Mexico Madness! by Nathan

Mexico Madness!

By: Nathan

November 28, 2017

“American blood has been shed on American soil!” was a favorite quote of President Polk during the war with Mexico. He was the president during the whole war. Commonly called the Mexican-American War, it was a very peculiar time in American history. The United States told lies,  and completely won the war from force and force alone! Most of the war was fought on foreign soil that wasn’t the United States’s at all. The war finally ended after 4 long years that were hard fought on both sides.

Gaining New Territories

Before the war officially began, General Zachary Taylor started to push the Mexicans back to where the president thought the border should be, and eventually pushed them past it. The president thought that the Mexico border with the United States should be the Rio Grande river. General Taylor was pushing them back at the president's order. During the war, he occupied Matamoros, Monterrey, Saltillo, and Victoria, but after all of the cities got captured, Mexico still would not give in. Every single one of these were Mexican cities. Zachary Taylor was a war hero in the Mexican-American War and he later became president of the United States in 1848. President Polk was the current president during the war and he was absolutely crazy about getting the land to the west owned by Mexico. When Jim Beckwourth discovered a pass through the Sierra-Nevada Mountains, everyone came rushing through into the lands in the west. During the 1840’s, there was 1,000 Americans, 10,000 Mexicans, and 250,000 Native Americans in California. New Mexico had just around 60,000 Mexicans in it. It would be very hard to gain these two places for the United States.

On May 13, 1846, President Polk had the congress declare war on Mexico. One of the many excuses that President Polk used on the Mexicans to start the war was that the Mexicans had, “Shed American blood on American soil.” Sometimes, it really wasn’t even American soil at all. Often times, it was clearly owned by Mexico. Santa Fe, in New Mexico, was a very good trading post for the United States, they came there to trade lots of times before the war. They thought that if they had it, they could control the trading that was going on and limit the supplies that Mexico was getting from the trading. After the war started, Abraham Lincoln and the famous author Henry David Thoreau opposed the war that was happening. They thought that the war was pointless and that the United States should have negotiated instead. After the bear flag revolt happened in California, the United States overthrew Mexican rule in California. After less than 8 months, both New Mexico and California were in the hands of the United States.

Persuading for Borders

One of the main reasons that the war started was the United States’s fault. Many Americans thought that the territory that was owned by Mexico was part of the United States’s “Manifest Destiny.” The “Manifest Destiny” was a feeling some Americans had that all the land to the west should be theirs. Another reason that the the Mexican-American War was the United States’s fault was because of the borders. The United States thought that the border between Texas and Mexico should be the Rio Grande river, which was the reason that General Taylor was pushing the Mexicans back, but Mexico thought otherwise. They thought that the Texas-Mexico border was fine where it was. John Slidell had been sent by the president as the American minister to offer 25 million dollars for the Rio Grande border, but Mexico had refused. So, the United States had decided to resort to force. On America’s conquest of California, General Kearny and Commodore Robert Stockton in January of 1847, won the Battle of San Gabriel, completing California for the United States.

Storming the Mexicans

The United States started to push towards the Mexican capital after capturing California. They started to win battle after battle. Colonel Doniphan fought the bloody battle of Sacramento, which the  United States won. On March 1st, Doniphan occupied the nearby city of Chihuahua. The United States was determined to get the land in the west. Polk wanted to land at Veracruz, a Mexican coast city, and then start to strike at Mexico City after. General Scott landed near Veracruz on March 9, 1847. 20 days later, he captured the city. When General Scott stormed through the mountain pass of Cerro Gordo on April 17 and 18 of 1847, he managed to get through and forge onward towards the capital. After, the United States won the battles of Contreras and Churubusco on August 19 and 20 of 1847. On September 8, 1847, the United States won the battle of Molino del Rey and captured the hilltop fortress of Chapultepec. The next day, the United States managed to capture the Mexican capital, Mexico City. This was a big turning point in the war because the United States could force Mexico to sign a treaty under the threat of destroying the capital. Finally, the United States got Mexico to sign the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848. This treaty gave the United States regions of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. The United States decided to pay Mexico 15 million dollars to make up in the damage that the United States caused during the war.

As you can see, the Mexican-American was weirdly amazing. All of the battles were hard fought on both sides. They each had their special places in the war from the most known battles to the least known battles. Each of the sides had a different reason for fighting that were completely different and at the end, the Mexicans had to surrender out of fear for their capital city. The Americans got what they wanted, finally, but they had to pay the price. Both sides had their hardships and they both were devastated by the final product of the war.

Bibliography

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo-https://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ghtreaty/

DiConsiglio, John. The Mexican-American War. Heinemann Library, 2012.