Research Paper on Mexican-American War

Introduction

The Mexican-American War is also denoted as Spanish Guerra de 147, Mexican War or Guerra de Estados Unidos a War meaning "War of the United States Against Mexico." It occurred between Mexico and the United States from 1846 to 1848. It was the first United States armed conflict mainly fought in a foreign country. It demonstrated Mexico as being military and politically divided indulging in a war with the US whose administration was comprehensively intellectual. The US President at that time was James K Polk and alleged that his country had a clear purpose to spread across the continent up to the Pacific Ocean. A border conflict alongside the Rio Grande began the fighting and was then followed by a sequence of USA triumphs. When the war lessened, Mexico had lost almost one-third of its territory. The lost region included the current New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California. The paper will explore the Mexican-American War and consider issues such as relations between the two nations and the root causes of the war as well as the effects.

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When the US president James Polk assumed office in 1845, their associations with Mexico were already declining. Two days after his orientation, ambassadorial dealings between Mexico and the US were shattered by the ambassador to the US. He then went ahead to dispute the invasion of Texas. Polk had premeditated to grant statehood to Texas, an issue that the Mexican government did not consider appropriate. They thus maintained their argument on the legitimacy of the border boundary along the Rio Grande. Moreover, most Californians had the urge to be a part of America, an issue that was being widely encouraged by Polk. He thus ordered the US troops being led by General Zachary Taylor to invade the border area of Texas that was under disagreement. Negotiations were held but failed one year later leading to Polk writing a war message to the Congress. He then received information on the same evening that the Mexican troops had attacked the US troops inside the Texas region that was already a US state. It led to the death of eleven Americans and most people who critiqued Polk's message argued that he had triggered the attack (Tucker, Arnold, Wiener, Pierpaoli, Cutrer & Santoni, 2013).

The above analysis has demonstrated an association between the foundation of the Mexican-American war and Texas obtaining its freedom from Mexico in 1836. When Mexico was defeated during the Battle of San Jacinto, the General was then seized and required to recognize the independence of the Republic of Texas for him to be set free. However, the Mexican government declined the agreement and even depicted that he did not have the authority to make such a deal. They further indicated that they still considered Texas to be a province which was still in rebellion. As such, the Mexican government terminated any thoughts of recovering the territory once the new Texas Republic received diplomatic recognition from the US, France and Great Britain (Hernandez, 2012).

On the other hand, another root of the Mexican-American War can be directed to the issue of statehood. The next nine years saw most Texans favoring seizure by the US although Washington prohibited the matter. Most people in the North were alarmed about having another state as a slave to be a part of the Union. Besides, others were worried about inciting a battle with Mexico. John Tyler who was in office before Polk introduced statehood events in the Congress before Polk assumed his position in office. Texas then became a part of the Union in 1845 leading to Mexico threatening to start a war, but they were discouraged against it by the French and British (Tucker et al., 2013).

The impacts of the Mexican-American War varied in range and magnitude. There were vast and small impacts, but all of them were crucial in modeling the accounts of the two nations. One of the first impacts of the war was the territorial benefit by the United States. When the war came to an end by signing the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, there was a secession of the New Mexico which is currently Nevada, Utah and Arizona, and California to the USA. Rio Grande was also formed as the southern border of Texas. The land secession was finalized for a final cost of close to fifteen million dollars. However, more conflicts emerged after the land exchange that resulted in the US being expanded. The disputes were national and international based on the situation of the US (Garza, 2013).

Mexican citizens who lived in the territories that had been abandoned by the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty to the US were also affected by the Mexican-American War. They were promised US citizenship and acquisition of their former lands by the US. However, their claims on their lands were disregarded once the eastern US citizens traveled to the new territories. As such, their land was stolen by the eastern people, and they even settled down. They utilized the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty as an element in their significant arguments and tried to redeem the lost lands through litigations. However, their struggles were unproductive (Tucker et al., 2013).

The Mexican-American War also led to an internal disagreement of slavery in the US. Before signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, arguments had arisen concerning what would happen to the territories once they had been annexed into the US. The observation was initially observed in the Wilmot Proviso and was created by David Wilmot. His argument was given from a northern Democrat and symbolized the wishes and perspective of the entire Northern region. Due to their desire to maintain their power and the balance between the north and south which was merely that of slavery and antislavery, they had the urge to make slavery a crime. They wanted to do this in the new territories to prevent losing any form of political influence or power. The provision then resulted in the division of Congress (Leon, 2011).

Once the slavery quarrels succeeded over the slave status of California and New Mexico various conceding attempts occurred. The Compromise of 1850 as brought forward by Henry Clay is the one that prevailed. It entailed four parts. Firstly, California would become a free state, and the western territories would vote over the practice of slavery (Hernandez, 2012). Also, the slave trade was abolished in Washington DC, and the fourth part was the endorsement of the Fugitive Slave Act. It was a settlement but kindled the tensions between Southerners and Northerners who were observed to be frequently in conflict until when the Civil War began (Guardino, 2017).

The Mexican-American War also had an adverse impact on Mexico. They lost close to half of their territory and was experiencing all forms of negative emotions towards its northern neighbor. They were angry about the territorial ideology and imperialism depicted by the US and thus did not believe any information they issued. Internal problems were also observed in Mexico. One of this was the uprisings and rulers and governments who were regularly overthrown. Additionally, after the war came to an end, the United States persistently inhibited with the society and government of Mexico in every possible manner (Tucker et al., 2013).

The war also led to the death of various soldiers. Infection and diseases broke out and affected most US soldiers than the warfare itself. It was predicted that a minimum of ten thousand troops died due to illnesses while another fifteen hundred died succumbed due to wounds obtained from the war (Garza, 2013). Moreover, poor sanitation also contributed to the spread of illness especially among those who were not keen on sanitary issues. Most of those who were careless with sanitation matters were volunteers as compared to the regular troops and thus died in large numbers. Yellow fever was also contagious alongside other diseases such as mumps, smallpox, and measles. The forces who were in the rural setting were also affected since their immunities were not well developed as compared to those who were in the urban regions (Hernandez, 2012).

In Mexico, the war humiliated the conservatives, but the country was left in despair. Stereotypes were also reinforced as a result of the war and especially about countries. Tragedies were also observed in Mexico as a result of the war. It left numerous widows, disabled people, and orphans. On the other hand, the artillery shelling and small-arms gunfire resulted in wide-ranging damage of buildings in various cities. Port facilities and roads were also destroyed as well. Also, the economy was affected, and internal and external trade disrupted due to the marine obstruction and movement of thousands of troops across the land. Political careers were destroyed, and chaos transpired in the national government. Due to the political instability, a new despotic regime was ushered in resulting in another civil war (Tucker et al., 2013).

Conclusion

The paper has explored the Mexican-American War and viewed issues such as the causes and its impacts. The war occurred from 1846 to 1848 and was the first armed conflict for the United States in a foreign country. It has been depicted that there is a link between the formation of the Mexican-American war and Texas gaining its liberty from Mexico in 1836. The issue of statehood has also been observed to be associated with the Mexican-American war. Texans favored a seizure after nine years of war despite Washington attempting to prohibit the issue. Most people who lived in the North were surprised about having another state. Also, the effects of the Mexican-American war have been assessed. The effects were vast and small, but all shaped the two nations. There was the territorial benefit by the United States. The war also came to an end after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. Mexicans who resided in the abandoned territories by the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty to the US were also affected by the war. They were promised US citizenship and acquisition of their former lands by the US, but their claims were disregarded after the eastern US citizens traveled to the new territories.

References

Garza, H. (2013). The Mexican-American War of 1846-48. Cork: BookBaby.Bottom of Form

Guardino, P. (2017). Dead March: A History of the Mexican-American War. Harvard University Press.Top of Form

Hernandez, J. A. (2012). Mexican American colonization during the nineteenth century: A history of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Leon, L. A.. (2011). War along the border: The Mexican Revolution and Tejano communities. College Station: Texas A & M University PressBottom of Form

Tucker, S., Arnold, J. R., Wiener, R., Pierpaoli, P. G., Cutrer, T. W., & Santoni, P. (2013). The encyclopedia of the Mexican-American War: A political, social, and military history. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.