Three reasons not to fight the war with Mexico, and why they were wrong
1. The idea of taking the territory from Mexico espoused by Daniel Webster, and why it was flawed.
2. The use of the word aggrandizement and how it is not entirely accurate, and how his argument needed to focus on prior US mistakes, especially with the Native American people.
3. Daniel Webster, along with other people also objected to Texas joining the Union due to its’ status as a slave state, but this was not due to slavery being evil, so much as it was a socio-economic issue for the North.
4. How the argument against the war was used in conjunction with the belief of “Manifest Destiny”, and how that argument is used as a racial motivation against acquiring the
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This is all significant because we dealt with Mexico the same way we dealt with the Indians. Mexican’s were viewed as inferior, savages, and second class citizens. Our treatment of Mexico resulted from a nationalistic pride and power rooted in the belief that as a nation we were destined to build our power through territorial expansion at any cost. Therefore this idea espoused by Daniel Webster falls short at this time, because as a nation we already established the practice of gaining power by taking other people’s property. To say that fighting Mexico gave us an image of ruthless or aggressive in acquiring more land is redundant, because we started doing just that eighteen years prior to the war with Mexico. For Daniel Webster to now stand up on the day the U.S. voted on the annexation of Texas and say by taking over Texas we are showing the world that we are ruthless, power hungry, and aggressive is a huge understatement. His argument before congress in December of 1845 probably seemed laughable because in short, we were a nation of bullies hell bent to increase the nations territory and power by any means necessary, including our own reputation . The war with Mexico is also opposed by many due to the status of Texas as a slave state. Webster firmly believed that the annexation of Texas as a slave state gave the south more political clout and representation in the house of representatives. This argument is rooted in the fact that the constitution
The Mexican American War was a very controversial event. The Americans believed in their “Manifest Destiny” which prompted them to annex the territory of Texas which, in turn, initiated the war on April 25, 1846. Texas was annexed to the Union as a slave state on December 29, 1845. This upset all of the Free states along with the Mexicans but the Southerners were in favor of the war because it gave them more strength when fighting for slavery. While there were many different beliefs about the Mexican-American War throughout the United States, these beliefs generally were the same within a region.
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 Charles Sumner, from “Objections to the Mexican-American War”, he states, “Our (American) Newspapers excited the lust of territorial robbery in the public mind.” This quote shows that even a state legislator from Massachusetts admits that the United States stole land from Mexico. In another quote from Charles Sumner’s “Objections to the Mexican-American War”, he states “Certainly Mexico might justly charge our citizens with disgraceful robbery.” This evidence shows that the United States already stole land from Mexico and that it was unjust to go to war with
The second basic cause of the war was the Texas War of Independence and the subsequent annexation of that area to the United States. Not all American westward migration was unwelcome. In the 1820's and 1830's, Mexico, newly independent from Spain, needed settlers in the underpopulated northern parts of the country. An invitation was issued for people who would take an oath of allegiance to Mexico and convert to Catholicism, the state religion. Thousands of Americans took up the offer and moved, often with slaves, to the Mexican province of Texas. Soon however, many of the new "Texicans" or "Texians" were unhappy with the way the government in Mexico City tried to run the province. In 1835, Texas revolted, and after several bloody battles, the Mexican President, Santa Anna, was forced to sign the Treaty of Velasco in 1836 . This treaty gave Texas its independence, but many Mexicans refused to accept the legality of this document, as Santa Anna was a prisoner of the Texans at the time. The Republic of Texas and Mexico continued to engage in border fights and many people in the United States openly sympathized with the U.S.-born Texans in this conflict. As a result of the savage frontier fighting, the American public developed a very negative stereotype against the Mexican people and government. Partly due to the continued hostilities with Mexico, Texas decided to join with the United States,
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.
“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
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.
In 1846 throughout 1848, a war to conquer land from Mexico were orders held by James K. Polk. An unjust war is about to occur, In 1846 Texas becomes Independent from Mexico and the United States. To begin with, Mexico approves for the Americans to settle onto Texas with one condition to not bring slaves along with them. During this time period, slavery was one of the most important political concerns and they opposed slavery. The Americans didn’t hold the values of anti-slavery, during this time they valued Manifest Density strongly. Accepting some restrictions from Mexico placed was nothing compared to its own destiny to occur from preventing America to stretch outward towards the Pacific Ocean. The main conflict started with the annexation of Texas, a dispute on the nation’s border, the Mexicans consider the Nueces river to be the border of Texas as for Americans that wasn’t enough land so they consider, Rio Grande the border. A way to aim to
Since the United States was founded as an independent nation from Great Britain, its people had confronted many economic, political, and social problems. The United States started to expand its territory in the western part of the country. Some examples are the Louisiana purchase from1803 and the Spanish Florida annexation. One of the most significant and controversial in the antebellum years was the Texas annexation which was a result of the War between Mexico and the war of independence by Texan rebels on the late 1830’s and 1840’s. Therefore, the annexation of the Republic of Texas existed from 1836-1845 produced controversy and consequences on both sides of the border.
For fear of the northerns’’ and abolitionists, neither Jackson or Van Buren dared to push hard for annexation. Though the reasons for ending slavery were not their prime concern. If Texas was admitted into the union the new slave state would wreck the hard won balance of slave and free states in the Senate. Thus giving the south an advantage over the north. The abolitionists believed that this would eventually lead to the south pushing for laws inferior of their ways of life, being new slave laws, and disunion in the country.(Haley) Once Texas is annexed its territory could become as many as 11 new slave states with 22 new pro-slavery senators. This would be a political nightmare for the north’s anti-slavery politations.
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 Mexican-American war fought between 1846 and 1848 remains a topic of much contention amongst modern historians. Differing accounts and conclusions of the war are often presented and one must remain pragmatic when analysing both primary and secondary sources regarding the war. There is a clear time line of events that led to the outbreak of the war, but there is one major event, and one minor action, which directly resulted in the declarations of war on both sides of the conflict between Mexico and the United States. Most scholars agree that the annexation of the Republic of Texas by
After the new states were being proclaimed argument for what states were to be slaves and which were not. This lead to distress in the senate and had planted the seeds for the civil war. Texas was later taken over by former southern American slave owners that had declared their own independence calling them the lone star state which started distress with Mexico who had stated that texas’ borders were on a closer river than the Rio grande and had started a war with
The Mexican-American was very important to our country. We not only annexed Texas but, gained other states what is now modern day California, Utah, and Nevada. Mexico also obtains from the war which was debt relief. This paper explains how America and Mexico went from enemies to allies.