THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
During the 18th Century, France, Spain, and Britain continued fighting for dominance in Europe, while the new colonies in America became the first thirteen states established as a sovereign nation with the culmination of the American Revolution. With France controlling the largest portion of North America from Louisiana north to the Great Lakes, Spain firmly in Mexico and west of the Mississippi to the Pacific Coast, including Texas. In the late 1700’s, France ceded the Louisiana Territory to Spain, and their remaining northwest territory to Great Britain. The young nation of America had claimed the land from the North Atlantic Coast south to Georgia, and west to the Mississippi River. In 1795, while America’s growth continued, President Washington sent Thomas Pinckney to Spain negotiating a treaty, known as the Pinckney Treaty that would allow Americans use of the Mississippi River and storage of goods in New Orleans.. For several years, this remained a satisfactory arrangement until in 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte decided he would re-establish France once again in North America, sending his troops to take control of a potential revolt in Haiti (Saint Dominique), and re-acquired the Louisiana Territory from Spain. In 1802, France was controlling New Orleans, instructed Spain to cancel the 1795 treaty with the United States, thus cancelling the ‘right of deposit’.
Thomas Jefferson was in office as the third President of the United States and the year was 1803. Access to New Orleans, the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi River were strong concerns of his as this was crucial for exporting and international trade. The United States had intended to negotiate with France, and President Jefferson sent his r...
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... of Tears. Today the flowers grow along many of the trails that the Native Americans took West.” 1
TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO
In 1836, the people living in the area known as ‘Texas’ (which was governed by and part of Mexico) declared their desire to become an independent nation separating itself from the Mexican government. This became the Republic of Texas. Although today we can look at a map and clearly see the borders as they are; however, in 1836, it was not as clearly defined. The ensuing years was an on and off (but mostly ‘on’) series of raids and attacks by Indian tribes both in Mexico and in Texas. At the same time, the United States sought to gain that territory as its’ own by annexing Texas. Mexico threatened a war against the United States if annexation was achieved. On December 29, 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state in the Union.
Later they wanted to annex it but Mexico said that any attempts to annex Texas would be an act of war. The Mexican War started in 1846, when Mexicans attacked a group of United States soldiers, under the command of Zachary Taylor, in a disputed zone on the border of United States and Mexico, killing about a dozen American soldiers. President Polk told the U.S. Congress that the “cup of forbearance has been exhausted” which means the Mexicans hit the last straw and it is time for war. President Polk sent General Zachary Taylor to Nueces River vs. Rio Grande to poke the Mexicans to shoot and they did. The Mexicans have shed “American blood upon American soil.” The United States wanted war with Mexico now they have a reason to declare war ( History.com
Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836. In the year 1844, James K. Polk was elected president. He was a strong believer in manifest destiny. Congress decided to annex Texas into the United States. Mexico felt that America stole Texas from them.
The Louisiana Purchase stands as an iconic event today that nearly doubled the size of America, ultimately introducing the United States as a world power. In 1762, during the Seven Years’ War, France ceded its control of the Louisiana Territory to Spain (Britannica). However, when Napoleon Bonaparte assumed control of France in 1799, France rallied as a world power once more. Bonaparte’s interest in the Louisiana Territory spiked, and he pressured Spain’s king, Charles IV to relinquish his control of the land on October 1, 1800. This was known as the Treaty of San Ildefonso (Britannica). In view of the transfer between France and Spain, president Thomas Jefferson sent Robert R. Livingston to Paris in 1801. Jefferson became worried, because
The Louisiana Purchase came as a surprise that neither Thomas Jefferson nor anyone else had ever dreamed of. It began with Thomas Jefferson sending two men, James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston, to Paris to negotiate the acquisition of New Orleans with the government of the feared Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon had roused fears once France acquired Louisiana from the Spanish. Concerned with French intentions, Thomas Jefferson took immediate action and sent his two men to negotiate. The negotiation didn’t go as intended at all. We asked to buy New Orleans, but Napoleon offered the entire Louisiana Territory. Apparently, Napoleon had little use for Louisiana. He also couldn’t spare any troops to defend the enormous amount of territory. Napoleon needed funds more than anything, so he could support his military ventures in Europe. This led to the exhilarating time of April, 1803 when Napoleon offered to sell Louisiana to the United States.
The Louisiana Purchase was the most important event of President Thomas Jefferson's first Administration. In this transaction, the United States bought 827,987 square miles of land from France for about $15 million. This vast area lay between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian Border. The purchase of this land greatly increased the economic resources of the United States, and cemented the union of the Middle West and the East. Eventually all or parts of 15 states were formed out of the region. When Jefferson became president in March 1801, the Mississippi River formed the western boundary of the United States. The Florida's lay the south, and the Louisiana Territory to the west. Spain owned both these territories.
Narrative History of Texas Annexation, Secession, and Readmission to the Union. Texans voted in favor of annexation to the United States in the first election following independence in 1836. However, throughout the Republic period (1836-1845) no treaty of annexation negotiated between the Republic and the United States was ratified by both nations. When all attempts to arrive at a formal annexation treaty failed, the United States Congress passed--after much debate and only a simple majority--a Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States. Under these terms, Texas would keep both its public lands and its public debt, it would have the power to divide into four additional states "of convenient size" in the future if it so desired, and it would deliver all military, postal, and customs facilities and authority to the United States government.
I had a Political science professor that once said “Political survey answers depend more on how a question is asked than on what the question is asking.” I read and reread the above question. I have to admit that even after 15 weeks of topic discussions, PowerPoint, text chapters and Google; I am still confused about how tax expenditure works. The nearest I can figure out and in plain English, it is simply a tax break. That being said, this question is very methodically asked. The term “anti-poverty programs” is a gentle, non threatening term that will be met with compassion and kindness among more than 85% of (surveyed) US citizens. Second “tax expenditures” is a confusing term associated with the mean IRS that must have something to do with the government taking hard earned money and doing something with it, but what? Who knows? The final term is the big, bad anti-conservative term that only about 11% of surveyed Americans actually greet with any positivity. So the question in our subconscious mind flows something like: “What are the advantages and disadvantages of helping people who need it with your tax money instead of giving it to people who don’t want to work?” But that’s not what the question is asking. Because I know that my subconscious takes into consideration, the information it believes is true. First anti-poverty programs, such as Medicaid, are in most people’s minds still welfare. Before the New Deal many of the anti-poverty programs, as well as welfare (utility assistance, help purchasing groceries, etc.) were funded completely through private charities....
The state of Texas was the 28th state added to the United States of America on December 29, 1845 . At the time, it was the largest state in the US and would remain that until the inclusion of Alaska into the US in January 3, 1959. Texas became a state because of the diverse political strife, military success, and because of nationalism , over the course of 80 years. It starts as just a province of Spanish Mexico empire, and would eventually become the Lone Star State.
Its breakdown in Mexican Statehood was caused by Gnereal Santa Anna’s centralized all power in Mexico City and limited U.S. trade, and the Battle of the Alamo was the final nail in the coffin. Then Texas was called the Republic of the Rio Grande, and the capital was Laredo. It was a small country that only existed in 1840, but it was never officially recognized. The second constitution was the Republic of Texas in 1836 to 1845. It was an independent nation that nearly copied the US Document. Texas mandated homestead protections, establish wife and community property rights, and legalized slavery. The Republic of Texas breakdown caused by the US Statehood in 1845. After, the Republic of Texas became the State of Texas in 1845. This breakdown when economic tyranny by the north and slavery. 1861 - 1865, the Confederate State of Texas replaced US with Confederacy in the documents of 1845 and banned the freeing of slaves. It breakdown caused by the lose of Confederacy in Civil War. The history of how Texas got to the current constitution can be compare to the Mexico history. As Texas gained their independence from Mexico, Mexico gained their independence from Spain.
13 October 1834 was the first revolutionary meeting of the American citizens who’d settled in Mexico, in the area soon to be known as Texas. The people attempted a movement that soon was laid to rest by the Mexican Congress. Attempts at independence were silenced for the time being and the elections of 1835 proceeded forward. With Santa Anna moving to control Mexico, and taxes increasing, Texans grew restless and rowdy.
In 1845 the U.S attempted to Annex Texas. Basically America wanted Texas to become one of the states rather then and independent nation by itself. At this time Texas was an independent nation that was not a part of America or Mexico. Mexico wanted to keep Texas neutral if not a part of its own country. When the U.S attempted to annex Texas Mexico became outraged, " In November 1843 Mexico had warned that if the United States should commit the 'unheard-of aggression' of seizing an integral part of 'Mexican territory' Mexico would declare war " (Bound for the Rio Grande, 62). Despite the warning the U.S attempted to annex Texas. In doing so Mexico retaliated by breaking off all diplomatic relations with the U.S. Mexico felt that the U.S was insulting them by not taking them seriously when they threatened with war. So at this point America showed a very large interest in possessing Texas. America was very close to actually acquiring Texas when they made their first mistake in the war.
Before Thomas Jefferson ever entered the presidency, he believed in the “Empire of Liberty.” He wrote in a letter to a friend that “Our confederacy must be viewed as the nest from which all America, North or South, is to be peopled.” His motives for the intense eye on American expansion were greatness for his country, as well as for himself. He was disgusted with the idea of North America being divided into nation-states like Europe. His goal was for the ideals of the American Revolution to spread over the whole continent. He passed and helped pass some of the legislation that helped early America expand. He co-authored the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which allowed for states to be made from the territory east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio River. Jefferson’s desire for exploring the lands west of the Mississippi had been around for fifty years. Jefferson’s father was a member of the Loyal Land Company. After American Independence, there were four plans to explore the west; Jefferson was behind three of those plans. The Louisiana Purchase divided the political country, before and after the actual purchase. I intend to show these sides by examining documents from Jefferson, his colleagues, and the opposition to the Purchase, as well as international deterrents to the Purchase.
was not justified to declare war with Mexico because of the ignorance of Mexican authority, the robbery of disputed/Mexican-owned land, and the order from Polk which provoked the war. The U.S. were allowed by Mexican government to settle into the provenance of Texas. After settling in the nutritious and fertile farmland, the U.S. settlers rebelled against Mexican law and established slavery in Texas. The U.S. robbed disputed/Mexican-owned land, which led to confusion spreading into Mexico and the U.S. because of unofficial borders. Polk provoked a Mexican attack by ordering soldiers onto Mexican borders, which led to the Mexicans attacking out of pressure.
So a major reason for Texas to be annexed into the United States was that the overwhelming majority of the population was former Americans. From the very time of winning independence, annexation of Texas to the United States was at the top of the list of things to do. But as soon as the Texas minister was sent to Washington to negotiate for an annexation, the Martin Van Buren administration said that the proposition could not be entertained. The reasons given were constitutional scruples and fear of war with Mexico. The real reason behind Washington’s excuses is slavery....