Mexican American War

Mexican American War

Facts about Mexican American War

U.S. – Mexican War was an armed conflict between the Mexico and United States in the wake of the U.S. annexation of Texas.

Texas was part of Mexico until the 1836 when it declared independence from Mexico and was recognized as an independent Republic of Texas by Britain, France and United States.

After the declaration of independence most Texans were in favor of annexation by the U.S. however Andrew Jackson (U.S. president at the time) rejected it. The main reason for Jacksons rejection was the Mexican warning that the U.S. annexation of Texas would mean war.

The reason for this was that Mexico considered Texas as a rebellious territory that will always be part of Mexico and that will be retaken in the future, peacefully or by the military intervention.

In 1845 when Texas was offered admission to the union as a 28th American state the American people and the American political establishment were divided on this very important issue. Some years later it turned out that that very issue was a key part of the origins of the American Civil War.

Some of the prominent American politicians and public figures that were against the U.S. annexation of Texas and Mexican American War were Joshua Giddings, Robert Toombs, Henry David Thoreau and Abraham Lincoln, to name a few.

Murdering Mexicans upon their own soil or robbing them of their own country are the crimes I will not participate in. Therefore I vote against supplying soldiers and weaponsJoshua Giddings

Even thought Mexican American war divided the Unites States and the American politicians publicly called the U.SMexican War an unholy and unjust aggression, the war did take place and it caused many victims, a lot of suffering, pain, and great territory loss for Mexico.

Mexico lost the war it fought to prevent the loss of Texas and the Mexican representatives signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The terms of this treaty were devastating for Mexico but Mexicans had no other choice but to sign it because Americans occupied most of Mexico, including its capitolMexico City, and were not leaving until the treaty was signed.

The treaty guarantied to United States the undisputed control of Texas but it also ceded to the U.S. another 55% of Mexican national territory including the present-day states of California, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.

After signing the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo a leading U.S. newspaper, the Whig Intelligencer concluded:

We take nothing by conquest..Thank God.