dirt to get gold. 95% of these migrants were male, and if they succeeded they’d get like $50 a day. Most didn’t get rich.
• Rich guys claimed the gold before everyone got there. More became wealthy from merely selling supplies.
• Levi Strauss invented blue jeans there bc. he noticed peeps’ pants were getting worn from all the mining.

Question 7

How did people travel west?

Answer 7

• Sea: they went from the East Coast all around the lower tip of South America and up to the West Coast. It was safer and quicker but expensive. Not many used it.
• Land: many walked west, which was unsafe and took longer. There was a peak for this based on the gold rush.

Question 8

Oregon Trail

Answer 8

• Most popular land route.
• Started at Missouri.
• Were many life/death decisions.
• Indians were a fear but in reality travelers just had to out-hunt Indians.
• Rivers were obstacles; they would ford them or possibly just go around.
• Only a 5% mortality rate along the Oregon Trail. Was actually not SO bad.

Question 9

How did the cotton industry develop in the old south?

Answer 9

• Cotton gin inspired a big boom in development of slave-based cotton plantations in the South.
• 1800, 7% of exports were cotton; by 1850, 57%.
• So slavery becomes a thing in the South, although abolitionist movements already existed in the North and slavery wasn’t always prominent in the South.
• By 1860, 4 million slaves were in the US, almost all in the South. By 1808, the international slave trade was outlawed, so slaves were encouraged to reproduce by their owners.

Question 10

Explain life as a slave.

Answer 10

• Crap.
• Most plantations had at least 10 slaves.
• Got breaks at noon; had to meet certain quota. If a slave didn’t meet that quota they were beaten; if they did more than the quota, the quota would just be raised to that rate.
• Fed salted pork and cornmeal.
• Sometimes they could get more food if they worked on Sunday.
• Whipped for minor offenses.
• Masks, perpendicular sticks, etc. were attached to slaves to keep them from running, as the underground railroad was developing.

Question 11

Explain the religious justification for slavery.

Answer 11

• Southerners came up with the “curse of ham” justification.

* Also Bible said slaves should obey masters, slaves should be punished, and in general slavery is Biblically supported.

Question 12

Explain the historical and paternal justifications for slavery.

Answer 12

• Historical: they glorified former Rome and Greece as highly developed, pointed out they had slaves. Also said the Constitution protects slavery and pointed to the founding fathers owning slaves
• Paternalism: saw slaves as children; argued they lacked intelligence and couldn’t survive on their own; also slaves were exposed to Christianity by “superior” whites; slaves were “provided for,” with food, medical needs, etc. It was argued that they’d die if they were freed bc. they couldn’t live on their own.

Question 13

Explain the intellectual justification for slavery.

Answer 13

• George Fitzhugh wrote a book comparing slaves in the South to factory workers in the North, asserting that the latter are “wage slaves.” Says slaves have it better bc. there is an incentive for slave owners to give a crap about them.
• Elderly slaves given less demanding tasks and household slaves were typically pointed to as the ideal situation, while farmer slaves and laborers were hidden away, simply because the former group had better living conditions.
• Fitzhugh didn’t address runaway slaves, that slaves were beaten, and that wage slaves were theoretically free to choose different work, etc.

Question 14

Nat Turner’s Rebellion.

Answer 14

• 1831.
• Group of slaves raided homes of several Virginia planters, killed 60 whites.
• Turner was killed when he was caught along with several of his other followers.

Question 15

Explain the structure of southern society.

Answer 15

• 1% of the population were “planters,” defined as owning 20 or more slaves and a plantation. Wives of male planters were expected to be subservient.
• Small farmers who owned some land and maybe a few slaves made up 35% of the pop. and were next to planters on the hierarchy.
• Landless whites made up 25% of the population; typically didn’t work, sort of expected to get rich one day, etc.
• Slaves made up the rest.