Mexican - American war notes

1846 to 1848, James K Polk

1830

• Mexico gained independence from spain in 1821

  • Armed conflict that lasted over a decade

• The country was in total chaos

• At the time, mexico was larger than what we know today

• The country was stretched out, and one of the biggest at the time

• Dire straights after 11 years of war

  • There were no plans or guidelines established by the revolutionaries

    • Internal struggles over how to control the government, also on who should be in control

    • Complete lack of funds to organize a country that big

    • Faced threats of both internal rebellions, and invasion by spanish forces

      • Spain had a base in Cuba

    • The government was not ready for international conflict when war broke out 2 decades later

Manifest destiny

• The americans wanted to explore into the south west

• Distinct ideology

• Taking mexican territory was fore-ordained for americas

• Texas was the first annexation needed to fulfill that destiny

• It rose to popularity around the time the texas revolution occurred

• Can be seen with the Louisiana purchase

  • Bought huge territory from the french

  • Opportunity for more expansion in mexico

Due to mexico's internal problems, several regions rebelled and tried to break away from the nation

• Texas gained independence in 1836

  • Initially the US declined to incorporate texas into its union

  • At the time , their northern political interest were against the addition of a new slave state

  • Mexican gov encouraged border raids

    • Also threatened that any attempt at annexation would lead to war

    • Mexicans still considered texas as part of their land

• Annexation still continued after the election of Polk in 1841

  • He claimed that texas should be re annexed

    • He also wanted california, new mexico and

    • He offered to buy that land, but mexico refused

      • Slidell was sent into mexico to make an offer for texas and California

      • He instigated conflict by moving troops into a disputed zone between the Rio Grande and the oasis river

      • Both countries had previously recognized this land as part of the mexican state

Tension grew more and more over the disputed land

• Texas was annexed shortly after

  • The United state inherited the border disputes that Texas had

  • Southern and western

  • Refused to recognize texas' independence from mexico

  • US offered to purchase this territory , mexico refused

    • Tensions transformed into a war

Mexico sent Calvary to attack american officers in the disputed zone April 1846

• Killed about a dozen

• Polk told congress that "the cup of forbearance had been exhausted"

• They "shed american blood upon american soil"

• May - American Congress declared war

• No official declaration of war ever came from mexico

  • Likely because they were ill prepared

• mexico was weaker, but the US did not want to look like a bully

Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana

• Initially did not support mexican independence ce from spain

• Eventually fought in support of it

• Served 12 presidential terms over 22 years

• At the time, he did not want his presidency but wanted to use his military prowess to reclaim texas for mexico

• Came out of exile in cuba

• The president at the time only accepted because he was desperate

American support for the war

• Was a source of national pride - feeding into manifest destiny

• Many supporters believed it would spread republican ideals

• A lot of southerners supported the war, as they thought any land won would become american slave states

Causes summary

• Manifest destiny

• Annexation of texas

• Boundary disputes over texas

Opposition to the war

• Many members of the Whig party thought the conflict was unjustified

  • The Whig Party was a political party active in the middle of the 19th century in the United States. Alongside the slightly larger Democratic Party, it was one of the two major parties in the United States between the late 1830s and the early 1850s as part of the Second Party System.

• Northern abolitionists feared that those new states would be organized into slave states

  • John Quincy Adams - Massachusetts Rep - "a bigger pen to cram with slaves"

  • Texas already had legal slavery

    • Mexico had a system of slavery through captive raiding

• Some people saw it as an immoral war, even though mexico had spilled blood first

• Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln wrote the “Spot Resolutions” in 1848– asking Polk to show the spot where American blood had been shed on American soil

  • He claimed it was an act of war for the US to set foot into that disputed territory

Annex mexico?

• Many opposed due to cultural differences

• A lot of people felt it would cause too much instability

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

• Was forced on Santa Anna and Mexico

• The southern boundary of texas was set at the Rio Grande 7

• The US gained over 900 thousand sq ft of land for 15 million dollars

  • This was half of what they had ordered

  • The US also gained

    • Territory to the west of Rio grande

    • Present-day states of California, Nevada, and Utah

    • Most of Arizona and New Mexico

    • Gave the us control over these states

    • Parts of Colorado and Wyoming

Some americans thought the treaty was actually a loss

• This all came at great monetary loss

• The US also offered to pay mexico's debts to get the land

• These people felt betrayed by the limited amount of territory that the US had annexed

  • They thought the US should annex all of mexico

  • Some conflicts started in what remained of northern mexico

Long history of disputed territory, revolts, and tensions