US Justified or Not Justified War, bloodshed, trespassing, death, all this was caused by the US going to war for no reason. During this time, many interesting things happened. In 1848 the first baseball diamond was laid out in New York. Another interesting fact was that Mexico was a Catholic country, while America was a mostly Protestant country. This caused a lot of anger among the two countries. Sometimes countries go to war for no reason, an example of this is the War of Mexico. The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because, they did not organize borderlines with Mexico, Manifest Density was not believed by everyone, and all the US wanted was California. The first reason the Mexican War was not justified is …show more content…
This is because “California will, probably, next fall away from Mexico...Imbecile and distracted, Mexico never can exert any real Government authority over such a country” (O’Sullivan 323). US makes excuses to get California. They try to make everyone think that taking land away from Mexico would be the best thing to do. They make it seem as though going to war, and taking California and Texas away from them, will the Mexican government a favor. However Mexico has been able to get more land than America did, so the US has no reason to make fun of them or go to war. American citizens also started trespassing onto California, even though they knew it was not their land. They started to take it over without Mexico knowing.“The Anglo-Saxon foot is already on (California’s) borders...armed with the and the rifle, and marking its trail with schools and colleges, courts and representative halls, mills and meeting- houses” (O’Sullivan 323). Polk also somewhat wanted Texas, but the land he was really after was California. This evidence shows that if the US won Texas then Texas could help them win over California. US also keeps on saying the Mexico is not powerful and has very little authority. (O 'Sullivan 323) They tell everyone that Mexico is a frail country. This might be to make other people want to join the war In the end this evidence shows the US was not …show more content…
Overall the United States cared more about what their opinion was then what anyone else thought about anything. If the country were to just talk about everything with Mexico then there would be no need to fight. This topic is important because if this war had gone differently then Mexico would still own, California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and many other states. However still today, countries need to make sure that they are justified in going to war, that they have good enough reasons. This is because war is a heartbreaking time for everyone. It causes a lot of heartache for the citizens in the middle of the war. If a country does not need to go to war, then they would be hurting everyone for no
President James K. Polk asked Congress for a declaration of war against Mexico because, as he said, “American blood had been shed on American soil”. President Polk wanted to gain some of Mexico’s territory. He decided to send someone to Mexico with an offer. The offer was that the United States would pay Mexico for the Texan boundary of the Rio Grande, New Mexico territory, and California. Mexico was not interested in the offer or selling the territory and refused the offer, which ended with an angry president Polk after learning their response.
The U.S. believes that California will someday break away from Mexico because they think Mexico is imbecile and has a bad government. The invasion was threatened solely because Texas had determined… to annex herself to our Union; and under those circumstances, it was plainly our duty to extend our protection over her citizens and soil.” (Polk 325) This quote shows: Polk had to help Texas that one time. This had become necessary, to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces.”
‘’ To further explain, President Polk commanded armed military troops to the disputed territory. Polk specifically did this, because he was aware of the tensions that would arise between Mexico
The phrase “manifest destiny” was in the air, exciting United State citizens. President James Polk declared that it was America’s right to expand to the Pacific Ocean. However, the land west from Texas was Mexican soil. As a result, the United States asked to buy the California territory. When Mexico declined their offer, President James Polk needed an excuse to go to war with Mexico to steal California right from underneath them.
Throughout various articles, facts have lead to the belief that the Mexicans were responsible for starting the Mexican War. The dilemmas began to appear when Mexico failed to recognize Texas as an independent state. The president of Mexico at the time, Antonio de Santa Anna, signed an agreement in Texas for their freedom but neglected it as soon he came back to Mexico. Afterward, The United States annexed Texas and Mexico cut off all relations with the U.S. The communication between them was completely dissolved and Mexico refused to negotiate with any American.
The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) marked the primary U.S. armed conflict in the main fought on foreign soil. It emptied a politically divided, militarily unprepared, all around unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. Polk, World Health Organization believed the U.S. had a “manifest destiny” to unfold across the continent to the Pacific. A border encounter on the river started off the fighting and was followed by a series of U.S. victories. Once the mud cleared, United Mexican States had lost due to simple fraction of its territory, together with nearly all of current Golden State, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New
Joshua Giddings stated, “It has therefore become necessary to extend our dominions into Mexico in order to render slavery in Texas.” They overall had wrong intents and Mexico was not digging them. Joshua Giddings also stated “This war is waged against an unoffending people, without just or adequate cause, for the purposes of conquest; with the design to extend slavery; in violation of the Constitution, against the dictates of justice, of humanity, the sentiments of the age in which we live, and the precepts of the religion we profess.” This shows that all of this was them aiming towards the expansion of their slave market. This was another big cause of war because they wanted to expand a slave market while Mexico wanted no part in
The Mexican-American war altered the United States environmentally, culturally and politically. First, on February 2, 1848, Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo two years post the beginning of the war. The treaty not only achieved President Polk’s goal to achieve California from Mexico but also granted the U.S. over 500,000 square miles of new territory. The new land caused approximately 90,000 spanish speaking, mostly Catholic Mexicans under American jurisdiction. Second, Nativism, a rising anti-catholic and anti-immigrant deemed the Mexicans inferior.
and Mexican forces had taken place in U.S. territory.” “Further, legislators were at odds over whether Polk had the right to unilaterally declare that a state of war
In Document B, President Polk said, “I had ordered and efficient military force to take a position...to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces….invasion was threatened solely because Texas had determined….to annex herself to our Union,... it was plainly our duty to extend our protection over her citizens and soil.” President Polk then mentioned the attack at the Rio del Norte, where the invasion in Texas happened. This evidence shows the US was justified in going to war with Mexico because Texas was invaded by Mexico, meaning that the U.S. should protect Texas by fighting
Was the United States Justified in Going to War With Mexico? Who started the Mexican-American War? Firstly, The United States went to Mexico in 1846. Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836. Certainly, Americans were being extremely greedy and wanted more and more land.
“it was God’s plan that America extend its territory.” (Roden 317) God wants America to take Texas. The Mexicans are “limiting our greatness checking the fulfillment of our Manifest Destiny” (O’Sullivan 323) People are wrongly stopping God’s plan. Later America got Texas, California, and Oregon Territory.(Roden 317)
The US did not not have solid reasons to do so besides their own greed, so the US hid behind the idea of Manifest Destiny and tried to justify their actions. John O’Sullivan was the New York City journalist who coined the term Manifest Destiny. He said, “Imbecile and distracted, Mexico never can exert any real government authority over such a country…’’ (O’Sullivan, 8). O’Sullivan and the US suggested that Mexico “needed” the US to come and take over, because otherwise Mexico was going to fall apart. Although this was somewhat true, the US did not try to help Mexico through this difficult time; instead, the US took advantage of Mexico’s weakness and tried to take over completely.
This war created a bad relationship between the U.S.A and Mexico. During the war, the daily paper, "El Republicano"
The United States war with Mexico continues to be a divisive topic among many people because of its background. The Mexican-American war was a fight between Mexico and America for land. America’s belief at the time was Manifest Destiny, which meant that they believed that America should extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific ocean. In the end, America benefited from the war and got the land. The United States expanded its size, achieving their dream of Manifest Destiny.