Manifest Destiny
- belief that the U.S. had the right to all the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
• Presidential candidate James Polk believed strongly in Manifest Destiny, and he favored annexing Oregon and Texas.
• His Presidential slogans were:
“Fifty-Four Forty or Fight”
and
“All of Oregon or None”
• After winning the election, the U.S. and Great Britain compromised by dividing Oregon at latitude 49 degrees north.
Mexican War: The Beginning
• The U.S. declared war on Mexico in 1846, shortly after annexing Texas.
• Northerners opposed the war. They felt it was a Southern attempt to add more slave states to the Union.
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