Was It Necessary ? With congress supporting the war, citizens is the United States questioned why the it was needed and began the anti-war demonstrations. The American invasions first came to be when Mexico gained independence from Spain. Mexico took in American settlers to occupy Texas. Texans disrespected Mexico’s laws they had in place. Soon, the Congress annexed Texas to piece together polk’s promise, this angered Mexico, still claiming Texas as their land, and interpreted this as a sign of war. Despite the selfish American government’s battle with Mexico resulted in the gaining of Americans most valuable land, the war itself was unnecessary because of the Texas Revolution, the intentions of expanding U.S land, and the completion …show more content…
According to a letter written by a Tejanos, who witnessed the Americans flooding Texas and disobeying Mexico’s laws, named Rafael Antonio Manchola to a military commander in 1826, “The Anglo-American colonist… refuse to follow our laws, unless it was convenient for them.”. To explain, when Mexico implaced laws, the Texans got angered and complained, even though they swore to obey them. These illogical acts of the Texans resulted in the unnecessary battle of the two neighboring countries. Also said by Rafael Antonio Manchola, “...been using their own colonist as judges and practicing their own laws, forgetting that they swore to obey them.”. To emphasize, Texans continued to disregard the laws that were inserted by the Mexican Government, even though they were fully aware of the laws before moving to Texas. In order to prevent future complications, the government of Mexico employed more laws and tightened the settlers freedom. Texans then started to rebel and soon with these disgraceful acts, the unethical war between America and Mexico came to …show more content…
The main drive behind annexing texas was the belief system of Manifest Destiny. According to class notes, “Mexico and Texas had trouble when congress took texas as a state…”. To restate, Mexico assumed America was claiming Texas to declare war. When actually they were trying to fulfill the belief of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the belief that Americans were superior and had advanced technology that they needed to incorporate from coast to coast. Therefore, claiming Texas would piece together their belief system of Manifest Destiny. With the false thought by Mexico, it soon turned into the war between the countries. As stated in the Creating America textbook, “... Manifest Destiny...was not only good but bound to happen even if it meant pushing Mexicans and Native Americans out of the way.” To clarify, the greedy and selfish thoughts of the United State’s government were demonstrated with the overall belief system of Manifest Destiny. And with Polk’s commitment and dedication towards Manifest Destiny, kicking out Mexicans and Native Americans didn't seem to be a problem. In consequence , the unethical intentions to complete Manifest Destiny lead to the
Rodolfo Acuña and Norman A. Graebner take opposing standpoints on this topic. Acuña takes the standpoint that the Americans took advantage of the Mexican government, which was young and unstable at the time. He argued that the United States waged an unjust war solely for the acquisition of new lands. His excerpt from Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, 3rd Edition provided the basis for his argument. On the other hand, Graebner took the standpoint that President James Polk pushed a policy, enforced by a stronger nation, to force Mexico to sell New Mexico and California and recognize the annexation of Texas to the United States without starting a war. His argument was taken from his article “The Mexican War: A Study in Causation”. Both sides of the American Imperialism argument contain their own strengths. However, after the examination of the articles, Graebner proposes a more convincing
One reason the Mexican War was justified was the United States Manifest Destiny beliefs. Evidence supporting this reason is that, according to Document A, John O'Sullivan said it was God’s choice if the United States will grow by taking or buying territory. Also, the annexation of Texas helped grow the United States which gave the
James K. Polk was one of many that felt extremely strong about Texas joining the Union. Silbey uses direct quotes from politicians gives a deeper outlook into Texas annexation. “That there is a large majority who would be glad to see Texas, in some way or another, united to this country, there can be no doubt.” (Silbey 81) Shortly after this widespread idea of Texas joining the country Congress was overwhelmed with bills to make Texas’s entry accomplished.
Later they wanted to annex it but Mexico said that any attempts to annex Texas would be an act of war. The Mexican War started in 1846, when Mexicans attacked a group of United States soldiers, under the command of Zachary Taylor, in a disputed zone on the border of United States and Mexico, killing about a dozen American soldiers. President Polk told the U.S. Congress that the “cup of forbearance has been exhausted” which means the Mexicans hit the last straw and it is time for war. President Polk sent General Zachary Taylor to Nueces River vs. Rio Grande to poke the Mexicans to shoot and they did. The Mexicans have shed “American blood upon American soil.” The United States wanted war with Mexico now they have a reason to declare war ( History.com
Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836. In the year 1844, James K. Polk was elected president. He was a strong believer in manifest destiny. Congress decided to annex Texas into the United States. Mexico felt that America stole Texas from them.
Through Manifest Destiny, the U.S. conquered many new territories. Ever since the U.S. became its own country, they always wanted more land. They thought that the Manifest Destiny gave them the right to expand and conquer more land. The United States were offered a deal known as the Louisiana Purchase which doubled their size. Even after they received this land, they were thirsty for more. They wanted to have Texas as their own. After Texas got their independence from Mexico, President Polk annexed it. Polk had his eye set on California next. But before he could get California, he had to deal with border dispute in Texas, leading to the war with Mexico. So, did the United States have a good reason to go to war with Mexico? The answer is simple, the U.S. was not justified into going to war with Mexico. This is proven through the Manifest Destiny, border disputes, and an American viewpoint on the war.
Just before Polk's presidency Texas had freed itself from Mexican rule and desired American annexation. This desire came from thousands of former American citizens that settled in Texas in the 1820s. This was due to the Mexican government supplying huge land grants to entice new settlers to Texas and secure its northern border from America. The Mexican government failed to realize the true impact that their persuasion of Americans for settlement would cause. In 1830, Mexico finally put a freeze on all American immigration due to the large number of American settlers and their certain revolution. In 1836, The Republic of Texas was est...
The Mexican–American War, also known as the Mexican War, the U.S.–Mexican War, the Invasion of Mexico, the U.S. Intervention, or the United States War Against Mexico, was an armed conflict between the United States and the Centralist Republic of Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory despite the 1836 Texas Riot. Through this time, supply ships from San Blas continued to be unpredictable and the missions—with their native workers—were worried to provide for the population. When the native groups began to resist the bigger demands, they were placed under firmer military control. Also, additional tribes were gathered, mixed, and combined into dense groups in order to serve the payment. Under these conditions, new diseases quickly spread and native cultures were further disrupted.
It was mainly the people in the north that opposed territorial expansion. This was because northerners saw how unmoral expansion could be. They also had no need for the newly acquired lands and feared that further acquisition of land would only strengthen the west; this is why opponents of expansion got so upset when the United States considered annexing Texas. William Plumer, a Federalist, said, “Admit this western world into the union, and you destroy with a single operation the whole weight and importance of the eastern states.”(Document A). People against territorial expansion realized that by annexing Texas, the western territory would grow, have a larger population, and would t...
Narrative History of Texas Annexation, Secession, and Readmission to the Union. Texans voted in favor of annexation to the United States in the first election following independence in 1836. However, throughout the Republic period (1836-1845) no treaty of annexation negotiated between the Republic and the United States was ratified by both nations. When all attempts to arrive at a formal annexation treaty failed, the United States Congress passed--after much debate and only a simple majority--a Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States. Under these terms, Texas would keep both its public lands and its public debt, it would have the power to divide into four additional states "of convenient size" in the future if it so desired, and it would deliver all military, postal, and customs facilities and authority to the United States government.
It took nine dragged out years to be annexed to the US. So with the new US president James K. Polk being inaugurated in 1845 and one of his priorities being to claim Texas, it seemed to set things in motion. 12 April 1844 was the Treaty of Texas’ Annexation into the United States of America. We take note that Texas was accepted into the “Union States” as an anti-slave state, as were all the territories annexed during the Mexican War.
In 1845 the U.S attempted to Annex Texas. Basically America wanted Texas to become one of the states rather then and independent nation by itself. At this time Texas was an independent nation that was not a part of America or Mexico. Mexico wanted to keep Texas neutral if not a part of its own country. When the U.S attempted to annex Texas Mexico became outraged, " In November 1843 Mexico had warned that if the United States should commit the 'unheard-of aggression' of seizing an integral part of 'Mexican territory' Mexico would declare war " (Bound for the Rio Grande, 62). Despite the warning the U.S attempted to annex Texas. In doing so Mexico retaliated by breaking off all diplomatic relations with the U.S. Mexico felt that the U.S was insulting them by not taking them seriously when they threatened with war. So at this point America showed a very large interest in possessing Texas. America was very close to actually acquiring Texas when they made their first mistake in the war.
So a major reason for Texas to be annexed into the United States was that the overwhelming majority of the population was former Americans. From the very time of winning independence, annexation of Texas to the United States was at the top of the list of things to do. But as soon as the Texas minister was sent to Washington to negotiate for an annexation, the Martin Van Buren administration said that the proposition could not be entertained. The reasons given were constitutional scruples and fear of war with Mexico. The real reason behind Washington’s excuses is slavery....
history. Polk was the president of the United States in 1845 and favored the annexation of Texas. He was interested in the fact that Texas could help with expanding the country from coast to coast, also known as Westward Expansion or Manifest Destiny. Texas also liked this idea because the U.S. could help protect Texas from Mexico
...them, plus, the northern territories of Mexico were not populated, so it was very inviting for them. So, basically, it was the Americans invading Mexican territory and the Mexicans were just defending their selves from the invading settlers. The Mexicans were also angered by the annexation of Texas, which used to be apart of Mexican territory.