Cause And Effect Of The Mexican-American War

First Campaign led by General Zachary Taylor, his army moves south across the Rio Grande, winning ever battle, and by the end of 1846 controls northern Mexico. General Stephan Kearney and a force of 1700 men were ordered to capture the relatively unpopulated provinces of New Mexico and California. He captures Santa Fe without a fight, the capital of the province of New Mexico. He joins up with rebelling Americans under the command of John C Fremont and by February 1847 the US controls all of California.

The aftermath of the Mexican American warManifest Destiney, the annexation of Texas, and the actions of President John Polk are all factors leading up to the Mexican-american war. It is known that the annexation of Texas was what pushed Mexico leaders over the edge. In 1836 Texas gained independence from Mexico, after becoming an American State the relationship between Mexico and the U.S quickly came to an end. Polk not only had his eyes on Texas but also on California and New Mexico. Polk won the support of the american people by declaring he would complete Americas Manifest Destiny, to reach the West coast. Mexico denied Polk’s offer to buy these lands, leading America to send troops onto disputed territory. April 25, 1846 Mexican troops killed american soldiers on the disputed land, marking the beginning of the war, this was the battle of Palo Alto. The Mexican-American war had a major impact on both Mexico and U.S history. This essay will discuss the political, social, and economical effects between Mexico and the U.S after the Mexican American war.

“The United States had emerged as a modern capitalist nation, and the spirit of nationalism in the country was strong and growing” (Henderson 71). As tensions grew between the Unites States and Mexico, there was a thirst for war. The Unites States declared war with Mexico, because they owned land that Americans desired, resulting in America’s fulfillment of achieving their philosophy of “Manifest Destiny”. The blood boil of both countries caused a lot of bloodshed. The dispute lasted for a long two year battle which was for huge amounts of land. The Americans were victorious and claimed new territories from the conflict.

General Cos established a headquarters in San Antonio, Texas and for two months tried to repel the Texan forces from taking his position. On December 11, 1835, General Cos signed a surrender and removed all Mexican forces in Texas (de Cos, 2015).

In November of 1845, President Polk named Senator James Slidell of Louisiana as the new American minster to Mexico (Haecker, 1994), and was sent to secretly negotiate with Mexican President Jose Joaquin de Herrera. However, he was overthrown by General Mariano Parades y Arrillaga, Commander of the Army of the North, who denied negotiation with the Americans and demanded the return of the disputed area of Texas. During this time, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor, who was preemptively stationed at Corpus Christi, to move his unit down to Port Isabel at the mouth of the Rio Grande and Gulf of Mexico. This only increased tensions between the two nations, which came to a height with the construction of the U.S. Fort Texas on the north bank of the Rio Grande, opposite the Mexican town of Matamoros, a natural choke point (Carney, 2005).

James Polk felt that it was his duty to take it by force and took the matter under his control. Since John Tyler’s decision to hold off the war until Mexico made the initial attack, Polk took it upon himself to provoke the Mexicans. To accomplish this, he sent troops to the Rio Grande and marched them along the border until the Mexicans made their attack. After the report of the attack was delivered, Abraham Lincoln proposed the “Spot Resolutions” to find the exact location of the American bloodshed on “American soil”. However, the Spot Resolutions were built upon false statements; the Mexicans’ attack was premeditated and actually took place on Mexican land. Polk was successful in starting the desired Mexican War which ultimately led to the defeat of the weaker adversary Mexico and the attainment of California.

The Mexican War of 1846-1848 was one of major importance to U.S. history, but has since fallen into annals of obscurity. It was the nation’s first war fought on foreign soil: a war that advocated the concept of “manifest destiny”, the United States God-given right to claim territory for the establishment of a free democratic society (Stevenson 2009). Even though many historians claim the war was forced on Mexico by slaveholders greedy for new territory, President John Polk viewed the war as an opportunity to defend the annexation of Texas, establish the Rio Grande as its border, and to acquire the Mexican territories of California and New Mexico (Stevenson 2009).

It is worth noting here that the Americans were concerned about appearances, and that they did their best to provoke Mexico into a war, without having to bear the responsibility of actually starting the war. In his Personal Memoirs, Grant explained the mission of the U.S. Army in south Texas, "We were sent to provoke a fight, but it was essential that Mexico should commence it." The plan worked. The U.S. annexed Texas in February of 1846, and Polk immediately ordered Taylor to proceed to the Rio Grande. One of Taylor's patrols skirmished with a Mexican detachment and lost over twenty soldiers, including eleven dead, five wounded, and several captured. Polk immediately called for war. In his bellicose message to the U.S. Congress, the President announced that, "American blood had been shed upon American soil." He got his declaration of war.

One of the most popular wars in U.S. history is The Mexican-American War. The war lasted from 1864-1848 and was a pivotal moment in history for both nations(Feldman 1-2). After the war

The Mexican-American war determined the destiny of the United States of America, it determined whether or not it would become a world power and it established the size of the United States of America. Perhaps the war was inevitable due to the idea of Manifest Destiny - Americans thought they had the divine right to extend their territory. The Mexican-American War started mainly because of the annexation of the Republic of Texas (established in 1836 after breaking away from Mexico). The United States and Mexico still had conflicts on what the borders of Texas was, the United States claimed that the Texas border with Mexico was the Rio Grande, but the Mexicans said that it was the Nueces River, so the land in between were disputed and

Other significant battles are Battle of Monterrey and the Battle of Buena Vista. General Taylor positioned his men in the North to take control of the roads. The General for the Mexican Army Pedro Ampudia are dealt with an obstacle as a result. They request Zachary Taylor for a parlay. A parlay is like surrendering and moving forward with an event. In the end, someone surrenders. The Battle of Monterrey lasted for five days when Taylor decides to grant the request of General Ampudia. On September 25 General Ampudia and his army leave. The president of the United States is not pleased with the decision Taylor made to allow the Mexican forces to surrender.

The United States did not meet this criteria as they entered the war unprepared, starting the conflict with only 7,500 troops; but 100,000 volunteers eventually signed up (Oakes et al., 2015 p.377). The United States entered the war divided; the Northern Democrats saw the war as a way to expand slavery (Oakes et al,. 2015 p. 377). The Whigs felt that Polk was only going to war to land grab and challenged the fact that the initial attack happened on United States territory (“Mexican-American War,” 2016). However, the success of war was actually just based on this criteria as the United States did gain the additional territory of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and California (Oakes et al., 2015 p.

As the Mexicans moved forward they yelled out “Viva Santa Anna”. De La Pena was at the North wall and minutes followed and later on captured the confusion. Combat followed with rifle butts, bayonets, knives, axes, ramrods, and anything else that is hand to hand. There were simply too many Mexicans coming from too many sides the Texans couldn’t defend themselves that good. Most of the women and children were huddled inside when the walls of the fort were breaded. Outside the main plaza the battle had entered a different phase that they could no longer keep the Mexicans out. One man burrowed under the bush while another man hid beneath the bridge spanning the San Antonio River shooting up to the Mexicans. Travis had prepared for this order small holes pounded through the walls of some rooms that luckily no people were in. The Mexican offers ordered The Alamo cannon, turned in word and began blasting away at doors. The columns of Mexican soldiers were hard to stop in the middle of the dark landscape. Texans were now awake and at their positions. From the cannon nearest to the Travis, he sent nearly fifty men including one of their captains. The Gen. Cos column had suffered forty men who were severely killed. The Mexicans cannons were super silent they were afraid that they would hit their own soldiers. While all of this was happening on the north side of the fort, the east and south side had their own

The war with Mexico is long remembered as an episode, and by no means is it an unimportant one. With the events that led up to its happening, from the Manifest Destiny to the disputes on territory, it has severely marked the United States. American historians regard the Mexican-American war as “the foulest blot on our national honor”. (sfmuseum.org) Unethical actions were taken gain Mexican territory. Polk and his hunger for land drove him to find some devious way to fight a war with Mexico. His belligerent attitude in regard to this war was the “foulest blot on our national honor.” However, as one studies the events that led to it, was it an unprovoked act of aggression? Or did the US unjustifiably lure Mexico into one of the bloodiest wars on American soil?

The author provides background into the events leading up to the war, particularly the collapse, imprisonment, and exile of Santa Anna. Events and key personnel on the American side are also outlined in detail. President Tyler is described as “seizing the initiative” to shift public opinion against Mexico by assigning a troublemaker, Wilson Shannon, as the minister to that country in 1844. Eisenhower provides a detailed description on the implementation of weaponry and tactics during all stages of warfare. He often refers to the performance of the main characters in other conflicts such as the war of 1812 and forward to the civil war. The cause of this war is summed up early in the text followed by