Mexican War Dbq

Imagine inviting neighbors into one 's space and they take it for themselves. This is how Mexico felt in the Mexican-American war. Mexico had a substantial amount of land after declaring itself free from Spain. They wanted to increase the population by allowing U.S. settlers to come into Texas. However, this wasn’t a good idea because Americans had different beliefs on things such as slavery. After many fatal encounters between the two, America had gained control of the territory. They applied for annexation into the United States twice, but congress did not want to aggravate Mexican officials. Although, after James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, congress voted to annex Texas. The United States was not justified in the war with Mexico because they didn’t follow their laws, undisputed territory, and the idea of manifest destiny. To begin with, The United States was not justified because they didn’t abide by Mexico’s

is not advocated for going to war with Mexico. When Texas became the United States’ territory they both had different views on where the border was. Mexico thought it was the Nueces river and the U.S thought it was the Rio Grande. Thus, causing a major issue between them. The U.S. went past what Mexico thought was the border, causing Mexico to fire. Consequently, the U.S. blamed Mexico for attacking them when they were only defending their borders. President James Polk’s statement saying,” Mexico had passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil”(Doc B) and the quote by Jesus Velasco-Marquez,“In the eyes of the Mexican government, the mobilization of the US army was an outright attack on Mexico,” (Doc C) show how the United States and Mexico had different views on where the border was. Overall, it was unjust for the United States to blame Mexico for going on their land when there was no clear