Apr 13, 2007 · The origins of the Mexican-American War can largely be traced back to Texas winning its independence from Mexico in 1836. Following his defeat at the Battle of San Jacinto (4/21/1836), Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna was captured and forced to recognize the sovereignty of the Republic of Texas in exchange for his freedom. The Mexican …
The Mexican-American War started over a boundary dispute dealing with Texas. Mexico believed the boundary was at the Nueces River. If this was the …
In Winfield Scott's first encounter with General Santa Ana, he was able to attack a stronger Mexican Army and drive them out of good defensive positions. Using a masterful flanking allowed the American Army to fire down upon the Mexican force, forcing their withdrawal.
General Winfield Scott sailed his men to Vera Cruz and landed them in an amphibious landing that has been compared to the Normandy Landings of World War 2. He was able to capture the city and capture the fort within. He was now very close to the Mexican capital. Battle of Cerro Gordo - 18 April 1847.
Carl Nebel was a German engineer who travelled to America in the 1830s and 1840s. He returned to Europe and in 1851 he also published twelve color lithographs based upon his paintings of the Mexican American War in a book named " The War between the United States and Mexico Illustrated ", with an introduction by Alexander Humboldt.
He has appeared on The History Channel as a featured expert. The origins of the Mexican-American War can largely be traced back to Texas winning its independence from Mexico in 1836. Following his defeat at the Battle of San Jacinto (4/21/1836), Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna was captured and forced to recognize the sovereignty ...
On May 11, 1846, Polk, citing the Thornton Affair asked Congress to declare war on Mexico. After two days of debate, Congress voted for war—not knowing that the conflict had already escalated. Hickman, Kennedy. "Mexican-American War: Roots of the Conflict.".
As annexation was debated in Washington in 1845, controversy escalated over the location of the southern border of Texas. The Republic of Texas stated that border was situated at the Rio Grande as set forth by the Treaties of Velasco which had ended the Texas Revolution. Mexico argued that the river stipulated in the documents was the Nueces which was located approximately 150 miles further north. When Polk publicly supported the Texan position, the Mexicans began assembling men and sent troops over the Rio Grande into the disputed territory. Responding, Polk directed Brigadier General Zachary Taylor to take a force south to enforce the Rio Grande as the border. In mid-1845, he established a base for his "Army of Occupation" at Corpus Christi near the mouth of the Nueces.
1836-1846. Kennedy Hickman is a historian, museum director, and curator who specializes in military and naval history. He has appeared on The History Channel as a featured expert. The origins of the Mexican-American War can largely be traced back to Texas winning its independence from Mexico in 1836.
By the time James Polk took office in 1845, relations with Mexico were already deteriorating. In fact, just two days after the inauguration in March, the Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. broke diplomatic relations and headed home to protest the annexation of Texas.
The Mexican attack gave Polk the moral high ground; he argued that the U.S. would be responding to Mexican aggression and to the shedding of American blood on American soil. Congress quickly passed the war resolution, but support for the war was guarded.
Both the U.S. and Mexico were ill prepared for war. In the months before, the country had twice flirted with war - with the British over border disputes in the Oregon Territory and with Mexico in the South. At the same time, nothing had been done to strengthen the armed forces.
A border dispute over whether Texas ended at the Nueces River (Mexican claim) of the Rio Grande (U.S. claim)
The war affected the US, specifically Texas, and Mexico. For Mexico, there was loss of life, economic ruin, and huge damage to property. For the US, they gained huge new pieces of land. However the fight over what to do with it took center stage.
The Mexican-American war (1846-1848) changed the slavery debate. It almost doubled the size of the United States and began a debate, between Northerners and Southerners, over what to do with the newly acquired land.
U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict.
Dozens of European states adopted neutrality at the beginning of WWII, but by 1945 only Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey remained independent or unaligned.
Major wars (10,000 or more combat-related deaths in current or past year)
Afghanistan. More people are being killed as a result of fighting in Afghanistan than in any other current conflict in the world.
The Mexican-American War was the first major conflict driven by the idea of "Manifest Destiny"; the belief that America had a God-given right, or destiny, to expand the country's borders from 'sea to shining sea'.
Soon however, many of the new "Texicans" or "Texians" were unhappy with the way the government in Mexico City tried to run the province. In 1835, Texas revolted, and after several bloody battles, the Mexican President, Santa Anna, was forced to sign the Treaty of Velasco in 1836 .
Partly due to the continued hostilities with Mexico, Texas decided to join with the United States, and on July 4, 1845, the annexation gained approval from the U.S. Congress.
Both nations sent troops to enforce the competing claims, and a tense standoff ensued. On April 25, 1846, a clash occurred between Mexican and American troops on soil claimed by both countries. The war had begun.
Before the secession of Texas, Mexico comprised almost 1,700,000 sq mi (4,400,000 km ), but by 1849 it was just under 800,000 square miles (2,100,000 km ). Another 30,000 square miles (78,000 km ) were sold to the U.S. in the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, so the total reduction of Mexican territory was more than 55%, or 900,000 square miles (2,300,000 km ). Although the annexed terri…
Mexico obtained independence from the Spanish Empire with the Treaty of Córdoba in 1821 after a decade of conflict between the royal army and insurgents for independence, with no foreign intervention. The conflict ruined the silver-mining districts of Zacatecas and Guanajuato, so that Mexico began as a sovereign nation with its future financial stability from its main export destroy…
By the Treaties of Velasco made after Texans captured General Santa Ana after the Battle of San Jacinto, the southern border of Texas was placed at the "Rio Grande del Norte." The Texans claimed this placed the southern border at the modern Rio Grande. The Mexican government disputed this placement on two grounds: first, it rejected the idea of Texas independence; and second, it claimed that the Rio Grande in the treaty was actually the Nueces River, since the curre…
The Mexican Army emerged from the war of independence as a weak and divided force. Only 7 of the 19 states that formed the Mexican federation sent soldiers, armament, and money for the war effort, as the young Republic had not yet developed a sense of a unifying, national identity. Mexican soldiers were not easily melded into an effective fighting force. Santa Anna said, "the leaders of t…
President Polk ordered General Taylor and his forces south to the Rio Grande. Taylor ignored Mexican demands to withdraw to the Nueces. He constructed a makeshift fort (later known as Fort Brown/Fort Texas) on the banks of the Rio Grande opposite the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
The Mexican forces prepared for war. On April 25, 1846, a 2,000-man Mexican …
In the United States, increasingly divided by sectional rivalry, the war was a partisan issue and an essential element in the origins of the American Civil War. Most Whigs in the North and South opposed it; most Democrats supported it. Southern Democrats, animated by a popular belief in Manifest Destiny, supported it in hope of adding slave-owning territory to the South and avoidin…
After the declaration of war on May 13, 1846, United States Army General Stephen W. Kearny moved southwest from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in June 1846 with about 1,700 men in his Army of the West. Kearny's orders were to secure the territories Nuevo México and Alta California.
In Santa Fe, Governor Manuel Armijowanted to avoid battle, but on August 9, C…