Mexico Dbq

Based on this passage, state one reason President Polk asked Congress to declare war on Mexico.   [1]

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

is unjustified is that they started the war intentionally by president Polk. In the background essay it says “Polk was a strong supporter of manifest destiny.” This is saying that Polk would do anything too complete the manifest destiny, even go to war with Mexico? What is manifest destiny first off, it is the belief of the U.S. expanding from coast to coast. Polk was land hungry and desperate to complete the manifest destiny, he went to war with Mexico not only over Texas but over California too. In the essay it states “Mexican soldiers had fired upon Americans on Texas side of the Rio Grande, President Polk had a reason to go to war.” Polk waited for a “valid” reason to go to war with Mexico. This makes the war unjustified, because Polk wanted this to happen he gave the Mexicans a reason to attack so he can declare war. Polk is the bad guy he only wanted land and waited to strike at Mexico by giving them a reason to PROTECT themselves. Thats all Mexico did was protect themselves, Polk is unjustified and so is the U.S. ( background

The United States was not justified in going to war with mexico because of the disobedience of Mexico’s freedom ordinance, an international belief of manifest destiny, and a dispute of territorial borders.

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.

The first reason why America was not justified into going to war is because it states that “ But now, after reiterated menaces, Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil.” This explains Polk didn't say the whole story. But if he did say the whole story Congress would have voted differently but because he didn’t American went to war with Mexico.

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

The second reason the US was unjustified is that Polk really provoked Mexico. President Polk strongly believed in Manifest Destiny. He believed that it was a plan of God to kick out Mexicans and let the US grow. He stole Texas from Mexico. This is from Document B. This evidence shows that the US was unjustified in going to war because he thought Manifest Destiny was a plan of God.

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

The first reason the United States was justified in going to war with Mexico is because we had rights. “Polk was a strong supporter of manifest destiny.” This shows that Polk would have agreed to what people had to say about gaining land. “When word arrived

While often thought of as a small and insignificant war fought by the Americans, the Mexican-American War serves a lot of importance to the foundation and history of our country. This war determined whether or not the United States would become a dominant power on the continent and it, more importantly, established the size of the nation. The Mexican-American War lasted from 1846-1848, but by the time President James Polk took office in 1845, United States-Mexico relations were already off to a bad start. While the Mexican-American War was mainly caused by the idea of ‘Manifest Destiny’ and the Texas War for Independence/Annexation, it was also a major turning point in the debate over slavery in the United States because of the Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, and the Wilmot Proviso.

Lincoln believed that Polk had invaded Mexico based on a lie. So he questioned the President Polk’s intent of going to war which was based on Mexico crossing national borders in order to draw first blood in the US soil. He challenged Polk in the House floor to prove the claim of waging the Mexican war by providing evidence and facts in a fair and just manner. Lincoln emphasized that Polk should not resort to rhetoric, evasions, and arguments and should be precise and transparent in presenting the facts that led to the war.

In a U.S. Congress debate on the war, Joshua Giddings said, “The order was to abstain from all aggressive acts toward ‘Mexican citizens.’ It seems that the President expected General Taylor to find Mexican citizens located within the United States…” To summarize what Joshua Giddings said, Polk’s orders prove that he expected Mexicans to be located within U.S. territory, and what country would expect foreigners on their own territory? Unless it is not officially their territory, which means President Polk sent soldier to disputed territory with the knowledge that Mexico would consider it an act of war, due to the tensions between the countries, therefore, the President obviously intended to create conflict with Mexico. Polk was elected by running on the promise to expand the nation, which included annexing Texas. It took nine years to annex Texas, and in which the tensions between Mexico and America continued to rise in that time. This means that Polk knew that annexing Texas would only make things worse between the disputing countries and could possibly trigger a

“The order was also to abstain from all aggressive acts toward Mexican citizens. It seems that the President expected General Taylor to the U.S.” The quote implies how Polk sent General Taylor to create more conflict that was already applied. Polk made orders to have more tension and to make Mexico the murderer and not the victim. “I will not bathe in the blood of the people of Mexico, nor will I participate in the guilt of those murders which have been and which will be committed by our army there.” Joshua Giddings remark means that by declaring a war, the dripping blood of thy Mexicans will be on Polk’s cold blooded hand not own his own. Joshua Gidding did not want to be the blame for men on both sides to be dead, yet Polk wished for them to be dead and to have people who only believed in

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