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In 1846, the war between Mexico and America was beginning. But many Americans and Mexicans questioned if going to war was the most justified thing to do. The United were not justified into going to war with Mexico because they didn’t have justification to respond with violence against Mexico. Also, the war with Mexico and the United States was a product of the belief of manifest destiny. President James Polk’s desire to gain new territory from the Mexicans and disappointment over Mexico refusing to sell him California were possible factors in his action to wage war against Mexico. Under the leadership of president Polk, the United States provoked Mexico into attacking United States troops. The United States had no right to start a war with
Rodolfo Acuña and Norman A. Graebner take opposing standpoints on this topic. Acuña takes the standpoint that the Americans took advantage of the Mexican government, which was young and unstable at the time. He argued that the United States waged an unjust war solely for the acquisition of new lands. His excerpt from Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, 3rd Edition provided the basis for his argument. On the other hand, Graebner took the standpoint that President James Polk pushed a policy, enforced by a stronger nation, to force Mexico to sell New Mexico and California and recognize the annexation of Texas to the United States without starting a war. His argument was taken from his article “The Mexican War: A Study in Causation”. Both sides of the American Imperialism argument contain their own strengths. However, after the examination of the articles, Graebner proposes a more convincing
Through Manifest Destiny, the U.S. conquered many new territories. Ever since the U.S. became its own country, they always wanted more land. They thought that the Manifest Destiny gave them the right to expand and conquer more land. The United States were offered a deal known as the Louisiana Purchase which doubled their size. Even after they received this land, they were thirsty for more. They wanted to have Texas as their own. After Texas got their independence from Mexico, President Polk annexed it. Polk had his eye set on California next. But before he could get California, he had to deal with border dispute in Texas, leading to the war with Mexico. So, did the United States have a good reason to go to war with Mexico? The answer is simple, the U.S. was not justified into going to war with Mexico. This is proven through the Manifest Destiny, border disputes, and an American viewpoint on the war.
The Mexican-American War was in 1846, many Americans and Mexicans died. Mexico was trying to win back the land they once had, while America wanted more of their land for their belief manifest destiny. The Mexican-American war was started by a simple mistake, the Americans went to Mexico to ask for more land. While some Americans were camping in Texas a group of Mexican soldiers killed all of the Americans. This was because American and Mexico haven’t decided on whose territory Texas was since The Alamo. The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because America came in and broke the laws, there were no borders for Texas, and America stole Mexico's land. Tejanos(Mexicans) invited Americans in to settle in Texas. Americans also known as Anglos Broke most of the few laws Mexico made. There was a war for the independence of Texas. A couple years later, President Polk went to go ask Mexico for some of their land because of their belief called Manifest destiny. Which was the belief that God wanted to expand America's land from Texas all the way to the Pacific.
Many believed that the United States was fulfilling their Manifest Destiny by extending their Democratic ideals and to extend the boundaries of the area of freedom. Many also feared, like President Polk, that Great Britain and France would take control of territory—such as that of California—if the United States did not. In addition to this, many believed it to be completely justified due to the fact that Mexican soldiers were the first to fire upon U.S. soldiers initiating the start of the war. At the time of the Mexican-American War, Anti-Slavery was a large controversial topic.
The relationship between the United States and Mexico has become increasingly complicated since the 19th century. In the mid-1800s, the United States aimed to spread its territory by settling a large portion of Mexico’s territory, including parts of California, Arizona, and Texas. The United States was drawn to Mexico’s rich land and its agricultural opportunities. Mexico had achieved its independence from Spain just before the U.S.-Mexican War, and was not ready to give up its newly acquired land. In 1846, however, war between the U.S. and its Southern neighbors began. Throughout the struggle, the United States exerted its power over Mexico. Many Mexicans felt threatened by the power of the U.S. The United States was viewed as a neighboring bully, looking to exert its force unjustly over innocent and defenseless people. A number of unfortunate personal exchanges throughout the dispute only worsened the nation’s opinions of each other. Mexico continued to see the U.S. as an overly powerful polity, threatening to discredit Mexico’s legitimacy as an independent nation. The United States saw Mexico as a disrespectful and inadequate younger sibling .
Countries will go to extremes to call something their own and if something is theirs there is no way they will let it go. America and Mexico both thought Texas was theirs so America took action which led to a war. The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because American influence was already apart of the disputed territory, Mexico invaded Texas, and United States needed to complete Manifest Destiny.
was justified into going to war to Mexico was because of their manifest destiny. The quote “...hostile interference against us,... hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Province (God)...” (Document A) by O’Sullivan is saying how they must keep on moving to the West to claim the lands that God told them to claim. Any nation that stands in the way of their manifest destiny must be removed. Since Mexico stands in their way, the U.S. has the right to remove them by the words of God. Mexico stands in the way of the U.S.’s manifest destiny and has to be taken care
Americans, inspired by the idea of manifest destiny meaning it was their God given right to rule the entire, mass, amount of land from ocean to ocean. Thanks to this vision it quickly sent current land occupiers, Californios or Mexico, and the United States in two completely different directions. In 1846, Mexican soldiers rose up against United States forces. On May 31, 1846 President James K. Polk declared war. A small California Republic, The Bear Flag Revolt, seized Sonoma for naval forces to occupy in hopes of wining the war. The Mexican War didn’t bring about much fighting just a hot potato game of territory conquering, but in January of 1847 Andres Pico a Mexican official surrendered to U.S. lieutenant John Fremont (Uschan 10). Formally in May of 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was reviewed by both temperamental parties and after approval from the United State...
The war between the United States and Mexico happened in (April 1846–February 1848) it marked the first war fought on foreign ground for U.S. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. the President of the U.S. James K. Polk had the idea that Americans should spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean this was called the “manifest destiny” A border skirmish along the Rio Grande started off the fighting and was followed by a series of U.S. victories. When the dust cleared, Mexico had lost about one-third of its territory
The main reasons why the United States entered the Mexican-American war were Manifest destiny, which was the belief that the expansion of the U.S. throughout the American continents was both justified and expected, western expansion, economics, and slavery. American citizens in the south wished to gain more slave states in order to increase their political power. The United States annexation of Texas and the American’s desire for California and other Mexican territories were also main reasons.
President Polk thought that America’s “manifest destiny” was more important than other countries and that he was supposed to help America grow bigger. Santa Anna, the Mexican president at the time, forced people of his race and others off of their own land because he wanted it and they didn’t deserve it. “It is time for opposition to the Annexation of Texas to cease…. Texas is now ours…. Let their reception into the “family” be frank, kindly, and cheery….” (Sullivan 323). Both leaders of their countries were selfish and risked so many of their own people’s life just so they could do what they believed was right. “In the eyes of the [Mexican] government, the mobilization of the US army was an outright attack on Mexico….” (Velasco-Marquez 327). Not only did these national leaders risk lives, they gambled some of their country, in which Mexico would soon lose a lot of it. The leaders did not care about who’s lives they were risking, as long as they were following their thoughts and doing things without
“Polk didn’t just want to annex Texas. He also had his eye on California.” (Roden page 317). Was the United States justified in going to war with Mexico? The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because Mexico and the U.S. both had different boundaries, Mexico asked the U.S. to leave, and Polk was greedy and kept bugging Mexico.
The US was justified in going to war with Mexico because the mexicans attempted to forcefully removed General Zachary Taylor’s men, Mexico killed Americans first and the US would be able to obtain California. Mexico had no reason to send forces into the disputed territory without communicating with the Americans. Mexico attacked and killed 16 Americans at the Rio del Norte, giving America no other choice than to defend their people. It was America’s Manifest Destiny to spread to the Pacific, so when America could distract Mexico with the war over Texas, they took their chance. America had many justifiable reasons for going to war with Mexico, but Mexico might tell another story, so take what I have told you and what others will tell you and choose whether or not the US was justified in going to war with
The Mexican-American War occurred from 1846-1848. The American army was a formidable one and did sack Mexico City at one point, making the entire country part of the U. S. but Polk did not want to do that. Instead, Polk wanted to stop the war because he had gained the territory he wanted so that the nation would be one from sea to sea. The California Gold Rush would make settling the west with Americans much easier than the normal settlement
The Mexican-American war determined the destiny of the United States of America, it determined whether or not it would become a world power and it established the size of the United States of America. Perhaps the war was inevitable due to the idea of Manifest Destiny - Americans thought they had the divine right to extend their territory. The Mexican-American War started mainly because of the annexation of the Republic of Texas (established in 1836 after breaking away from Mexico). The United States and Mexico still had conflicts on what the borders of Texas was, the United States claimed that the Texas border with Mexico was the Rio Grande, but the Mexicans said that it was the Nueces River, so the land in between were disputed and claimed by both the United States and Mexico.