Chronology of political events in the US (mid 19th C)

 

1845

• March 1: President John Tyler signs official proposal of statehood for Texas. Mexican leaders warn that annexing Texas could lead to war.
• March 4. Democrat James K. Polk elected President

• 1846

  • May 13: US Congress declares war on Mexico.

  1847

  • February 22-23: The Battle of Buena Vista is the last major battle in the northern theater. The Americans will hold the ground they gained until the end of the war, but not advance any farther.
  1848
  • March 10: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the USA. The treaty called for the U.S. to pay US$15 million to Mexico.  It gave the United States the Rio Grande as a boundary for Texas, and gave the U.S. ownership of California and a large area comprising roughly half of New Mexico, most of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. 
  • 1849
  • Gold discovered in California
  • 1850
  • The compromise of 1850 (including the Fugitive Slave Law)
  • 1852
  • Franklin Pierce - Democrat president elected; Jefferson Davis is his secretary of War
  • 1854
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act (Kansas becoming a slave state infringes the Missouri compromise)