Judy L. Graves Essay Example For Students

Judy L. Graves Essay April 26, 2004HIST 300 Motivations for a Southern DreamAntebellum American culture was defined by the notion of ManifestDestiny. Americans felt that it was her divine right to expand borders andspread her form of democracy. After the war with Mexico and the annexationof Texas, American dreams of the economic prosperity to be attained bygaining more land became more prominent. The United States governmenttried purchasing lands to the south, particularly Cuba, from Europeanpowers. Some American citizens could not wait for negotiations and began,what was then called, filibustering. Private militias of American citizensinvaded South American countries with dreams and ambitions. The U.S. hadbeen at peace with Central America since the end of the Mexican wars andthese movements only caused chaos with foreign policies, thus it was madeillegal to filibuster. Despite the repercussions many men from all overthe U.S., of all ages, and classes still gathered arms and joined the ranksto fight in these filibuster movements. Motivated by economic ambitions Americans insisted on expanding itsboarders. The weak condition of Mexico after the overthrow of Santa Annain 1855 made annexation appealing.1 Routes to the pacific could be madequicker with use of the state. Duff Greens railroad idea linkingWashington with the Pacific coast through Mexico City was one ideaprovoking expansionists. Another was the plan for a railway or canalacross the Isthmus of Theuantepec to compete with central American routesto the pacific.2 Trade in the pacific was important and commercialcareers were being built every day. Industrialization in the east requiredmore urban sprawl. Most of the recruiting offices for the movement were based in majorcities ripe with unemployed, immigrants and ambitious young men. Theavailability of docks, shipping and capital in the major port cities suchas New Orleans and New York made them great starting points for manymovements.3 Lopez began his movement to liberate Cuba in New York afterhe was exiled there. Lopezs Round Island plot in 1849 gathered numerousurban youth easily from New Yorks abundance of unemployed. New Orleans was abundant with recruiters for William Walkers forceseasily intriguing young men with no prospects of their own. During the pre-Civil War period, Americas urban population increased about three times asfast as the countrys population as a whole.4 Skilled workers and theirapprentices, now unemployed due to industrialization, were ready for anyopportunity. Youthful males migrated to the cities in search of employmentand with secrecy joined filibuster movements. Many young men hid theirintentions to join from their parents. James C. Picketts son was linked tofilibustering movements, an embarrassment to him. Pickett later publiclydenounced any involvement and claimed to not care as to whether theysucceeded in their ventures. Some parents were proud of their children. Awell-known planter in Mississippi, F.L. Claiborne, offered up his son to aQuitman expedition in Cuba.5 Reasons vary, but the majority of menjoining these movements were under the age of 25 and many of them die d fora cause that they may not have believed in but were driven to support dueto their own personal struggles. The amount of younger males outweighed theolder in the militias. In a letter shared with the Fillmore administrationan older soldier of a filibustering movement claimed that many of theyounger men simply joined because they were under age to join the U.S. military.6Immigrants were on the low end of the wage scale and faced muchdiscrimination in the job market were driven to joining the militias.7Most immigrants who joined were starving and living on the streets. It isalso speculated that many immigrants fled to the U.S. in exile from theEuropean revolutions of 1848 and joined to regain the glory of their formermilitary or political careers. Louis Schlesinger, a officer in LouisKossuths failed Hungarian rebellion against Austrian rule, became one ofthe most publicized of the revolutionary exiles who took upfilibustering.8 Charles Frederick Henningsen was an Englishman whofought with the Carlists in Spain, then for Hungarian independence in 1849,and finally drifted to Central America to join Walker in 1856. Henningsenbecame one of Walkers generals and was purely seeking adventure.9 Menwith military experience were very welcomed by Narcisco Lopez and WilliamWalker in their expeditions.10In the west there was a labor surplus of failed min ers from the GoldRush in California.11 One of the most notable was David Deaderick whojoined William Walker on his mission to Nicaragua after failing as a goldminer in California. Deadrick, like many others, used an alternate name. He published his memoirs in the Atlantic Monthly aptly titled Theexperience of Samuel Absolom, Filibuster.12 In his memoir he describesthe increasing class stratifications in California and that men are judgedaccordingly. He was offered land and a large sum to join Walker inNicaragua.13 At the time it was an offer that he could not refuse. Deaderick wanted to prove that inward character counts more thanappearance in determining a mans fate, in a time that there was a crisisin American culture between character and appearance. Hamlet - A Comparison To Humanity Essay20Imperialistic motivations in Manifest Destiny encouraged men as earlyas 1814 when John H. Robinson led a group of filibusters in to Texasstating that U.S. citizens have a right to migrate where ever they wish andit is beyond the governments power to prevent them.21 Robinson supportedJames Longs later ambitions toward annexing Texas in 1819 when Longlaunched his own filibuster movement in spite of the Adams-Onis Treaty. His contemporaries viewed the treaty as an injustice because it surrenderedAmerican claims to Texas.22It was believed that the inferior cultures of the south were incapableof self-government. John H. Wheeler, U.S. Minister to Nicaragua in 1854,firmly believed that the United States was manifestly destinedtoguide the people of those areas toward decent government and a betterlife.23Many of Walkers men in Nicaragua were Mexican war veterans, andmany were in Central America for all the loot, adventure, liquor andwomen they could find.24 Some of these War Veterans had nothing else todo since the army greatly reduced its size after the Mexican Wars. Enlisted men in the 1850s quickly deserted and joined Walker, Lopez, andQuitman expeditions in Central America for various reasons. Some wereglory seekers and others sought their fortune in the militias. Both Walkerand Quitman expeditions usually offered more money than the military didand offered a plot of land too. These expeditions also offered excitement. During this time of peace in the U.S. the only job for military personnelwas to protect western borders from Native American insurrections. Newspapers at this time had quit glorifying military halts to Indianrevolts and therefore quit glorifying the military. Articles focusedmainly on expansionism in Central America and the filibusters. Some menfound it more appealing to seek glory in the south than to be stationed inthe west watching Indians.25The varying reasons for joining such militias explains the popularityof the movements. The medias involvement in, first honoring filibusterthen denouncing them, made the movements both strong and weak. Thepopularization of the movement first came from the medias portrayal ofglory and riches in the Caribbean. When William Walker finally gainedcontrol of Nicaragua he was considered a hero of the South, only after here-institutionalized slavery. The reestablishment of slavery lost him allhis support in the north and any chance of the U.S. Government torecognized him as president. After the reports of death and famine reachedthe papers and the lost opportunity to purchase Cuba from Sp ain, supportbegan to crumble. The media did play a strong role in motivations, but thatwas not the only factor. Unemployment, social status, glory seeking,economics, and national security all play a role in motivating the nationto filibustering. 1 May, Robert. The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire 1854-1861. BatonRouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1973. pg. 1392 May, Robert. The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire 1854-1861. Pg. 1393 May, Robert. Manifest Destinys Underworld. Chapel Hill: The Universityof North Carolina Press, 2002. Pg. 944 May, Robert. Manifest Destinys Underworld. Pg. 945 May, Robert. Manifest Destinys Underworld. Pg. 956 May, Robert. Manifest Destinys Underworld. Pg. 957 May, Robert. Manifest Destinys Underworld. Pg. 978 May, Robert. Manifest Destinys Underworld. Pg. 989 Cochran, Robert. Cold-Eyed Soldier of Fortune Who Became aPresident. Smithsonian 12 (1981): 117-12810 May, Robert. Manifest Destinys Underworld. Pg. 9811 May, Robert. Manifest Destinys Underworld. Pg. 10112 Greenberg, Amy. A Grey-Eyed Man: Character, Appearance, andFilibustering. Journal of the Early Republic 20 (2000): 673-69913 Greenberg, Amy14 Greenberg, Amy15 Greenberg, Amy16 May, Robert. The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire 1854-1861. Pgs. 19-2117 Kelley, Sean. Mexico in His Head: Slavery and the Texas-MexicoBorder. Journal of Social History 27 (2004): 709-73418 May, Robert. Young American Males and Filibustering in the Age ofManifest Destiny: The United States army as a cultural mirror. The Journalof American History 78 (Dec. 1991): 857-88619 Cochran, Robert. 20 May, Robert. The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire 1854-1861. Pg. 14121 Bradley, Ed. Filibuster James Long and the Monroe Administration.Southwestern Historical Quarterly 102 (1999): 322-34222 Bradley, Ed23 Hudson, Randall. The Filibuster Minister: The Career of John HillWheeler as United States Minister to Nicaragua, 1854-1856. North CarolinaHistorical Review 49 (1972): 280-29724 Cochran, Robert. 25 May, Robert. Young American Males and Filibustering in the Age ofManifest Destiny: The United States army as a cultural mirror.