The Mexican-American War: Conflict Between Mexico And The United States

The Mexican-American War was a conflict between Mexico and the United States. It started on April 25, 1846 and ended on February 2, 1848. President James K. Polk played a significant role in the United States’ government involvement with the war. Not all citizens supported the war, in fact the majority of them were against it.

The Mexican-American War was a result of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was a belief that Americans had the God given right to expand their border all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The Mexican-American War was a result of Texas gaining its independence from Mexico in 1845. Texas had been in a border disagreement with Mexico at the time of the annexation which transferred the conflict to the United States. The United States claimed that the border ended at the Rio Grande River and Mexico claimed it ended at the Nueces River.

In 1844,

Slidell was to offer Mexico $30,000,000 for their northern territories. Mexico rejected Slidell’s offer and refused to negotiate with the United States. This angered Polk which caused him to order troops to Rio Grande knowing it was the disputed territory between the United States and Mexico. When the troops arrived at Rio Grande, they built a fortress named Fort Texas. This caused tensions to rise between the two countries. Polk expected Mexico to feel intimidated by the appearance of the American soldiers and agree to sell their northern territories to the United States. If this didn’t work, Polk has a backup plan; for the soldiers to fire the first shot. A month later, Mexican troops attacked a U.S. patrol party, killed 11 soldiers, and captured 52 prisoners. After the attack, President Polk demanded that congress declare war on Mexico which occurred on May 13, 1846. The war lasted 2 years with the United States winning the war and gaining much more than 500,000 square miles of northern Mexican