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Mexican-American War
*** Shopping-Tip: Mexican-American War
{{Warbox
|conflict=Mexican-American War
|partof=
|campaign=
|image=
|caption=
|date=1846–1848
|place=Southwestern United States; Northern, Central and Eastern Mexico
|result=US victory;
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
Mexican Cession
|combatant1=
United States
|combatant2=
Mexico
|commander1=
Zachary TaylorWinfield ScottStephen W. Kearney
|commander2=
Antonio López de Santa Anna
|strength1=60,000
|strength2=40,000
|casualties1=KIA: 1,733
Total dead: 13,283
Wounded: 4,152
|casualties2=25,000 (Mexican government estimate)}}
The '''Mexican-American War''' was fought between the
United States and
Mexico between 1846 and 1848. In the U.S. it is known as the '''Mexican War''' or '''Mr. Polk's War'''; in Mexico, it is known as the '''U.S. Intervention''', the '''U.S. Invasion of Mexico''', or the '''United States War Against Mexico'''.
Background
The Mexican-American War grew out of an American expansionist policy known as "
Manifest Destiny" and Mexico's refusal to recognize Texas as a legitimate state after the 1836
Texas Revolution. Mexico had long declared its intention to recapture what it considered to be a breakaway province of Texas, however nearly a decade had passed and Texas had solidified its position by establishing diplomatic ties with Great Britain and the United States. Officials in the Republic of Texas had for most of its short existence expressed interest in being annexed to the United States, however this had been blocked in congress because of ongoing difficulties regarding admission of slave states. Finally in 1845, in his last days in office, President
John Tyler used the fear of a British encroachment to swing the offer of annexation to Texas. Texas accepted, and became the 28th state of the United States.
The Mexican government, in the throes of its own volatile changes in power, reacted to this development with complaints that the United States, by annexing its rebel province, was intervening in Mexico's internal affairs and had unjustly seized sovereign Mexican territory. British envoys had repeatedly attempted to dissuade Mexico from declaring war, but British efforts to mediate were fruitless as additional political disputes (particularly the
Oregon boundary dispute) arose between the Britain and the United States.
After the annexation of Texas, newly elected President
James K. Polk set out to acquire the Mexican province of
California. American expansionists wanted California in order to have a port on the
Pacific Ocean, which would allow the United States to participate in the lucrative trade with
Asia. Furthermore, Mexico's hold on its distant province was weak, and American expansionists feared that California would eventually be acquired by Great Britain, which, according to the thinking of the
Monroe Doctrine, was a threat to U.S. security. In 1845, Polk sent diplomat
John Slidell to Mexico to purchase California and
New Mexico for up to $30 million.
In January 1846, Polk increased pressure on Mexico to sell by sending troops, under General
Zachary Taylor, into the area between the
Nueces River and the
Rio Grande—territory that was claimed by both Texas and Mexico. Taylor ignored Mexican demands that he withdraw, and marched south to the Rio Grande, where he began to build
Fort Brown.
Slidell's arrival in Mexico caused political turmoil after word leaked out that he was there to purchase additional territory and not to offer compensation for the loss of Texas. The Mexicans refused to receive Slidell, citing a problem with his credentials. Slidell returned to Washington, D.C. in May 1846. Polk regarded this treatment of his diplomat as an insult and an "ample cause of war", and prepared to ask Congress for a declaration of war.
Hostilities and declaration of war
Mere days before Polk intended to make his request to Congress, he received word that Mexican forces had crossed the Rio Grande and killed eleven American soldiers. On
April 24 24 April 1846, Mexican
cavalry had attacked and captured one of the American detachments near the Rio Grande. This was called, in the USA, the
Thornton Affair after the commander of the captured troop.
Polk now made this the ''
casus belli'', and in a message to Congress on
11 May 1846 stated that Mexico had “invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil.� A joint session of Congress overwhelmingly approved the declaration of war, with many Whigs fearing that opposition would cost them politically. War was declared on
May 13,
1846. Northerners and
United States Whig Party Whigs generally opposed the war, while Southerners and
Democratic Party (United States) Democrats tended to support it.
Abraham Lincoln contested the causes for the war at that time. Mexico declared war in response on
May 23 23 May.
After the Thornton border clash, battles between Mexican and American troops followed at
Battle of Palo Alto Palo Alto and
Battle of Resaca de la Palma Resaca de la Palma, in present day Texas, in what each side considered defensive actions of their own territory. Palo Alto was a battle in which the Americans practiced a mobile artillery barrage, and the Mexicans responded with cavalry skirmishes and its own reply of artillery. Casualties were light, but the Mexican side felt the need to find to a terrain more to their advantage. They relocated to a dry riverbed (resaca) during the night. During the battle of Resaca de la Palma the next day, the Americans managed to flank the Mexicans with cavalry and route them. Mexican casualties were high, and they were forced to abandon their artillery and baggage.
Campaign
After the official declaration of war, U.S. forces invaded Mexican territory on several fronts. At that time all northern Mexican territories were very thinly populated, with very small and scattered settlements, of both Spanish and English speaking people. Mexico's claim to the territories was inherited from centuries-old Spanish claims.
On
June 14,
1846 English-speaking colonists in
Sonoma, arrested and imprisoned the governor and declared an independent
California Republic. In the Pacific, the U.S. Navy sent
John D. Sloat to occupy
California and claim it for the U.S. because of concerns that
United Kingdom Britain might also attempt to occupy the area. He took command of Sonoma and
Monterey in July of that year (see
Battle of Monterey).
Meanwhile, U.S. army troops under
Stephen W. Kearny occupied
Santa Fe, New Mexico. Kearny led a small force to California where, after some initial reverses, he united with naval reinforcements under
Robert F. Stockton to occupy
San Diego, California San Diego and
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles. A major dispute broke out between Kearny and Stockton over control of California. Stockton appointed
John C. Frémont governor of California, while Kearny named himself to that position. The dispute was primarily caused by conflicting directives from Washington. Kearny eventually prevailed, and Frémont was arrested and court-martialed for his loyalty to Stockton in the dispute.
The losses in Texas caused political turmoil in Mexico which
Antonio López de Santa Anna used to return from exile in Cuba. He promoted a peaceful conclusion to the war to the Americans to pass through their blockades, and then after landing turned around and offered his military skills to the Mexican government, to proceed with the war. After he had been appointed general, he seized the presidency.
With the aim of taking the fight to the Mexican government to force a more permanent conclusion to the war, a large force led by Taylor crossed the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo). They besieged the city of Monterrey, during which both sides suffered moderate casualties. Eventually Taylor forced their capitulation the
Battle of Monterrey. While waiting for orders to proceed, soldiery suffered the first of many problems with disease.
On
February 22,
1847, Santa Anna personally marched north to fight Taylor with 25,000 men. Taylor had dug in at a mountain pass near a hacienda called Buena Vista with 5,000 men. Santa Anna suffered desertions on the way north and arrived with 20,000 men in a tired state. He demanded and was refused surrender of the Americans the night he arrived, then attacked in the next morning. Santa Anna flanked the American positions by sending his cavalry and some of his infantry up the steep terrain that made up one side of the pass, while a division of infantry attacked frontally along the road leading to Buena Vista. Furious fighting ensued during which the Americans side was saved by artillery fire against a Mexican advance at close range by Captain
Braxton Bragg, and a charge by the Mississippi riflemen under
Jefferson Davis. Having suffered discouraging losses, Santa Anna withdrew that night, leaving Taylor in control of Northern Mexico. Taylor later used the
Battle of Buena Vista as the centerpiece of his successful 1848 presidential campaign.
Meanwhile, rather than reinforce Taylor's army for a continued advance, President Polk sent a second army under U.S. general
Winfield Scott in March, which was transported to the port of
Veracruz, Veracruz Veracruz by sea, to begin an invasion of the Mexican heartland. Polk distrusted Taylor, who he felt had shown incompetence in the Battle of Monterrey by agreeing to an armistice.
Scott won the
Siege of Veracruz and marched toward
Mexico City, winning the battles of
Battle of Cerro Gordo Cerro Gordo and
Battle of Chapultepec Chapultepec, and occupying the capital.
The
Treaty of Cahuenga, signed on
January 13,
1847, ended the fighting in
California. The
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on
February 2,
1848, ended the war and gave the U.S undisputed control of Texas as well as California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of
Colorado,
Arizona,
New Mexico, and
Wyoming. In return, Mexico received $18,250,000, the equivalent of $627,500,000 in mid-2000s dollars.
Combatants
Throughout the course of the war, approximately 13,000 American soldiers died. Of these, only about 1,700 were from actual combat; the other casualties stemmed from disease and unsanitary conditions during the war. Mexican casualties remain somewhat of a mystery, and are estimated at 25,000.
During the War, many important battles were fought, including the
Battle of Churubusco and the
Battle of Padierna.
The Mexican leader at the time was
Pedro MarÃa Anaya, who defended the convent of ''Santa MarÃa Churubusco''. He uttered what would later be considered the most famous words of the War when General Twiggs entered the convent: "If we had ammunition, you wouldn't be here."
The
Saint Patrick's Battalion (''San Patricios''), was a group of several hundred Irish immigrant soldiers who deserted the U.S. Army and joined the Mexican army. Most were killed in the
Battle of Churubusco; about 100 were captured and hanged as deserters.
The
Last Surviving Veteran last surviving US veteran of the conflict,
Owen Thomas Edgar, died on
September 3,
1929 at the age of 98.
Political implications of the war
Mexico lost half of its territory in the war, leaving it with a lasting bitterness towards the United States. However, the war also elicited the sense of national unity in Mexico, which had been lacking since the
Mexican War of Independence Independence movement dissolved in 1821.
The war also provoked the emergence of a new class of politicians in Mexico. They finally got rid of Santa Anna's grip over Mexico and eventually proclaimed a liberal republic in 1857. One of the first acts of the liberal republic was the enactment of several laws that facilitated and propelled the colonization of the vast and depopulated northern Mexican States. Behind the colonization laws was precisely the idea to avoid further territorial losses.
On the other hand, the annexed territories contained thousands of Mexican families. Some opted to return to Mexico and others chose to remain in the U.S. given that the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo contained guarantees (granting citizenship and recognizing property) for them. The United States and Mexico eventually (1889) formed the
International Boundary and Water Commission, in order to settle boundary disputes. See, the case of El
Chamizal.
In the United States, in turn, victory in the war brought a surge in patriotism as the acquisition of new western lands—the country had also acquired the southern half of the
Oregon Country in 1846—seemed to fulfill citizens' belief in their country's
Manifest Destiny. While
Ralph Waldo Emerson rejected war "as a means of achieving America's destiny," he accepted that "most of the great results of history are brought about by discreditable means." The war made a national hero of
Zachary Taylor, who was elected president in the
U.S. presidential election, 1848 election of 1848.
However, this period of national euphoria would not last long. The war had been widely supported in the
Southern United States Southern states, but largely opposed in the
Northern United States Northern states. This division largely developed from expectations of how the expansion of the United States would affect the issue of slavery. At the time, Texas recognized the institution of slavery, but Mexico did not. Many Northern abolitionists viewed the war as an attempt by the slave-owners to expand slavery and assure their continued influence in the Federal government.
Henry David Thoreau wrote his essay ''
Civil Disobedience (Thoreau) Civil Disobedience'' and refused to pay taxes because of this war. There were some in the South who favored further Southern expansions to expand their region and its political power.
In 1846, Congressman
David Wilmot introduced the
Wilmot Proviso to prohibit slavery in any new territory acquired from Mexico. Wilmot's proposal did not pass, but it sparked further hostility between the sections. Banning slavery from the conquered territories was a key plank of the 1860 Republican platform of Abraham Lincoln, whose election ignited the Civil War.
Ulysses S. Grant, who served in the war under Scott's command, would later describe the conflict as a war of conquest for the expansion of slavery and thus the prelude to the
American Civil War: "The Southern rebellion was largely the outgrowth of the Mexican war. Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions. We got our punishment in the most sanguinary and expensive war of modern times." [http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/4367] Many of the generals of the latter war had fought in the former, including Grant,
George B. McClellan,
Ambrose Burnside,
Stonewall Jackson,
James Longstreet,
George Meade, and
Robert E. Lee, as well as the future
Confederate States of America Confederate president,
Jefferson Davis.
See also
*
Battles of the Mexican-American War
*
History of Mexico
References
*Polk, James. ''Polk: The Diary of a President, 1845-1849, Covering the Mexican War, the Acquisition of Oregon, and the Conquest of California and the Southwest.'' edited by
Allan Nevins (1929)
-
''Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant'' from
Project Gutenberg
* Grant, Ulysses S., Memoirs and Selected Letters, The Library of America (1990)
* Bauer K. Jack. ''The Mexican War, 1846-1848''. New York: Macmillan, 1974.
* Crawford, Mark; Heidler, Jeanne T.; Heidler, David Stephen , eds. ''Encyclopedia of the Mexican-American War'' (1999) (ISBN 157607059X)
* Smith, Justin Harvey. ''The War with Mexico.'' 2 vol (1919). Pulitzer Prize winner.
Military
* Bauer K. Jack. ''Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985.
*Meed, Douglas. ''The Mexican War, 1846-1848'' (2003). A short survey.
*De Voto, Bernard, ''Year of Decision 1846'' (1942)
* Eisenhower, John. ''So Far From God: The U.S. War with Mexico'', Random House (New York; 1989)
* Frazier, Donald S. ''The U.S. and Mexico at War'', Macmillan (New York, 1998)
* Hamilton, Holman, ''Zachary Taylor: Soldier of the Republic'' , (1941)
* Johnson, Timothy D. ''Winfield Scott: The Quest for Military Glory'', University Press of Kansas (1998)
* Foos, Paul. ''A Short, Offhand, Killing Affair: Soldiers and Social Conflict during the Mexican-American War'' (2002)
* Lewis, Lloyd. ''Captain Sam Gran''t, Little & Brown (Boston, 1950)
* Winders, Richard Price. ''Mr. Polk's Army'' Texas A&M Press (College Station, 1997)
Political and diplomatic
* Brack, Gene M. ''Mexico Views Manifest Destiny, 1821-1846:
An Essay on the Origins of the Mexican War'' (1975),
* Fowler, Will. ''Tornel and Santa Anna: The Writer and the Caudillo, Mexico, 1795-1853'' (2000)
* Gleijeses, Piero. "A Brush with Mexico" ''Diplomatic History'' April 2005 - Vol. 29 Issue 2 Page 223-254.
* Graebner, Norman A. ''Empire on the Pacific: A Study in American Continental Expansion''. New York: Ronald Press, 1955.
* Graebner, Norman A. "Lessons of the Mexican War." ''Pacific Historical Review'' 47 (1978): 325-42.
* Graebner, Norman A. "The Mexican War: A Study in Causation." ''Pacific Historical Review'' 49 (1980): 405-26.
* Krauze, Enrique. ''Mexico: Biography of Power'', Harpers (New York, 1997)
* Pletcher David M. ''The Diplomacy of Annexation: Texas, Oregon, and the Mexican War''. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1973.
* Robinson, Cecil, ''The View From Chapultepec: Mexican Writers on the Mexican-American War,'' University of Arizona Press (Tucson, 1989)
* Ruiz, Ramon Eduardo. ''Triumph and Tragedy: A History of the Mexican People'', Norton (New York, 1992)
* Schroeder John H. ''Mr. Polk's War: American Opposition and Dissent, 1846-1848.'' Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1973.
* Sellers Charles G. ''James K. Polk: Continentalist, 1843-1846''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966.
* Smith, Justin Harvey. ''The War with Mexico.'' 2 vol (1919). Pulitzer Prize winner.
* Weinberg Albert K. ''Manifest Destiny: A Study of Nationalist Expansionism in American History''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1935.
* Yanez, Agustin. ''Santa Anna: Espectro de una sociedad'' (1996)
External links
-
''The Mexican War''
-
Mexican-American War Resources
-
Lone Star Internet
-
PBS site of US-Mexican war program
-
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and related resources at the U.S. Library of Congress
-
''The Handbook of Texas Online:'' Mexican War
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Category:Mexican-American War *
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Category:Wars of Mexico
{{Chicano/Mexican-American}}
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Mexican-American War
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*** Shopping-Tip: Mexican-American War
