Preview

Mexican War Dbq

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
789 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mexican War Dbq
The United States in 1846 was not justified in going to war with Mexico. The United States did not have proper justification to respond with violence against the Mexican government. The war with Mexico was also a product of the United States’ belief of Manifest Destiny. Polk’s over ambition to seize new territory from the Mexicans and disappointment over their refusal to sell him California also possibly played a factor in his willingness to wage war against Mexico. The United States under the leadership of President Polk clearly provoked Mexico into attacking US troops. To no extent was the Mexican War a justifiable war. All these reasons show that the US had no business starting a war with Mexico for territory that was rightfully theirs.
The war with Mexico came at a time when much of the country had strong feelings of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny is the belief that fate had preordained the US to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans and from Canada to the Rio Grande. “the nation of many nations is destined to manifest to mankind the excellence of divine principles….it shall be a hemisphere – its roof the firmament of the star-studded heavens…” (Document 1). This ideal had strong influence and was one reason that there was so much popular support for the US expansion west. This ideal, while nationalistic, did not give Polk the right to go into Mexico and seize land which was rightfully theirs. The US vision of manifest destiny helped to win the public’s support for the Mexican war (Doc 2). Yet the public was misled by this sense of Manifest Destiny and those that did support it supported an unjust war. During his presidency, President Polk lusted for more land than the country had ever dreamed to control. The land Polk desired the most was California. While attempting to gain California through peaceful means, he sent John Slidell to Mexico City to offer the Mexicans up to $25 million dollars for California but was rejected by the
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Chapter Summaries of 'Occupied America': Chapters 3-5
    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Chapter Summaries of 'Occupied America': Chapters 3-5

    In chapter three of “Occupied America, A History of Chicanos,” Acuna explains the cause of the war between Mexico and North America. Eugene C. Barker states that the immediate cause of the war was “the overthrow of the nominal republic by Santa Anna and the substitution of centralized oligarchy” which allegedly would have centralized Mexican control (Acuna 39). Texas history is a mixture of selected fact and generalized myth. The expansion and capitalist development moved together. The two Mexican wars gave U.S. commerce, industry, mining, agriculture, and stock rising. The truth is that the Pacific Coast belonged to the commercial empire that the United States was already building in that ocean. In the Polk-Stockton Intrigue, Americans found it rather more difficult than other people to deal rationally with their wars. Many Anglo-American historians attempted to dismiss it simply as a “bad war”, which took place during the era of Manifest Destiny. Most studies on the war dwell on the causes and results of the war, and dealing with war strategy. The attitude of Mexicans toward Anglo-Americans was obviously influenced by the war and vice-versa. In the end, by late 1847 the war was almost at an end. Scott’s defeat of Santa Anna in a hard fought battle at Churubusco…

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Review of James K. Polk and the Expansionist Impulse
    • 1271 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Review of James K. Polk and the Expansionist Impulse

    During his presidency, Polk added many acres to the American territory. For instance, the most famous is Texas, which originally had been part of Mexico. A critical review of his controversial actions, as well as the philosophy of Manifest Destiny, attempts to present a review of his presidency, whose leadership led to various changes in the US topography. Thus, the memory of Polk’s…

    • 1271 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dbq Synthesis Essay
    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dbq Synthesis Essay

    Manifest Destiny, or land stealing? The war against mexico and the us, which took place north of the Rio Grande, broke out May 1846. The land north of the Rio Grande was disputed by the US and Mexico. Because the United States decided to occupy disputed territory Mexico attacked. With that said, is the United States justified in declaring war against Mexico? The United States was not justified in going to war because they deprived Mexico from their land, occupying territory in dispute and it was mexico's territory.…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    American War Dbq
    • 117 Words
    • 1 Page

    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.…

    • 117 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    James K. Polk: The Struggle Between The United States And Mexico
    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages

    James K. Polk: The Struggle Between The United States And Mexico

    James K. Polk was the president of the United States of America during the Mexican-American War. Congress agreed upon James K. Polk declaring war on Mexico. The war was fought over the possession of Texas. In 1836 Texas won their independence from Mexico. The United States of America wanted to annex Texas then, but did not because they wanted to avoid a war with Mexico. President Polk supported the annexation of Texas, regardless of the war that it could potentially start. Therefore, with James K. Polk’s support Texas was admitted into the union on December 29, 1845. After this event, tension rose between the United States and Mexico over border disputes. In July of 1845, James K. Polk ordered troops into the land between the Rio Grande Rivers…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mexican Civil War Dbq Analysis
    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mexican Civil War Dbq Analysis

    To begin with, the internal opposition began with the strong anti-slavery movement that grew as a result of efforts by abolitionists. Over time, support for emancipation was garnering steadily and quickly, however, this meant that the conflict between slave and free states continued to rise as well. Because of this, the Mexican American war only escalated the high tensions; the question of what was to be done with the possible acquisition of an extremely large territory was posed, in regards to the balance of slave and free states. Abolitionist saw that the war posed an extreme threat to this balance, and would only expand slavery to the land that would be acquired. Henry Clay, a senator, expressed his view that was very similar to those who…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    James Knox Polk: The Mexican War
    • 128 Words
    • 1 Page

    James Knox Polk: The Mexican War

    Although James Knox Polk doubled the size of the nation, he is rarely acknowledged by modern historians because of his machinations in initiating the start of the Mexican War. Without his efforts, however, America would be cut off at the Missouri River, exclude Texas, and have a disparate legacy of slavery and race relations as known today (Merry 17). Polk’s presidency was characterized by rapid expansion of American territory through war and treaties, as was William McKinley's. In McKinley’s period, as a consewuence of the Spanish American War, the United States acquired dominance of Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. Of course, while there were significant differences between Polk’s and McKinley’s presidencies, it’s nevertheless…

    • 128 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    War Mexico Dbq Analysis
    • 1774 Words
    • 8 Pages

    War Mexico Dbq Analysis

    This can best be explained in the following quote, “In the eyes of the [Mexican] government, the mobilization of the US army was an outright attack on Mexico” (Document C). This clearly demonstrates that Mexico had no idea that the US army was only checking the land. After all of the troubles that have been going on between Mexico and the US, the Mexicans believed that the US was attacking them. Another piece of evidence is, “.... As a consequence, the Mexican government reaffirmed the instruction to protect the border, meaning the territory located between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River- and order which led to the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma….” (Document C). This means that the Mexican army was ordered to shoot them because they believed that it was an attack. If Mexico had known that the US was checking the land, they would not have fired on the US army and would have asked them to leave their territory. The US had no reason to go to war with Mexico because, in reality, Mexico did not do anything to the Americans. What the Mexicans did was an accident because they never knew that the Americans were coming. To the Americans it may have seen like the Mexicans were trying to actually kill their soldiers, but in the eyes of the Mexicans, they did it to protect their beloved country. They fired to protect their citizens from the selfishness of the Americans, they did it because it seemed like a threat to them. That is the reason why they did, they never did it on purpose. Although there are many variables that led to the Mexican-American war, the invasion of the US towards Mexican territory being one of them, another variable would be that the US had no respect towards Mexican…

    • 1774 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Spanish American War Dbq
    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Spanish American War Dbq

    Imagine fighting for freedom against a country that won’t listen to you and treats you with cruelty. You don’t have much military power, so this other, more powerful country helps you gain independance. However, as soon as you win, the country that helps turns around and puts you in the same situation, just with them instead of the original country. This is what it was like in the Philippines! Before the Spanish-American war, the Philippines were a territory of Spain, along with some other countries like Cuba and Puerto Rico. Spain mistreated the people of these territories. They moved them into camps, that had shelters with no roofs. If they didn’t get there in time, they were executed. The United States stepped in and went to war with Spain for the independance of these territories. When we won the war, we got control of these…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Manifest Destiny Dbq Analysis
    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Manifest Destiny Dbq Analysis

    Around the 1840s, the US aspired to annex Texas and incorporate it as a state within the Union. However, gaining Texas had its consequences as it lead a war with Mexico. William Ellery Channing, an abolitionist and pacifist, saw that the policy regarding obtaining Texas would led the “nation into war” as it severed as “encroachment,” and a way “to propagate the curse of slavery.” (Doc 2) The annexation of Texas was seen invading Texas’ link to Mexico as in document one, the American Review stated the annexation “shall dissolve the slight bounds that now link the province to Mexico” (Doc 1) This served as a situation for Mexico, who had refused to recognize Texas’ independence and its takeover by the United States, although President James Polk, a strong supporter of the annexation of Texas as seen in his Inaugural Address- where he stated “none can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace if Texas remains an independent states,” attempted to aid Mexico in coming to an understanding. Therefore, the Mexican War broke out, out of the effort for Texas to break free its bond to Mexico. Eventually, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war, and came to an agreement that included setting boundaries for Texas and the acquisition of new territory- California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona,…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    How Did Manifest Destiny Manifest Itself?
    • 1876 Words
    • 8 Pages

    How Did Manifest Destiny Manifest Itself?

    The only reason Polk was not criticized a lot about the war was that he put forward Manifest Destiny. He stated that he was fighting for the Americans so that they could move westwards into new land. While the Mexican war was going on, Polk managed to…

    • 1876 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mexican War Dbq
    • 191 Words
    • 1 Page

    Mexican War Dbq

    The Mexican war was a war worth fighting for a few reason. The first key reason that we should have fought this war is that it was in the best interest of the country at the time and the many people in the U.S. believed in manifest destiny which was the belief that the expansion of the U.S. was justified and important. Another reason that this war would have been justified is that at the time was that mexico was a fairly new country. They had only gained independence from spain about 20 years before the mexican war. The U.S. didn’t think that Mexico was capable of controlling the amount of land that they claimed as theirs. It said in Document A that, “Mexico never can exert any real government over such a country” A third reason that this…

    • 191 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    mexican war
    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages

    mexican war

    The Mexican American War was a conflict between the United States and Mexico. This was a battle for land where Mexico was fighting to keep what they thought was their property and the U.S. desired to retain the disputed land of Texas and obtain more of Mexico’s northern lands. There were two main causes of the Mexican War. First, the idea of “Manifest destiny” meaning the belief that America had a God-given right to occupy and civilize the whole continent. As large number of Americans migrated towards the west searching for land, the fact that most of those areas already had people living in them was ignored. Instead, an attitude and belief that democratic Americans would do a better job of running the lands than the Native Americans prevailed. President Polk shared and led the vision of Manifest Destiny, and did offer to buy the southwest land from Mexico. However, the Mexican government refused the offer, and because of this tensions continued to rise. The second major cause of the Mexican War actually started off with the Texas War of independence .During the 1830s, Mexico needed settlers in the under populated northern parts of the country and therefore allowed U.S. citizens to come and live in the Texas area as long as they took an oath of allegiance to Mexico and converted to Catholicism. Thousands of Americans accepted the invitation and migrated to the Mexican province of Texas. Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845. Mexico claimed the international border to be the Nuecos River, while the U.S. claimed the border to be at the Rio Grande. The Nuecos River runs roughly parallel to the Rio Grande about fifty to one-hundred miles northeast (the Texas side) of it. Therefore, by claiming their respective river boundaries, both countries were trying to expand their territory. When the Mexican army crossed the Rio Grande and skirmished with U.S. soldiers, President Polk declared that America had been invaded and American blood had been shed. These words…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Are The Causes Of The Mexican American War
    • 940 Words
    • 4 Pages

    What Are The Causes Of The Mexican American War

    Francisco A. Amador-Ortiz 11/14/2014 Ms. Pass History 100 Oral Presentation Paper (Mexican American War) One of the first U.S. armed conflict that was military fought on foreign soil was The Mexican-American War sometimes known as the Invasion of Mexico that was fought from 1846-1848 (Merry, pg.176). In that two-year battle our President at the time James K. Polk who believed in the manifest destiny wanted to spread across the continent and claim new land. Unlucky for Mexico they where not prepared for such an invasion which came to many new territory’s such as California, Utah, and Nevada. Due to the beliefs of president Polk we now own what is today present southwest part of the U.S. territory along with Mexico losing almost one third of its territory.…

    • 940 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Mexican War
    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Mexican War

    A war between the U.S. and Mexico spanned the period from 1846 to 1847. The war was initiated by Mexico and resulted in Mexico's defeat and the loss of approximately half of its national territory in the north. The United States was unjustified in going to war with Mexico; this was due to the fact that the land was rightfully claimed by Mexico, our lack of acknowledgment towards the Mexican government, and the fact that Mexico was just protecting their borders.…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More