-A new Whig party
-Tyler's presidency
-American Expansionism and Manifest Destiny
-The status of the Oregon Country
-Revolution in Texas

[SLIDE 1]

The year 1832 was a year of crises, which might have set the stage for a change in government, but it didn't. At least not yet. The Antimasons, a third party led by Thurlow Weed, held the nation's first nominating convention, which took place in Baltimore, while the Republicans issued the nation's first formal party platform, but with no unity among Jackson's opponents and a president still viewed as a national hero, Jackson won a second term.

[SLIDE 2]

As part of Jackson's Bank War to end the Second Bank, Jackson had removed paper money and credit, intending to win support from advocates of specie, coins. His actions would snowball, resulting in a collapse of the economy. It was Van Buren who would have to cope with the fallout, causing him to be a one-term president.

[SLIDE 3]

A number of political factions opposed to the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren coalesce into a new political party. The Whig Party was named after the antimonarchist party in England, a dig at "King Andrew" Jackson. They failed in their first presidential election attempt against Martin Van Buren, but won their next time around, making Van Buren a one-term president and electing William Henry Harrison and John Tyler.

[SLIDE 4]

The rising rate of American literacy, coupled with the growth of media, resulted in Americans being more aware of national issues than ever before. A million more men would vote in the 1840 presidential election than had only four years before. The Whigs launched a unified campaign against Van Buren in the election of 1840, backing William Henry Harrison and his running-mate John Tyler. It was the first campaign in which a campaign song would play a game-changing role. The campaign heavily smeared Van Buren, but it was successful. Harrison would be the oldest president to be elected up until the time of Reagan. However he also gave the longest inauguration speech on record, unfortunately for him during nasty weather. He died of some sort of fever after only a month in office, becoming the first president to die in office. John Tyler would then set a precedent for becoming the first vice president to assume the presidency in an orderly manner following the death of the incumbent.

[SLIDE 5]

Tyler had been a staunch Democrat until the Nullification Crisis when he resisted Jackson's use of federal power. Once in office, he acted much like a Democratic in vetoing protective tariffs, internal improvements, and efforts to recreate a national bank. Most of his Whig Cabinet resigned over his policies, and he was seldom in line with Whig legislation in Congress. As a Southern defender of states' rights, Tyler would later side with the Confederacy when the Civil War breaks out, a shocking action on the part of a former president.

[SLIDE 6]

Christian missionary organizations advocated American expansion, as did many politicians. Popular sentiment brought a tidal wave of settlers westward.  Some spoke of manifest destiny. Thomas Hart Benton, the Democratic congressman of Missouri, visualized American colonization of the Pacific coast and then Asia. The problem was, Mexico still laid claim to much of the southwest, and Britain still claimed half the Oregon Country.

[SLIDE 7]

 A longstanding agreement with Britain meant that residents of Oregon were not clearly British or American, making the laws governing them also unclear. Settlers made several attempts to establish American laws. In 1843, the First Organic Laws of Oregon essentially made Oregon an independent republic, but it was intended as an interim action. Oregon's settlers wanted to be part of the United States. Neither Britain nor America really wanted to fight another war, so the issues would eventually be resolved diplomatically, with both sides making concessions.

[SLIDE 8]

Tensions in Texas had been growing for some time. Mexico outlawed slavery in 1829, but most of the settlers coming to Texas were southerners, who brought slaves as well as racial bigotry toward dark-skinned Tejanos. In addition, the official religion of Mexico was Roman Catholic, but most of the settlers were Protestant. The situation came to a head when Santa Anna overthrew the weak Mexican government and made clear he intended to force Texas into compliance.

[SLIDE 9]

The Texas Revolution was part of a larger uprising against Santa Anna's usurpation of power and abolition of Mexican democracy, but Texas was the only Mexican province that succeeded in breaking away from Mexican control. The insurrectionists were able to establish the Republic of Texas, which was eventually annexed by the United States.

[SLIDE 10]

The defenders of the Alamo, a combination of Texians and Tejanos, were slaughtered but at great cost to Santa Anna's troops, one-third of whom also died. Santa Anna released the captured women so they could transmit the terrible story of what would happen to resisters. Meanwhile, Sam Houston was gathering troops. Despite being badly outnumbered by Mexican forces, a contingent of Sam Houston's troops somehow managed to capture Santa Anna at the San Jacinto River. The Treaty of Velasco, wrested from Santa Anna while he was a prisoner, was not recognized by Mexico, which did not recognize Texas independence until later, when in 1848 the U.S.–Mexican War was settled by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The issue of slavery continued to influence U.S. actions: Congress refused to ratify the annexation of Texas because the vast territory was below the Missouri Compromise line and would have tilted the balance of power toward the southern slavery states.

[SLIDE 11]

The "Webster" part of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty was named after Daniel Webster, Tyler's secretary of state, who negotiated the treaty with Britain intended to resolve the lines of the Canadian border. At the same time, Webster showed no interest in Sam Houston's second request for annexation of Texas. When Webster resigned with the other Whig cabinet members in 1843, the new secretary of state was Abel P. Upshur, who was more responsive. Negotiations began with Upshur, but when he died, they were continued by John C. Calhoun. The treaty kept the same southern boundary as did the Treaty of Velasco, the Rio Grande. The Senate failed to ratify the treaty because the same issue remained concerning the status of slavery in Texas.

[SLIDE 12]

Many legislators did not support annexation of Texas, but the election of James Polk was viewed as a referendum on the Texas question, and so the bill to annex Texas is passed by Congress in the wake of the election, just prior to Polk assuming office. The newly elected President Polk wants to control Oregon in its entirety.

[SLIDE 13]

In 1846, the formal border with Great Britain's colonies was finally established at the 49th parallel. Two years later, Congress formally established the Oregon Territory.