Mexican-American War

The Mexican-American War took place between 1846 and 1848, and was unsurprisingly a war between Mexico and the United States of America. It's also a strong candidate for the prestigious "Most Bullshit War in American History" Award, although it faces stiff competition from that clusterfuck in Indochina (or that one in Afghanistan).
Shortly after the US annexation of Texas, President offered to purchase Mexican land that had previously been claimed by the Texans. When the Mexicans refused, he moved US troops into the disputed area, provoking an attack which he then cited before Congress as an act of aggression. The resulting war ended with America seizing a huge tract of land from Mexico that now comprises multiple states including California, New Mexico, and Arizona. 
This war doesn't really show up in media, nor is it often discussed. It's certainly not as popular as WWII. This is unsurprising, as it isn't exactly hard to argue that the US was the bad guy. A deliberately instigated war of conquest doesn't exactly fit with America's national image. 
==Origins==
===The first time Texas seceded from a nation to preserve slavery===
Under the rule of Spain, Texas was only sparsely populated; after gaining independence Mexico sought to increase the territory's non-native population in order to bring it under control.Pedro Santoni, "U.S.-Mexican War" in Encyclopedia of Mexico, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, p. 1511 Mexico's sparse northern population left its frontier vulnerable to raids from Native Americans who stole livestock and sold it to the United States.DeLay, Brian (Feb 2007), "Independent Indians and the U.S. Mexican War," The American Historical Review, Vol. 112, No. 2, p. 3. The Mexican government began granting American families land grants in Texas, beginning a steady stream of American migration southward.Jesús F. de la Teja, "Texas Secession" in Encyclopedia of Mexico, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, 1403-04. As an additional incentive, Mexico permitted American farmers to keep their slaves, even though Mexico itself had previously abolished slavery.Texas Revolution Britannica 
As the owner of a huge land grant, Stephen Austin became one of the most influential Americans in Texas, and he defeated several political pushes to ban slavery in Texas.Stephen Austin Britannica He also led an unsuccessful attempt to make Texas an autonomous state within Mexico. As the Anglo-American population of Texas swelled, the Mexican government became concerned with the stability of the region.Lack, Paul D. (1992). The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History 1835–1836. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 0-89096-497-1. p. 5 The situation became more tense after Mexico banned Texan slavery in 1829; the government hoped to contain the Anglo-American anger by restricting further immigration from the United States.Edmondson, J.R. (2000). The Alamo Story: From Early History to Current Conflicts. Plano, TX: Republic of Texas Press. ISBN 1-55622-678-0. p. 80 However, in an amusing reversal, American settlers either ignored or circumvented these laws and entered Mexico anyways.Baptist, Edward (2014). The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-04966-0. p. 266. 
Meanwhile, Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna overthrew the Mexican president and established himself as a dictator. He hoped to end the semi-independence of Texas. Stephen Austin retaliated by calling his fellow Texans to begin (1835) an armed revolt. At this point, the only thing the rebels truly wanted was a return to Mexico's federalist government and the autonomy of Texas. The main driving impulse both then and after was to force the Mexican government to re-legalize the institution of slavery.Chang, Robert S. "Forget the Alamo: Race Courses as a Struggle over History and Collective Memory." Berkeley La Raza Law Journal 13.Article 1 (2015). Print. 
Regardless, hostilities began when Santa Anna crushed and massacred the rebel defenders of the Alamo (March 1836), creating a rallying cry for the (white) Texans and their allies.15 Facts About the Battle of the Alamo Minster, Christopher. ThoughtCo, January 25, 2019 Disagreement set in among the rebels as to what their exact goal was; their assembly in 1836 eventually decided on full independence.Roberts, Randy; Olson, James S. (2001). A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory. The Free Press. ISBN 0-684-83544-4. p. 98 The ensuing war resulted in Santa Anna's ultimate defeat at the hands of Texan general Sam Houston; Mexico had to acknowledge Texas' independence (1836). Texas won some international recognition, but later agreed (1845) to be annexed by the United States.Republic of Texas Texas State Historical Association, archived.
===Manifest Destiny===
The United States at this point also began to think seriously about acquiring California. California had also received high levels of immigration from the United States, and Santa Anna's shenanigans even resulted in an abortive attempt at a declaration of independence (June 1846) there.The Annexation of California from Mexico Study.com Disagreements over a potential annexation of California caused divisions in the Democratic Party leading up to the election of 1844; James Polk came out on top, favoring annexation.Mark R. Cheathem; Terry Corps (2016). Historical Dictionary of the Jacksonian Era and Manifest Destiny. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 139. ISBN 9781442273207 Particularly important in his campaign rhetoric was the concept of Manifest destiny, the idea that white Americans were destined to expand across the entire North American continent. Polk most especially coveted the city of San Francisco, site of North America's largest Pacific harbor, as he wanted to turn the city into America's trade hub with China, Japan and the rest of East Asia.President Polk and the Taking of the West Constitutional Rights Foundation.
===The Nueces Strip dispute===
Even after Texas' successful war for independence, its exact border with Mexico was never fully settled. Mexico insisted that Texas' southern boundary was the Nueces river, while Texas claimed everything north of the Rio Grande.Nueces Strip This dispute was not resolved after the annexation of Texas, and the territorial claim was more or less inherited by the United States. The inhabitants of the Nueces strip, meanwhile, were largely Native Americans and outlaws who weren't especially sympathetic to either party. Teague, Wells (2000). Calling Texas Home: A Lively Look at What It Means to Be a Texan. Council Oak Books. pp. 23–24. ISBN 9781885171382. President Polk, however, didn't really care much for the little strip of desert. He sent Commissioner John Slidell to negotiate over the boundary, but also gave him instructions to primarily focus on an offer to buy California for $25 million.Commissioner John Slidell PBS. This pissed the Mexicans right off, because they had expected the Americans to offer a settlement on the whole Texas issue but instead found that the Americans intended yet more territorial expansion at Mexico's expense. Polk likely expected negotiations to fall through, and he dispatched troops into the Nueces area with the deliberate intention of provoking a response from Mexico.James K. Polk and the U.S. Mexican War: A Policy Appraisal A Conversation With David M. Pletcher, Indiana University. PBS.
Mexico took the bait, and Polk got his war.
==A Brief Summary of the War==
The war was pretty short and straightforward, so rather than give an in-depth run-down of the war and its battles, here's a brief summary:
As mentioned earlier, President Polk basically had American troops wandering around Texas in the hopes that Mexican forces would rashly attack. He got his wish on April 25, 1846 when a large force of Mexican cavalry attacked a small American patrol near the Texas-Mexico border.The Thornton Affair — The First Bloodshed of the Mexican-American War, American History Central Polk used the attack as grounds for a declaration of war, which he got with little difficulty.The Senate Votes for War against Mexico, The U.S. Senate Thus the war began in earnest. The Mexicans followed up that initial skirmish by besieging a small American fort along the Texas-Mexico border.Fort Texas / Fort Brown, National Park Service The Americans responded by sending their navy to blockade Mexican ports in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico, while also sending four armies to invade Mexican territory. The American plan more or less played out thusly:
# The first army, led by marched into what is now New Mexico and occupied it. While there, he set up a government and laws, and put down some rebellions.Taos, New Mexico Revolt, Legends of America Eventually he marched through Arizona and into southern California, which his army occupied.Stephen Kearny – Father of the U.S. Cavalry, Legends of America
# The second force, a smaller army led by happened to be scouting around northern Utah/California when it got word that the war had begun. The army proceeded to march to San Francisco, California where it linked up with naval forces.This week in history: John C. Frémont is court-martialed for mutiny, Deseret Times American settlers launched a "bear flag revolt" similar to what had happened in Texas oh so recently, and helped overthrow the Mexican government in California.Bear Flag Revolt, History.com The US forces, consisting of naval troops under the Bear Flag rebels, and the small armies led by Fremont and Kearny, made a separate peace treaty with the local Mexican forcesCapitulation of Cahuenga, Los Angeles Almanac and occupied the region. 
# The third force, led by Zachary Taylor, attacked and drove back the Mexican forces in southern Texas and launched an invasion of northern Mexico.Zachary Taylor, PBS The army probably should've been defeated in the however, even though it was winning, the significantly larger Mexican army was starving and exhausted, and with rumors of a rebellion breaking out elsewhere, it chose to simply leave.Battle of Buena Vista, February 1847, Landmark Events The Americans of course claimed victory, as one does, and Taylor was suddenly a war hero.Taylor would use his war hero status to win the The army proceeded to occupy a large swath of northeastern Mexico.
# The fourth and largest army, led by was sent to Mexico by sea and conducted the U.S.'s largest amphibious assault until World War II when it landed near the important Mexican port city of The army subsequently besieged and captured the city, after which Scott's force marched west toward Mexico City. Not far from Veracuz at Scott's army decisively defeated that Mexican armyWhich was personally led by the Mexican president, General that had walked away from the battle at Buena Vista, leaving Mexico City unprotected.Mexican-American War 170th: Battle of Cerro Gordo, Emerging Civil War Scott's army occupied the capital after a General Winfield Scott captures Mexico City, History.com Like Taylor, Scott was suddenly a war hero.
With large portions of Mexico under American occupation, and the Mexican capital having just fallen, the fighting largely ended. The Mexicans were forced to sue for peace after only about a year and a half of getting their asses kicked. On February 2nd, 1848, about four months after the fall of Mexico City, the peace treaty was signed and the war was officially over.
==Domestic reaction in the US==
The abolitionists in the North saw the Mexican-American War for what it really was: a cynical attempt by Polk to expand the US on false pretenses. Whig and Liberty Party members were convinced that Polk was conspiring to make whatever territory he got from Mexico into new slave states in order to expand the political power of The South.Mexican War Ohio History Central. Abraham Lincoln, a freshman Whig in the House of Representatives, was a highly vocal opponent of the war. He famously challenged Polk's claim that "American blood has been shed on American soil" by demanding that Polk "show me the spot where American blood was shed" while introducing eight resolutions questioning the war's constitutionality.Why Abraham Lincoln Was Revered in Mexico Smithsonian Magazine Lincoln's unpatriotic stance on the war was unpopular with his Illinois constituents; he was given the nickname "Spotty Lincoln," called a disgrace, and finally declined to run for office.Congressman Lincoln 1847-1849 National Park Service. Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican Party president, is to this day a popular figure in Mexico.
In 1846, amidst the ongoing war, President Polk proposed an appropriation measure that would allocate $2 million to purchase any land that Mexico might happen to suddenly offer on sale.The Wilmot Proviso American Battlefield Trust This was Polk's first public admission that there might be more to the Mexican-American War than his national defense story. However, Northern Democratic Representative David Wilmot foiled the plan by offering an amendment on the bill which would permanently forbid slavery in any land ceded to the United States by Mexico.Wilmot Proviso Britannica The Wilmot Proviso, as it was called, was supported by an unusual bipartisan coalition of abolitionist Whigs and Northern Democrats who still resented Polk for gaining the presidential nomination over Martin Van Buren and wanted to fuck him over. Although Wilmot's amendment sank in the Southerner-dominated Senate, it was a sign of the increasing strength of the abolitionist movement.
==Resolution and Aftermath==
===Territorial changes===
Heavily outmatched, and with many of its major cities occupied, Mexico had no choice but to agree to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war. Mexico ceded the present-day states of California, Nevada, and Utah, most of New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming in exchange for $15 million, less than half of what Polk had originally offered.Mills, Bronwyn. U.S.-Mexican War. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-8160-4932-5. The fact that the US actually paid (a relative pittance) for the territory led the Whig-run National Intelligencer to sarcastically declare, "we take nothing by conquest.... Thank God.""We take nothing by conquest, thank God." To lessen the blow on Mexico even further, the US government promised in the treaty to wipe out the Comanche and Apache tribes, who had been attacking northern Mexico.Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; February 2, 1848 Avalon Project Uh, that was nice of them? Of course, even though killing Indians was the US's favorite pastime, even then they squirmed out of that obligation during the DeLay, Brian (2008). War of a thousand deserts: Indian raids and the U.S.-Mexican War. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 302.
===Setting the stage for civil war===
Most of the major military figures of the American Civil War got their first taste of the action as junior officers in the Mexican war.10 Civil War Generals Who Served in the Mexican-American War ThoughtCo Ulysses S. Grant, George B. McClellan, William T. Sherman, George Meade, and Ambrose Burnside were among those on the Union side who served in Mexico. Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, James Longstreet, Joseph E. Johnston, Braxton Bragg, Sterling Price, and the future Confederate President Jefferson Davis represented the South.
The bitter partisan conflict over the war also led to the rise of Lincoln's Republican Party and greatly exacerbated national tensions over slavery.
==See also==
*Confederate States of America
*Lost Cause of the South
*Pearl Harbor conspiracy theory
*Zachary Taylor
===More bullshit American wars===
*American Indian Wars
*War of 1812
*U.S. conquest of Hawaii
*Spanish-American War
*Vietnam War
*Iraq War
*Afghanistan War
==Notes==
==References==
Category:California
Category:History
Category:Mexico
Category:Slavery
Category:Texas
Category:Imperialism
Category:United States history
Category:United States politics