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Texas Westward Expansion

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After Texas became their own Republic and later became part of the United States, Mexico still had not officially recognized Texas as not being part of Mexico; this is what started the Mexican-American war and helped the United States reach their goal of stretching across the whole continent. War is never pretty, but in this case, the outcome was a successful Westward Expansion. Manifest Destiny was very important, and nothing was going to stop the U.S. from accomplishing it. Manifest Destiny was used by the Americans to give reasoning to their expansion to the West. Manifest Destiny refers to the God-given right for the Americans to take as much territory as possible to the west, across the whole continent to be exact. President Tyler Polk was such a strong believer and supported of the Manifest Destiny that he asked too much from Mexico. He asked for the border between the two countries to be at the Rio Grande River. When this was proposed Mexico threatened for war, so the President sent an ambassador. The …show more content…

When Mexicans saw this they took it as an act of war. Bear in mind, tensions before the United States and Mexico were high because of border disputes. United States wanted the border to be at Rio Grande River while Mexico wanted the border to be the Nueces River. General Zachary Taylor was the one to go to Texas and claim the Rio Grande River as the border. Mexico taking this as an act of aggression caused shots to be fired sending Mexican troops across the Rio Grande. ("President Polk Declares War on Mexico.") In turn, now that the Mexicans crossed into American soil, the way Polk saw it, although they crossed an unofficial border, it was considered an invasion. Taking advantage of this “invasion,” President Polk brought this to the attention of congress on May 11, 1846, saying the Mexicans spilled American blood on American soil. This was the perfect reason to start a

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265 Words | 2 Pages

As a Democrat, I believe that President Polk was justified in starting the Mexican-American War. Also, as a strong supporter of Manifest Destiny, also known as Western expansion, I furthermore find reason to believe Polk was justified in initiating war with the Mexican people; being that the Mexican government refused peaceful negotiation. The Americans were the just owners of this western land, and we intended to get it. The Mexican government refused a meeting with our representative to establish the border between Texas and Mexico, along with an offer of 30 million dollars for Western territory. These western territories would provide substantial economic growth for the United States, as well as the obvious: making our nation larger as

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776 Words | 4 Pages

Americans were outraged over the border dispute at the Nueces and the Rio Grande rivers, and Mexicans were irate with America’s annexation of Texas. President James K. Polk availed in the atmosphere of animosity, hurrying to place troops on conflicted land. On May 9, 1846, he found his cause for war. Mexican and American troops had engaged in combat on April 24, which led American blood spilt on contended soil. However, through all their fighting spirit, the Americans faithfully ignored their own mistreatment of the Mexicans.

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In Document B, President Polk said, “I had ordered and efficient military force to take a position...to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces….invasion was threatened solely because Texas had determined….to annex herself to our Union,... it was plainly our duty to extend our protection over her citizens and soil.” President Polk then mentioned the attack at the Rio del Norte, where the invasion in Texas happened. This evidence shows the US was justified in going to war with Mexico because Texas was invaded by Mexico, meaning that the U.S. should protect Texas by fighting

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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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683 Words | 3 Pages

The war between the U.S. and Mexico transpired between the years of 1846-1848. There were many Americans migrating into Texas, this did not go unnoticed by President James K. Polk, so he to attempted to annex Texas. Likewise, he sought after territory in New Mexico and California. The U.S. alleged that the Texas southern border was the Rio Grande. Conversely, Mexico did not recognize this borderline and as an alternative thought the Nueces River was the border.

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503 Words | 3 Pages

The Mexican War was a violent and devastating event between United States and Mexico that lasted from 1846-1848. President Polk had to lie to congress, to make United States declare war on Mexico. Lincoln considered President Polk provoked as a vote-fixing device and hoped the arguments against the war would cause his reputation in the United States House of Representative. Lincoln claims President Polk misrepresented the whole thing that the Presidents Polk evidence was not true by any means. Lincoln lays out evidence that president Polk gave is either incorrect or irrelevant reasons to gain support from congress.

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871 Words | 4 Pages

[O]ther nations have undertaken … hostile interference against us, … hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence [God] for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions. "According to Document C, Mexico had never approved Texas' annexation in the , so they were merely protecting what they believed to be their land. " The troops commanded by General Zachary Taylor arrived at the Río Grande, across from the city of Matamoros, thus occupying the territory in dispute and increasing the possibilities of a confrontation…. In the eyes of the [Mexican] government, the mobilization of the US army was an outright attack on Mexico. ''

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What would you do if the U.S president was setting you up to look like you were invading them? Were the Americans justified to go to war with the Mexicans? I believe they were not justified to go to war. Polk only wanted war to steal the Mexicans land. He set the Mexicans up by making it look like they were invading U.S citizens so that he could get the votes to go to war.

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Following those fights, Polk told the U.S. Congress that the "Measure of avoidance has been depleted, even before Mexico passed the limit of the United States, attacked our region, and shed American blood upon American soil." after two days, on May 13, Congress announced war, in spite of restriction from some northern administrators. No official assertion of war at any point originated from Mexico. Around then, just around 75,000 Mexican natives lived north of the Rio Grande.

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They were many Americans who immigrated to Texas with the intention of being good citizens of Mexico, for example: Stephen F. Austin. Austin spent a year in Mexican prison for supporting Texas statehood. This possibly the worst thing Mexico could have done. On October 2nd in 1835, in the town of Gonzales the first shots were fired.

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1199 Words | 5 Pages

The idea of Manifest Destiny was centered around the idea that God wanted the US to expand as much as possible because the US had a superior way of life. The US justified their cruel actions towards Mexico because they were “destined” to act accordingly. If Americans truly believed that all people were created equal, then Manifest Destiny was not a plausible idea. Manifest Destiny created a hierarchy system in which the US was on top; a hierarchy was the opposite of a society or world where all people were created equal. Therefore, the US did not have such superiority to Mexico that God thought it was acceptable for Americans to act like they were allowed to trample on Mexico’s government

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320 Words | 2 Pages

The major conflict of President James Polk's term was the Mexican War that began during his presidency on 1846, and ended in 1848. May 13, 1846 is when congress officially declared war on Mexico, but previously to the U.S. declaring war the United States had already won two battles. This war was popular among young men and men, many people wanted to enlist in the army that recruiting stations had to turn away a large amount of people. During the war president James Polk sent a diplomat by the name of Nicholas Trist to try and settle peace with the Mexicans, but had an unsuccessful arrangement with Santa Anna president of Mexico. Therefore the war continued but ended shortly after when the United States won the battle of Mexico

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1171 Words | 5 Pages

and Mexican forces had taken place in U.S. territory.” “Further, legislators were at odds over whether Polk had the right to unilaterally declare that a state of war

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1083 Words | 5 Pages

Although the United States war against Mexico resulted in the gaining of America’s most valuable land, the war itself wasn’t legitimate because of the revolution in Texas, motivation for superiority, and the U.S. government’s actions. To begin, the Texans began an unreasonable war because they didn’t follow Mexico’s laws and conditions. When Mexico started selling cheap land, they set conditions for the people moving in. The people had to convert to Catholicism, learn Spanish, become a Mexican citizen, and have no slaves. Many Americans didn’t like being told what to do, and disobeyed the rules and laws.

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568 Words | 3 Pages

Justified is defined as having, done for, or marked by a good or legitimate reason. Texas won its independence in 1836. America’s wars are often very controversial. The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because of three main reasons: Americans were killed, Texas was already annexed, and Manifest Destiny allows it.

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