Crash Course U.S. History: Texas and California Statehood

Introduction

• Host: John Green
• Discusses how the U.S. acquired Texas and California
• Key theme: Manifest Destiny

Background

• Manifest Destiny
  • Coined by John O. Sullivan
  • Belief in America's right to expand from Atlantic to Pacific
  • Driven by economics and Jefferson's "Empire of Liberty"

Oregon Trail

• By 1860, 300,000 people traveled the Oregon Trail
• Oregon jointly controlled by U.S. and Britain

Northern Mexico (before U.S. acquisition)

• Included modern-day Texas, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, California
• New Mexico and California had significant settlements

Texas

• Early Settlement
  • Few Tejanos initially, land granted to Moses Austin
  • Stephen Austin sold land to Americans
  • Concerns in Mexico over American influx
• Texas Independence
  • Demands for autonomy and slave labor led to conflict
  • Santa Anna's defeat at the Alamo, Texas gains independence
  • Texas became the Lone Star Republic

U.S. Annexation of Texas

• Texas wanted to join U.S. as a slave state
• Annexation delayed due to slavery balance concerns
• Finally annexed in 1845 under President James K. Polk

Oregon

• Compromise with Britain to divide Oregon at the 49th parallel
• Restored slave-state-free-state balance in Senate

Mexican-American War

• Polk's goal: Acquire California from Mexico
• Conflict over disputed border, leading to war
• Opposition from figures like Henry David Thoreau and Abraham Lincoln
• U.S. victory; Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

• Mexico ceded California and other territories
• U.S. paid Mexico $15 million

Aftermath

• 75,000-100,000 Spanish-speaking Mexicans and 150,000 Native Americans in U.S.
• Rise of nativism and anti-Catholic sentiment

California Gold Rush

• Discovery of gold in 1848
• Population surged; rise of San Francisco
• 25,000 Chinese immigrants, various roles for women

California Statehood

• Discrimination
  • 1850 Constitution limited rights to whites
  • Indians suffered land loss and population decline
• Compromise of 1850
  • California admitted as a free state
  • Slave trade banned in Washington, D.C.
  • Harsh fugitive slave law enacted
  • Popular sovereignty in new territories

Conclusion

• Manifest Destiny led to expansion conflicts
• Deep-rooted issues like slavery
• U.S. failed to extend liberties to minorities

---

• Production Credits
  • Produced by Stan Muller
  • Written by Raoul Meyer and John Green
  • Graphics by Thought Cafe

---

• Remember: The show ends with the message "Don't forget to be awesome."