Not Justified In Going To War With Mexico

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

How the United States stretched from sea to shining sea by being fair and unfair sometimes. The Mexican war started on April 25, 1846 when Captain Seth Thornton of the United States Army and his 70 sailors were attacked by greater Mexican force. This happened in the disputed territory north of the Rio grande, reports say that 16 Americans were killed and the number of Mexican soldiers that were killed it unknown. Was the United States justified in going to war with Mexico? The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because of manifest destiny, border distributes, and annexation of Texas.

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

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.

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

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

There are many reasons that justified the war with Mexico and make us believe that it was a good idea to start with this war. First, one of the wishes of Polk was his ambition to make California and New Mexico, which in that time was property of

The American and Mexico war had an effect on many people all around the world. Many people also stole things and killed each other just so they can live and be free. The war between America and Mexico had many conflict between each other. Many amount of lives was lost, and half of Mexico’s territory was lost. Not so many good things happened, like many tensions had emerged between Mexico and America. The U.S was more unjustified than justified for many different reasons. Although the United States war against Mexico resulted in the gaining of America’s most valuable land, the war itself was unjust because they wanted to protect the citizens, U.S wanted to expand slavery, and sent soldiers to their land which they thought was going to be a good idea.

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 and American war was a very controversial war. Some think it was just and others think it was unjust. The war started after the Texas wanted to annex on to the united states. Mexico and Texas both thought they owned a strip of land in between But the Texans thought it was there. The undisputed territory both sides wanted and the U.S even was willing to pay for it, but Mexico turned it down! One event that sparked that was the president of the United States J. K. Polk wanting the war to happen. As so he sent troops to build a fort on the disputed territory in hopes of the Mexicans attacking. This plan worked and they attacked. So Polk got congress to declare war.

One reason that the Mexican-American war was not justified is that the Americans took land from Mexico. The annexation of Texas is an example of America taking land, stated in Document C. That was very wrong of the U.S to do at the time due to security and legal reasons for Mexico. Then Americans tried to take more land from Mexico by sending troops to near the Rio Grande River. As a security measure, the Mexicans decided to attack the American soldiers, killing 16 of the Americans. This shows that Americans were not justified for going to war with Mexico because Americans decided to send soldiers to invade the undisputed part of land between Texas and Mexico.