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The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846

The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846. By product of westward expansion Major issue – should U.S. annex the independent Texas republic? 1830’s were unsettled with issues relating to California, New Mexico, and Oregon 1840 -1842 economic recovery was the top political issue

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The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846

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  1. The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846 • By product of westward expansion • Major issue – should U.S. annex the independent Texas republic? • 1830’s were unsettled with issues relating to California, New Mexico, and Oregon • 1840 -1842 economic recovery was the top political issue • Only after politicians failed to answer economic issues were opportunist able to thrust issues relating to expansion to the forefront of the political agenda

  2. The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846 • The Whig Ascendancy • The election of 1840 brought Whig candidate William Henry Harrison to the presidency • Installed Whig majorities in both houses of Congress • Whigs had come to power based on Henry Clay’s American System, (stimulate economic recovery) • Quickly repealed Van Buren’s Independent Treasury • They planned to substitute some type of “fiscal agent,” which like the no longer function Bank of the US was a private corporation, chartered by congress, and regulating the currency.

  3. The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846 • The Whig Ascendancy • Whigs also favored a tariff (but a different kind of tariff). • Instead of being set high to protect US manufacturers, it would be modified to be a “revenue” tariff high enough to provide “incidental” protection for American industries (foreign products could enter the US). • Duties collected on these imports would accrue to the federal government as revenue. • The revenue would then be distributed to the states for internal improvements. • Just as popular among southern and western Whigs as the tariff was among northern Whigs.

  4. The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846 • The Whig Ascendancy • All might have been well and moved quickly if it had not been for the untimely death of Harrison just one month after entering office.

  5. The Politics of Expansion, 1840-1846 • The Whig Ascendancy • Vice President John Tyler, an upper crust from Virginia, who had only been added to the ticket to strengthen the Whigs’ appeal in the South. • Tyler was a former Democrat who had split with Jackson over nullification, but he continued to favor the Democratic philosophy of states’ rights.

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