Essay On Disputed Territory

America was justified in going to war as Mexico invaded the country,American troops were killed by the Mexicans,and Mexico decided to strike first.When Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836 and stated that the Rio Grande was the border boundary.However in 1846,Mexican forces decided to cross the border line as it was known as an invasion against the US.On Document B President Polk stated, “The Congress of Texas,by its act of December 19,1836, had declared the Rio del Norte to be the boundary of that Republic.”(Doc B)On April 24th,1846,an American force of 70 men were dispatched to camp north of the Rio Grande. However,a larger Mexican force,decided to attack the American force where 16 American soldiers were killed.On Document

The Texas population wanted to protect their state’s rights. They believe that the state can be loyal to the south. The south had to pay a great amount of cash to get imported goods from the Union. During this war state’s rights mostly focused on whether the federal government had to right to regulate or remove slavery from a state. Sectionalism was divided the country into two parts for example the north and the south. Document D says, “Tell him not to enlist till just before they go to draft him and only enlist for Texas service.” This is from John Rabb who was writing a letter for his son. In document b it says, “... were established exclusively by the white race for

People loved Texas so much that they only would enlist for Texas war service (Doc D). Every texan enjoyed Texas’ beautiful sites and weather. Some say if they ever were to marry, it would only be in Texas (Doc D). Many people who lived in the Lone Star State owned slaves, and didn’t want to get rid of them (Doc D). So, many of the Texans fought in the war so they would be able to have to ability to continue to own slaves. Texans had such a meaningful place in their heart for Texas, that they thought they owed it to their state to fight for what they thought was

As Texans began demanding freedom, they deciding to away from Mexico, causing tensions between the United States and Mexico. In 1845, tensions began to lead to threats between the two countries when the United States decided to annex Texas into their country and ultimately led to the Mexican-American war. The U.S. was not justified in going to war with Mexico. A reason is that James K. Polk, president at the time, decided to send American soldiers onto disputed territory which Mexico thought was theirs. Doc C is an article written by Jesus Velasco-Marquez discussing the Mexicans viewpoint on the war with the United States in 1846. According to Doc C,¨In the eyes of the Mexican government, the mobilization of the US army was an outright attack

“The invasion was threatened solely because Texas had determined… to annex herself to our Union; and, under these circumstances, it was plainly our duty to extend our protection over her citizens and soil.”(Polk 325)Texas and the United States believed that the Rio Grande was considered as the border between Mexico and Texas. But the river that Mexico believed as the border was the Nueces River. The two countries didn’t have the same perspective of the borders. In 1821, Mexico declared itself free from its mother country, Spain. The Texans won their independence from Mexico in 1836.The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because of the Manifest Destiny, Texas wanted

The Mexican-American War was driven by the idea of "Manifest Destiny" (Which is the belief that America had a God-given right to expand the country's borders from sea to sea) This belief would eventually cause a great deal of suffering for many Mexicans, Native Americans and United States citizens. Following the earlier Texas War of Independence from Mexico, tensions between the two largest independent nations on the North American continent grew as Texas eventually became a U.S. state. Disputes over the border lines sparked military confrontation, helped by the fact that President Polk eagerly sought a war in order to seize large tracts of land from Mexico.

The Texans fought in this war for their own states’ rights. This was a right all states have that the government could not take away. For example, states have the right to stay or leave from a nation according to what they think is right. “ This is a Union of equal states, and no state can

The war with Mexico abruptly started with the annexation of Texas. Though the land was originally Mexico’s, the U.S had taken part of the territory in the belief of Manifest Destiny. America thought of it as god’s

One reason the Mexican War was unjustified was because the US broke their laws. A way we broke their laws were by bringing slaves across though they did not allow it. “Slaveholders crossed the Sabine[river between Louisiana and Texas] with their slaves, in defiance of the Mexican ordinance of freedom.”{Doc.D Paragraph 3} Though Mexico had abolished slaves we ignored them and brought them with us anyway. "...Mexico decreed the abolition of human slavery…”{Doc. D Paragraph 1} This evidence shows the US was unjustified in going to war because the US has gone too far with trying to show Mexico with who deserved the land. Though we want the disputed territory to enlarge our nation we do not deserve the land because we broke laws. Mexico only wanted the land to make up for land they had lost early on.

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.

Polk would not have the same peaceful negotiations with Mexico over disputed land as he did with Great Britain. Though General Santa Anna signed a treaty recognizing Texas' independence in 1836, both parties would dispute ownership of the land between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande until 1848. When the United States annexed Texas and stood behind its claim over the disputed land, the Mexican government became infuriated with America and broke off all diplomatic relations and started to prepare for war. The Mexican-American War would ultimately start over disputed land in Texas. It would turn into so much more. Polk's final goal was to gain control of all the Mexican territories to the west of Texas. Polk continued to try to resolve this problem peacefully through a treaty with Mexico, but they refused to hold any diplomatic talks with Polk's representatives. This forced Polk to have his military occupy the disputed land all the way to the Rio Grande. General Taylor informed Polk that soon after arrival to the Rio Grande the Mexican army attacked him and

The disputed land was still Mexico’s. “While in Mexico we use the term ‘The US Invasion’...” (Marquez 327) Most Mexicans saw the war as an invasion: from their point of view, their home was in danger of being taken. “..reaffirmed the instruction to protect the border,...” (Marquez 327) Santa Anna, when instructing the order to protect Mexico’s true border, was merely responding to the needs of his country. When the United States Army came, Mexico saw a need to defend itself. (Marquez 327) An ambush was only needed to defend their territory when American troops trespassed on what Mexico considered its border. Apparently, settlers already settled lands that didn’t belong to them. (O’Sullivan 323) California territory belonged to Mexico. Any settling of the territory by any other people of citizenship besides Mexico’s is basically thievery. All of the evidence shows that there was no good reason for this war, and that the US is still not justified in the declaration of war. The disputed territory was still

Texas and the United States believed that the proper borderline between Texas and Mexico was the Rio Grande, but for Mexico it believed that the border between them and Texas is the Nueces River.”(Hook) As you can see the United States and Mexico had different beliefs. This evidence shows the US was justified in going to war with Mexico because the US believed that Mexico had a smaller amount of land they what they think they have. But Mexico believes that it has more land. Mexico and the United States were fighting over the disputed territory which was between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande, which made the tension between Mexico and the US more negative. “ on April 24th of April a party…..of sixty three men and officers, were… dispatched from the American camp up the Rio del Norte.(Doc B)” This evidence shows that Mexico had went against its boundary and fought with American men in the striped area where Mexico and the United states were already fighting for. This Made thing more difficult to handle because the Us and Mexico were already fighting for land and the probably made things worse between the two

The Mexican American War was a very controversial event. The Americans believed in their “Manifest Destiny” which prompted them to annex the territory of Texas which, in turn, initiated the war on April 25, 1846. Texas was annexed to the Union as a slave state on December 29, 1845. This upset all of the Free states along with the Mexicans but the Southerners were in favor of the war because it gave them more strength when fighting for slavery. While there were many different beliefs about the Mexican-American War throughout the United States, these beliefs generally were the same within a region.

This treaty granted Texas independence from Mexico. Regardless of this, Mexico and Texas still fought over border lines which brewed negative stereotype of the Mexicans from Americans. Later, Texas joined the United States, and this idea angered Mexico. Border disputes forced both countries to send their troops to enforce the border lines, a standoff followed. A clash between the armies in 1846 led to the commencement of the war.