Was The United States Justified In Going To War With Mexico?

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

Texas and the United States believed that the proper borderline between Texas and Mexico was the Rio Grande, but for Mexico it believed that the border between them and Texas is the Nueces River.”(Hook) As you can see the United States and Mexico had different beliefs. This evidence shows the US was justified in going to war with Mexico because the US believed that Mexico had a smaller amount of land they what they think they have. But Mexico believes that it has more land. Mexico and the United States were fighting over the disputed territory which was between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande, which made the tension between Mexico and the US more negative. “ on April 24th of April a party…..of sixty three men and officers, were… dispatched from the American camp up the Rio del Norte.(Doc B)” This evidence shows that Mexico had went against its boundary and fought with American men in the striped area where Mexico and the United states were already fighting for. This Made thing more difficult to handle because the Us and Mexico were already fighting for land and the probably made things worse between the two

Have you ever worked really hard to obtain something, but have had it taken away from you as soon as you get it? How did you feel? You probably weren’t happy about it. This is basically how the Mexicans felt when the U.S declared war on them. In 1821 Mexico had declared its independance from Spain. As soon as Mexico declared independance they invited American settlers into the province of Texas so that Mexico could boost economy and population. For Mexico, it turned out horrible because the Americans believed in basically everything opposite to what the Mexicans believed in. In 1836 after a few battles at places such as the Alamo, the people of Texas won their independance from Mexico. Then when James Polk was elected president of the United

“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 turning point for the future United States. The Mexican-American War was about United States wanting to fulfill their manifest destiny by having their land stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. So was it justified to take Mexico lands? The United states was justified in going to war with Mexico because we had rights and We would gain more land. Mexico might have been ‘dumb and distracted’, but they still should have some land for themselves.

How would you feel if someone didn’t tell you the whole truth, but because of that lives were lost. This is what happens in the American- Mexican War. It started in 1846 and took place in Mexico because the American believed in Manifest Destiny. The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because Polk didn’t say the whole story, going to war with Mexico meant taking more land, and the war was racially motivated.

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

“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

[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

Roden, Phil. "Was the United States Justified in Going to War with Mexico?" The DBQ Project (2013): 315-19. Print.

Those that see the war as justified, will argue that the U.S and Mexico war was justified. However, it was unjustifiable because of all the actions Mexico pulled like, coming to their land, shedding the blood of the Americans on to their soil, etc. Also, they discouraged many people because with how they treated the U.S, which was something they did not

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

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.

America was justified in going to war as Mexico invaded the country,American troops were killed by the Mexicans,and Mexico decided to strike first.When Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836 and stated that the Rio Grande was the border boundary.However in 1846,Mexican forces decided to cross the border line as it was known as an invasion against the US.On Document B President Polk stated, “The Congress of Texas,by its act of December 19,1836, had declared the Rio del Norte to be the boundary of that Republic.”(Doc B)On April 24th,1846,an American force of 70 men were dispatched to camp north of the Rio Grande. However,a larger Mexican force,decided to attack the American force where 16 American soldiers were killed.On Document

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.