Many Americans believed that it was their Manifest Destiny to obtain a portion of Mexico. Other Americans wanted more land to protect themselves from other nations invading their land. Some Americans opposed the idea because it would add another slave state. Slidell went to Mexico to buy California and New Mexico for 3 million dollars and was willing to give 2 million dollars for the damages caused. His offer was denied. Polk learned of this and decided to allow his army to advance. Before war was actually declared, the two sides had already begun to fight. Taylor’s army fought Arista’s army at the Rio Grande. Arista fought for the Mexican side. When Polk heard this information, he convinced the Senate and Congress to approve the war declaration. …show more content…
In addition, there was a rumor that Mexican land had gold, which was later proved true when America took California and they discovered gold. This is a secondary source.
The Mexican War is often forgotten because it seemed unimportant. It did not lead to the destruction of all of the region of Mexico and it ended in a treaty. Fifty thousand volunteer participated in the American army. The war was started because Texas was annexed, the quick expansion of Territory that America had gone through, ideas like Manifest Destiny, the unstable Mexican government, the Texas Revolution, and the disagreement about the border. America was greedy for war and desired more land. Mexico did not want to give its land up, but Polk had plans to take it. Ever since the beginning of his election, he had planned to take away California. The idea of Manifest destiny caused America to buy the Louisiana Purchase and to annex Texas. Santa Anna was in exile in 1844, but he was president before he was exiled. Herrera became the president in 1845. Paredes later became the president. The unstable government was the reason that Mexico couldn’t make a treaty with America before the Mexican war was launched. The United States sent Joel R. Poinsett to determine the
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Polk was the eleventh president that started the war with Mexico. During his presidency, Manifest Destiny was a popular idea. He declared war after one year of presidency. Mexico gained its independence from Spain before the Mexican War. Once it had gained its independence, it allowed Anglo-Saxon Americans to settle on Texas. They outnumbered the Tejanos, so on April 6, 1830, Mexico raised the taxes and increased the amount of military soldiers in Texas. They despised these laws and Texas rebelled in October 1835. They fought in the Alamo, participated in the Battle of Goliad, and finished the Texas Revolution in the Battle of San Jacinto. April 1836 was when Texas won its independence. Mexico believed that America caused the Texas Revolution. America had raised money for weapons and some soldiers joined the army of Texas. Mexico became angry when Texas was annexed. President Tyler was the one who invited Texas to be a part of the United States. Texas claimed the border was the Rio Grande which decreased the amount of Mexican land. Mexico didn’t want to negotiate about where Texas’s border was and they didn’t want to give up California or New Mexico. On February 1846, Polk made General Zachary Taylor move toward the Rio Grande. On April 24 1846, a Mexican army advanced. April 25 1846 was when Thornton and his army was attacked by the Mexican army for invading the land. War began on that day and Taylor had fought in the battle of Palo Alto and the Resaca de Palma.
was justified in going to war with Mexico was because they were protecting Texas from the Mexican threat and the American citizens within the state. Firstly, after gaining its independence in 1836, Texas annexed into the U.S. This means the Texans living in this territory were citizens of America. The U.S. was worried that Mexico would invade this new southern American land, so President James K. Polk “ordered an efficient military force to take a position between the Nueces and the [Rio Grande]. This had become necessary, to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces” (Polk, 10).
The Mexican War of 1846 started because the U.S. had this idea of that they had to possess land from the Pacific to the Atlantic destined by God also known as “manifest destiny.” During this time, the U.S. President, James Polk, had the leadership and wanted to expand land and had in mind to annex Texas, occupy Oregon, and take control of California. The reason why the Mexican War began was due to Polk’s idea that he wanted to expand land west and he had also in mind to obtained Texas, Oregon, and California. In Texas there was a dispute over where the border line would be between Texas and Mexico.
“According to the declaration, the Mexican government had invaded Texas to lay waste territory and had a large mercenary army advancing to carry on a war of extermination” (Steen). The US officially did not intervene in this struggle, although thousands of volunteers in the United States were recruited to help the Texans. Armed conflicts between Mexico and the Texas Republic made it possible to end not so much the annexation of the United States (under the agreement of December 29, 1845, Texas became the 28th state), but the US victory in the American-Mexican war of 1846-1848, which completely suppressed the resistance of Mexico, territorial
Wars are waged for one reason and one reason only: land. The Mexican War was a war fought between America is its weaker neighbor Mexico. It is often said that the person who started the Mexican War was President Polk. Growing up in Mississippi during the latter years of Spain’s reign in the Southern states, Polk came to despise the Spanish.
One reason that proved the United States were unjustified in going to war with Mexico is the idea of going to war was racially motivated. Like many Americans, Polk believed ït is America’s right to stretch from sea to shining sea”. This means President Polk believed that the Americans were better than everyone else. This made President Polk very bias in his speech since he believed the US should rightfully control the whole continent. Believing one is better than the other is not a good reason to start a war, this is one reason why United States were not justified on going to war with Mexico.
As a Democrat, I believe that President Polk was justified in starting the Mexican-American War. Also, as a strong supporter of Manifest Destiny, also known as Western expansion, I furthermore find reason to believe Polk was justified in initiating war with the Mexican people; being that the Mexican government refused peaceful negotiation. The Americans were the just owners of this western land, and we intended to get it. The Mexican government refused a meeting with our representative to establish the border between Texas and Mexico, along with an offer of 30 million dollars for Western territory. These western territories would provide substantial economic growth for the United States, as well as the obvious: making our nation larger as
The president at that time was Polk, he promised that he would annex Texas and Oregon; and gain New York and California. He also wanted to serve one term as president and wanted to accomplish this. According to Document E written by Joshua Giddings, who was part of the U.S. congress debate on the war with Mexico. This debate was between the House of Representatives on May 13, 1846. “The order was also to abstain from all aggressive acts toward citizens.
Mexico stood in the way of America. The Mexican government attempted to increase the population of their northern lands by welcoming settlers from the United States. This turned out to be a bad idea, as the American settlers were mostly Protestant, pro-slavery, and largely ignored Mexican authority.
Was the United States Justified in Going to War With Mexico? Texas declared itself an Independent Nation in 1836. In 1845 the United States annexed Texas. There was a war between the U.S and Mexico in 1846-1848, Texas and Mexico got into a disagreement over which border would be Texas’s, the U.S wanted the Rio Grande and Mexico wanted the Nueces River.
Slavery is one of the top reasons as they felt like they didn’t need Mexico anymore. Throughout the time there was many battles fought against each other in many cities in Texas. Many battles were won by Mexico since their army was bigger than what Texas had at the time. The Texans felt that they could be their own state since they had all the necessities to survive their own economy and felt that with all the slave they had they could do a lot more. A lot of Texans and people from the United States wanted to help out Texas get its independence from Mexico which is what caused battles like in the Alamo.
INTRODUCTION Throughout the 1840s and 1850s a major war happened called the Mexican American War which drastically changed the U.S. and Mexico and lead to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to be signed and which established the Rio Grande and not the Nueces River as the U.S Border. This also lead to the U.S. annexation of Texas and lead to the Mexico agreeing to sell California and the rest of the territory for 15 million. So you 're probably wondering why the war was fought but you 'll find that out later.
This war happened mainly because the U.S. wanted to expand to the Pacific Ocean to fulfill their Manifest Destiny, trying to take away Mexico’s land. Mexico refused to to give land to the U.S. The big question is whether the U.S. was justified in fighting Mexico in the Mexican-American War. The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because Manifest Destiny, too much Mexican interference, and Texas was invaded. One reason the Mexican War was justified was Manifest Destiny. In Document A, John O’Sullivan writes: “Texas is now ours...Let their reception into the “family be frank, kindly, and cheerful….”
The way they claimed annexed was by saying the Rio Grande was the southern boundary of Texas but Mexico said it was the Nueces River. In regards to the war, Americans were greatly divided. The northerners hated it because of the fact that Texas favored slavery. Those in the south liked the idea of a war because it would help expand to the west. This expansion would provide more land and opportunity.
The United states was longing to annex,or take land into a country, California. One reason the Mexican War was justified
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.