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Manifest Destiny_ Mexican American War, Oregon Territory Dispute, California Gold Rush.mp4The Alamo.mp4Mexican-American War.mp4Did you know that the state of Texas was once an independent country? In the following questions, you will learn about Texas independence and how Texas became part of the United States. The following timeline shows some important events in Texas history and United States history in the 1700s and 1800s. Events in Texas history are below the timeline. Events in U.S. history are above the timeline.
When Texas was part of Mexico, its borders were different than they are today. The following maps show Texas as it was recognized by most countries in the 1830s and Texas today.
The countries of Spain and Mexico claimed Texas for much of the 1700s and 1800s. But a powerful Native American tribe called the Comanche (kuh-MAN-chee) actually controlled much of the area. Today, historians call the territory that the Comanche controlled Comanchería (kuh-man-chuh-REE-uh). The Comanche wanted to keep settlers out of Comanchería. So the Comanche took horses and other supplies from areas that historians call raiding zones. Raiding zones were outside Comanchería's borders. The following map shows the location of Comanchería and the raiding zone around the year 1820.
Were the Comanche the only Native American group in Texas?
No! The Comanche did control the western part of Texas. But they weren't the only Native American group that lived in Texas.
For example, the Cherokee lived in the eastern part of Texas. Many of them had moved there from the southeastern United States during the 1810s.
Later on, when Texas fought for its independence from Mexico, some Texan leaders asked for Cherokee support.
Do you know where the word "Texas" comes from?
"Texas" actually comes from the word taysha, meaning "friend," in the Caddo language! The Caddo were a Native American group that lived in the eastern part of present-day Texas and were made up of many smaller groups like the Hasinai and the Kadohadacho.
When Texas became part of Mexico in 1821, most of the people in Texas belonged to Native American groups such as the Comanche. The population of Texas changed a lot over the next 15 years, though. In the 1820s and 1830s, the population of Texas included these groups:
Tejanos (tay-HAH-nose), or people of Mexican descent living in Texas
Anglos, or white people from the United States living in Texas
Native Americans, made up of hundreds of different tribes
Historians don't know exactly how many people lived in Texas in the 1820s and 1830s. But the following table shows historians' estimates of the population of Texas in different years.
Deep in the heart of Texas
Over its history, many different groups of people have chosen to settle in Texas. Today, Texas is one of the most diverse states in the United States! In other words, people in Texas come from many different backgrounds—not just Tejano, Anglo, or Native American.
How do we see different cultures in Texas today?
Because of its time as a part of Mexico, Texas is filled with Mexican-inspired culture. Over time, Tejano culture blended with Anglo culture to create new forms of food, music, and ways of life that are uniquely Texan. Other groups, like immigrants from central Europe, have also contributed to the culture of Texas. Have you ever eaten any of these foods from Texas?
Pastries called kolaches were introduced to Texas by Czech immigrants in the 1800s.
Tex-Mex food is a blend of Mexican, Spanish, and American cuisine.
Chicken-fried steak was probably invented in Texas by immigrants from Germany and Austria.
Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821. The new Mexican government wanted Texas to have more people who would support Mexico. The Mexican government believed having more loyal people in Texas would protect Mexican citizens from Comanche raids.
The Mexican government agreed to contracts with businessmen called empresarios. An empresario recruited Anglos, or white settlers from the United States, to move to Texas. He or she offered settlers inexpensive land and the chance to make money on farms and ranches. Empresarios' contracts required them to do certain things:
make sure that the people they brought to Texas would follow the law, learn Spanish, and practice the Catholic faith
separate the land that the Mexican government gave them into smaller shares for the settlers they brought to Texas
The Mexican government believed that making the settlers speak the same language and practice the same religion as Mexican citizens would make them loyal to Mexico. If an empresario brought enough families to Texas, he or she would get a large piece of land for himself.
Did you know that the capital of the state of Texas was named after an empresario?
The most successful empresario was a man named Stephen F. Austin. His father had agreed to an empresario contract with the Spanish government in 1820 but died before he could begin. Stephen continued his father's work and introduced thousands of Anglo settlers to Texas during the 1820s and 1830s.
"The Father of Texas"
While Texas was a part of Mexico, Austin was the most widely respected leader in Texas. Austin wanted a good relationship with the Mexican government. But Austin was arrested and spent nearly a year in prison because the government suspected him of not being loyal.
Austin is often called "The Father of Texas." Why do you think he has that title?
Empresarios who worked for the Mexican government brought thousands of white families from the United States into Texas during the 1820s. Anglos came to Texas for various reasons. These reasons can be separated into what social scientists call push and pull factors. A push factor is something that encourages someone to leave a particular place. A pull factor is something that attracts someone to a different place.
How cheap was the land in Texas?
Much cheaper than it was in the United States! For example, the empresario Stephen F. Austin sold land in Texas for only about 12 cents an acre! That's 10 times cheaper than land usually cost in the United States. So, many Americans were excited to buy a lot of land for a low price in Texas.
Some settlers in Texas bought land to grow cotton. Enslaved people were often forced to work on these cotton farms.
Other settlers in Texas raised longhorn cattle on ranches.
There were many differences between Anglo settlers and Tejanos who were already living in Texas. While every person was different, the following table shows some general characteristics of most of the Tejanos and Anglos living in Texas.
Religion in Texas
One of the biggest differences between Tejanos and Anglos was religious practice. Like most Spanish-speaking people in the Americas, most Tejanos were Catholics. But because Texas was so far from Mexico City, the Catholic Church in Texas didn't have as many priests as it needed to work well.
Catholicism was the official religion of Mexico, and Mexican law required all people in Texas to belong to the Catholic Church. However, Mexican officials rarely enforced this requirement.
Most Anglos were from the southern United States and belonged to Protestant churches, including Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches. Until the 1830s, though, most of these churches did not have buildings! Services were often held outside or in members' homes.
The Mexican government worried that the differences between Anglos and Tejanos would cause problems. So, it sent an official to observe the people in Texas and write a report about what he saw. Read the following passage from the official's findings.
Foreigners . . . have [Texas] open to them to enter without fulfilling the requirements of the law. This country is the asylum for [criminals] from the neighboring republic . . . [Farmers] settle where it suits them, and they take over whatever land they desire.
foreigners: Anglo settlers
asylum: safe place
the neighboring republic: the United States
The Fredonian Revolt
In 1825, the Mexican government gave an empresario named Haden Edwards the right to settle Anglo families in east Texas. But Edwards tried to take land from families in east Texas in order to settle Anglo families. The Mexican government tried to stop him.
In anger, Edwards declared independence for a part of Texas. He called this land the Republic of Fredonia!
Most empresarios, such as Stephen F. Austin, did not support Edwards. Austin wanted Anglos in Texas to have a good relationship with the Mexican government. He sent soldiers to help the Mexican army defeat Edwards and his rebels. But the Mexican government remained worried that other Anglos in Texas might try to revolt.
During the 1830s, Anglo settlers in Texas had a rocky relationship with the Mexican government.
Slavery in Texas
Many Anglos from the southern United States brought enslaved people with them to work on cotton plantations, ranches, and farms. These Anglos in Texas found ways to avoid Mexican anti-slavery laws:
The Mexican government passed a law abolishing, or ending, slavery. But Anglo leaders convinced the government to delay the enforcement of the law in Texas.
Slaveholders in Texas forced enslaved people to sign contracts to become servants for 99 years.
In reality, there was no difference between a servant and an enslaved person. People didn't often live for 99 years!
In 1831, Mexican officials tried to protect some escaped enslaved people who had fled from the United States. But some Anglos wanted the enslaved people returned to the United States.
For most of the 1820s and 1830s, Mexico used a federalist, or more state-controlled, system of government. But in 1835, Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna got rid of the federalist system. Santa Anna created a new government that used a centralist, or more nationally controlled, system. Look at the table showing different features of the federalist system and the centralist system.
Who was Santa Anna?
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was one of the most important Mexican leaders during the 1800s. He served as the president of Mexico eleven different times during his life! Sometimes, he was elected to the office. At other times, he took power through force. When he wasn't serving as president, he was often exiled, or banished, from the country.
The story of Santa Anna's leg
Many Mexicans supported Santa Anna because they saw him as a war hero. In 1838, Santa Anna lost one of his legs in a war against the French. He had that leg buried in a military ceremony!
But Santa Anna wasn't always popular. Years after Santa Anna's leg was buried, an angry mob dug up the leg and dragged it through the streets of Mexico City!
Both Tejanos and Anglos opposed the new centralist government created by President Santa Anna. These Texans wanted to bring back the federalist system that gave more political power to Mexican states. In 1835, Texans revolted against the centralist Mexican government in a war called the Texas Revolution. To fight the Mexican government and its army, the Texas army needed more soldiers. After the Texas Revolution began, newspapers in the United States began to print advertisements that called for American men to join the Texas army.
The advertisement offered rewards to Americans who went to Texas during the Texas Revolution. People who wanted to help Texas during the war were offered land and free passage and equipment.
"The Army of the People"
When the Texas Revolution began in October, 1835, volunteer militia, or small local armies, organized themselves as the Army of the People. They elected Stephen F. Austin as their first leader. But Austin had only had two months of military experience in his entire life!
As the war went on, the army was reorganized into a regular army and a volunteer army:
The regular army was led by General Sam Houston. It was modeled after the United States army. Soldiers in the regular army were promised land for their service.
The volunteer army was made up of small groups of soldiers who came and went when they felt like it. They elected their leaders and often decided military strategy by voting!
The most famous battle of the Texas Revolution occurred at a fort called the Alamo, near the town of San Antonio. Read the passage about the Battle of the Alamo. Then follow the instructions below.
During the Battle of the Alamo, about 200 soldiers in the Texas army faced an army of thousands led by Mexican President Santa Anna. For 13 days, Santa Anna's army surrounded the fort. On March 6, 1836, his army attacked and killed all of the Texan soldiers inside the fort. Even though the Texas army lost the battle, some historians argue that the battle helped the Texas cause.
King of the wild frontier
One of the people who died at the Alamo was Davy Crockett. When Crockett went to Texas in 1836, he was already famous as a larger-than-life personality and politician.
In the 20th century, Crockett was featured in songs, television shows, and movies. The TV theme song that called Crockett the "king of the wild frontier" became a huge hit!
How did Davy die?
For over 100 years, most people thought that Davy Crockett died while fighting Mexican soldiers at the Alamo. But a diary of a Mexican military officer who fought at the Alamo was found in the 1950s that claimed that Crockett was actually captured and executed after the battle.
Historians are divided on whether the diary is real or fake. Some historians think that someone forged the diary to make money during a time when there was a popular TV show about Crockett. Other historians doubt this theory. What kind of information would we need to settle the debate?
When the Texas army lost the Battle of the Alamo, thousands of Texans fled the approaching Mexican army. This event was soon called the Runaway Scrape. The following account was made by someone who participated in the Runaway Scrape. Historians believe that the account is accurate, even though it was written down decades after the events it describes. Read the account.
Account of Creed Taylor, 1900
There was a little corn left in the crib, a large supply of nicely [salted] bacon in the smokehouse, and the yard was full of chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks, besides a good stock of hogs. All of these we left to the [Mexican army].
The country . . . was flat and low and, in many places, owing to the heavy rains, was covered with water, and here the real trouble began. People were trudging along in every kind of conveyance, some on foot carrying heavy packs. Old men, frail women, and little children, all trudging along.
crib: a place for storing food
trudging: moving slowly
conveyance: method of transportation
Why did so many people flee?
They were scared! A woman named Susanna Dickinson had been at the Alamo and told people what had happened. President Santa Anna actually sent Dickinson and an enslaved person named Joe to spread the word. He wanted her account to make Texans stop their rebellion. Instead, it caused a panic. During the Runaway Scrape, thousands of Anglos fled for the safety of the United States.
The Runaway Scrape ended when the Texas army defeated and captured President Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. By this time, most Texans had decided that Texas should be its own country, independent from Mexico.
"Remember the Alamo!"
The Battle of San Jacinto lasted only 18 minutes! But it was important because Texas won its independence from Mexico at the battle. Texan soldiers were motivated by the Texan loss at the Battle of the Alamo. They shouted "Remember the Alamo!" as they fought. The battle was a huge victory for the Texans: 650 Mexican soldiers died, but only 11 Texan soldiers did.
After the battle, Texan leaders debated what to do with captured Mexican President Santa Anna. Some Texans wanted to execute Santa Anna as revenge for the Alamo. But eventually, Santa Anna was allowed to return to Mexico with the promise that he would never again lead a Mexican army into Texas.
After the Battle of San Jacinto, the Mexican army left Texas. Texans formed the independent Republic of Texas, with a government similar to the one in the United States.
Anglos were a large majority of the population in the Republic of Texas. They controlled the Texas government. The following table shows some of the experiences of other groups in Texas.
"A foreigner in my native land"
Juan Seguín (say-GEEN) was born in San Antonio in 1806 into a politically active Tejano family. By the 1830s, he had become the mayor of San Antonio! He enthusiastically joined the Texan cause during the Texas Revolution. Though he left before the final battle at the Alamo took place, Seguín helped defend the fort and later fought in the Battle of San Jacinto.
In the Republic of Texas, Seguín served both in the military and the government. But because Seguín was Tejano, many Anglos accused him of secretly being loyal to Mexico.
Seguin fled Texas for Mexico because he was afraid of what Anglos might do to his family. He was captured and forced to serve in the Mexican army. Years later, he called himself "a foreigner in my native land," referring to Texas. What do you think he meant by this?
Texas's government faced many problems as an independent country.
Who led the government of the Republic of Texas?
The government was led by a president. However, presidents were only allowed to serve one term at a time. The constant change in leadership was one reason why the Republic of Texas government didn't work very well. General Sam Houston, who led the Texas army to victory in the Texas Revolution, was elected the first president of the Republic of Texas. He came to Texas in 1832 after having been fined for beating a man with a cane in the United States!
The present-day city of Houston was built near the site of the Battle of San Jacinto.
After Texas joined the United States, Sam Houston served as a senator and governor. Because he had been the governor of Tennessee earlier in his life, Houston is the only person to have been elected governor of two different states! Houston, the fourth-largest city in the United States, is named after him.
Over time, most Texans came to believe that the government of the Republic of Texas would never be able to solve problems effectively. They believed that a stronger government, like the one in the United States, would work better. Most Texans wanted the United States to annex Texas, or add it to the country. The following map shows the Republic of Texas and the other countries around it in 1842.
During the 1840s, politicians in the United States debated whether to annex Texas as a new state.
"God's will"
By the 1840s, many Americans believed that it was God's will to expand the country's territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean. This idea was called Manifest Destiny. This term was invented by an American newspaper editor, writing about the annexation of Texas by the United States!
"Manifest" means "obvious" and "destiny" means "fate." So, the editor thought it was fated, or already decided, that the United States would end up expanding across North America.
Did all Americans believe in Manifest Destiny?
No. Many Americans disagreed with Manifest Destiny. They thought it was an excuse to expand the practice of slavery across more territory, including places such as California where it did not exist. Others worried about the effects of U.S. expansion on Native American groups living in the west.
After debating the issue for years, the U.S. Congress voted to accept Texas as a new state. Both ordinary Texans and the government of the Republic of Texas overwhelmingly voted to accept annexation.
In the following questions, you will learn about the U.S.-Mexican War (1846–1848), sometimes called the Mexican-American War. You will learn about what caused the war, how it was fought, and what happened after the war was over.
The following timeline shows the U.S.-Mexican War and some other historical events that took place in the 1800s. The timeline also shows the historical period of each event. Historians use historical periods to group events from the past together. As a result, historians can find similarities between events that happened around the same time.
Why is it called the antebellum period?
In Latin, the word ante means "before," and the word bellum means "war." So, the antebellum period means the period before the Civil War. This period spans from about 1820 to 1861.
When historians study the antebellum period, they often look at how events such as the U.S.-Mexican War contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.
At the time of the U.S.-Mexican War, many Americans believed in an idea called Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the belief that God wanted Americans to spread out across the North American continent. Many people who believed in Manifest Destiny strongly supported adding more territory to the United States.
Although many Americans supported the ideas of Manifest Destiny, other Americans opposed these ideas. Sort the following viewpoints by whether they were more likely held by a supporter of Manifest Destiny or an opponent of Manifest Destiny.
By the 1840s, belief in Manifest Destiny had become quite popular in the United States. So, support for expanding the territory of the U.S. was an important issue in the 1844 presidential election. This election was won by James K. Polk, the candidate of the Democratic Party. Read the following passage adapted from the 1844 Democratic Party platform, or list of the party's goals.
Our title to the whole of the Territory of Oregon is clear and unquestionable, and the annexation of Texas to the United States at the earliest moment possible is important to American progress.
title: right of ownership
annexation: addition
According to the platform, the Democratic Party supported Manifest Destiny.
Dark horse
James K. Polk is usually considered the first dark horse winner of a presidential election in the United States. A dark horse is a candidate who people don't know a lot about, but who unexpectedly wins. Before being elected, Polk was a former speaker of the House of Representatives who had lost the last two elections for governor of Tennessee.
"Who is James K. Polk?"
Polk's opponent in the election, the Whig Henry Clay, was one of the most famous people in the country. Clay's supporters made fun of Polk's lack of fame by asking, "Who is James K. Polk?" Despite not being well known before running for president, Polk beat Clay in a close election.
Shortly after James K. Polk was elected, the Democratic Party achieved one of the goals of its platform. The United States annexed, or added, the independent Republic of Texas. Texas became the 28th state. The annexation of Texas by the United States was a major cause of the U.S.-Mexican War.
The Lone Star Republic
From 1836 to 1845, Texas was an independent country called the Republic of Texas. Texas had many problems while it was independent:
Many Texans found ways to avoid paying taxes. So, the Texas government didn't have much money.
Because the Texas government had no money, there was little law enforcement. Violent gangs attacked each other!
Because Mexico didn't recognize Texas as an independent country, there was often war. Mexican armies continued to invade Texas and occupy Texas cities.
After the U.S. annexed Texas, the United States and Mexico disagreed about the new boundaries. Both countries claimed a large area of land on the Texas-Mexico border. This area was called the disputed territory. The dispute over this territory led directly to the beginning of the U.S.-Mexican War.
President Polk took several actions to address the boundary dispute. Some of these actions suggest that Polk tried to start a war with Mexico, while others suggest that he wanted to avoid a war.
When President Polk sent an army into the disputed territory in Texas in 1846, violence quickly followed. On April 25, Mexican troops there fired at the U.S. army, killing 11 soldiers. On May 11, President Polk gave a speech to Congress. Read the following portion of that speech.
But now, after reiterated menaces, Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon the American soil. [By attacking the United States,] she has proclaimed that . . . the two nations are now at war.
reiterated menaces: repeated threats
she: Mexico
What did Mexico think of Polk's claims?
Mexico argued that the United States was claiming land that had never been part of Texas. So, when Polk sent the army into the disputed territory, the Mexican government saw it as an invasion by the United States.
Antonio López de Santa Anna was Mexico's president during much of the war. Over 30 years, he was the president of Mexico 11 different times!
An unstable government
At the time of the U.S.-Mexican War, Mexico's government was not very stable. Its leaders were repeatedly overthrown and replaced by new ones.
Few of these leaders believed that Mexico could defeat the United States in a war. But they believed that defending their country would bring the Mexican people together.
Congress voted to declare war on Mexico on May 11, 1846, two days after Polk's speech.
Old Rough and Ready
One of the most famous military leaders of the U.S.-Mexican War was General Zachary Taylor. He was nicknamed "Old Rough and Ready" because he was willing to do hard work alongside his troops.
Taylor went on to be elected president in 1848, even though he had never voted before! In his second year in office, he died of a stomach illness. Rumors started that he was actually poisoned by his enemies, but no one has been able to prove this theory.
When the U.S.-Mexican War began, the United States had only a small army of trained professional soldiers. Most of the soldiers who fought in the U.S.-Mexican War were volunteers who had much less training than the professional soldiers. Soldiers who volunteered for the U.S. military had lots of different reasons for joining.
Americans in the Mexican Army
Thousands of Americans volunteered for the U.S. Army to fight against Mexico. But some Americans actually volunteered to fight for Mexico!
This group, called the Batallón de San Patricio, or St. Patrick's Battalion, consisted of mostly Irish Catholic immigrants to the United States. Many of them originally volunteered for the U.S. Army, but later defected, or switched sides.
Why did they switch sides?
The Mexican government offered them rewards for doing so! Non-Mexicans who joined the Mexican Army were offered higher pay, land, and Mexican citizenship. Many Catholic immigrants suffered discrimination in the United States because of their religion. So, fighting for a majority-Catholic country like Mexico was appealing.
Even though many Americans were eager to fight in Mexico, other Americans were opposed to the war. Some of these opponents were abolitionists, or people who wanted to end slavery. They worried that slavery would spread to territory acquired during the war. In fact, abolitionists believed that supporters of slavery intentionally started the war in order to spread slavery! Some abolitionists wrote about their belief that slavery caused the war. For example, the following text comes from a letter written about the war by William Lloyd Garrison, a famous abolitionist. Read the text.
We [the abolitionists] are in good spirits . . . though the opposition is still formidable.
It is certainly not a popular war; it was begun and is carried on against the deep moral [beliefs] of the [sane part of the population].
[The war's] real object [is] the extension and preservation of slavery, no intelligent man honestly doubts.
formidable: strong
object: goal
Did slaveholders support the war?
Garrison argued that the war was fought to benefit slaveholders. And many of the war's most enthusiastic supporters, including President Polk, owned enslaved people. They hoped that the war would bring new territory to the United States that would allow slavery.
But some slaveholders, like Senator John C. Calhoun, opposed the war and didn't want to add Mexican land to the United States. Calhoun believed that Mexicans were inferior to white people. So, he did not want to bring them into the United States.
While every person was different, the following table shows some general characteristics of supporters and opponents of the war.
To learn more about the viewpoints of people who lived during the U.S.-Mexican War, historians use primary sources. Primary sources are usually firsthand accounts and are usually created at the time that an event takes place.
Protesting the war
Many Americans disagreed with the war, including the writer and thinker Henry David Thoreau.
Thoreau thought the war was unjust and unfair to Mexico. In 1846, he spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his taxes. He argued that his tax money would be used to fund an immoral war.
In 1849, Thoreau published an essay called Civil Disobedience.
He wrote that people had a responsibility to resist an evil government. One century later, Thoreau's ideas would inspire Martin Luther King, Jr., during the African American civil rights movement.
In 1848, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which officially ended the war in favor of the United States. The treaty stated that the United States would pay 15 million dollars for a piece of land called the Mexican Cession. The Mexican Cession was a territory of over 500,000 square miles that included parts of the present-day states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
Who was living in the Mexican Cession when the United States acquired it?
There were many different groups living in the Mexican Cession in 1848. Some of these groups were Spanish-speaking, while others were members of hundreds of different Native American groups in the territory.
Californios were people of Spanish descent living in present-day California. Many of them were wealthy ranchers and farmers. Their families had lived in California for hundreds of years.
The Navajo (NAH-vuh-hoe) people lived in much of the Mexican Cession, including present-day New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. Today, they are the second-largest Native American group in the United States.
The Mexican Cession was a major part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. But the treaty also included other parts. Read about these other parts of the treaty. Then follow the instructions below.
The U.S. government had to allow people of Mexican descent, or Mexican Americans, to become U.S. citizens. Note: This promise did not apply to Native Americans living in the Mexican Cession.
The U.S. government had to respect the property rights of people already living in the Mexican Cession.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was not always followed, but it influenced people's experiences in the new territory.
The Gold Rush
One month before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, American settlers in northern California discovered gold. Soon enough, word spread around the world and hundreds of thousands of people journeyed to California to search for gold. This event, called the California Gold Rush, had several long-term effects. Here are some of them:
California's population quickly increased. Between 1846 and 1852, the settlement of San Francisco went from a town of a few hundred people to a booming city of over 30,000 residents. Today, California is the largest state by population in the United States.
Many Native Americans lost their homes and lives. Many new settlers to California settled on Native American lands. To secure these lands, some settlers killed the Native Americans living there. Additionally, the environmental destruction of searching for gold destroyed Native American hunting grounds.
The U.S. government had to make decisions about what to do with the new land from Mexico. One of these decisions was whether to allow slavery in the new territory. Before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was even signed, a Pennsylvania congressman named David Wilmot introduced a law that would ban slavery from any territory gained during the war. The House of Representatives passed a bill that included Wilmot's suggestion. It was called the Wilmot Proviso. The following table shows a breakdown of Congress's vote on the bill by region and political party.
Did the Wilmot Proviso become law?
No. Even though the bill passed the House of Representatives, the Senate never voted on the bill. It would take another four years before the question of slavery in the new territory would be answered.
John P. Hale was a Northern Democrat who opposed the U.S.-Mexican War because he did not want to spread slavery. He later became a Republican.
The collapse of parties
The vote on the Wilmot Proviso was a sectional vote, meaning congresspeople voted based on their region instead of their party. Northerners tended to oppose slavery and Southerners usually supported it.
By the mid-1850s, the old Democratic and Whig parties collapsed. The new Republican Party consisted of former members of both parties who opposed the expansion of slavery to new territories. Almost all Republicans lived in Northern states. A new version of the Democratic Party was now fully committed to slavery.
Disagreements over slavery during the antebellum period were the leading cause of the Civil War. The political debates over whether slavery should be allowed in the Mexican Cession contributed to these disagreements.
Allies in one war and enemies in the next
Disagreement over slavery isn't the only connection between the U.S.-Mexican War and the Civil War. Many of the most important military leaders who fought against each other in the Civil War had served together in the U.S.-Mexican War:
Robert E. Lee was an officer during the U.S.-Mexican War. He found weaknesses in the Mexican Army that the U.S. Army could attack. He later became a leading general for the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Ulysses S. Grant fought in the campaign to take Mexico City and impressed his superiors with his battlefield bravery. He later became the commanding general of the Union army during the Civil War.
Later in his life, Grant wrote that he regretted that the U.S.-Mexican War happened. He called it "one of the most unjust [wars] ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."
Imagine that you are a historian writing a summary of the U.S.-Mexican War.
During the 1840s, many Americans supported Manifest Destiny, or the belief that God wanted the United States to spread across all of North America. In 1844, James K. Polk was elected U.S. president, and he shared the belief that the United States should expand.
A boundary dispute between Mexico and Texas led to the U.S.-Mexican War. After the war, the United States added a large piece of land called the Mexican Cession. Debates over slavery in this territory helped lead to the Civil War.
How is the U.S.-Mexican War remembered today?
Both the United States and Mexico continue to commemorate the U.S.-Mexican War. In some cases, the two countries celebrate the same event in different ways.
In Mexico, September 13 is a national holiday to remember the Niños Héroes, or "boy heroes." These were six teenage military cadets who died defending Mexico City from the U.S. Army. A legend says that one of them wrapped himself in the Mexican flag and threw himself off the fortress of Chapultepec.
In the United States, the war is celebrated in the first line of the official "Marines' Hymn." The song mentions "the halls of Montezuma," meaning the fortress at Chapultepec. Montezuma refers to the leaders of the Aztec culture who once ruled Mexico.
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