Mexican American War Research Paper

Over 120 Marines and soldiers charged at a fort turned Mexican military academy. This was the last battle before invading the Mexican capital. Over 3,000 Mexican soldiers were either captured or killed in combat, while the US side suffered 800 casualties. The city was a mess, the Mexican military could not control the city. General Winfield Scott, however, received news the next day about the war. “But regardless of provocation the crime of desertion in time of war, compounded by taking service with the enemy and against their comrades, was great” .With this battle success, the US was able to capture Mexico City and ultimately force Mexico to

Knowing that the Texans were not obeying Mexico’s laws, the Mexican President sent Antonio López de Santa Anna to fight and stop the revolting Texans. “Santa Anna gained his earliest military experience fighting for the Spanish army

The prelude to the war began in the 1830s when Mexico decided to open up their home to America. Due to the fact that Mexico was under populated, and had too much land they

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 Battle of Palo Alto was the first major battle of the Mexican-American War. The Mexican Army of the North engaged the United States Army of Occupation on a prairie near current day Brownsville, Texas. The conflict took place on May 8th, 1846 and was followed the next by the Battle of Resaca de la Palma, about five miles south. Both battles took place in an area of disputed ownership and, depending on the side, were on the only battles on American soil.

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

James K. Polk was the 11th presidents of the United states of America. His name is perhaps most closely associated with Manifest Destiny, because a year before he became the president, the Manifest destiny started the embody the governing philosophy of the Polk administration and its ardently expansionist aims. Polk’s campaigning methods is the leading cause to his victory of becoming the president of America. He campaigned on an expansionist platform, and vowed to not agree with the British on the dispute over the Oregon Territory's northern border. After Polk took office, the tension with Mexico over the annex of Texas continued to grow. In May 1846, Polk got his cabinet to approve of him to send a message of war against Mexico to Congress. In May 1847, president Polk had Nicholas P. Trist, the chief clerk in the state department, to Mexico with Gen. In spite of Polk's wish, Trist signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in early February 1848. This was the Treaty that ended the Mexican American War. Polk still was unhappy with the land he had just ceased- but polk had to settle with what the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had got him: California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona, and the disputed

In 1844, James Polk won the presidential election by campaigning on the idea of expanding the American border to the Pacific Ocean. David A. Clary, author of Eagles and Empires, asserts that Polk's "territorial

To start, the battle of Palo Alto was a significant event in the history of the United States Army and the division of Field Artillery. We must look at the major events that led up to the battle to see the full extent of the influence it had to the Field Artillery we know today. During the 1840’s the United States was in a position to exert influence over the huge land mass of North America. Traditional Europeans had envisioned the idea of outposts on the unclaimed West. To counter those ideas, the United States began to claim and annex large amounts of territory before any other county could control the unclaimed territory. Once the United States annexed Texas as a Republic of U.S. Territory, Mexican armies began to raid the

Mexican President Jose Herrera refused to negotiate (Stevenson 2009). After failed negotiations with Mexico, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to position his troops in the disputed territory, north of the Rio Grande River. Mexico, seeing this as an act of aggression struck first and killed several of Tyler’s men. After receiving word of the skirmish, President Polk petitioned congress, claiming Mexico “has invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon the American soil” (Tindall & Shi 2010, p. 401). In response, congress unanimously passed the resolution and on May 13, 1846, the United States declared war (Tindall & Shi 2010).

A little history before we start diving into the significance of the battles, there some precursors to the beginning of the conflict. There were a lot of political and cultural clashes between the Mexican government and American settlers in Texas. In the 1820 's, this was in the early stages. Mexico wanted to attract settlers to the state known as Coahuila which is known as Texas today. The American settlers where wanting to go because the land was good for farming and ranching. Though the American settlers soon started pushing the Mexicans away, and Mexico was slowly becoming reluctant to allow the Americans to settle here. When Americans settlers started to migrate in Texas, Mexico tried to stop them by implementing a law that they convert to Catholicism and become Mexican citizens. Though, most of the Texas settlers approved of the Mexican constitution of 1824,

Taylor led U.S. troops on a march they occupied the land below the Nueces River and claimed the area east of the Rio Grande for the U.S. The war then begins, led by General Anastasio Torrejon, 2,000 Mexican troops crosses north of the Rio Grande River and ambush U.S. troops at Fort Texas. James K. Polk served as the 11th president in the U.S. during 1845 to 1849. Polk won the 1844 presidential election as the dark house candidate. As president he reduces tariffs, reformed the national banking system and settled a boundary dispute with the British that secured the Oregon Territory for the United States.

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

He then moved south gaining more enemy forces at Matamoros. On September 20 1846 general Zachary Taylor led a group of 6500 U.S. soldiers and volunteers to attack the northern Mexico City of Monterrey. The city was well fortified and protected by artillery installations and 10,000 Mexican soldiers under the command of General Pedro de Ampudia. (Staff U. A., 2014)

The Mexican-American war was a conventional conflict battled y traditional armies made up of cavalry and artillery that were mostly European war tactics. The American’s managed to penetrate Mexican land which resorted to using guerrilla warfare as a defence strategy when the Americans penetrated their territory. After the hostilities began, the U.S. military embarked on a three-pronged tactic that was designed to capture Northern Mexico forcing them to retaliate. Two groups of American militaries went to southern Texas, and the third troop led by Colonel Kearny embarked to the western region-New Mexico. General Zachary’s army defeated the Mexican military after a series of battles in De Palma necessitating them to move to the south to gain more victory over the Mexicans. The seizure of Monterey and Los Angeles by the U.S. Navy granted them a second victory. A three-day