The Grand Canyon National Park, a natural wonder, draws nearly 5 million visitors annually. This fantastic park, in the northwest corner of Arizona, is a testament to the vastness and beauty of our nation. This national park is a direct result of the Mexican-American War and is not just a historical fact, but a part of our shared heritage. Just imagine if this was not part of our American landscape; millions would be left out of its beauty. The Grand Canyon stands as a reminder of our history. On April 25, 1846, the United States Army and Mexico started a two-year war, which concluded on February 2, 1848, with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The United States acquired 525,000 square miles of Mexican territory for $15 million.…show more content… It was the conviction that our divine right was to expand and colonize the entire continent. First brought up by John Louis O'Sullivan, this idea was further used by President James Polk, who empowered its image. He sent John Slidell to offer Mexico 30 million dollars to buy all the land. Mexico did not like the offer, so they refused to meet with him. This then resulted in the tension rising between Mexico and America. Polk did not want to take no for an answer, so he sent American soldiers to Texas. On April 25, 1846, Mexican troops fired at American soldiers, killing or wounding 16 soldiers. Soon after that, on May 12, the Senate declared the Mexican-American war. According to senate.gov, "On May 12, 1846, the United States Senate voted 40 to 2 to go to war with Mexico. President James K. Polk accused Mexican troops of having attacked Americans on U.S. soil, north of the Rio Grande. However, Mexico claimed this land as its territory and accused the American military of having invaded." To conclude, Polk's desire for the Manifest dynasty and Mexico's rejection led to the war's start. Another cause for the war in Texas was in the…show more content… This then led to the Texas Revolution, led by Sam Houston. “Texas Revolution, war fought from October 1835 to April 1836 between Mexico and Texas colonists that resulted in Texas's independence from Mexico and the founding of the Republic of Texas (1836–45).” A year later, the Mexican-American war started. The last major cause was slavery. Even though there were many causes, “Abolitionists saw the war as an attempt by the slave states to extend slavery and enhance their power with the creation of additional slave states out of the soon-to-be-acquired Mexican lands.” Slavery was only allowed in the South, so the Southern states saw this as an opportunity to get more slave states than free states to gain more power. If Texas came to America, more slave states could join the Union. Abolitionists didn’t like this idea and knew that they just wanted to do it to gain more federal power over the free states. The free and enslaved person states that not agreeing on something was very common, and they couldn’t stop them from doing what the other wanted. In conclusion, the want for more land to have slave states was a huge reason why the Mexican-American war
