Mexican Border Conflict

The U.S and Mexican border has always caused conflict in both countries since Europeans came to the Americas. The Spanish settled what is nowadays Mexico, while the English settled what is nowadays U.S. Eventually the two colonial powers met in what is now southwestern U.S. thus began a lifelong conflict between the two countries because of different national policies. Mexico had a policy of self protection. But the U.S had the idea of "Manifest Destiny." It was that the U.S believed that they had the right to expand westward to the Pacific ocean. But on the other hand, Mexico wanted to settle further north along the pacific coast.

In the 1500’s, the Spanish had conquered and settled Central Mexico. Now they wanted to expand their land north.

The Spanish settled the region from 3 sides; central, western and eastern. The first settlements were mainly through the center. The Spanish went through what is now the modern Mexican state of Chihuahua into the U.S. state of New Mexico. Eventually the Spanish established the city of Santa Fe. The eastern side went through modern day Texas and led to the establishment of San Antonio, and the western side went through California and Arizona which led to the establishment of San Diego and Los Angeles.

The U.S has a little different story. The U.S gained independence in 1775 after the American Revolution. After that the Americans started to expand west. But when Mexico gained independence in 1821, the U.S had already more than doubled its land by buying the “Louisiana Purchase” from France for 15 million dollars in 1803 This majorly increased the popularity of Manifest Destiny because settlers wanted to move to the new land to find gold or start new settlements. This started the many conflicts between Mexico and the U.S because now for the first time the U.S and Mexico shared borders. Mexico needed to protect its borders from the U.S and they had a plan. First Mexico needed to populate the area, then Mexico allowed some Americans to settle Texas, but the

But the U.S and Mexico were in disagreement with the border of Texas and Mexico. The us said it was the Rio Grande, but Mexico said it was the Nueces River further north of the Rio Grand. The U.S tried to settle the dispute peacefully but the Mexican government got angered when the U.S offered the idea of the U.S buying the land from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean, which led to the Mexican-American War.

The Mexican-American War was a 2 year war from 1846 to 1858. This was a really bad war for the U.S despite only losing about 1,500 in the war over 10,000 troops died of disease like the yellow fever, measles, mumps and smallpox. despite the mass loss of troops Mexico ceded to the U.S and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed and Mexico sold the territory of New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas, and western Colorado to the U.S for 15 million