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Mexican American War Dbq

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The Mexican War, commonly known as the Mexican-American War, was the war fought by the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. Controversy surrounding the annexation of Texas to the United States predicted war with Mexico and swayed the votes of candidates during the Election of 1844. During the Election of 1844, James K. Polk, an advocate for expansionism, campaigned against Henry Clay, who was in opposition of adding Texas to the Union. Clay lost many of his voters when he tried to encourage the voters to rally against Texas’ annexation. Eventually, Polk assumed the role as president after defeating Clay in the rather close Election of 1844. As president, Polk sought to obtain Texas, Oregon, and the entire Southwest region. While the …show more content…

The key factors that led to the Mexican-American War were the nation’s omnipresent sense of expanding the country, Texas’ annexation to the United States and the fact that Mexico refused to relinquish Texas’ independence. The idea of manifesting destiny was widespread throughout the United States during the nineteenth century. It suggested that American expansion was not only inevitable, but also a divine right and the duty as an American. With such a strong sentiment and an expansionist president leading the country, the U.S. sought to conquer territory from coast to coast. Mexico appeared to be a conspicuous target for fulfilling the manifest destiny because of its’ immensity and wealth. To acquire the entire area of Mexico, the United States would grow tremendously. Additionally, Mexico appeared to be in debt with the United States. In order to get the …show more content…

When the Mexican-American War ended in February of 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was created to settle the dispute between the United States and Mexico. The United States had defeated Mexico, which gave them the obligation of establishing post-war terms. During this time, the Mexican government was threatened with disintegration, so Polk tried to take advantage of the situation. Initially, Polk sought to pay Mexico $30 million for the upper and lower regions of California, New Mexico, and permission to travel through Mexico’s isthmus of Tehuantepec. Recognizing that he could acquire more land at a cheaper price, Polk issued an order to Nicholas P. Trist, his chief negotiator. The only problem was that Mexico’s government was continuing to fall apart and eventually, there would be no one left to sign the treaty. Trist finally completed the sixty-five page treaty in early February; in the official Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico accepted the Rio Grande as the Texas boundary. Mexico also surrendered New Mexico and upper California to the United States. The United States paid Mexico $15 million and took on the claims of the American citizens against Mexico. Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, some American citizens reside in guilt because they realize that their country went to war with a weaker opponent. The subject regarding

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In Chapter 8 titled “We Take Nothing By Conquest… Thank God” Howard Zinn states that the reason why the United States wanted to take the land away from Mexico was to be able to conquer and expand the territory. John Tyler wanted to initiate the war in order to make Texas a state. On the other hand James Polk wanted Texas to become a state that formed part of the United States. Polk also wanted to take over California and initiated the war by sending American soldiers into the territory.

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Have you ever wondered what the country would look like if President Polk decided to not start a war with Mexico? President James Polk, who favored the Manifest Destiny, would choose to take another route. In fact, he might focus on a negotiation with the Mexican government, in which he would offer the protection from European countries, the help in building up a stable government, and the establishment of a strong relationship between two countries in exchange for the annexation of Texas and the area of California and New Mexico. Let first take a look at the condition of the two countries before 1846. In 1845, James Polk took the office and he started to aim for gaining new territories.

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408 Words | 2 Pages

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war between the U.S. and Mexico. This war was initiated by the United States and resulted in Mexico 's defeat and the loss of nearly 60 percent of its territory in the north. In the U.S. the war is termed the Mexican–American War, also known as the Mexican War, the U.S.–Mexican War or the Invasion of Mexico. In Mexico names for the war include Primera intervención estadounidense en México, Guerra de la Invasión estadounidense, and Guerra del 1847. Nonetheless, the Mexican American War was unjust because of President Polk’s thirst for more territory.

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“On September 14, 1847 the Mexican flag was not flying over the Mexican capital, because the Mexico’s neighbors to the north had captured the country”. The terms of the Mexican Cession required the United States to pay 15 million to Mexico and convinced a maximum of

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667 Words | 3 Pages

Mexico thought that the border was the Nueces River, while on the other hand, US believed it to be the Rio Grande which left a chunk of disputable land in-between. After Polk saw how the Mexicans had killed the Americans that he had sent to build forts [between the Nueces and the Rio Grande], he went to congress and asked congress into declaring war on Mexico (O'Brien). Mexico and the US went to war and since the US had settled the Oregon dispute it was easy for the US to end the war quickly. Both signed the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and Mexico also had to surrender control of New Mexico and California. Polk had successfully completed his first two action goals that he had made after his inauguration by getting both Oregon and

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797 Words | 4 Pages

The Mexican-American War occurred betweenstarted from April 25, 1846 - May 30, 1848. In the United States, the president James K. Polk. In Mexico the general is General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna or has General Santa Anna. In most of the battles that Mexico and United States had, the United States now won most of the battles. There were 13 battles in total that the United States and Mexico had before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed.

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Manifest destiny also affected the relationship with Mexico. Several factors led to the Mexican- American War in 1846. The factors were that the U.S citizens were moving into California and Mexico. Since there were many revolutions happening in Mexico throughout this time period the Mexican government was not able to protect the U.S citizens in this region. Another factor was that Mexico was upset that Texas declared independence from them and then the U. S annexed Texas in 1845.

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The Mexican-American war altered the United States environmentally, culturally and politically. First, on February 2, 1848, Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo two years post the beginning of the war. The treaty not only achieved President Polk’s goal to achieve California from Mexico but also granted the U.S. over 500,000 square miles of new territory. The new land caused approximately 90,000 spanish speaking, mostly Catholic Mexicans under American jurisdiction. Second, Nativism, a rising anti-catholic and anti-immigrant deemed the Mexicans inferior.

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Exemplified in John O’Sullivan’s concept of Manifest Destiny, President Polk believed that it was America’s duty to spread American Exceptionalism throughout the entire North American continent. Resultantly, Polk sought to acquire California through peaceful methods at first, and later through more deceptive means. Ultimately, Polk moved troops to a disputed region between the Nueces and Rio Grande rivers in order to provoke a war with Mexico, consequently expediting America’s Manifest Destiny. A justifiable war is one which is undertaken for defensive purposes only, and although misguided by the nationalistic, expansionist precepts of Manifest Destiny, and although he first attempted to acquire southwestern territory peacefully, President Polk failed to satisfy this burden, instead choosing to sacrifice “American blood” for the offensive expansion of his

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The president at that time was Polk, he promised that he would annex Texas and Oregon; and gain New York and California. He also wanted to serve one term as president and wanted to accomplish this. According to Document E written by Joshua Giddings, who was part of the U.S. congress debate on the war with Mexico. This debate was between the House of Representatives on May 13, 1846. “The order was also to abstain from all aggressive acts toward citizens.

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President Polk then sent General Zachary Taylor to go check out the area. Mexico saw this as a violent gesture and promptly attacked the American troops. This resulted in war, in which America gained victory to most of the battles. Finally in 1849, the Mexicans gave the US the New Mexico and California area of land for fifteen million dollars and America paying for the damage they caused during the small war. This was just one of Polk's victories as president of the United States.

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The US did not not have solid reasons to do so besides their own greed, so the US hid behind the idea of Manifest Destiny and tried to justify their actions. John O’Sullivan was the New York City journalist who coined the term Manifest Destiny. He said, “Imbecile and distracted, Mexico never can exert any real government authority over such a country…’’ (O’Sullivan, 8). O’Sullivan and the US suggested that Mexico “needed” the US to come and take over, because otherwise Mexico was going to fall apart. Although this was somewhat true, the US did not try to help Mexico through this difficult time; instead, the US took advantage of Mexico’s weakness and tried to take over completely.

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889 Words | 4 Pages

The Mexican government believed that the border between Mexico and America

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INTRODUCTION Throughout the 1840s and 1850s a major war happened called the Mexican American War which drastically changed the U.S. and Mexico and lead to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to be signed and which established the Rio Grande and not the Nueces River as the U.S Border. This also lead to the U.S. annexation of Texas and lead to the Mexico agreeing to sell California and the rest of the territory for 15 million. So you 're probably wondering why the war was fought but you 'll find that out later.

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1083 Words | 5 Pages

The United States war with Mexico continues to be a divisive topic among many people because of its background. The Mexican-American war was a fight between Mexico and America for land. America’s belief at the time was Manifest Destiny, which meant that they believed that America should extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific ocean. In the end, America benefited from the war and got the land. The United States expanded its size, achieving their dream of Manifest Destiny.

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