The American and Mexican wars began in 1846 and lasted until 1848. It is known as the Mexican War in the US and the intervencion Estadounidense en Mexico. The war as a result of the fight between the United States of America and Mexico over Texas. Mexico obtained it’s independence in 1821 from Spain a which ended up in the signing of the Treaty of Cordoba. The war for independence between the Spanish and Mexicans lasted for ten years and led to the destruction of the districts where silver was mined. These districts include Zacatecas and Guanajuato. Silver was Mexico’s main export commodity and the destruction of these districts came as a big blow to the government. Mexico was declared a republic in 1824 after the monarchy system was experimented by the leaders but failed. The monarchy system was quite unstable and this feature disadvantaged them when the American- Mexican war broke out in 1846. The Spanish had tried to recolonize the nation in the 1920s but were unable to. The Mexicans were also able to resist the French in the 1838 Pastry War. Both the colonialists and the government of independent Mexico were unable to effectively control Mexico’s far north and west. Before the occurrence of the American-Mexican war, indigenous groups raided the northern part of Mexico which forced the government to facilitate the migration from the United States to Texas. However, the people who migrated to Texas rebelled against the Centralist Republic of Mexico. The conservative Centralists took the position of power forcefully which saw the abolishment of independent Mexican states. However, Texas became an independent state of its own after rebelling in 1836. General Santa had previously signed a Treaty which recognized Texas as a state of its own although the Treaty was not recognized. In 1845, Texas agreed to the annexation by the US Congress and became the 28th state of the union on 29th December.
US expansionism
For a long period, the Congress of the United States of America had the desire to expand its territories which evolved into the idea of Manifest Destiny. In 1803, a purchase from France known as Louisiana was made by Jefferson which resulted in an undefined border between the US and Spain. In 1812, some of the US soldiers fought against Britain in a bid to take over some portions of Canada. In 1818, The Adam-Onis Treaty resulted in the resolution of the relationship between the U.S and Spain. The US via John Quincy wanted possession of east of Florida. In 1825, the U.S president, Andrew Jackson made an effort to acquire parts of Mexico but failed. The US’ main reason for acquiring vast portions of land was economical. For instance, cotton exhausted soil in the south which forced Congress to seek land that could be purchased. The then-president, James Polk was a democrat and his party supported expansion which encouraged him to go into war with Mexico.
The American- Mexican War
The American- Mexican war occurred between the years of 1846-1848. It occurred as a result of America taking over Texas to be one of its states yet Mexico considered Texas as one of its states since the government did not honor the Treaty signed by Mexican General Antonio Lopez Santa Anna when he was a prisoner at the Texian Army during 1836 Texas revolution. The Republic of Texas was an independent state however, a large portion of its citizens desired to be part of the United States. In 1844, the president of America James Polk was appointed at a time when the government focused on the expansion of the US territory in Oregon and Texas. Polk was focused on expansion to an extent that if expansion could not take place peacefully, then force would have to be used. Polk initially sent a diplomatic mission to try and negotiate the sale of the territory however, the Mexican government refused. Polk therefore, sent the army troops to go Mexico after convincing the Congress that war was necessary because the negotiations were not successful. The troops of Mexico attacked the US and Congress declared war.
US occupied a portion of land that was not quite disputed and had business transactions with the U.S through the Santa Fe Trail. The region was known as Santa Fe De Nuevo. The U. S troops also moved against the Alta California province and then moved south. They further moved to the lower territory of Baja California by the use of the U.S Navy. The Mexican government was however reluctant to sign the Treaty but was forced to sign when the Mexican heartland was invaded by Major General Winfield Scott. The capital of Mexico City was captured. Although Mexico lost the U.S, the Treaty was signed but its government was still adamant to agree to the fact that a portion of its territory was lost. Around the same time, President Polk had relieved Nicholas Trust who was the peaceful negotiator of his responsibilities. Nicholas however, ignored the order and successfully concluded the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which resulted at an end of the war. The Treaty recognized territories that were once parts of the Mexican territory but were taken over by the U.S government. They included the Northern territories of Alta California and Santa Fe De Nuevo Mexico to the United States. As compensation for damages caused to Mexico, the US agreed to pay $15 million and assumed $3. 25 million of debt that the Mexican government owed. Eventually, the Mexican government accepted the fact that Texas was now the territory of the U.S and Rio Grande was the border between the U.S and Mexico.
The citizens of the U.S praises Polk for the expansion of the U.S while others criticized him because more than 13000 Americans were killed in the war. Others thought that so much money was used in the war. Most of the congressmen felt that the new territory should be treated as territories where slaves would be gotten from while others disagreed. On the other hand, Mexico was left with bearing the shame of having lost to the U.S, and also many of its civilians, as well as soldiers, were killed because the war took place in Mexico. Both Mexico and the United States of America were quick to memorize the events of the war. The war left Mexico in a painful position as most of its property was destroyed and territory taken over by the government of the United States of America. Furthermore, Mexico lost very many soldiers and civilians. Government officials continued to conflict with each other for approximately 20 years. After a short period, the French invaded Mexico and set up a puppet monarchy. The leaders went into a period of self-examination to identify reasons as to why they went into war with the United States of
and why they lost. Furthermore, a group of Mexican citizens that include; Ramon Alcaraz, Ignacio Ramirez, Guillermo Prieto, Jose Maria Iglesias, and Fransisco Urquidi, came up with the reasons as to why Mexico went into war with the United States of America and they concluded that
” the true origin of the war, it is sufficient to state that the insatiable ambition of the United States, favored by our weakness caused it.”