Here's Where It Gets Interesting - The War for the West

Episode Date: December 21, 2022

Today on Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, we move Westward. While the politics in Washington D.C. were shaping events throughout the rest of the nation, the same can be said in reverse: what was ha...ppening in land far from the capital city influenced much of its politics. Join us today at the border of Mexico and Texas to learn about the tipped dominoes that led the U.S. into our first successful war fought on foreign soil. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:46 Hello, friends. Welcome. So glad you're here. Over our last few episodes, we've talked a lot about the key elements that define the mid-1800s antebellum era, like the growing friction between the North and the South, the rise of the abolitionist movement. And if you were paying attention in our last episode about First Lady Margaret Taylor, you would have caught that the Taylors spent almost an entire lifetime establishing army posts in new territories, aiding in the nation's land expansion to all corners of our borders. But with Manifest Destiny on the rise, those borders begin to crumble. Manifest Destiny didn't just mean that we moved westward. It meant that we went to war. I'm Sharon McMahon, and here's where it gets interesting. On May 13, 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico. Now, we don't want to take an entire historical event in which thousands of lives were lost
Starting point is 00:01:49 and the landscape of two different countries were irrevocably changed and make light of it. But what we can do is talk about it in an easy to understand context because it was a little like a bedroom divided. It was a little like a bedroom divided. Tape was placed down the middle to indicate which side belonged to which country, except that the tape in this case was a river. But Mexico and the United States couldn't agree on which river was the fair border. Leaders in Mexico claimed it was the Nueces River, but the new state of Texas insisted it was 100 miles westward at the Rio Grande.
Starting point is 00:02:31 It was Texan Sam Houston who asked the United States government to step in. So let's learn a little bit about Sam and how Texas became a state. became a state. A decade before the U.S. declared war on Mexico in 1836, Texas had been part of Mexico. But that year, a group of settlers from the United States who lived in Mexican Texas declared their independence from Mexico. The Mexican government had actively invited Americans to settle the sparsely populated region of Texas after they won their independence from Spain in 1821. When Mexico founded the province of Texas, the area was sparsely populated outside of indigenous groups, and Mexico was underconfident about their ability to keep the territory from falling into the hands of other nations, namely the United States.
Starting point is 00:03:33 We were actively working to expand our own territories at the time. Mexico needed a way to keep the region under their control, so a compromise was born. Mexico encouraged Americans to settle in the land of Mexican-controlled Texas, but with a catch. They had to agree to be governed under Mexican rule. Mexico worked with empresarios, or men who operated as land agents in Texas. These empresarios worked to recruit new settlers who would develop Texas for the Mexican government. And in exchange, those settlers would receive titles to Texas land. One of these empresarios was an American-born man named Stephen Austin.
Starting point is 00:04:21 Yes, the Texas city of Austin is named after him to answer the question that just sprang into your mind. Austin sold plots of land to American settlers from a large land grant his father had been given by the Mexican government. By 1825, he had brought the first 300 American frontier families into Texas territory. Just five years later, in 1830, there were over 7,000 settlers from the United States living in Mexican Texas. And Mexico was rethinking their grand plan. The Mexican government tried to rein in the immigration. At the same time, the settlers began to express their frustrations with living under Mexican rule. The regulatory laws they were required to follow took away many of what they considered to be their personal freedoms.
Starting point is 00:05:16 The new American settlers in Texas were required to register as Mexican citizens, convert to Roman Catholicism, and in 1829, after Mexico abolished enslavement, end their practice of using enslaved labor in their homes and on their lands. Which, a fact you might not know, is that the Underground Railroad ran two ways, north across the Mason-Nixon line and southwest into Mexico. It's estimated that around 5,000 enslaved people found themselves free on Mexican soil by way of the Underground Railroad. As tensions between the Mexican government and American settlers grew. The empresarios and settlers were divided. Some, like Stephen Austin, wanted to reach a peaceful compromise with Mexico, although I don't really want to give you the
Starting point is 00:06:12 impression that Stephen Austin was a total stand-up guy. He also blatantly disregarded Mexican abolition laws and was the architect behind several violent interactions against the indigenous residents of the area. But unlike Austin, many other settlers didn't want to wait around for a peaceful resolution. By 1835, American settlers created their own provisional government and called for their independence from Mexico. In response, Mexican leader Antonio López de Santa Anna and his troops marched into Texas in an effort to regain political control. For 13 days, a group of around 200 Texan volunteer soldiers and Tejanos, who were Texans of Spanish descent, held out against the siege of 5,000 Mexican soldiers at a former Spanish-Mexican mission fortress called, I bet you can guess, I'm going to give you one guess. You are right. It's the Alamo. On the 13th day, Santa Ana's troops of thousands
Starting point is 00:07:29 won out against the defenders and killed 187 American and Tejano people during the Battle of the Alamo. Among those who were killed were Davy Crockett and Bowie Commander William Travis. those who were killed were Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Commander William Travis. They died alongside others who were besieged inside the Alamo, like Sarah, a Black enslaved woman who was caught in the crossfire of the Mexican army, an army that acknowledged her right to be free, and the American Texans who fought for their freedom to keep her enslaved. After the dust settled, remember the Alamo became a battle cry and an American military hero who had moved to Texas in 1832 would answer it. A month after the Alamo, Samuel Houston led his forces to defeat Santa Ana's army at the Battle of San Jacinto, and the loss forced Santa Ana to recognize Texas's independence. Sam, who was previously
Starting point is 00:08:34 a Tennessee senator, became the first president of the Republic of Texas. But the citizens of Texas were not interested in remaining independent indefinitely. They feared retaliation from Mexico and were overwhelmingly in favor of turning the Republic of Texas into the state of Texas so that it would fall under the protection of the United States government. But the Texans' proposition for annexation was rejected twice, first by the Andrew Jackson administration and then by the Martin Van Buren administration. The annexation of Texas was a political liability. Political parties were split. Texas was annexed as part of the United States. Democrats were in favor of it being pro-enslavement, and Whigs argued it should be a free state. Its annexation could tip the already teetering
Starting point is 00:09:32 balance of power between the North and the South. Plus, Mexico was still in the picture and threatened to declare war with the United States over annexation. So both Jackson and Van Buren rejected the annexation proposal and kicked the can down the road. In the end, it was President John Tyler who took on the task. And literally in the last week of his presidency, Congress finally voted to make Texas a state. But because Tyler was on his way out, it was President James K. Polk who oversaw the formal statehood of Texas in December of 1845.
Starting point is 00:10:16 And if you think this is where our conflict with Mexico over Texas concludes. Buckle up. Because we have only just begun. Interior Chinatown is an all-new series based on the best-selling novel by Charles Yu about a struggling Asian actor who gets a bigger part than he expected when he witnesses a crime in Chinatown. Streaming November 19th, only on Disney+.
Starting point is 00:10:47 What do Ontario dairy farmers bring to the table? A million little things. But most of all, the passion and care that goes into producing the local, high-quality milk we all love and enjoy every day. With 3,200 dairy farming families across Ontario sharing our love for milk, there's love in every glass. Dairy Farmers of Ontario, from our families to your table, everybody milk. Visit milk.org to learn more. This episode is brought to you by Dyson OnTrack. Dyson OnTrack headphones offer best-in-class noise cancellation and an enhanced sound range, making them perfect for enjoying music and podcasts.
Starting point is 00:11:28 Get up to 55 hours of listening with active noise cancelling enabled, soft microfibre cushions engineered for comfort and a range of colours and finishes. Dyson OnTrack. Headphones remastered. Buy from dysoncanada.ca. With ANC on, performance may vary based on environmental conditions and usage. Accessories sold separately. In 1846, Sam Houston was elected as a U.S.
Starting point is 00:11:55 Senator from the new state of Texas. And this technically makes Houston the only Senator who was also a former head of state because he was previously head of the Republic of Texas. Houston was a Democrat like President Polk and, I might add, like Andrew Jackson, who was Sam's mentor during his early days as a politician from Tennessee. Houston had four sons, and in honor of his mentor, he named one of them Andrew Jackson Houston. Put that on your baby name list if you ever have a son. Andrew Jackson Houston. Andrew Jackson Houston, by the way, held the same Senate seat as his father 82 years later, Andrew Jackson Houston was 87 at the time and the oldest man to enter the Senate. So do not ever let anybody tell you that you are too old to try new things.
Starting point is 00:12:57 Andrew Jackson Houston can become a senator at 87. The world is your oyster. In the beginning of James Polk's presidential term, Sam Houston found an ally in President Polk who agreed with him that something had to be done about the skirmishes that had plagued the Mexico-Texas border for a decade. dress it. In April of 1846, Polk ordered an army of around 4,000 soldiers, led by veteran general Zachary Taylor, to the Nueces Strip between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River. But it wasn't just the bickering along the border that prompted Polk to act. He had been elected based on his platform of expansionism and intended to use his time in office to achieve his campaign goals. Polk sent a congressman named John Seidel into Mexico with instructions to do some negotiating, and Seidel was given the maximum budget of $25 million and told to see what he could do to both buy off the disputed areas along
Starting point is 00:14:08 the Texas-Mexican border and purchase the territory that comprised the Mexican land that makes up present-day states of New Mexico and California. While the Mexican president at the time, José Joaquín de Herrera, was open to negotiation, the Mexican council was not, and Sladell returned to the U.S. empty-handed. Mexico, by the way, was dealing with its own internal conflicts too. The government was shaky and unstable, and President de Herrera was overthrown in a coup later that summer. stable and President de Herrera was overthrown in a coup later that summer. So while General Zachary Taylor's troops were building a military fort along the Rio Grande to keep the border disputes in check, the real point of their presence was to provoke Mexico into reacting with military force, which would give the U.S. a reason to go to war for access to the land
Starting point is 00:15:07 they were unsuccessful in purchasing. Okay, so let that sink in for a minute. We try to buy the land that will eventually become New Mexico and California. Mexico says no. We decide, fine, Mexico says no, we decide, fine, we'll win a war against you for it. And so we began a military buildup along that area in an effort to provoke them into an armed conflict to give us the territory we want. Okay. Colonel Hitchcock, who served with Zachary Taylor in the army, minced no words when he wrote about it from the front lines. He said, we have not one particle of right to be here. It looks as if the government sent a small force on purpose to bring on a war so as to have a pretext for taking California and as much of this country as it chooses. On April 9th, Taylor deployed the bulk of his troops' artillery within striking
Starting point is 00:16:08 distance of the Mexican city of Matamoros. At the same time, the U.S. Navy also cut off Matamoros from access to the Gulf of Mexico. What they did was essentially create a blockade by both land and water, which made it necessary for Mexican troops from Matamoros to cross it in order to obtain provisions for the civilians of the city. So when Mexican forces crossed the Matamoros River two weeks later, Taylor sent a small unit to respond. The Mexican army opened fire, killing 11 American soldiers. And President Polk got the opening he needed to ask Congress to declare war. He addressed them saying, The cup of forbearance has been exhausted even before the recent information from the frontier of the Rio Grande.
Starting point is 00:17:01 But now, after reiterated menaces, Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon the American soil. She has proclaimed the hostilities have commenced and that the two nations are now at war. On May 12, 1846, at war. On May 12, 1846, the Senate voted 40 to 2 to go to war with Mexico. A good majority of the country was supportive of the war effort, but there were plenty of exceptions, especially among Whig politicians who felt it was a ploy to add more pro-slavery land to the Union. 37-year-old Abraham Lincoln, then a U.S. congressman, was openly critical and asked Congress to prove that shots had been fired on American soil. And while not a politician, another public figure made waves about the war. In July of 1846,
Starting point is 00:18:00 essayist Henry David Thoreau was arrested after he failed to pay his Massachusetts state poll tax. The constable who made the arrest, thinking Thoreau was maybe just down on his luck, offered to pay the tax for him, but Thoreau had actually withheld the tax as protest against the U.S. involvement in the Mexican War. So the constable took Thoreau to jail, War. So the constable took Thoreau to jail, where he spent only one night. One of his relatives, hearing about his arrest, paid Thoreau's tax for him, which probably made things at the next holiday get-together a little awkward, right? Like, I was trying to make a political statement, Uncle John. Hello? Jeez. to make a political statement, Uncle John. Hello. Jeez. Afterward, Thoreau wrote an essay about his experience and philosophy entitled it, Civil Disobedience. In it, he stated that if all
Starting point is 00:18:55 citizens who opposed the Mexican-American War followed his example and went to jail for their beliefs, the government would be forced to end the conflict. He thought it was the duty of every person to think critically about government policies, protesting if necessary, even when the policies had been adopted with majority consent. Civil disobedience was one of the building blocks of the growing moral reform movements of temperance and abolition. of the growing moral reform movements of temperance and abolition. In the 20 or so months of fighting that followed Congress's declaration of war, the mostly volunteer U.S. military won victory after victory. It was the first large-scale success of a U.S. military force on foreign soil.
Starting point is 00:19:43 The Mexican territories of Alta California and Santa Fe de Nueva Mexico, land the U.S. wanted, were captured almost immediately after the war began, but Mexico refused to accept the loss of their territory. So in 1847, troops invaded the Mexican capital of Mexico City, where the government still held out against the transfer of their northern territories to the United States. No one was sure if Mexico would cede war when treaty talks would begin. In those interim months, while they waited for word that negotiations had begun, the U.S. Army was a brutal presence in Mexico. negotiations had begun, the U.S. Army was a brutal presence in Mexico. Reports of looting and violence toward both Mexican civilians and surrendered Mexican forces were common. And General Winfield Scott, who was the driving force in capturing Mexico City,
Starting point is 00:20:36 made its citizens pay massive monetary ransoms to help keep his own troops fed, comfortable, and well-armed. Even if you don't realize it, you probably know the names of several prominent military leaders who served in the Mexican-American War, two of whom would find themselves facing each other on opposite sides of the battlefield 20 years later. Those generals were Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant. In fact, when Generals Lee and Grant remembered each other from their time serving in the Mexican War and reportedly spent over 20 minutes conversing about it before Lee officially surrendered at the Appomattox Courthouse in 1865, effectively ending the Civil War. So in other words, they met again at the end of the civil war and talked about it for 20 minutes
Starting point is 00:21:26 before lee was like okay i'm ready to sign i'm ready to surrender confederate general stonewall jackson also served in the mexican-american war and though he was fresh out of west point when he was sent to mexico where he was called lieutenant thomas jackson he wouldn't earn his famous stonewall nickname until the Battle of Bull Run in Virginia in 1861. On March 10, 1848, the Senate approved a treaty that had been drawn up with Mexico. But the diplomat who had finally and successfully gotten Mexico to negotiate that treaty was promptly fired when he made his way back to the U.S. Capitol. His name was Nicholas
Starting point is 00:22:13 Trist, and he was the chief clerk to the then Secretary of State James Buchanan. Trist was sent to Mexico City in 1847 to work with General Winfield Scott with hopes that between the two men they could get Mexico to settle and draw up the contract to surrender their territories. Nicholas Trist was a bit of a controversial choice to send to Mexico. He was born into the Virginian aristocracy and studied at West Point. He married Thomas Jefferson's granddaughter, and studied at West Point. He married Thomas Jefferson's granddaughter, Virginia Jefferson Randolph, and also served as the private secretary to both Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. So far, so good. He had the pedigree and the connections. But when Trisp was appointed as the U.S. consul to Cuba, he made some bad plantation investments that put him in a tight
Starting point is 00:23:07 spot with local officials. As a pro-enslavement politician, he falsified documents to cover up the continued illegal slave trade in Cuba in an effort to smooth things over. His misuse of his post to promote enslavement got him in hot water. He was recalled in 1840. But with friends in high places, he soon found himself appointed by President Polk to serve Secretary of State James Buchanan as his chief clerk. In April 1847, Buchanan gave Trist orders to travel to Mexico and start peace talks with Mexican negotiators. President Polk, however, wanted the treaty talks to take place in Washington, D.C., and he sent word to Mexico that Trist was to be recalled as the treaty negotiator. negotiating negotiator. But guess how long it took for that word to reach Mexico City from Washington, D.C. in 1847? Take a guess. Take a guess how long it took the word to get there. Six weeks. And Nicholas Trist used that long communication lag time to his advantage. He continued his negotiations even after he received the word that he was to leave
Starting point is 00:24:26 Mexico. Instead, he sent back a long 65-page letter to President Polk outlining his reasoning for staying and utilizing his letter's long travel time to reach the president. He then successfully negotiated terms that allowed the United States to purchase California and vast amounts of Mexico's other northern territories. On February 2nd, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in Mexico with President Polk Nunn the Wiser. with President Polk none the wiser. When a copy of the treaty finally reached him in Washington, D.C., Polk was mad. Not only had Trist been insubordinate by continuing treaty talks when he was told not to,
Starting point is 00:25:18 but the treaty didn't even cede much of the Mexican land that Polk had been wanting. cede much of the Mexican land that Polk had been wanting. Nevertheless, Polk reluctantly made the decision to accept the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo as it had been written and sent it to the Senate for confirmation. It was approved despite the objections of abolitionists who feared that slavery would expand into these newly obtained Mexican territories. When Nicholas Trist got back to Washington, he was promptly fired by Polk and denied payment for the expenses that he incurred while he was in Mexico. That was it for Trist. He moved back to Virginia where he took clerking and office jobs for the rest of his career. The highest position he reached was his
Starting point is 00:26:05 appointment as the postmaster of Alexandria, Virginia after the Civil War. So what does the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo actually specify? By its terms, Mexico ceded around 55% of its total territory, including the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. The treaty also redrew the border between Texas and Mexico at the Rio Grande, just as the U.S. had initially intended. The United States paid Mexico $15 million, which is around $565 million in today's money for this land and for the damage caused by the war. The U.S. also agreed to assume $3.25 million in debt, which meant that even though Henry David Thoreau spent a night in jail for not paying his taxes to protest the start of the war, he more than likely paid for a share of it through subsequent
Starting point is 00:27:21 taxes after the war ended. At first glance, the war's outcome seemed like a total boon for the United States. Sure, we paid a good chunk of money, but we expanded our land acquisition by millions and millions of acres. And it was good land too. Just as Nicholas Trist was tying up treaty negotiations with Mexican leaders, gold was found in Sutter Creek, California. I mean, at its peak, the California gold rush extracted like $2 billion worth of gold and precious metal from the ground. But simmering under the surface of the war victory and the land riches was the question that would eventually lead to the start of the Civil War. That question was just how much the addition of the new states and territories altered the balance of power between the North and the South. In December of 1859,
Starting point is 00:28:15 Sam Houston was elected as the governor of Texas. In the months leading up to the Civil War, he became the only governor of a southern state to oppose secession. When Texas voted to secede, Houston relented, accepting the decision. He did, however, hold firm on his refusal to swear allegiance to the new Confederate states of America. It was a refusal that cost him his position, and he was replaced with a pro-Confederate governor. But make no mistake about Houston's allegiance to the state he championed throughout his life. Before his death from pneumonia at the age of 70, he reportedly uttered one final word, Texas. I'll see you again soon. Thank you so much for listening to Here's
Starting point is 00:29:09 Where It Gets Interesting. If you enjoyed this episode, would you consider sharing it on social media or leaving us a rating or review on your favorite podcast platform? All those things help podcasters out so much. The show is written and researched by executive producer, Heather Jackson, Valerie Hoback, and Sharon McMahon. Our audio engineer is Jenny Snyder, and it's hosted by me, Sharon McMahon. We'll see you again soon.

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