American War Dbq

The United States was unjustified when going to war with Mexico for multiple reasons. One of the biggest reasons was the expansion of a slavery state. Texas is very large and great for growing cotton, so if the U.S. annexed Texas, a very large slave state would be added. The second reason was that James Polk provoked the war. He was also a big believer in Manifest Destiny. This meant that he wanted to expand the land of the U.S. , and His motto was “54 40 or fight” which meant expanding the U.S. up to the northern boundary of the Oregon territory. If this goal was not achieved, they would go to war to get it.