It was April 25, 1846. The Mexican military invaded Texas, a disputed territory. When the U.S. military came to attack, the Mexicans killed 16 Americans. This is one of the many events leading to the Mexican American War. The Mexican-American War was a major war over Mexico’s land.
The Mexican-American War was a war fought between the United States and Mexico during the years 1846-1848. It was the first American war that took place in another country that being Mexico. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. Polk, who believed the United States had a “manifest destiny” to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean (History.com) Manifest Destiny was a term used in the 19th century in which Americans felt that it was their destiny and right ‘by god’ to expand their country from coast to coast. President Polk felt the United States needed a westward expansion and the territories he wanted were: California, New Mexico
This introduced the issue of territorial boundaries and the two countries fought over a disputed piece of land between the Rio Grande River and the Nueces River. Although The United States could be justified in going to war with Mexico because of manifest destiny, the United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because they were responsible for provoking the Mexican army and the United States only wanted more land for the expansion of slavery.
The United States war with Mexico was over 160 years ago and still continues to be a divisive and widely debated topic, was it justifiable or not? The first war to be fought mostly on foreign land, was the Mexican-American War that started in 1846. America, lead by President Polk, who believed the U.S had a “manifest destiny”, fought against Mexico who had a weak military and was politically divided. After the war ended in 1848, Mexico lost one-third of its territory which included present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. Although the United States war against Mexico resulted in the gaining of America’s most valuable land, the war itself was unjust because their goal was to expand slavery, Texas was wrong from the beginning, and the war was based on false pretenses.
This is because Texas was determined to annex itself to the United States (Doc B). They were determined because land is a big priority especially when the United States thinks that “Mexico never can exert any real governmental authority over such a country” so they feel entitled to take the land (Doc A). The people wanted to take over Texas because they wanted more land for slavery and the newspaper over-hyped the idea of taking it so there was more land for slavery (Doc D).
When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, a string of ruthless dictators and weak presidents made Mexico an easy target for its powerful neighbor, the United States. The US swooped in to expand its territory and its popular institution of slavery. By doing so, the US started a war with Mexico that was justified for illegitimate reasons. The Mexican-American War was not justified because the US took Mexico’s land for the expansion of slavery, and justified their taking advantage of Mexico when it was politically weak by hiding behind Manifest Destiny.
It also made expansion and dispossession of indigenous people. But another reason the war was justified is that Manifest Destiny allowed the mexican american war to happen and it also was a key event from where the Manifest Destiny was a exploration from the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific ocean. The impact the American Mexican war left on texas and the United states was that the war halved the size of mexico and then it doubled the territory of the United states The American Mexican war was just a really big part in history cause it proves how americans fought for their land and that they never gave up and that they will always do their best and they won't give up and that's how Americans will always be even if americans got killed during that fight the us army never gave up and they won the battle after a long and hard fought battle they won. President James Polk was important to the battle because he saw a big territorial expansion of the U.S so he advocated for the annexation of Texas and he prosecuted the resulting American Mexican war which later then added more of the southwest and california's land to the country's territory and polk was a strong supporter of manifest destiny the president convinced that it was God's plan for us to move west and that God wanted us to expand. Mexicans point of view would be that they saw that America came as a threat and they decided to fight back because texas was Mexico's to begin with and also Texas was independent when it was
The United States was, at the time, led by the administration of U.S. President James K. Polk, who believed the United States had the God given right to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean, this term was called “Manifest Destiny.” Many say that the United States basically invaded Mexico and illegally took their land. The two countries have two different views on the war that still believed in today. This war
Conclusions The Mexican War was fought between the United States and Mexico over disagreements that had been accumulating for two decades. In the course of the war, United States forces invaded Mexico and occupied the capital, Mexico City. By the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United States acquired from Mexico the regions of California, Nevada, and Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. But many historians believe the war was an unnecessary attack on a weaker nation. I believe that the war was unnecessary.
The Mexican-American War is a war that mainly broke out because of Texas. It is a complicated question whether the United States was justified in starting a war over Texas, but it is extremely likely that the U.S. instigated an unwanted conflict with Mexico that turned into a war. The idea of Manifest Destiny was one of the primary reasons why the United States was not justified in starting a war with Mexico. This was a problem that was widespread in the U.S. It asserted that they had the right to enlarge its territory from coast to coast.
The Mexican-American War changed the Unites States of America in a monumental way. This war changed The U.S.A.’s relationship with foreign powers and the economic standpoint of the nation. The Mexican- American war, and its strong ties to manifest destiny, shaped the nation in a country bordered by two seas with a chance for common folk and foreigners to have a sustainable life due to the gold rush. The war can also be accounted for the downfall leading to the Civil War over the conflict of slavery due to the land purchased in the wars treaty. Conflict between Mexico and the United States began when Texas, previously part of Mexico, became part of the United States.
Many believe the Mexican-America war had been driven from the idea of “Manifest Destiny”,( a belief that was said for America to have a God- given right to expand, From ‘sea to shining sea’). Little did anyone know that this believe would be cause of a great amount of suffering for Native Americans, Hispanics, and even the United States own citizens. Shortly after the Texas war of independence from Mexico, tension began to rise between the two of the largest independent nations, on the North American continent after texas became apart of the Unites States. Arguments over the border lines began to need military help, and due to president polk who always sought war in order to seize land from Mexico, really helped. There had been 2 very basic
INTRODUCTION Throughout the 1840s and 1850s a major war happened called the Mexican American War which drastically changed the U.S. and Mexico and lead to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to be signed and which established the Rio Grande and not the Nueces River as the U.S Border. This also lead to the U.S. annexation of Texas and lead to the Mexico agreeing to sell California and the rest of the territory for 15 million. So you 're probably wondering why the war was fought but you 'll find that out later.
Effects of war to the United States 1.0 Effects of Spanish-American War to the United States The Spanish-America war started on 25 April and ended in 12 August 1898, lasting only 10 weeks (cite). The main cause of the war was the United States economic interests in Cuba who under the Spanish colonial rule. With signing of the Treaty of Paris on 10 December 1898, Spain gave up Guam, Puerto Rico, its possessions in the West Indies, and the Philippines with United States compensating them with $20 million. The United States occupied these regions under guidance of the Teller Amendment of 19 April 1898 (cite).
The United States war with Mexico continues to be a divisive topic among many people because of its background. The Mexican-American war was a fight between Mexico and America for land. America’s belief at the time was Manifest Destiny, which meant that they believed that America should extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific ocean. In the end, America benefited from the war and got the land. The United States expanded its size, achieving their dream of Manifest Destiny.
