Mexico Dbq

“The Congress of Texas, by its act of December 19, 1836, has declared the Rio del Norte to be the boundary of that republic…” ~President James Polk. The Congress of Texas declared the Rio Grande the boundary.” (Doc B Paragraph 2-3) When this happened the Americans did not listen to the boundary and crossed it. There were two major problems with this. The first problem with this was that the Americans were bringing slaves into this slave free dominion. The second major complication was that the Americans were crossing the boundaries and claiming land that was the Mexicans. This evidence shows the US was not justified in going to war with Mexico because the Americans were stealing Mexican land. They were also crossing the boundaries, and stealing the land right after Mexico declared they were a slave free dominion. “Certainly Mexico...might justly charge our citizens with disgraceful robbery, while, in seeking extension of slavery.”~Charles Sumner. (Doc D Paragraph

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 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

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

“At this period, citizens of the United States had already begun to into Texas... That deal was... That this extensive prevent to become a part of the United States…” (Doc D ,Charles Sumner This evidence Demonstrate that America was not justified in going to war with Mexico because all they wanted to do was to get their lands. “A current of emigration soon followed from the United States favorite. Slaveholders cross the Sabine with their slaves, In defiance of the Mexican ordinance of freedom” Doc D,Charles Sumner. This mean that America was All About Us Us expanding slavery into stole a land and was not justified into going in with

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

As stated in President James Polk’s war message of 1846, “...I had ordered an efficient military force to take a position ‘between the Nueces and the Del Norte [Rio Grande].’ This had become necessary, to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces” (Document B). From the perspective of the United States, the people of Mexico were not authorized to cross the Rio Grande into American territory. However, since the Treaties of Velasco that Santa Ana signed were invalid, Texas still belonged to Mexico. Mexican troops were not “invading” Texas; they were trying to retain the land that had been stolen from them. Therefore, President Polk had no right to send American troops to Mexican territory. Some may argue that the war was justified because Mexican troops attacked American soldiers on American territory. For example, they contend that, “Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil” (Document B). The United States declared war against Mexico because they believed American soldiers had been attacked by Mexican troops in American territory. However, since the annexation of Texas was illegitimate, that territory still belonged to Mexico. The American soldiers were not killed on American land; they were killed on Mexican land. Thus, America’s reasoning for declaring war was inaccurate, and the Mexican-American war was

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.

With the widespread confusion and battles throughout the Nueces River and the Rio Grande, the U.S had offered a treaty to Texas, and shown in Document C “It would consider such an act ‘A declaration of War.’” Today Texans and American citizens believe that Mexico had attacked first, when in reality they were just defending their land. The U.S took Mexico’s land and had blamed them for attacking for the start of several battles and casualties when Mexico didn’t give up the land in the first place. Explained in Document D “Citizens of the United States had already begun to move

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

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 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.

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

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.

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.