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Was The Us Justified In The Mexican War

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The Mexican War raged as both the Americans and Mexicans fought. Borders were disputed, shots were fired, men lost their lives- and for what? Why did they go to war? Even after several attacks and offenses took place over time, from the attack on the Alamo to the idea of Manifest Destiny, was it worth it? Was the United States justified in going to war with Mexico? After the Texas invasion, the checking of Manifest Destiny, and the fact that Mexico still considered Texas, a new, small, and young country, as part of their nation, the United States was justified in the war and the attacks targeting Mexico. The Mexican War, which was a harsh dispute between the United States and the neighboring country of Mexico, raged on in the year 1846. …show more content…

At the time, the United States had their eye on Texas and desperately wanted to annex the new and small country. Soon after, Texas became part of the Union. Even after all this, Mexican troops invaded the northern bank of the Rio Grande, or the Del Norte, and fired upon a regiment of American troops, killing and wounding 16 in total. This defiance of crossing the border and “shedding American blood on American soil” was interpreted as a declaration of war. After receiving a grim report from President James K. Polk, Congress declared all out war against the country of …show more content…

After a revolution against the unjust and cruel Mexican government, Texas was finally free. It came at a large cost, but it was worth it. Texas, at least in its perspective and also that of the United States, was an independent country. On the other hand, Mexico did not agree. According to some, many “Mexican officials still considered Texas as theirs” (Roden). Some might say that the U.S. entered the war only for ourselves, and yes, we were trying to add Texas to the States, but we also were trying to defend freedom. Texas was still a small, weak, and new country, defenseless from the dangers of evil and power. We were simply trying to preserve their freedom, giving them a gentle push in the right

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Starting off with how Comanches, Kiowas, Navajos, and other Indian tribes increased their attacks on Northern Mexican settlements which led to countless raids. Some of the reasons that cause this war were boundary disagreements and Manifest destiny. Americans overall outnumbered Mexicans during this time, which an advantage to Americans. In addition, Mexicans were viewed in a bad way, they saw them as weak and not intelligent. In 1845, Texas was annexed to the United States, the war ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe – Hidalgo.

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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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The Mexican-American War was the first war to be fought mostly on foreign soil. During this period, the newly formed the United States was eagerly seeking to expand their territory towards the west. When failed attempts to obtain lands by purchasing them from Mexico for the price of $30,000,000 dollars. The U.S. government felt there was little hope of gaining these territories by peaceful means, a war was inevitable. Mexico was still bitter despite Texas gaining their independence in 1836, voluntarily selling their lands to the United States was not an option.

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Was the United States Justified in Going to War With Mexico? Who started the Mexican-American War? Firstly, The United States went to Mexico in 1846. Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836. Certainly, Americans were being extremely greedy and wanted more and more land.

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1015 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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The necessary spark which roused the flame of the struggle with anti-Mexican forces all over Texas were courage and universal destruction of the defenders of the fort. As a result, it joined the United Stated after nine years. Adding to previously stated information, the outcome of the war with Mexico was the proclamation of an independent republic of Texas, and the adoption of a constitution. Its first president was Sam Houston.

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Jesús Velasco-Márquez, a modern-day Mexican professor of studies wrote an article in 2006 about the Mexican-American War. He said, “US historians refer to this event as ‘The Mexican-American War’, while in Mexico, we prefer to use the term ‘The U.S. Invasion... From Mexico’s point of view, the annexation of Texas to the United States was inadmissible for both legal and security reasons. ’’’ (Velasco-Márquez, 12). During the time of the independence of Texas, Mexico was ruled by the dictator General Antonio López de Santa Anna.

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617 Words | 3 Pages

The Mexican-American War was a conflict that lasted from 1846 to 1848 between the United States and Mexico over the territories of Texas and the Rio Grande River. The United States annexed Texas in 1845, and Mexico still considered Texas as part of its territory. The annexation of Texas created tension between the

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America has always made them seem like a victim. During 1846-1848, the Mexican-American War started because of the Texas annexation, border dispute, and America going against their treaty with Texas. Justify means that an action or idea has been proven to be reasonable or acceptable. The United States was not justified in declaring war with Mexico because of Mexico being weak, their border dispute, and most importantly Manifest Destiny. The main reason the Mexican-American War was not justified was because of the U.S. idea of Manifest Destiny.

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While describing that America was purposefully sending troops into the disputed war which greatly increased the chances of a war to begin, the author states,”In early 1846, on Polk's orders] the troops commanded by General Zachary Taylor arrived at the Rio Grande, across from the city of Matamoros, thus occupying the territory in dispute and increasing the possibilities of a confrontation.... ”This proves that the Mexican American war wasn’t justified because AMerica was sending troops to try and start conflict in the territory. This is important because AMerica was deliberately trying to start conflict by being in the disputed war. While describing that Mexico believed America was going to try and attack so they responded by protecting their land and country from the invaders, the author states,“In the eyes of the [Mexican] government, the mobilization of the US army was an outright attack on Mexico.... As a consequence, the Mexican government reaffirmed the instruction to protect the border, meaning the territory located between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River - an order which led to the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma....

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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.

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(Roden 315) While Mexico was assumed to be protecting their border, Americans had stepped on the disputed territory, which what the Mexicans thought was an ambush, and killed sixteen of the soldiers. This was a commitment of protecting their border, yet the Americans saw this as killing sixteen innocent men and declared a war with Mexico for the whole West coast to complete the Manifest Destiny. Yet even before this decision, there was yet another war between Mexico and America: the Battle of the Alamo. Ten years before the Mexican-American War, Texas was still a part of Mexico and had decided to become a country of its own. Resulting that in 1836, the Battle of the Alamo occurred in Texas.

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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.

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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

As stated before, the US was justified in going to war with Mexico because of three reasons, Americans were killed, Texas was already annexed, and Manifest Destiny allows it. The United states had many superb reasons for going to war with Mexico. This essay is significant because it helps explain the United States’ choice to go to war with

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