Dbq Mexican War

One question that historians have debated since 1846 is whether or not the United States was justified in going to war with Mexico. The Mexican war often resides in the shadow of the infamous Civil War, yet thousands of American and Mexican soldiers died during battle. As a result, half of the country of Mexico was conquered by the United States. Considering this, Mexico was approximately the size of the United States in 1830 and therefore lost thousands of acres of land due to the defeat. Other wars that the United States have participated in have been quite controversial, so one could expect that the Mexican war was no exception. Due to unexpected and blatant reasons, the United States was not justified to go to war with Mexico.
When the Mexican war began, James K. Polk was elected president of the United States. Before this inauguration occurred, Mexico had declared independence from Spain and welcomed settlers from the United States to occupy land that is current day Texas. The reasoning for this action was an attempt to increase population. Mexico withheld high standards and

regulations, such as anti-slavery beliefs and devout Catholic views. Since American settlers were mostly Protestant and pro-slavery individuals, one can see how this settlement was inadequate. As stated in the background essay, “Two times over the next nine years, Texas applied to the United States Congress for annexation” (Mexican-American War Mini-Q). After Polk’s election, congress reversed itself and voted to annex Texas.
Not only did Polk want to conquer the territory of Texas, he wanted to overtake all the land west of Texas.

Furthermore, Polk was a firm believer in the manifest destiny. The manifest destiny was the belief that is was God’s plan for America to extend its territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean. One can see that Polk was heavily influenced religiously and attempted to use this as an excuse for greed. Polk sent John Slidell to Mexico City in an attempt to buy California. American troops accompanied Slidell on this journey to intimidate Mexican officials. As expected, Mexican authorities seen this as a threat and Slidell was asked to leave the country. As a result, Polk felt America’s honor had been questioned by other countries. Once again, Polk made an irrational decision. He declared war on Mexico because Mexican soldiers had fired at Americans on the Texas side of Rio

Grande.
John L. O’Sullivan stated, “(O)ther nations have undertaken...hostile interference against us” (Document A). Along with this statement, John made many false accusations against Mexico. These untrue statements angered the United States citizens. John also stated it was God’s plan for America to civilize out west. John and Polk believed that Mexico’s government authority over Texas and California was incompetent. On April 24, sixteen Americans were wounded and killed when they dispatched from the American camp and were confronted by a large body of Mexican troops in the north bank of Rio del Norte (Document B). To this day, Mexico calls the Mexican-American war “The U.S. Invasion” (Document C).
In conclusion, one can see that the land of Texas and California was unrightfully conquered by the United States. The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico. The United States had no reasonable explanation for beginning the Mexican-American war and many American and Mexican citizens suffered and died due to this unnecessary war that was lead by greed.