James K. Polk's Manifest Destiny

War is going on all the time and whether the causes are appropriate or not is debatable. Many times war is the last result, but for the US, in this case, armed conflict was the only option. On April 25th, 1846 a massive Mexican Army attacked Captain Seth Thornton and his US Army north of the Rio Grande. Many were overtaken by fear, of what was to come. War.

Polk had sent John Slidell to negotiate with Mexico, unfortunately the negotiations did not go well causing General Zachory Taylor to travel to the Rio Grand with a band of 4,000 troops. During a battle placed between the Rio Grand and the Nueces River a handful of Americans were kill by Mexican troops, soon after Polk gave an address to Congress to plea for war, saying " Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil. She has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced and that the two nations are now at war. "(Polk, 456). 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.

The way they claimed annexed was by saying the Rio Grande was the southern boundary of Texas but Mexico said it was the Nueces River. In regards to the war, Americans were greatly divided. 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 first important battle was the battle of Agua Prieta, which was between Madero supporters and Diaz troops in 1911. The second battle was the battle of Columbus 1916, and it was conducted by Villa. The battle started as a raid by Villa's troops, but it was transformed into a full-scale battle between Villa and the United States. The United states used this battle as an excuse to invade Mexico and capture Villa. The bloodiest battle that happened during the revolution was the battle of Zacatecas in 1914.

If you sent 70 soldiers in territory that you believed to be yours and had gotten a report that some were killed and the rest were captured, would you believe that to be an act of war. The United States War with Mexico began when Mexico invited settlers (That they couldn’t take care of), and became tyrannical. So like the American Revolution they revolted and gained their independence, when we annexed them and moved our soldiers into our own territory. The soldiers were attacked and we declared war against Mexico. Although people may view the war as unjust, it is just do to the Americans having a perfectly reasonable reason to declare a war against Mexico.

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 war between the U.S and Mexico began with the United State’s annexation of Texas in 1845 and disputes over land. Lee first starts to establish himself in his aid in the Battles of Cerro Gordo, Veracruz, Contreras, Churubusco and Chapultepec. These are valued by his nation and for his service, Lee received brevet promotions to lieutenant colonel and colonel. As a captain on the staff of General Winfield Scott, the battles including the Siege of Veracruz, Cerro Gordo and Contreras became the most crucial. Lee’s involvement saw him find routes through thick bush that helped rout the Mexicans and in the

President Mckinley said he couldn’t see going to war over “something so silly.” Still the American people wanted action against Spain. The American government responded to these American war cries by sending the battle ship U.S.S Maine for a “friendly visit.” The events that would follow would finally get these cries for war answered (Lawson

The idea of Manifest Destiny certainly contributed to several wars. In 1846, the US declared war on Mexico in order to acquire more land. The Mexican American war was one of the many aggressive acts that was tied

In his campaign against the Aztec Empire, Cortez relied upon the other local indigenous tribes for assistance. Why did they ally themselves to Cortez and how did they help him secure ultimate victory? In Cortez’s venture to seize Mexico from the Aztec powers he was given he allied with other indigenous tribes, such as the Tlaxcalan's. It can be seen that perhaps the ally was more of mutual want for the destruction of the Aztecs as a mutual enemy rather then the want to benefit one another but the result shows us that this ally between the indigenous and the Spanish Hernan Cortez resulted in both the siege of Mexico and downfall of the Aztecs which may not have happened without this alignment.

President James Polk was pro manifest destiny. That means he believed that G-d wanted the Americans to spread throughout the whole continent. James Polk of course wanted to annex Texas. Doing this caused more problems for Mexico and America. Mexico’s borders were now screwed up and the issue of slaves came up.

(Marquez 327) This direct quote shows that Mexico is angry that the U.S. is taking more land. In the daily El Tiempo stated that the American government came as a traveler and then acted like a robber (Marquez 327). This information shows that that the American government came and stole from Mexico. The annexation of Texas was inadmissable and unofficial.

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.

Thirdly, a second reason the Mexican War was not justified because US soldiers were in a disputed area. According to Jesus Velasco Marquez from “A Mexican Viewpoint on the War With the United States,” he states that “From Mexico’s point of view, the annexation of Texas to the United States was inadmissible for both legal and security reasons.” As well as, “The American government acted like a bandit who came upon a

Consequently, the U.S. blamed Mexico for attacking them when they were only defending their borders. President James Polk’s statement saying,” Mexico had passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil”(Doc B) and the quote by Jesus Velasco-Marquez,“In the eyes of the Mexican government, the mobilization of the US army was an outright attack on Mexico,” (Doc C) show how the United States and Mexico had different views on where the border was. Overall, it was unjust for the United States to blame Mexico for going on their land when there was no clear