Was The Mexican American War Justified Essay

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.

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

In a U.S. Congress debate on the war, Joshua Giddings said, “The order was to abstain from all aggressive acts toward ‘Mexican citizens.’ It seems that the President expected General Taylor to find Mexican citizens located within the United States…” To summarize what Joshua Giddings said, Polk’s orders prove that he expected Mexicans to be located within U.S. territory, and what country would expect foreigners on their own territory? Unless it is not officially their territory, which means President Polk sent soldier to disputed territory with the knowledge that Mexico would consider it an act of war, due to the tensions between the countries, therefore, the President obviously intended to create conflict with Mexico. Polk was elected by running on the promise to expand the nation, which included annexing Texas. It took nine years to annex Texas, and in which the tensions between Mexico and America continued to rise in that time. This means that Polk knew that annexing Texas would only make things worse between the disputing countries and could possibly trigger a

The United States of America has been through many wars, wars concerning many things such as land oil, pride and respect. However, when the United States went to war with Mexico, it was planned over greed. The Mexican- American war was a war provoked by the United States, in efforts to expand the coasts of the country. Mexico was a small under privileged country who had previously to the war had already lost part of their country (Texas). Needless to say this war was cut throat and violent, it was however one of the smartest business decisions America has ever made.

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.

“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

The Mexican and American war was a very controversial war. Some think it was just and others think it was unjust. The war started after the Texas wanted to annex on to the united states. Mexico and Texas both thought they owned a strip of land in between But the Texans thought it was there. The undisputed territory both sides wanted and the U.S even was willing to pay for it, but Mexico turned it down! One event that sparked that was the president of the United States J. K. Polk wanting the war to happen. As so he sent troops to build a fort on the disputed territory in hopes of the Mexicans attacking. This plan worked and they attacked. So Polk got congress to declare war.

The perception of history is often crafted by the information given and the information available, however, almost too often the facts accessible are warped by the viewpoints of others before they can be properly assessed. Differing outlooks thus explicate the controversial nature of historical events and why the motives and conclusions behind certain occurrences are called into question. The Mexican American war as many American historians would call it ushers a contrary tone in Mexico as their own historians would claim the “war” as United States invasion; the difference in referral is based on the different perceptions of the conflict. In the American viewpoint, the Mexican American War was driven by economic, social and political pressures to bolster United States territories, through the annexation of Texas. In the converse, it could be argued that Mexico did not declare a formal war against the United States but rather was interested in defending their country’s territorial integrity and resisting United State’s invasion. In a Mexican viewpoint then, the war was not a result of arrogance but a consequence of defending Mexican territory from United States invasion. Nonetheless the aftermath of the war produced immense repercussions, furthering American exceptionalism, slavery, and disregard for international borders prompting the inquiry of not only the unjust methods applied but the unjustified results.

On April 25, 1846, 11 US soldiers were killed when they trespassed onto Mexican land. This was caused because of an order given by the Mexican government to protect their borders. Little did Americans & Mexicans know, but this simple order would start a war. The Mexican American War was about how the United States felt more worthy of owning Mexico’s land than Mexico. The Mexican American War was not justified because the USA annexed Texas without Mexico’s consent and they also trespassed the border, onto Mexico’s land.

One reason that the Mexican-American war was not justified is that the Americans took land from Mexico. The annexation of Texas is an example of America taking land, stated in Document C. That was very wrong of the U.S to do at the time due to security and legal reasons for Mexico. Then Americans tried to take more land from Mexico by sending troops to near the Rio Grande River. As a security measure, the Mexicans decided to attack the American soldiers, killing 16 of the Americans. This shows that Americans were not justified for going to war with Mexico because Americans decided to send soldiers to invade the undisputed part of land between Texas and Mexico.

     The factors that started the Mexican War lay heavily on American shoulders. Whether if the factors were created by social, political or economical needs, they have all become the center of attention for the question of being a national interest or disgrace. However, the Americans felt that they existed for “…spreading the blessings of peace.” according to Andrew Jackson. There will always be controversy between the two sides of this matter, the Americans who feel that it had to be done, to the Mexicans who felt that it was an injustice done to their nation.

that President Polk had no right to do what he did. It is said that

The United States of America was justified in going to war with Mexico. Throughout history, it has always been exceedingly dangerous to occupy the same land as another nation. Such close borders contribute to invasions or prompt a significant decrease of commerce with other foreign nations. These fears were proven to be legitimate when American soldiers investigated Mexican military near the Rio Del Norte territorial boundary. The group was attacked by Mexican soldiers, resulting in an estimated 16 Americans killed or wounded on U.S soil. Mexican soldiers ignored the boundaries of the newly annexed Texas, and then engaged American military, it provided a more than sufficient reason to claim that Mexico had supplied the means to declare war.

The Mexican-American war determined the destiny of the United States of America, it determined whether or not it would become a world power and it established the size of the United States of America. Perhaps the war was inevitable due to the idea of Manifest Destiny - Americans thought they had the divine right to extend their territory. The Mexican-American War started mainly because of the annexation of the Republic of Texas (established in 1836 after breaking away from Mexico). The United States and Mexico still had conflicts on what the borders of Texas was, the United States claimed that the Texas border with Mexico was the Rio Grande, but the Mexicans said that it was the Nueces River, so the land in between were disputed and