The Mexican War was a violent and devastating event between United States and Mexico that lasted from 1846-1848. President Polk had to lie to congress, to make United States declare war on Mexico. Lincoln considered President Polk provoked as a vote-fixing device and hoped the arguments against the war would cause his reputation in the United States House of Representative. Lincoln claims President Polk misrepresented the whole thing that the Presidents Polk evidence was not true by any means. Lincoln lays out evidence that president Polk gave is either incorrect or irrelevant reasons to gain support from congress. Lincoln examined the President's evidence and analyzed it, he primarily focused six of President Polk initial determinations to
Abraham Lincoln, a Whig congressman lashed out against the Mexican War, he called it immoral and a threat to the the nation's values. Lincoln’s main argument against the war was that it was unconstitutional and uncalled for, stating that the Act War was unnecessary. Acts leading up to the declaration of the war made him suspicious about President Polk’s intentions of going into Mexico. Lincoln used major evidence to support his anti-war argument by examining each piece of the President's war message of May 1846 and six propositions. Lincoln presented a speech in which he explained that Mexicans had made no acts towards the United States and were attacked in an area which was theirs.
In the 1840’s, problems between the U.S. and Mexico had risen. Not one country was sure on if they were being invaded or if one was invading the other. The U.S. was not justified in going to war with Mexico. One reason is that the U.S. was trying to invade Mexico. Doc A is a Magazine article by John L. O’Sullivan written in 1845.
A Mexican citizen living at the time period of the Mexican American war said “they have at last invaded our territory, and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil”. Polk declared in his speech that the Mexicans had attacked first, killing US citizens on US territory. Polk wasn’t lying, but since the land the first battle started on was the disputed area, Polk had no right to say the Mexicans wanted war by attacking them on their soil. This makes the Congress under Polk’s influence unjustified of declaring war on
As a Democrat, I believe that President Polk was justified in starting the Mexican-American War. Also, as a strong supporter of Manifest Destiny, also known as Western expansion, I furthermore find reason to believe Polk was justified in initiating war with the Mexican people; being that the Mexican government refused peaceful negotiation. The Americans were the just owners of this western land, and we intended to get it. The Mexican government refused a meeting with our representative to establish the border between Texas and Mexico, along with an offer of 30 million dollars for Western territory. These western territories would provide substantial economic growth for the United States, as well as the obvious: making our nation larger as
The United States war with Mexico was over 160 years ago and still continues to be a divisive and widely debated topic, was it justifiable or not? The first war to be fought mostly on foreign land, was the Mexican-American War that started in 1846. America, lead by President Polk, who believed the U.S had a “manifest destiny”, fought against Mexico who had a weak military and was politically divided. After the war ended in 1848, Mexico lost one-third of its territory which included present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. Although the United States war against Mexico resulted in the gaining of America’s most valuable land, the war itself was unjust because their goal was to expand slavery, Texas was wrong from the beginning, and the war was based on false pretenses.
The United States fought with vigor, but they were no match for the Mexican soldiers, the shot that killed Davy Crockett was heard around the village. The Mexican-American war was from 1846-1848 but problems started to arouses before that. The Mexicans and the Americans both thought that the land was theirs. The Mexican claimed it but the Americans believed in Manifest destiny which means that the land was a gift from God. Although the United States war against Mexico resulted in the gaining of American’s most valuable land, the war itself was unjust because the Texas was wrong from the beginning, the war was based on false pretenses, and the expanding of slavery was the goal.
The major conflict of President James Polk's term was the Mexican War that began during his presidency on 1846, and ended in 1848. May 13, 1846 is when congress officially declared war on Mexico, but previously to the U.S. declaring war the United States had already won two battles. This war was popular among young men and men, many people wanted to enlist in the army that recruiting stations had to turn away a large amount of people. During the war president James Polk sent a diplomat by the name of Nicholas Trist to try and settle peace with the Mexicans, but had an unsuccessful arrangement with Santa Anna president of Mexico. Therefore the war continued but ended shortly after when the United States won the battle of Mexico
The Mexican-American war was a conflict between the United States and Mexico that began in 1846 and ended in 1848. The war was a result of a dispute over the U.S. annexation of Texas and the Mexican government's refusal to recognize the Rio Grande as the southern boundary of the United States. The war resulted in a U.S. victory and the signing of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which allowed the U.S. to acquire large swaths of Mexican territory, including the modern-day state of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. Despite the U.S. victory, the war was not justified and was a violation of Mexico's sovereignty. The first reason why the Mexican-American war was not justified is that it was based on pretenses.
While describing that America was purposefully sending troops into the disputed war which greatly increased the chances of a war to begin, the author states,”In early 1846, on Polk's orders] the troops commanded by General Zachary Taylor arrived at the Rio Grande, across from the city of Matamoros, thus occupying the territory in dispute and increasing the possibilities of a confrontation.... ”This proves that the Mexican American war wasn’t justified because AMerica was sending troops to try and start conflict in the territory. This is important because AMerica was deliberately trying to start conflict by being in the disputed war. While describing that Mexico believed America was going to try and attack so they responded by protecting their land and country from the invaders, the author states,“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 Rio Grande and the Nueces River - an order which led to the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma....
The War with Mexico There are people who approve or disprove every fight. Many people were strong believers in the Manifest Destiny. James K. Polk wanted to annex Texas and California. The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because Mexico was just defending themselves, slaveholders went to Mexico even though slavery was illegal, and Mexico declared when they changed their border.
*One of the many reasons that the United States was justified to go to war with Mexico is that the Mexican soldiers shot 16 American soldiers. * This shooting was located at the North Bank of the Rio Del Norte River. [Document B, is a speech given by President James Polk, to try and convince congress to go to war with Mexico, and he gave his speech on May 11, 1846. ] In Document B, President
and Mexican forces had taken place in U.S. territory.” “Further, legislators were at odds over whether Polk had the right to unilaterally declare that a state of war
As stated before, the US was justified in going to war with Mexico because of three reasons, Americans were killed, Texas was already annexed, and Manifest Destiny allows it. The United states had many superb reasons for going to war with Mexico. This essay is significant because it helps explain the United States’ choice to go to war with
When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, a string of ruthless dictators and weak presidents made Mexico an easy target for its powerful neighbor, the United States. The US swooped in to expand its territory and its popular institution of slavery. By doing so, the US started a war with Mexico that was justified for illegitimate reasons. The Mexican-American War was not justified because the US took Mexico’s land for the expansion of slavery, and justified their taking advantage of Mexico when it was politically weak by hiding behind Manifest Destiny.
When Polk had decided to send our American troops to the disputed land, the Mexicans went and attacked us. In Document B, President Polk wrote to the Senate and House of Representatives. “...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...” so right here he’s saying that they are trying to figure out if they were going to cross the territory that was annexed to the US but according to Mexico that was not the boarder and they were “crossing” so then they went and attacked and this is what Polk said about the attack “(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...”