During the 1800's was the United States a bully? After the United States had annexed Texas, there was a border dispute between Mexico and the U.S., with Mexico insisting upon the border being located at the Nueces River and the U.S. declaring the border at the Rio Grande River. President James K. Polk sent John Slidell, a special envoy, and General Zachary Taylor into the disputed territory of southern Texas. This attempt at annexing California was futile and only angered Mexico along with having American troops at the Rio Grande, which in Mexico's eyes was past the Texas borderline. Later, the U.S. declared war on Mexico after Mexican soldiers fired upon Americans on the "Texas side" of the Rio Grande. Knowing this, was the U.S. justified …show more content…
could not decide on the Texas border. "[In early 1846, on Polk's orders] the troops commanded by General Zachary Taylor arrived at the Río Grande, across from the city of Matamoros, thus occupying the territory in dispute and increasing the possibilities of a confrontation... In the eyes of the [Mexican] government, the mobilization of the US army was an outright attack on Mexico … As a consequence, the Mexican government reaffirmed the instruction to protect the border, meaning the territory located between the Río Grande and the Nueces river - an order which led to the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma ..."(Document C) Since Polk sent the army past the Nueces River, which is were Mexico believed to be the borderline, Mexico believed that it was an act of war to basically, "cross the line." The first shot fired by Mexico was provoked by President Polk and this did not give the U.S. a good reason to declare war on …show more content…
"From Mexico's point of view, the annexation of Texas to the U.S. was inadmissible for both legal and security reasons. Thus, when the Mexican government learned of the treaty signed between Texas and the United States in April 1844, it … would consider such an act "a declaration of war. "..." (Document C) The U.S. knew that Texas still legally belonged to Mexico and when in fact, Mexico told the U.S. that annexing Texas is an act of war, they still decided to annex Texas. Consequently, the U.S. blatantly disregarded Mexico's warnings and in theory, started the war themselves even though they physically didn't fire the first
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
This book by Otis A. Singletary deals with different aspects of the Mexican war. It is a compelling description and concise history of the first successful offensive war in United States military history. The work examines two countries that were unprepared for war. The political intrigues and quarrels in appointing the military commanders, as well as the military operations of the war, are presented and analyzed in detail. The author also analyzes the role that the Mexican War played in bringing on the U.S. Civil War.
Later they wanted to annex it but Mexico said that any attempts to annex Texas would be an act of war. The Mexican War started in 1846, when Mexicans attacked a group of United States soldiers, under the command of Zachary Taylor, in a disputed zone on the border of United States and Mexico, killing about a dozen American soldiers. President Polk told the U.S. Congress that the “cup of forbearance has been exhausted” which means the Mexicans hit the last straw and it is time for war. President Polk sent General Zachary Taylor to Nueces River vs. Rio Grande to poke the Mexicans to shoot and they did. The Mexicans have shed “American blood upon American soil.” The United States wanted war with Mexico now they have a reason to declare war ( History.com
Even throughout continuously losing battle after battle, Mexico thought that Texas was theirs. Still, the United States was still justified in going to war with Mexico. Mexico thought that they were at Texas first and that, that meant that they had the right to call the land theirs but Americans counteracted that they were positive that Texas was theirs and God even tells them that it is destiny to have Texas.
In President James Polk’s War Message to Congress, he states that the Congress of Texas had declared the Rio Grande to be the official boundary between Mexico and Texas. James Polk said, “Sixty-three men and officers, were. dispatched from the American camp up the Rio del Norte, on its [North] bank, to ascertain whether the Mexican troops had crossed, or were preparing to cross, the river. [They] became engaged with a large body of these [Mexican] troops, and, after a short affair, in which some sixteen [Americans] were killed and wounded, appear to have been surrounded and compelled to surrender.” The invasion was almost like a ticket to declare war against Mexico for James Polk.
the land and yet it had such a weak economy and could use the money
The Mexican-American War - Debate The Mexican-American war began in 1846, but reasons for the war began much earlier when Mexico made the crucial decision to entice settlers to Texas, with the promise of affordable land grants, actions which eventually led to the annexation of Texas by the United States. All they had to do was accept Mexico 's requirements of becoming citizens, speaking Spanish and converting to Catholicism, this to people who were use to a government that people had rights and freedoms, not experienced in Mexico. Mexico wanted them to develop these long uninhibited lands of Texas, in hopes that it would promote development in the area.(Nardo, 1991, p. 16). The selling of land grants started in the 1820s and the Mexican-American James W. Fannin took over the garrison at Goliad manning it with 350 untrained volunteers with guns, who would be considered pirates to Mexico.
Annexing Texas was the dumbest mistake we ever made; it upset our balance of beliefs. Even though Mexico is our adversary, so is England, what if one day we want to trade with Mexico? Do you think they would want to trade with us? No, we will become the country that pushed them down when they were already weak enough as it is, and the war will terminate ever having Mexico as an ally. If we fight Mexico then we are being hypocrites, of what we fought for when we went against England.
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.
In 1845 the U.S attempted to Annex Texas. Basically America wanted Texas to become one of the states rather then and independent nation by itself. At this time Texas was an independent nation that was not a part of America or Mexico. Mexico wanted to keep Texas neutral if not a part of its own country. When the U.S attempted to annex Texas Mexico became outraged, " In November 1843 Mexico had warned that if the United States should commit the 'unheard-of aggression' of seizing an integral part of 'Mexican territory' Mexico would declare war " (Bound for the Rio Grande, 62). Despite the warning the U.S attempted to annex Texas. In doing so Mexico retaliated by breaking off all diplomatic relations with the U.S. Mexico felt that the U.S was insulting them by not taking them seriously when they threatened with war. So at this point America showed a very large interest in possessing Texas. America was very close to actually acquiring Texas when they made their first mistake in the war.
Since Santa Anna was taken out of position as president, the Mexican government refused to recognize Texas as independent officially. After attempts to invade Texas by Mexico, the United States decided to annex the Republic of Texas in 1845. This lead to the outbreak of the Mexican-American War. With help from local Native Americans, the United States was able to defeat Mexico, getting them to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo recognized the Texas cession and also agreed to sell California, and the rest of its territory north of Rio Grande for $15 million, as well as taking care of any damages created from the
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
armed conflict on foreign soil. President Polk sent John Slidell to Mexico City in November 1845. This was called “The Slidell Mission.” The assignment from the president was: to give Mexican recognition of the Rio Grande as the TX-US border, American forgiveness by U.S. citizens against the Mexican Government, the purchase of California at any price, and the purchase of the New Mexico area for five million dollars. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was what ended the war in 1848. The treaty was basically forced on Mexico. Mexico then gave up claims on Texas above the Rio Grande. Mexico also gave the U.S. California and New Mexico, which makes up the states of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah. The U.S. gave Mexico fifteen million dollars for the territory claims plus the assumption of some damage claims. The seventeen-month war cost about one hundred million dollars and more than thirteen thousand American lives, mostly due to diseases. New territories were brought into the Union, which forced the explosive issue of slavery to national
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. Hostilities started on April 24th, 1846, 2000 Mexican cavalry crossed the Rio Grande and attacked an American troop of 63 men.
...nd in the west which would help to establish a fighting force in the pacific against the growing threats of the Asian empires such as Japan. Hawaii was annexed during this war and became a U.S. Territory later becoming a state in 1959. It seemed for everyone except Spain, the War was a good thing. Perhaps American loses would have been far less had it not been for the infectious diseases that Americans had never encountered. Because of his leadership and victories in the Spanish-American War, Lt. Col Theodore Roosevelt would later become the 26th president of the United States. He would die in 1919 and is to this date, revered as one of America’s greatest leaders. Because of Theodore Roosevelt’s leadership, he would influence the decisions of his cousin who would lead the nation out of a “Great Depression” and into another “Great War (WWII)” in the 1930’ and 40’s.