Mexican American War Research Paper

The United States of America has been involved in a number of conflicts since the Declaration of Independence was signed. A number of these instances were by chances, some caused by conquest, while others were in the defense of the land of the free. Since the beginning of the country, it was named on the premise of freedom, liberty, and justice for all and the people who were citizens of the nation. As the American people began their conquest spreading across the North American continent, there were many nations that had previously occupied many areas. One of these nations to the South of present day United States, was not always friendly with the nation . A series of encounters with Mexico led to the Mexican American war, and much bloodshed. …show more content…
June 16, 1845 was when the United States officially annexed Texas, despite Mexico not recognizing these events (Guadalupe, 1987). Later in March, Taylor, and American general led troops past the Nueces River which served as a border for the country. This area was claimed by both Mexican and American people; however the presence of troops close to a border was considered an aggressive gesture of taunting. April 25th, 1986, was the official start of the war when Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and attacked Fort Texas (Guadalupe, 1987). This was in response to the number of provocations and also their non-acknowledgement of the invasion of Texas and its people. Palo Alto was the first battle in which the Mexican army retreated after exchanging with General Taylor and his forces . The depleted forces were met again the following day at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma having been caught by General Taylor and attacked again. After the continuous battles, Congress officially declared that the War on Mexico was happening on May 13th1846 (Guadalupe 1987). The summer of 1846 saw the strongest practice of Nationalism in America at the time. 75,000 men voluntarily joined a militia to fight against the Mexican people. There were rumored to be so many men that many of them had to be turned away and could not fight. Another important …show more content…
The United States also agreed to pick up $3.25 million in debt that Mexico owed American people for the various damages over the course of the war. All of the land gathered led to the US occupying Arizona, Colorado, California, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming (Cecil, 1989). This was the largest occupation of land since the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, under James K Polk, the United States was able to nearly triple in size and spread its influence to the western coast of the country. The people of the United States were extremely excited and their conquest on Manifest Destiny was almost complete . After time had passed, the hostility between the two nations blew over and they continued moving forward, however when asked about the events that occurred there were two completely different

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