Manifest Destiny In The Mexican-American Civil War

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Amanda Martin Mr. Gubellini Humanities I Honors February 15th, 2015 Manifest Destiny In the 1800’s the United States did not only torture and remove the Native Americans from their homelands, they also decided to come up with an excuse called “manifest destiny” to make their expansion westward and taking some of Mexico’s land seem like it was acceptable. Surely enough it did not come without a price. We would have never achieved manifest destiny if it wasn’t for the Texas Revolution, the Annexation of Texas, the Mexican-American War, the Bear Flag Revolt, and conflicts with that Native Americans. In the early-mid 1800’s, there was a belief that the destiny for the United States was to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican Territory, …show more content…

On April 25th, 1846 Mexican cavalry attacked a group of U.S. soldiers under the command of General Zachary Taylor. The Mexican cavalry killed a dozen U.S. soldiers. Just 18 days later, on May 13th, Congress declared war on Mexico even though there was some opposition from northern lawmakers. As Mexico’s losses added up,, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna convinced James K. Polk that if he was allowed to return to Mexico he would end the war in a way that was most favorable to the United States. When Santa Anna returned he double-crossed Polk, and led the Mexican army to battle. During the Battle of Buena Vista Santa Anna had many casualties and was forced to withdraw. After this the war had basically ended, and Santa Anna resigned. On February 2nd, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, which established Rio Grande as the United States.-Mexican border, recognized the U.S. annexation of Texas, and sold California and the rest of its territory north of Rio Grande for $15 million to the United …show more content…

Merritt and his men captured retired Mexican General Mariano Vallejo and informed him that he was a prisoner of war. Later, William Ide arrested Mariano Vallejo and his family. Ide and Merritt then proceeded to declared California as an independent republic. With a cotton sheet and red paint, they created a makeshift flag that resembled the drawing of a grizzly bear, a lone star, and “California Republic” written across the bottom. From that moment on it was known as the Bear Flag Revolt. After the U.S. military was in control of the California Republic it slowly faded