Long Term Effects Of The Mexican American War

In 1846, two superpowers of the Americas went to war against one another, Mexico and the United States of America. Though the war was purely based upon land expansion, the aftereffects were consequently very important to all the people who lived in either country. The three most important effects of this territorial war, known as the Mexican-American war, include the increase of miners and settlers pushing west, the dramatic decrease of the Native American population, and the increase in sheer number of slaves and popularity of slavery. When the U.S. won the Mexican-American war, they gained over 500,000 square miles of land alone from the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, not including the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 which acquired an additional 29,000 square miles. With all this new land, there were many trail blazers that set out to conquer the wilderness. Miners were hired for the rich ore in the new territory while most settlers were farmers looking for new lands. The popular slogan used to entice settlers was “Manifest Destiny” which was displayed usually by an angel. “Manifest Destiny” implied that it was the common man’s destiny to conquer this land and incorporate it into the

to the Indian Territories, or the Midwest. When the West opened up and settlers pushed forward, the Native Americans were attacked. Thought more of obstacles rather than people, Miners decimated the Native American population. Within twenty-five years, 4 out of 5 Native Americans died. Those who survived could only find solace in places that miners “deemed undesirable”, some of which would later become Native American reservations. Not only did the “Anglos” take their land, but they also took nearly all of their self-government and “autonomy.” The other group that was largely impacted by the aftermath of the Mexican-American War was the fairly large slave