Mexican American War Dbq Essay

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.

Texas from the very beginning was mistaken. The Americans came

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. It seemed that the President expected General Taylor to find “Mexicans citizens” located within the United States…” What Mr. Giddings means by this, is that, Polk knew that the was rightfully the Mexicans land because he says “Mexican citizens” which means an inhabitant of Mexico. President Polk refers the citizens, as living in Mexico which means that he knew the land was Mexican territory and not his. To point out this was coming from a man who believed in Manifest Destiny. In the long run Polk was just lying through his teeth. Polk wasn’t the only the only person in America was misleading everyone. As stated by Benjamin Lundy who became active in the antislavery movement in the 1820s says in Document C that “We have been asked to believe that the inhabitants of Texas have been fighting to maintain the sacred principles of Liberty, and the natural inalienable Rights of Man--whereas their motives have been exactly the opposite.” This is another example of false pretenses because the Americans said they were fighting for freedom when instead they were fighting so that they could have slaves. The wars intentions fooled many people. This makes the war inexcusable because the United States not only lied about having the rights to possess the Rio Grande, but additionally they wanted slaves in a land that had long since abolished