John O'sullivan Manifest Destiny Analysis

When Mexico declined their offer, President James Polk needed an excuse to go to war with Mexico to steal California right from underneath them. Polk spread the rumor that it was their “manifest destiny” to extend America’s territory to the Pacific Ocean. Historians today ask the question: Was the United States justified in going to war with Mexico? The United States was not justified, because the United States were greedy for land, “manifest destiny” is weak excuse, and because of the human cost. The United States had its eye on expand its territory and started with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

The Mexican-American War was a major war over Mexico’s land. This war happened mainly because the U.S. wanted to expand to the Pacific Ocean to fulfill their Manifest Destiny, trying to take away Mexico’s land. Mexico refused to to give land to the U.S. The big question is whether the U.S. was justified in fighting Mexico in the Mexican-American War. The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because Manifest Destiny, too much Mexican interference, and Texas was invaded.

The northerners hated it because of the fact that Texas favored slavery. Those in the south liked the idea of a war because it would help expand to the west. This expansion would provide more land and opportunity. The war was one-sided due to the fact that the United States won most of the battles. The problem with this was that México refused to negotiate after every loss, so the war had to go on for longer than it had to be.

One of the consequences of Manifest Destiny was the Mexican-American War. Following the ideology of Manifest Destiny, Texas was annexed into the United States in 1845, creating tensions with the Mexican government. While the annexation of Texas had great benefits for America, from the Mexican point of view it caused many issues legally and threatened national security (Document C). In pursuit of the grand ambitions of Manifest Destiny, President Polk and many Americans forgot to consider the consequences of achieving their ultimate goal of controlling the whole of North America. While before the United States had supported the independent countries, such as Mexico, that had broken free of Spanish rule, during this time period America lost sight of their ideals and made

The Radical Republicans disapproved the Ten Percent Plan. The 1864 Wade-Davis Bill was much more harsher than the Ten Percent Plan because it laid out more sets of requirements for the Confederate sates to reenter the Union. It stated that 50% of the state’s voting population must swear loyalty to the nation, the state would have to abolish slavery, and all the Confederate officials are banned from serving in the new state government. Lincoln disapproved the bill and pocket-vetoed

The year was 1803, and the United States had agreed to buy the mid-eastern plains from France, resolving as the Louisiana Purchase. However, James Polk, who was elected as president in 1844, created the Manifest Destiny, which was the belief that the United States was destined to claim the land of the West coast, which at that moment, was all a part of Mexico. He had his eye especially on California, and was not ready to let Mexico ruin the Manifest Destiny from becoming fulfilled. Eventually he proposed to Congress to start a war with Mexico, and only sixteen denied the request. Even before Polk was president, the Battle of the Alamo occurred between Mexico and the U.S., both wanting Texas.

Polk based much of his argument of the news of the death of American soldiers, claiming that American blood had been shed on American soil, but in reality the land they had died on was past the boundary of the United States and taken place within the disputed territory. Despite this fact people of America rallied behind the call of war after these solders death and set an ultimatum for the war and it was clear to many that the small Mexican army had a slim chance of winning. Americans wanted the Mexican's to leave the territory as well as give over control to New Mexico and California, and on May 13, 1846 Congress officially declared War with Mexico, authorizing 50,000 troops to march to Mexico City. (Acuna

This act made a political issue of confrontation between North and South. In Kansas, proslavery party and against proslavery set up each government, and there was a confusion about which government should be recognized representative government by the federal government. In this political turmoil, Abraham Lincoln made his position clear that he was not an abolitionist, but he did not agree with the expansion of slavery. Even though his new party represented the urban north, federalism, and abolition. Lincoln said that the Constitution granted no authority for the federal

These changes will soon be repeated in countries like the German Coast Uprising of 1811 in the United States. Naturally, the bloodiness of the Haitian Revolution aroused fear among many. For example, Thomas Jefferson in Document 9 wanted to end contact and abolish trade in order to ensure peace and stop violence between different groups of people. Jefferson knew that contact with Haiti would cause slavery to be a debated question for the United States. With Haiti being another republic, the new country no longer imported slaves from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which ultimately shaped the economy particularly in the Western

After the American Revolution and declaring its independence, America has been aspired to the ideas of liberty, humanity, equality, and property rights. In the 1840s, the United States added greatly to its territory, gaining lands stretching all the way to the Pacific Ocean. President James K. Polk, who was elected in 1844 on the pledge to annex vast territories in the West, delivered on his major campaign compromise. The term Manifest Destiny was a wide belief that the American settlers were destined to expand from coast to coast. The idea of Manifest Destiny certainly contributed to several wars.

Certainly, Americans were being extremely greedy and wanted more and more land. Was the United States justified in going to war with Mexico? The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because they did not respect their laws, culture, and their beliefs. Second of all, this evidence shows that the US was not justified in going to war because it was useless to fight if the Mexicans were going to lose Texas if it was not now, it would be later on. Truly, it was very clear that the Americans won the war because Texas wanted to become part of the US, and the United States wanted to adopt Texas into their union.

American troops were sent to southern Texas to only result in meeting the same set of foes. Gun shots were heard as U.S. troops and Mexican troops fought. As a result, James Polk, the president of the United States at the time, declared war on Mexico. The U.S. was not justified into going into war with Mexico because the Annexation of Texas and California was unofficial, Texas unfairly changed its borders after winning its

However, this wasn’t a good idea because Americans had different beliefs on things such as slavery. After many fatal encounters between the two, America had gained control of the territory. They applied for annexation into the United States twice, but congress did not want to aggravate Mexican officials. Although, after James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, congress voted to annex Texas. The United States was not justified in the war with Mexico because they didn’t follow their laws, undisputed territory, and the idea of manifest destiny.

Annexing Texas and declaring war caused more problems for Mexico and America. America should have left Texas to Mexico. It caused many security problems to Mexico and brought the issues of slaves. It also seems as if america was “asking” for a war. Mexico did indeed throw the first punch, but America was taunting them.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war between the U.S. and Mexico. This war was initiated by the United States and resulted in Mexico 's defeat and the loss of nearly 60 percent of its territory in the north. In the U.S. the war is termed the Mexican–American War, also known as the Mexican War, the U.S.–Mexican War or the Invasion of Mexico. In Mexico names for the war include Primera intervención estadounidense en México, Guerra de la Invasión estadounidense, and Guerra del 1847. Nonetheless, the Mexican American War was unjust because of President Polk’s thirst for more territory.