Ferment of the Fifties
A. Aftermath of Mexican War
1. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - Feb. 2, 1848
- cession of New Mexico & California
- Rio Grande to Gila to 32nd line to Pacific, 1 league south of San Diego
- $15,000,000 plus $3,250,000 in claims
- "All-Mexico" Democrats delete Article 10
- Hispanicized Indians lost citizenship
- see text of the treaty or summary of key phrases
2. Gadsden Treaty - Dec. 30, 1853
- land south of Gila River added for $10m
- Jeff Davis wanted southern railroad
- U.S. unable to stop Indian raids
- Benton & abolitionists opposed
3. Territorial growth
- Interior Department added 1849
- Mail route, Point Loma Lighthouse
- Compromise of 1850 admits California
- Land Act of 1851 sells pueblo lands
- "twin relics of barbarism" (Republican platform 1856)
4. Eagle-screaming
- "Support for liberalism abroad was invoked to
advance the cause of conservatism at home."
- 1848 - Taylor elected but dies 1850
- Fillmore and Webster 1850-52 support compromise over slavery
- Revolutions of 1848 - Kossuth craze
- Austrian Hulsemann protests Mann's mission to recognize Hungary
- Webster's reply of Dec. 21, 1850: "The power of this republic at the present moment
is spread over a region one of the richest and most fertile on the globe, and of an extent
in comparison with which the possesions of the House of Hapsburg are but as a patch
on the earth's surface."
B. Southern perspective on a 3-ocean nation
1. Trade rivalry
- steamships, canals, railroads, isthmian routes
2. British obstacle
- Belize 1840, Bay Island 1841, Mosquito coast 1847
- Polk corollary 1848 to Monroe Doctrine - no Yucatan
- Ephraim Squier - Honduras treaty 1849 saves Tigre Island
- Clayton-Bulwer 1850 - but Article I dispute - "further"
- Reciprocity 1854 with Canada - lower Democratic tariff
- USS Cyane 1855 bombards Greytown
- Marcy forces 1856 of John Crampton during Crimean War
3. Filibustering
- Narciso Lopez 1849-51 in Cuba
William Crittenden with 156 from South & Europe
Webster's 1851 Calderon letter apologized
- Jane Cazneau 1853 in Dominican Republic vs. Haiti
for Marcy & Pierce, but unofficially
McClellan's survey of Samana Bay for Navy
- Pierre Soule 1853 in Madrid - threat to "wrest" Cuba
Black Warrior seized, Ostend Manifesto published
4. William Walker - "The little gray-eyed man of destiny"
- from Tennessee, religious, educated, militant
- influence of Young America Democrats, KGC
- Sonora expedition 1853, trial and acquitted 1854
- to Nicaragua for Liberal Party - order out of chaos
- 58 "Immortals" land at Realejo 1855
- Battles of Riva, Virgin Bay - control of Transit route
- with Charles Morgan vs. Commodore Vanderbilt
- hostages, Church, newspaper, consul John Wheeler
- free steamship passage, land to immigrants
- Sharps rifle, Colt pistol, Bowie knife
- execution of Coservative leader Ponciano Corral
- Costa Rica army tries to intervene, but cholera
- makes himself president July 12, 1856
- slavery, confiscation, Henningsen arms
Resources: