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Effect of manifest destiny
Effect of manifest destiny
The Mexican war and manifest destiny
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U.S-Mexican War: Was it Justified?
One such war in our American history that helped us achieve what we are today was the U.S-Mexican War, but was it worth all the deaths? Was it justified? Some people believe that it was justified and worth lives, but to be honest it wasn´t. While America may have annexed land in name of the Manifest Destiny, was it really theirs to take while it belonged to another country? The war that started in 1846 and ended in 1848 altered the destiny of two nations and their people.
There are numerous reasons why it was an unjustified war, starting with Mexico owned the land that would become Texas first. When Texas became a part of Mexico, they agreed to abide by the laws of Mexico, yet did the exact opposite. Mexico opposed slavery and tried to get rid of it, but Texas wanted slavery. Texas wanted to join America where slavery was legal. When the U.S. heard that Texas wanted to be annexed they became greedy and wanted California. ¨ California will, probably, next fall away from Mexico.¨(Doc. A) This shows that America would break peace for the land promised by the Manifest Destiny.
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The second reason to my argument is something I have discussed a little bit, slavery.
Texas and some parts of the U.S. agreed that slavery was legal and that it is okay. People are not property no matter what color they are, and Mexico knew that because slavery was illegal in their country. ¨With their slaves, in defiance of the Mexican ordinance of freedom.¨(Doc. D) Yet America took the advantage of Texas knowing they wanted slavery, so they offered it. If Texas joined the U.S then they could have
slavery. My very last reason to argue why this war was unjustified is because the first kill was in unorganized territory. Many Americans believed that it was Mexico that attacked them, but actually it was President Polk who sent American troops towards Mexico in unorganized territory. ¨Mexico has passed the boundary of the Unites States.¨(Doc. B) Both sides had a different idea where the border was, so when Polk sent soldiers they were basically threating Mexico. Instead of Mexico attacking America it was the other way around. So was the war justified? With all of the things America did, no. Yet at a justified point of view they were just taking what ¨God¨ prophesied for them, but I strongly stand with my reasons that out weigh Americas reasons. My argument still stands and still proves that the war was uncalled for and unjustified.
Although many Americans did not take the war seriously, the Mexican-American War of 1846 was responsible for the thousands of both Mexican and American deaths, and permanently left a scar on the the U.S’ relationship with Mexico. In 1846, the U.S declared war on Mexico after shots were fired at American soldiers on the “Texas side” of the Rio Grande, which the Americans believed was the border between Mexico and the U.S. The war was very controversial, and many Americans vigorously opposed President Polk’s decision to declare war. However after winning the war, the U.S gained most of Mexico’s territory in the West, completing the Manifest Destiny (BGE). Was the U.S. right to go to war with Mexico? The United States were unjustified in going
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
The war between the United States and Mexico was brutal, but yet very interesting.“Today, we stand as a united country and are much closer to the ideals set forth in our Constitution that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The first sentence of this quote is a perfect example of the Mexican American War, the we were supposed to be united. Manifest Destiny states that we as the United States are bound to have all the land, God wants them to. The war between Mexico and the United States started in 1846, should the United States go to war with Mexico. The United States was indeed justified to go to war with Mexico, because 16 Americans lost their lives in a battle with Mexico, second, Mexicans were mad about the revolution, and Mexico treated U.S. diplomats poorly.
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
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.
The United States was unjustified to go to war with Mexico because the U.S provokes the war and starts the war, the only reason they had the Mexican war was to gain land and lastly Texas was stolen from Mexico by southern slave owners. The U.S. definitely had an advantage, they were stronger and better. So they could easily go to war with Mexico and
the land and yet it had such a weak economy and could use the money
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
The Annexation of Texas was one of the most debatable events in American history. The question at hand would deeply impact the United States for generations to come. There was on one side a long list of reasons for why to not allow annexation, but there was the same kind of list on the other side for reasons to push forward for annexation. Some of these reasons of both sides were slaves, war, manifest destiny, politics , and constitutional rights. Also the way Texas began in a way said that they should be apart of the United States In the end there were more important reasons for annex Texas into the union, than to leave Texas the was she was.
The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because America came in and broke the laws, there were no borders for Texas, and America stole Mexico's land. Tejanos(Mexicans) invited Americans in to settle in Texas. Americans also known as Anglos Broke most of the few laws Mexico made. There was a war for the independence of Texas. A couple years later, President Polk went to go ask Mexico for some of their land because of their belief called Manifest destiny.
The Spanish-American war was the first and biggest step that the United States of America took toward imperialism. It was the war that secured the US as the most powerful country in the world. This war was a benefit to the USA because we gained land, gained respect, and taught a lesson to one of our enemies. In addition to this, the losses that we suffered were almost nothing compared to other conflicts or wars. The Spanish-American war was by no means for the sole purpose of gaining land and respect, the United States freed an oppressed country and took pieces of land that were better off under US control.
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.
Over the course of early American history, America had set their eyes on expansion in the effort to trade, to market, gain resources, and security. The Americans referred their effort to expand as ‘manifest destiny,’ it was a belief that justified the inevitable expansion of the United States to the West, the land not yet settled. However, the effort in their conquest of the land was never the simplest action for adversaries from a foreign country lived or owned the land before the United States’ claim. Such volatile actions were no exception to its attempt to annex Texas into the United States. History has proven that there is always a reason for war; the Mexican-American War was a result of a prelude battle between Mexicans and Texans. However, a lack of research prevails on the reasoning of the Texans’ could falsely claim their independence from Mexico after the signature of the treaty of Velasco. The study covers the argument behind the Mexican-American War to further understand the reasons from both parties, Mexico, and
The Mexican-American war determined the destiny of the United States of America, it determined whether or not it would become a world power and it established the size of the United States of America. Perhaps the war was inevitable due to the idea of Manifest Destiny - Americans thought they had the divine right to extend their territory. The Mexican-American War started mainly because of the annexation of the Republic of Texas (established in 1836 after breaking away from Mexico). The United States and Mexico still had conflicts on what the borders of Texas was, the United States claimed that the Texas border with Mexico was the Rio Grande, but the Mexicans said that it was the Nueces River, so the land in between were disputed and claimed by both the United States and Mexico.
The Mexican-American War was in fact an unconstitutional war. Its origins can be traced back to the belief of Manifest Destiny, which fostered the idea that Americans were predestined to expand west disregarding existing land ownership by Mexico. The President at the time James K. Polk was an advocate of this idea and prompted aggression by advancing troops into disputed land. Furthermore, he authorized retaliation without the approval of Congress after Mexico sought to defend its territory. In brief, the Mexican-American War was waged unconstitutionally in an attempt to disguise Manifest Destiny behind self-defense.