Texas Annexation And The Rio Grande Border

In this time, Spain recently gained their independence from Spain in 1820.The new country invited settlers from the United States. Since Mexico was a brand new country at the time, problems arose between the settlers and the government, eventually leading to conflicts during that time period. “Throughout the 1820s, Americans settled in the vast territory of Texas, often with land grants from the Mexican government”(Pike). Before the secession of Texas, Mexico was made up of over one million seven hundred thousand square miles.But in 1832 settlers began a war for independence.Santa Anna defeated the American rebels at the Alamo in early 1836. Texas its independence from Mexico. On 21 April 1836 General Sam Houston over one thousand Texans under

Finally, in 1836, the president of Mexico Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna signed the Treaty of Velasco, which granted independence to Texas.Those who were living in Mexico refused to accept the treaty because Santa Anna was prisoner by Texas settlers. After a short while, Mexico broke diplomatic relations with the United States and refused to recognize either the Texas annexation or the Rio Grande border. When Texas declared its independence, it claimed as its territory an additional 150 miles of land, to today’s border of the Rio Grande River. For almost a decade, Texas remained an independent republic. After Texas gained its independence from Mexico, its voters overwhelmingly supported annexation into the United States. Although Mexico broke relations with the United States over the issue of Texas, the most contentious issue was the new state's border: Texas claimed that the Rio Grande was the border, and Mexico argued that the border stood far to the north along the Nueces River. Disputes over the border continued until 1845 when Texas asked the United States to be annexed and admitted to the Union as a slave state. This new annexation brought about the dispute of a borderline, and Texas wanted more land for slavery, which

The bombing continued for one hundred and sixty hours, and Mexican forces slowly surrounded the fort. Thirteen United States soldiers died. On May 9 the Battle of Resaca de la Palma started, and the two sides were involved in hand to hand combat.”The two armies met again the next day at a place called Resaca de la Palma, about 5 miles south of Palo Alto. Arista had taken his troops to this spot, hoping that the rugged terrain and dense, thorny brush, which the Mexicans called chaparral, would keep the U.S. troops at bay”(The War Begins in Northern Mexico). Mexico was forced to abandon their artillery and baggage. On May 13, 1846, United States forces invaded Mexican territory on two main fronts. Two more forces, one under John E. Wool and the other under Taylor, were ordered to occupy Mexico as far south as the city of Monterrey. In California however, the United States entered Los Angeles on January 8. 1847, coming fully prepared with six hundred and seven soldiers and marines who defeated three hundred Mexican fighters. Shortly after on January 12, the last Mexican fighters in California surrendered to American forces, which marked the end of violent resistance in California, allowing the Treaty of Cahuenga to be signed on January 13,