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The Mexican American War : An Important Part Of United States ' History Essay

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Many historians consider the Mexican-American war to be an important part of United States’ history. It allowed the young nation to uncover what their true values were and come into its potential as a world power. The Mexican-American war cemented the United States’ role as a world power as the people banded together and put aside differences to secure the supremacy of their way of life. It expanded the values of the American society beyond parochial lives and improved the overall quality of life, it brought about greater nationalism, and ultimately the belief that they the people had the right and might to expand their territory as they saw fit. From the very beginning of the war, it had strong support from within the United States, because the federal government took an activist role in the war effort. President Polk “defined the role of the Commander-in-Chief during wartime” he showed great “personal strength, leadership, and determination” (Johannsen 15). This was much different than the approach of the government during the War of 1812, where “James Madison had exercised little leadership” (Johannson 15). As soon as the war bill was passed by Congress in 1845 great demonstrations in support of the war broke out across the country and “the New York Herald predicted that the war would ‘lay the foundation of a new age, a new destiny, affecting both this continent and the old continent of Europe” (Johannsen 8). The people felt the war would catapult the nation onto the

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