Was America Justified In Going To War Dbq

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.

If you looked at a map of North America in the 1820's the countries would look a lot different. Mexico was as large as the United States, stretching from Guatemala in the south to Oregon in the north. The US was much smaller, but not for long. The Mexican War, or the "U.S. Invasion" (according to the Mexicans) started in 1846 and ended in 1848. In that short time the US gained a large chunk of territory including Texas and California and Mexico lost more than half of their land. Many Americans and Mexicans died fighting in the war but was this war justified ? I think that the Mexican war was not justified but provoked by the United States. The reasons why I think this is that Americans living in Texas violated the rules that Mexico had

First reason of why America was not justified in going to war with Mexico because was because of America's invasion. “ the troops commanded by General Zachary Taylor arrived at the Rio Grande across from the city of Matamoros, increasing the possibility of a confrontation”. In other word this this evidence shows that Americans were not justified in going to war with Mexico because it was an invasion crossing the mexican border and claiming land without any approval from the mexican government . “...Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon

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

“Restless spirits, discontented at home… joined them… the work of rebellion sped.” (Sumner 329) It shows they rebelled. “But now,... Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil.” (Polk 325) The Americans made claims that were false. The land between the Rio Del Norte is the American border. (Polk 325) Not their official land. Mexicans passed the border. (Pole 325) Mexico did nothing wrong. The Americans were not justified because they broke Mexico’s rules. They broke too many rules to be justified in a war that could have been easily

The Mexican-American War was a huge event in American history, yet it is not talked about very often. It all started back when Texas was annexed to be an American state. Mexico saw this as a declaration of war. The war officially began on May 9, 1846 when Mexico fired upon the U.S. from their side of the Rio Grande. Though this is not a very popular topic, the questions still stands. Did the U.S. have a valid reason for declaring war on Mexico? The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because the U.S. attacked first, they stole Mexico’s land, and it meant an expansion of slavery.

They once were free, but now they're ours! The Mexican War had much to do with the Nueces River, the Rio Grande and the Annexation of Texas. Dates for the Mexican War were July 1845 - April 1846. In going to war with Mexico, was the US justified or unjustified? United States were unjustified in going to war with Mexico because we broke their laws, robbed land, and invaded their territory.

“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

In 1846 Americans stepped foot on undisputed land, leading to war. The war itself happened on April 25, 1846, north of the Rio Grande River. Americans and Mexicans (after the annexation of Texas) both thought that they had the right of land between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River. With that information, was it right for America to go to war with Mexico? My answer is no, it was not justified because before that war, Americans had already taken land from Mexico, invaded land owned by Mexico, and that there was a misunderstanding with the land disputes.

Mexican President Jose Herrera refused to negotiate (Stevenson 2009). After failed negotiations with Mexico, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to position his troops in the disputed territory, north of the Rio Grande River. Mexico, seeing this as an act of aggression struck first and killed several of Tyler’s men. After receiving word of the skirmish, President Polk petitioned congress, claiming Mexico “has invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon the American soil” (Tindall & Shi 2010, p. 401). In response, congress unanimously passed the resolution and on May 13, 1846, the United States declared war (Tindall & Shi 2010).

Right after the battle of the alamo when, americans won their Independence and won Texas over, still Americans were looking for more land to concur. In 1848 there was fighting near the Rio de Norte near the north bank. On that day 16 americans out of 70 died in that battle, but for the mexicans the number of deaths are unknown. Was the United States Justified in going to war with mexico. The United States had no reason in going to with mexico because the americans were stealing from mexico, and that president Polk was trying to take over california which was still owned by mexicans. This was why Americans went to war with mexico.

It is worth noting here that the Americans were concerned about appearances, and that they did their best to provoke Mexico into a war, without having to bear the responsibility of actually starting the war. In his Personal Memoirs, Grant explained the mission of the U.S. Army in south Texas, "We were sent to provoke a fight, but it was essential that Mexico should commence it." The plan worked. The U.S. annexed Texas in February of 1846, and Polk immediately ordered Taylor to proceed to the Rio Grande. One of Taylor's patrols skirmished with a Mexican detachment and lost over twenty soldiers, including eleven dead, five wounded, and several captured. Polk immediately called for war. In his bellicose message to the U.S. Congress, the President announced that, "American blood had been shed upon American soil." He got his declaration of war.

The Mexican-American war, also known as the Mexican war happened between 1846 and 1848 with the participants being United States of America and Mexico. Texas, previously a Mexican state, was the primary cause of the war. A series of disagreements had occurred between Texans and the Mexican government leading to Texas declaration of its independence in 1836. Later, Texas decided to join the United States as the 28th state and this infuriated Mexico. Additionally, border disagreements came up with Mexico claiming the border was at Nueces River while Texas claimed it was at Rio Grande River. James K. Polk, the president, sent his army to protect the border which ended up in shooting between Mexican and American troops. It is after this that

The Vietnam War was the longest war in the history of the United States it lasted from 1959-1975. Billions of dollars was spent trying to win and unwinnable war. Countless of lives were lost and America failed to achieve its objective. The origins of the war stem from the Indochina wars that occurred in the late 40s and early 50s. After many years of colonial war, the Viet Minh a communist group led by Ho Chi Minh sought independence for Vietnam. The French were not reluctant to let go of their crowning jewel without a fight. The French were aided militarily by the Unites States who sought the membership of France to the NATO and were willingly to provide as much aid to ensure that they won the war and Vietnam did not fall to communism. This led to an eight year war which culminated with the defeat of the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. A cease fire was issued and peace agreements known as the Geneva Accords where drawn during the 1954 Geneva Conference. The agreement issued a temporary division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel which created a Communist North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh and a democratic South Vietnam led by prime minister Ngo Dinh Diem. Vietnam was supposed to unify after the nationwide election of 1956 which Diem refuse to acknowledge.