War Between Mexico And The United States

Manifest Destiny represented a God given right to expand West, justifying any action to accomplish the sacred duty. However, such a grand quest could not have been left unscathed and the Mexican-American War was the inevitable action that left a mark on the Manifest Destiny of being motivated by nothing more than greed and extreme nationalism. The inevitability of the war and the claimed “injustices” that were done toward Mexico were justified because of the annexation of Texas, there was a legitimate national threat and the war being a last resort.

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

One reason the Mexican War was justified was because of manifest destiny. Manifest destiny mean in the 19th century United States was destined to, stretch

Manifest destiny was used as an excuse for America claiming land it had never had any right to. Americans wanted to extend slavery and saw taking land from Mexico as a way to do so. President Polk set the perfect opportunity to get Mexicans to attack US soldiers, so he would have grounds for war. None of these were justified reasons for war, and only caused a larger rift to form within the nation. The United States’ unjustified decision to go to war with Mexico was a driving force in dividing the nation, ultimately leading to the Civil

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

While Manifest Destiny and territorial expansion created conflict with foreign nations, including the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), and within the United States, it worked to unify the United States from 1830 to 1860 by strengthening the nation as a whole, creating economic opportunities for people from all different walks of life, and expanding the United States through the annexation of Texas and the acquisition of California from Mexico.

“The United States had emerged as a modern capitalist nation, and the spirit of nationalism in the country was strong and growing” (Henderson 71). As tensions grew between the Unites States and Mexico, there was a thirst for war. The Unites States declared war with Mexico, because they owned land that Americans desired, resulting in America’s fulfillment of achieving their philosophy of “Manifest Destiny”. The blood boil of both countries caused a lot of bloodshed. The dispute lasted for a long two year battle which was for huge amounts of land. The Americans were victorious and claimed new territories from the conflict.

The Mexican-American War was driven by the idea of "Manifest Destiny" (Which is the belief that America had a God-given right to expand the country's borders from sea to sea) This belief would eventually cause a great deal of suffering for many Mexicans, Native Americans and United States citizens. Following the earlier Texas War of Independence from Mexico, tensions between the two largest independent nations on the North American continent grew as Texas eventually became a U.S. state. Disputes over the border lines sparked military confrontation, helped by the fact that President Polk eagerly sought a war in order to seize large tracts of land from Mexico.

Manifest Destiny is a term coined by John L. Sullivan in 1845 when talking about the annexation of Texas. He believed, along with other expansionists, that it’s inevitable that the US population would spread across North America because the land is given by Providence to the United States and that it’s natural that the land should be part of the country [Doc 1]. The idea of westward expansion and Manifest Destiny had positive and negative effects on the politics, society and the economics of the United States and

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

So the American’s stole the land from Mexico to get to the coast.”America wanted to extend their country all the way to the west”(background essay 317). This quote shows that America did want to spread to the West because of Manifest Destiny. “The texas wanted to have slaves but they didn’t want to be catholic”(doc A 323 john). This Information shows that the Americans ignored the mexicans and didn’t respect their laws. “Manifest Destiny is to overspread the continent”(roden 323). This shows that Americans would do anything in their way. This evidence shows shows the U.S was not justified into going to war with Mexico and it was not a good enough reason to do so. The Americans don’t have a good enough reason into go to war with Mexico because it was there land and they can’t just take and call it theirs. Manifest destiny doesn’t mean you have to go to

The Mexican-American War was a result of Manifest Destiny.  Manifest Destiny was a belief that Americans had a god given right to expand their border all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Not only did Americans believe that they also had a right to the land, but they also believed that they had a moral duty to civilize its occupants, which included Native Americans, Mexicans, and Spanish speaking Catholics. According to Britannica, the Mexican-American War originated from the United States annexation of Texas in 1845. Texas had been in a border dispute with Mexico at the time of the annexation  therefore, the conflict transferred to the U.S. Mexico claimed that the border ended at the Nueces River, and the United States claimed it ended at the Rio Grande River.

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).

“Other nations have hostile against us, hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent”(Doc A Para 2). United States were fighting over Mexican to reclaim Texas to be part of the country. In July 1845, John L. O’Sullivan feels like the US should annexing Texas and California (Doc A Para 1). He thought that the Mexicans were dumb because they didn’t have any government authority over a country. The Mexico wanted to expand their lands. The invasion took place in April 24th when sixteen American were killed and wounded (Doc B Para 4). The argument is Americans justified in going to war with Mexico. The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because territory,slaves, and invasion.

The war with Mexico is long remembered as an episode, and by no means is it an unimportant one. With the events that led up to its happening, from the Manifest Destiny to the disputes on territory, it has severely marked the United States. American historians regard the Mexican-American war as “the foulest blot on our national honor”. (sfmuseum.org) Unethical actions were taken gain Mexican territory. Polk and his hunger for land drove him to find some devious way to fight a war with Mexico. His belligerent attitude in regard to this war was the “foulest blot on our national honor.” However, as one studies the events that led to it, was it an unprovoked act of aggression? Or did the US unjustifiably lure Mexico into one of the bloodiest wars on American soil?