The United States Justified in Going to War With Mexico “The invasion was threatened solely because Texas had determined… to annex herself to our Union; and, under these circumstances, it was plainly our duty to extend our protection over her citizens and soil.”(Polk 325)Texas and the United States believed that the Rio Grande was considered as the border between Mexico and Texas. But the river that Mexico believed as the border was the Nueces River. The two countries didn’t have the same perspective of the borders. In 1821, Mexico declared itself free from its mother country, Spain. The Texans won their independence from Mexico in 1836.The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because of the Manifest Destiny, Texas wanted …show more content…
Mexico never can exert any real governmental authority over such a country.(O’Sullivan 323) Mexico didn’t have a lot of power and had just become a new country and was new with the authority that they had. “Armed with the plough and the rifle, and marking its trail with the schools and colleges, courts and representative halls, mills and meeting houses… All this [will happen] in the natural flow of events…”(O’Sullivan 323) That a recently made country will be going through all of the same rebellions and wars that The United States went through. “[On the 24th of April] a party… of sixty-three men and officers, were… dispatched from the American camp up the Rio del Norte, on its [North] bank, to ascertain whether the Mexican troops had crossed, or were preparing to cross, the river…”(Polk 325) The American government was aware of the accident that had occurred by the Rio Grande. “From Mexico’s point of view, the annexation of Texas to the United States was inadmissible for both legal and security reasons. Thus,when the Mexican government learned of the treaty signed between Texas and the United States in April 1844, it … would consider such an act “a declaration of war.”(Marquez 327) Mexico’s government is not being well handled. The Mexican government didn’t have the control that it needed to have Texas as a part of its country. The United States had the correct choice by letting Texas annex in the United States. The United States saved Texas by letting them come and annex to the United States and protecting
“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 US was provoking Mexico. The president played a big role in annexing Texas, he set up troops to defend against Mexico taking back Texas. John O’Sullivan also told Mexico that they were going to take California after taking Texas. Polk supported and played a big role in Texas being annexed. (Doc.A) The US needed his approval mainly to make Texas part of the US. The government voted that Texas should be annexed but without the President saying yes it would have taken a lot longer then it did to make Texas a part of the US. The President set up troops to fight with the Mexicans increasing the level of the situation also. Document B says the President set up troops between the Nueces and the Rio Del Norte. He did this because he felt that Mexico
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
It was a very important for both nations, transforming a continent and forging a new identity for its peoples. After the war has ended, Mexico lost nearly half of its territory, and the present American Southwest from Texas to California and the United States became a continental power. Texas gained its independence from Mexico in 1836. Initially, the United States declined to unite it into the union, because northern political interests were against the addition of a new slave state. Lastly, the Mexican government was warning any attempt at annexation would lead to
The United States’ relations with Mexico went from bad to worse between 1820 and 1846. In 1836 Mexico was relatively united in refusing to recognize the independence of Texas. Mexico threatened war with the United States if it annexed Texas. Meanwhile, U.S. President Polk's assertion of Manifest Destiny was focusing United States interest on westward expansion beyond its existing national borders.
Mexico still looked at Texas as a “part of Mexico” because they believed the treaty that General Santa Ana signed was not fair or did not apply due to the General being forced to sign it. “When the Mexican government learned of the treaty signed between Texas and the United States… [Mexico] would consider such an act an act ‘a declaration of war’” ( Since the Mexican Government still considered Texas a part of Mexico, they saw this as a land grab from Mexico, giving them all the incentive needed to declare war. “The American government acted like a bandit who came upon a traveler.” (Document C)
The land didn’t even belong to the United States. This is supported by documents C and D. Mexico allowed the people of the United States to expand to the west into what is now the southwest part of the United States. The United States had no right to annex Texas. “The annexation of Texas into the United States would be considered “a declaration of war” (C). American settlers in California believed the land was theirs because Mexico had no control of it. The United States took the land away from Mexico by moving into their territory and calling it their own.
*The type of source I am using is from the technology institute of Mexico. Jesus Veiasco Marquez was the creator of this and it is about the Mexican viewpoint on the war with the United States. *From the issue 41 of voices in Mexico it states, “ ...the annexation of Texas to the United States was inadmissible for both legal and security reasons.” In paragraph three of this issue, it also states,” ... the US army was an outright attack on Mexico…
The Mexican American War was a short war that lasted between 1846-1848, which entailed the United States and Mexico fighting for territory. Due to the presidential election between James K. Polk and Henry Clay many Americans were now pushing to the west of the country. In 1944, President Polk was sworn into office in 1845. James K. Polk strongly believed in the notion of Manifest Destiny; a belief that America was destined by God to grow and expand from coast to coast. This led to the main cause of the war with America wanting to push towards the western side of the United States.
During the 1800s the phrase “Manifest Destiny,” meaning obvious fate, was the belief that it was America’s right and duty to spread across the North American continent. This was a cause for Americans to start expanding their land ownership throughout the continent by settling in areas which they knew had many valuable resources. During the time that America had decided to annex Texas, many problems started to rise between Mexico and the United States. In the eyes of Mexico, the annexation of Texas was an act of war. Furthermore, both countries were having a hard time trying to agree on a border, because both wanted control of the Rio Grande, but it was unfortunate that only one of them would be able to claim the river. So, in 1846, Mexican soldiers started firing at American troops who were patrolling along the Rio Grande, which lead to sixteen Americans being killed and wounded. Polk used this as a cause for war, and stated that Mexico, “has invaded our territory and shed American blood on American soil.” All in all, the United states was clearly justified in going to war with Mexico, because Mexico had invaded American territory, shed American blood upon American soil, had come within American power, and the United states was able to offer them a position above any that they have previously occupied.
The War with Mexico occurred between the borders of Mexico and America in 1846. After Texas gains independence, more battling continues with Mexico. During this time Catholics, who are anti-slavery, religious people, and Protestants, people who are pro slavery, and who are split from the Catholic Church, were arguing about that if slavery should be allowed or not. America wants to send an envoy, which is a person who goes to different places and buys land for their country, to Mexico, but they refuse to accept the envoy’s deal since they owned Texas, but because of the Manifest Destiny, a plan from God to extend America all the way to the Pacific Ocean, Mexico can’t have Texas because of God’s
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
Polk had said that Mexico were planning on an invasion and declared war on Mexico. This didn’t show that we show not be afraid or fear military ambition. It showed how selfish man can be just to gain more territory because they believed that it was their right to expand the country. Mexico only wanted what was theirs after claiming independence from Spain, and not have it taken away. Texas was under Mexico law, and Mexico banned slavery. Many Americans settlers did live in Texas at the time and knew it was against Mexico’s law but still had slaves anyways. The war lasted for three years, but soon Mexico decided to sign a peace treaty that gave territories to America. America paid Mexico 15 billion for lands that are known today as California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and
One of the first expansions stemming from Manifest Destiny was the fight for Texas. Multiple times The United States made offers to the Mexican government, but they were always shut down. Eventually Mexico created a law for the colonization of Texas that stated; any American could buy cheap land and reside tax free for four years. Not surprisingly by 1830 there were over 7,000 Americans residing in Texas. Eventually the number of Americans was more than double that of the Mexicans. Consequently, large groups of Americans “Created centers of power in the region that competed with the Mexican government.” (Adams 135) This created tension and forced the Mexican government to halt all American immigration into Texas, this proved to be unsuccessful. After the battle of the Alamo and of San Jacinto, Texas became its own republic due to the defeat of Santa Ana’s Mexican army. Americans had a socially explicit idea that it was their manifest destiny to annex Texas and colonize it for themselves. Soon after Texas was annexed and granted statehood there were new tensions in the Southwest and California. The Mexican government did so resentfully, “As soon as the United States admitted Texas to statehood in 1845, the Mexican government broke diplomatic relations with Washington.” (Adams 139) Tensions grew even worse when debates over the border between Mexico and Texas started to heat up. Texans claimed the Rio Grande river as the border while Mexico believed the border had
In 1845 Texas was annexed as a state, however disputes between America and Mexico remained concerning where the border would be located. President Polk at the time had no choice but to send troops due south to defend Texas and the Thornton affair, won by the Mexicans, would force congress to declare war on Mexico.