Was the Mexican-American War Justified?
The Mexican- American War. Was it really justified or was it justified? No one really knows the whole story behind it. Now Mexico had just won independence from Spain in the year of 1821, and gained tons of land. Mexico had so much land, it was equal in size to the United States, and the leaders of Mexico realized that the northern territories were not being put to use. To solve the issue Mexico invited U.S. settlers to come to Texas, however, Americans had to follow Mexico’s rules but everyone knows Americans would never do that. The Mexican-American War was justified because of the manifest destiny, the United States being attacked, and the land situation.
Manifest Destiny…Manifest Destiny….Manifest
…show more content…
Disagreeing with that statement, the Manifest Destiny was just an idea that many Americans believed in, because it was the right thing to do. The Manifest Destiny hurt a lot of people, involved many wars including the Mexican-American war; however, it was bound to happen not only in Texas, but in Oregon and California. According to the background essay it mentions, “President Polk was a strong supporter of the Manifest Destiny.’ Polk did not just want to annex Texas. He also had an eye on California.” Obviously Texas wasn’t the only issue; our own president was looking into California as well. Many people left California alone and only thought of Texas because of one main reason….Slaves. Another reason why the Manifest Destiny played a role in the Mexican- American war is because in Document A it clearly states, “The Anglo-Saxon foot is already on (California’s) borders…armed with plough and the rifle, and marking its trail.” John O’Sullivan wrote this statement and he even knows that America was …show more content…
According to document C it states, “The annexation of Texas to the United States was inadmissible for both legal and security reasons.” Some people and I believe that Mexico was in the wrong because the U.S. annexed Texas after they won their independence which makes sense. However, the Mexican government didn’t think the American government where “bandits who came upon a traveler.” Also, an American citizen, Charles Sumner, turned from his country and supported Mexico because he believed that the Mexico should have charge U.S. citizens with “disgraceful robbery.” Mexico abolished slavery and Charles Sumner disliked the idea of slavery however the cotton in the factories that made his clothes came from slaves. He, in my opinion, need to get his facts straight before he started blaming the people of America who believed in slavery. Finally, in Mexico’s defense the thought that the United States was invading their territory was not a bad call. Stated in document C, “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 battle of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.” Mexico tried to punish the United States, Mexico tried to be the parent of the child, but it was really the other way around. To conclude, Mexico had
Manifest Destiny represented a God given right to expand West, justifying any action to accomplish the sacred duty. However, such a grand quest could not have been left unscathed and the Mexican-American War was the inevitable action that left a mark on the Manifest Destiny of being motivated by nothing more than greed and extreme nationalism. The inevitability of the war and the claimed “injustices” that were done toward Mexico were justified because of the annexation of Texas, there was a legitimate national threat and the war being a last resort.
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 War was viewed as one of the most controversial wars in United States history. Originating from the annexation of Texas, or the lack thereof in Mexico’s eyes, the final spark to cause the war was an incident between soldiers of both countries in disputed land. Both Mexico and the US claimed to have been provoked by the other, and that they were only protecting their country. Many US citizens argued the war, as it appeared President Polk was using it for reasons other than self defense. By going to war with Mexico, the US faced the possibility of gaining much more of Mexico’s land and extending slavery in the country. The United States' decision to go to war with Mexico was based on a desire to extend slavery, to gain land they had
According to James Polk’s War Message,Washington, May 11, 1846, he states “I had ordered an efficient military to take position between the Nueces and the Del Norte.” This quote proves that between the Nueces and the Del Norte was Mexico’s land, that Mexico was just trying to protect. According to Jesus Velasco-Marquez from “A Mexican Viewpoint on the War With the United States”, Jesus states, “In the eyes of the [Mexican] government, the mobilization of the US army was an outright attack on Mexico.” This evidence shows that Mexico viewed the mobilization of the U.S army as an attack on them, and that Mexico wasn’t trying to escalate things, they were just trying to protect their
Polk had said that Mexico were planning on an invasion and declared war on Mexico. This didn’t show that we show not be afraid or fear military ambition. It showed how selfish man can be just to gain more territory because they believed that it was their right to expand the country. Mexico only wanted what was theirs after claiming independence from Spain, and not have it taken away. Texas was under Mexico law, and Mexico banned slavery. Many Americans settlers did live in Texas at the time and knew it was against Mexico’s law but still had slaves anyways. The war lasted for three years, but soon Mexico decided to sign a peace treaty that gave territories to America. America paid Mexico 15 billion for lands that are known today as California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and
The Mexican-American War was incorrectly named; it was not simply Americans vs Mexicans, but a war between opinions. America’s war with Mexico: a war for land, for the sake of Manifest Destiny, or perhaps, a war to be started and ended in victory by… a thief. This war was supported and criticized by Americans and Mexicans alike. Manifest Destiny was a belief that it was God’s Plan to for America to expand to the Pacific Ocean, and a very controversial belief, at that. Before this war of opinions, the US already created a tense relationship with its neighbor by providing aid to the Texas Rebellion, and later annexing Texas. The United States was not Justified in going to war with Mexico because Texas was signed over, with no extra land, America was obviously itching to go to war, and settlers agreed to become Mexican citizens in the first place
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.
[Texas was a great place to grow cotton because of great climate, and it was a big piece of land. Two groups of Tejanos and Americans began complaining about each other. The leader of Mexico General Antonio Lopez De Santa Ana soon stopped Texas from letting Americans into it because they were not following the rules. Americans wanted to annex Texas but the Mexican Government did not let the United States get Texas that easy.] The United States was Justified in going to war with Mexico.* One reason why The US was justified in going in war with Mexico was because The US wanted All of Texas so they can reestablish slavery and get a lot of cotton out of it.* [The author of this
The Mexican-American War was a huge event in American history, yet it is not talked about very often. It all started back when Texas was annexed to be an American state. Mexico saw this as a declaration of war. The war officially began on May 9, 1846 when Mexico fired upon the U.S. from their side of the Rio Grande. Though this is not a very popular topic, the questions still stands. Did the U.S. have a valid reason for declaring war on Mexico? The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because the U.S. attacked first, they stole Mexico’s land, and it meant an expansion of slavery.
Most importantly, Texas disobeyed Mexico for many reasons, like their greedy actions. The U.S wanted to expand slavery in Mexico for a main purpose.
A final reason why the Mexican War was justified was that President Polk sent a message to the Senate to explain about going to war with Mexico. “I had ordered an efficient military force to take a position between the Nueces and Del Norte.” (Polk 325) This quote shows that the U.S. army marched and stayed between the Nueces and Del Norte to fight the Mexican soldiers. “Polk was a strong supporter of Manifest Destiny.” (Roden 317) This quote shows that Polk was in agreement in accepting and accomplishing the plan of God. Paraphrased information: Polk was elected in late 1844 and did not want just Texas, he also wants California, too. (Roden 317) This information shows that Texas isn’t the only state America should own. The United States had
In Document C, it states that Americans called this war the “Mexican American War”, but in Mexico’s eyes, it was called “The American Invasion”. This was because Americans thought that that land belonged to them, and that Mexicans were the ones who were invading. For Mexicans, the Americans were invading their territory. This entire thing was a big misunderstanding, leading to the war. This shows that America was not justified because that incident was a large misunderstanding for both Mexico and
The Mexican-American War was a result of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was a belief that Americans had a god given right to expand their border all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Not only did Americans believe that they also had a right to the land, but they also believed that they had a moral duty to civilize its occupants, which included Native Americans, Mexicans, and Spanish speaking Catholics. According to Britannica, the Mexican-American War originated from the United States annexation of Texas in 1845. Texas had been in a border dispute with Mexico at the time of the annexation therefore, the conflict transferred to the U.S. Mexico claimed that the border ended at the Nueces River, and the United States claimed it ended at the Rio Grande River.
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).
“The immediate cause and main goal of this war... has beet to grab large valuable territory of Texas from the Mexican Republic, In order to re-establish the SYSTEM OF SLAVERY; to open a vast and profitable SLAVE MARKET; and, ultimately, to annex it to the united states.” This quote shows another person understanding what the Americans were trying to do. Make a slave trade land to take it over and call it there's. The only problem is Mexico was against slavery and they had to follow their rules in their territory. When America tried to put slaves in the state Mexico they said no and knew what they were