Was The Mexican War Justified Essay

Between the years 1846-1848 the U.S. was at war with Mexico over the conflict of Texas. In 1824 a group of Americans known as The Old Three Hundred, led by Stephen Austin, traveled to Texas to create a U.S. settlement under Mexican conditions. These people brought with them their culture and language, but Mexico did not approve. Mexico got even angrier when, after gaining independence in 1836, Texas annexed into America in 1845. This made Mexico furious and conspiracy theories started to brew saying that this land grab was America’s plan all along.

As stated by John L. O’Sullivan, “Other nations have attempted...hostile interference against us… hampering our power, limiting our greatness and stopping the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent given to us by God for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” This quote states that other nations tried to seize the continuation of America's goal to spread to the pacific ocean from the east. John also refers to Mexican officials as, “Dumb and distracted…” Implying that they are not efficient at governing their land, especially California.

A significant amount of American’s interpreted this as a god given right to expand. Declared in “John L. O’ Sullivan, “Annexation”, The United States Magazine and Democratic Review, Vol. XVII, July 1845.” (Document A) “[O]ther nations have undertaken… hostile interference against us… hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by providence [God] for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” To summarize, this meant that countless Americans believed that Manifest Destiny gave them the means to take and take with no repercussions.

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.

The United States war with Mexico was over 160 years ago and still continues to be a divisive and widely debated topic, was it justifiable or not? The first war to be fought mostly on foreign land, was the Mexican-American War that started in 1846. America, lead by President Polk, who believed the U.S had a “manifest destiny”, fought against Mexico who had a weak military and was politically divided. After the war ended in 1848, Mexico lost one-third of its territory which included present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. Although the United States war against Mexico resulted in the gaining of America’s most valuable land, the war itself was unjust because their goal was to expand slavery, Texas was wrong from the beginning, and the war was based on false pretenses.

“Polk was a strong believer in Manifest Destiny. He believed it was God’s plan that America extend its territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Polk did not just want to annex Texas. He also had his eye on California” (Background Essay). A man named John L. Sullivan believed that Mexico was still too

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.

In a way, they just wanted their freedom like in the rest of America. This paper will show evidence that supports America’s right to go to war. When Mexico declared its freedom from Spain in 1821, the size of Mexico was equal to the United States (background essay). American farmers were encouraged to settle in the Mexican providence of Texas since the land was was empty (background essay). Once the settlers came it turned out to be

At the time, the primary motive of the United States was manifest destiny; Americans believed that it was their "destiny" to expand across the entire North American continent. Meanwhile, Mexico 's primary intention was to prevent the United States from acquiring Texas. Since Texas

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….”

Thirdly, a second reason the Mexican War was not justified because US soldiers were in a disputed area. According to Jesus Velasco Marquez from “A Mexican Viewpoint on the War With the United States,” he states that “From Mexico’s point of view, the annexation of Texas to the United States was inadmissible for both legal and security reasons.” As well as, “The American government acted like a bandit who came upon a

Was the United States Justified in Going to War With Mexico? No, The United States wasn't justified in going to war with Mexico, because Texas wanted to be annexed by America even though Texas itself was from Mexico.[The Mexican War started in 1846 for many reasons like arguing where the Texas border was and if we could annex Texas to our union,but the very main reason we declared war on Mexico was because on April 24 a party of sixty-three men(Americans) and officers were crossing the Rio Grande when they became encountered with a large group of Mexicans and were attacked. It ended up being about 16 Americans that were killed & wounded. Mexico personally invaded our land and “killed our people on American land”.

After years of battle for independence against Spain, Mexico gained territorial expansion but was left with a struggling economy and a sparsely populated region. The United States was in a position to take advantage of Mexico during this time, after a large period of economic growth. In Chapter 7 “Foreigners in Their Native Land: A War Against Mexico” by Ronald Takaki, in his book, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, retells the events that took place during the illegal immigration of the United States into Mexican territory, the acquisition of Mexico’s land, and the discrimination experienced by Mexican-Americans after the war. The Mexican American War was driven by the idea of “Manifest Destiny”, which is the

The idea of Manifest Destiny was centered around the idea that God wanted the US to expand as much as possible because the US had a superior way of life. The US justified their cruel actions towards Mexico because they were “destined” to act accordingly. If Americans truly believed that all people were created equal, then Manifest Destiny was not a plausible idea. Manifest Destiny created a hierarchy system in which the US was on top; a hierarchy was the opposite of a society or world where all people were created equal. Therefore, the US did not have such superiority to Mexico that God thought it was acceptable for Americans to act like they were allowed to trample on Mexico’s government

“The United States was indasissible for both legal and security reasons.” Although the United States wanted more land the Mexican American war was not justified because United States knew about disputed area and provoked Mexican troops, another slave state added, and they had no respect for the Mexican government. To begin, The United States knew about disputed area and provoked Mexican troops. In document C it States, “The mobilization of the us army was an outright attack on Mexico.” The United States knew that that's where the border was but they still insist on moving forward into Mexican territory.