Was The Mexican-American War Justified?

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.

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

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

One reason the US was unjustified in going to war with Mexico is because of the US and theft. The US stole Texas. This is from Document C. Mexico said they were planning on taking California from Mexico. The US was unjustified because they stole Texas.

“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

One reason the Mexican War was not justified was that the Mexicans only attacked the Americans because in their eyes, America attacked first.

One reason the Mexican War was unjustified was that America had no respect for Mexican Government. U.S. didn’t follow the laws (Doc D). They brought in slaves when Mexico made it illegal for slavery.America ignored Mexico's rules(Paragraph 4 Background Essay). It quotes,” the American government acted like a bandit who came upon a traveler”. Which means that America stole things from Mexico(Doc C). This evidence shows that the U.S. was unjustified in going to war because they didn’t have any respect for Mexico. By not listening to people whom they were owned by. So in that case America was unjustified.

They accused us of robbing land from them. “Restless Spirits discontented at home… the work of rebellion sped” {Doc. D Paragraph 3} We then accused our newcomers from Texas of stealing the land. “...Might just charge our citizens with disgraceful robbery…” {Doc. D Paragraph 3} This evidence shows the US was unjustified in going to war with Mexico because we were the ones who stole the land from them but blamed our newcomers, because Mexico did not yet know these newcomers so would most likely not bring much harm. Mexico only wanted the disputed territory to make up for the land we robbed from them, they didn’t want any

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.

“Mexico was a catholic anti-slavery and they couldn’t keep the texans under control”(Roden 317). This quote shows that Texans were not following the Mexican’s rules. “I did not take long for these differences and didn’t want to revault”(Roden 325). This quote shows that the Mexicans did not want to go to war with Texas. The Texans wanted slaves but didn’t want to be Catholic. This information shows the Texans ignored the laws given by Mexico. The mexicans were being generous but the Texans revolted. This Information shows that the texans didn’t care about the rules. This evidence shows the US was not justified into going to war with Mexico. The first Texans ignored the laws angering the Mexican government and rebelled against the laws given. The Mexican government was generous and offered free land but the Texans ignored their laws and rebelled against the Mexican

[Texas was a great place to grow cotton because of great climate, and it was a big piece of land. Two groups of Tejanos and Americans began complaining about each other. The leader of Mexico General Antonio Lopez De Santa Ana soon stopped Texas from letting Americans into it because they were not following the rules. Americans wanted to annex Texas but the Mexican Government did not let the United States get Texas that easy.] The United States was Justified in going to war with Mexico.* One reason why The US was justified in going in war with Mexico was because The US wanted All of Texas so they can reestablish slavery and get a lot of cotton out of it.* [The author of this

In Document C, it states that Americans called this war the “Mexican American War”, but in Mexico’s eyes, it was called “The American Invasion”. This was because Americans thought that that land belonged to them, and that Mexicans were the ones who were invading. For Mexicans, the Americans were invading their territory. This entire thing was a big misunderstanding, leading to the war. This shows that America was not justified because that incident was a large misunderstanding for both Mexico and

Like Lundy, I am also against slavery and can show a kind of bias against Americans when they were involved and trying to encourage slavery on the United States. I could also show a bias towards the Americans since I am one myself. With or without bias though, I do believe that the Texans were not justified, although I am not on the side of the Mexicans. I do not believe that either side was right in their ways in this conflict. The Americans tried to use the times to their advantage and get the Mexicans to give up land. The Mexicans tried to cause conflict so that the Americans would leave their land alone and stop invading. This conflict did not cause the Americans to leave, but instead to engage in this conflict and take it further. As quoted in Document C it says, “Yes, my friends, they preferred to die a thousand times rather than submit themselves to the tyrant’s yoke.” This shows how stubborn they were in this conflict and that neither side was giving in. In Document D it states, “It has been to grab the large and valuable territory of

Was the United States Justified in Going to War with Mexico? War with Mexico, Justified or not? The Mexican war took place in 1846, Mexico, this war was a result of built up tension, from Texas becoming a state, and the attack above Rio Grande. Was the United States justified in going to war with Mexico? The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because we took there land, an unreasonable war prize, and attacked them in disputed territory One reason the Mexican war was not justified was, we took their land.