The Mexican War of 1846-1848 was one of major importance to U.S. history, but has since fallen into annals of obscurity. It was the nation’s first war fought on foreign soil: a war that advocated the concept of “manifest destiny”, the United States God-given right to claim territory for the establishment of a free democratic society (Stevenson 2009). Even though many historians claim the war was forced on Mexico by slaveholders greedy for new territory, President John Polk viewed the war as an opportunity to defend the annexation of Texas, establish the Rio Grande as its border, and to acquire the Mexican territories of California and New Mexico (Stevenson 2009). Annexation of the newly formed republic of Texas incited bitter debate on all sides. All of the slave states wanted to bring Texas into the Union, but a number of free-states were opposed because it would destroy the balance of power in Congress. Britain also denounced annexation because they wanted to stop American expansion (McGill 2009). The Mexican government, who still claimed the disputed territory, repeatedly warned that if Texas became a U.S. state, there would be war. Despite political controversy and the prospects of war, the annexation of Texas was important because Britain was negotiating an alliance with the Republic of Texas. This alliance would wreck the Southern cotton trade and stop American expansion (The Mexican War 2006). Newly elected President James Polk, a strong advocate for American expansion, dispatched John Slidell to Mexico to negotiate a deal for the New Mexico and California territories and to seek Mexican recognition of the Rio Grande River as the new Mexican-American border. It was important for the United States to establish its border ... ... middle of paper ... ...ed on Mexico by slaveholders greedy for new territory, President John Polk viewed the war as an opportunity to defend the annexation of Texas, establish the Rio Grande as its border, and to acquire the Mexican territories of California and New Mexico. Opportunity to defend the annexation of Texas, establish the Rio Grande as its boarder, and to acquire the Mexican territories of California and New Mexico. References McGill, S. (2009). The War for Texan Independence & the Annexation of Texas. War for Texan Independence & the Annexation of Texas, 1. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Stevenson, K. (2009). The Mexican War. Mexican War, 1. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. The Mexican War. (2006). Current Events, 106(3), 2. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Tindall, G. B., & Shi, D. E. (2010). America, a narrative history (8th ed., Vol. 1). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
In addition, during Polk’s term he expanded the United States’ border to the west coast. His desire to enlarge the country stemmed from his belief in “manifest destiny” which was the idea that the United States was destined to stretch to the Pacific Ocean. His presidency; his decisions for the country were influenced by manifest destiny. In the article titled “Mexican-American War,” James K. Polk wanted to acquire California and the southwestern land of the United States. Polk’s movement of troops into the conflicted zone between the Rio Grande and Nueces River initiated a conflict with Mexico. The conflict developed into a war, with hefty Mexican losses, but finally ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with the U.S. as the victor. In the treaty, Mexico decided to sell all the land north of the Rio G...
The Annexation of Texas was one of the most debatable events in American history. The question at hand would deeply impact the United States for generations to come. There was on one side a long list of reasons for why to not allow annexation, but there was the same kind of list on the other side for reasons to push forward for annexation. Some of these reasons of both sides were slaves, war, manifest destiny, politics , and constitutional rights. Also the way Texas began in a way said that they should be apart of the United States In the end there were more important reasons for annex Texas into the union, than to leave Texas the was she was.
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
Texans voted in favor of annexation to the United States in the first election following independence in 1836. However, throughout the Republic period (1836-1845) no treaty of annexation negotiated between the Republic and the United States was ratified by both nations.
Bauer, K. Jack. “Mexican War,” Handbook of Texas Online, last modified June 15, 2010, accessed May 2, 2014, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qdm02
Manifest Destiny did not end at Texas however, and neither did the debates over slavery and consequently the power of the government. In O’sullivan;s essay , The Annexation of Texas Is Part of America’s Manifest Destiny, O'Sullivan celebrated the annexation but also made this prediction, saying that the weak Mexican government, distracted by the war, could never hope to hold onto the large Californian territory and that “Already the advance guard of the irresistible army of the Anglo-Saxon emigration has begun to poor down upon it, armed with the plough and the rifle, and marking its trail with schools and colleges, courts and representative halls, mills and meeting houses.” (O'Sullivan Annexation). O'Sullivan spoke of the spread of democracy
James K. Polk was one of many that felt extremely strong about Texas joining the Union. Silbey uses direct quotes from politicians gives a deeper outlook into Texas annexation. “That there is a large majority who would be glad to see Texas, in some way or another, united to this country, there can be no doubt.” (Silbey 81) Shortly after this widespread idea of Texas joining the country Congress was overwhelmed with bills to make Texas’s entry accomplished.
It was the starting point of hatred between the Mexicans and the Americans, which would develop into the Mexican American War. The Compromise of 1850 resolved the war it was a five bill package that lessened the confrontation between slave and free states. The compromise established California as a free state, New Mexico and Utah as territories with the question of slavery to be set by popular sovereignty, settled a boundary between Texas and Mexico, terminated slave trade in Washington, D.C., and made it easier for southerners to get back their slaves. The Texas problem however, would grow into a revolution led, without any help from the American army. The Mexicans end up being defeated and Texas is declared independent in 1836 but due to slavery Texas was taken over until 1844. Some positive annexation on Texas was that since it was a large state it provided land for raising large cattle farms and had access to the gulf. The negative effects were that it was another slave
The Annexation of Texas was one of the most debatable events in the history of the United States. This paper argues the different opinions about doing the annexation of Texas or not. In this case Henry Clay and John L. O’Sullivan had completely opposite opinions about this issue. The reasons of why not do it was because of the desire to prevent war, for division over slavery, and for constitutional rights. On the other hand, John L. O’ Sullivan wanted to do this because of his idea of Manifest Destiny. By 1845, the annexation of Texas went into effect.
The movement for independence in Texas started when Mexican president Anastasio Bustamante, on April 6, 1830, forced new laws upon Texans to increase the population of Mexican citizens and decrease the population of American settlers. Bustamante prohibited further immigration to Texas by Americans. He also revoked the property tax law, which allowed immigrant settlers to avoid paying taxes for a full ten years, and increased the tariffs on goods exported from the United States. If that hadn’t already angered the Texans, Bustamante demanded that the settlers abide with the federal prohibition against slavery. The settlers were told if they were to disobey these orders, military intervention would
In the 1840’s, with American expansion ongoing, under the principles of Manifest Destiny, James K. Polk entered into the presidency of the United States. Polk campaigned the ideals of manifest destiny and believed that territory under Mexican control should be acquired to facilitate further expansion. The lands in question are now known as California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, and the Mexican government was resistant and unwilling to part with them. With tensions rising between the two nations, Texas is annexed into the U.S. and Polk dispatches an envoy to Mexican President Nicolas Bravo in an attempt to purchase California and New Mexico. Nicolas Bravo was aware of his attempt
The underlying tension before the skirmish was also a land issue and I think that Mexico was being unreasonable when it came to the annexation of Texas, as Texas had declared its own independence. Mexico had signed a peace treaty with Texas in 1844, and there was no reason not to consider Texas an independent nation. Overall, I think that the war could have been avoided had both countries been more willing to
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
Under James Polk’s presidency, America wanted to continue the western expansion. They claimed that this was God’s plan and that the American’s were God’s new chosen people. The American government used this concept of “manifest destiny” to justify their intent. By saying that God intends for them to claim this land and continue the expansion they were able to gain the support of the American citizens. America would be gaining almost half of the territory of Mexico, for a price tag of thirty million dollars. Aside from monetary gain the agreement proposed by Polk offered no benefits for Mexico.
During President Polk’s presidency, America grew by two-thirds, the term “Manifest Destiny” was coined, and America went to war for land in 1846 with the Mexican-America War (U.S. History.org, 2017). In February 1846, Texas became a state (a slave state) then Oregon became a state in June. Later that month, Polk declared war against Mexico and the Mexican-American War would be fought until 1848 and ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Schultz, 2013). The treaty not only ended the war, but allowed America to acquire a large amount of land in exchange for $15 million and set the boundaries between Mexico and America (Schultz,