After the Mexican-Spanish War, in which Mexico got its freedom from Spain, there was the Mexican-Texan War, in which Texas got its freedom from Mexico, which I’ve written about here. After Texas got its independence, it immediately asked to be added to the United States as a state. In 1836 the President was Martin Van Buren, but he was against adding Texas, since Mexico made it clear that this would start a war with them. He only served one term, though, and the next president, William Henry Harrison, only served for one month, making his opinion rather unimportant (though he was for the addition of Texas). John Tyler was the next President, and he was extremely supportive of the addition of Texas, so he did the work to make Texas a state, though since his run as president was up, it was the next President, James K. Polk, who officially annexed and declared Texas a state in 1845. Despite the many insinuations and threats, Mexico didn’t go to war with the U.S. over this, though Polk would Make sure that didn’t last.
Even after Texas’s war with Mexico, the border between them was still disputed, the Mexicans saying the border was the Nueces River, while the Texans (and now Americans) said the border was the Rio Grande River. After a good deal of negotiation, James Polk offered to outright buy the disputed area, called the Nueces strip. The Mexicans refused his offer, frustrating Polk. In 1846 a company of American soldiers led by Zachary Taylor went into the Nueces Strip, declaring it as theirs. The Mexicans weren’t long in coming, killing about 11 of Taylor’s men before being forced to retreat. This started the Mexican-American War. The battle above is known as “The Battle of Palo Alto” and was immediately propagandized by James, saying that the Mexicans had “invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil” even when that “American soil” was highly disputed, and the Americans were obviously the instigators.
Due mostly to the fact that Mexico-Texas area was inhospitable desert, there were few Mexicans living in and around the Nueces strip, so it was taken by Taylor and Winfield Scott rather easily. Seeing that their odds weren’t good, Mexico re-recruited Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna in 1847, the former president of Mexico, who had lived in exile in Cuba after losing the Mexican-Texan war. Brigadier general Stephan Kearney was also capturing northern territories, like the New Mexico and California territories, and John E. Wool joined up with Taylor after taking the Mexican city Chihuahua (yes, that’s a real city). Antonio then fought Taylor and Wool, and after battering their forces with his larger army, left with several cannons and flags, claiming a victory and showing off those prizes, despite the real reason he left being the huge number of his soldiers killed, letting Zachery also claim victory.
Winfield Scott began the end of the war when he and his company sailed into Veracruz, and marched towards Mexico City, following the same route as Hernan Cortes did when he took the Aztec capital, which was located in the same place as Mexico City. The Mexicans attempted to stop Scott at several paces, like at the “Battle of Cerro Gordo” but failed everywhere, until the end of 1847, when he took Mexico City. All the soldiers had evacuated, and fought a guerrilla campaign for a few months, but eventually gave way, and in February, 1848, the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. It gave up Texas totally, and sold several territories, like New Mexico and California, to the U.S.
The majority of the leaders on the U.S.’s side disapproved of the war, with one Colonel Ethan Hitchcock saying, when he went to the Nueces Strip with Taylor, “We have not one particle of right to be here. It looks as if the government sent a small force on purpose to bring on a war, so as to have a pretext for taking California and as much of this country as it chooses.” and Ulysses Grant, a minor figure in this war but a future Major General in the Civil War and future President, saying that the Mexican American war was “one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation” and Taylor himself wouldn’t put out much energy to track down or kill excessive numbers of Mexicans, since he felt a disgust with the war. Even Abraham Lincoln, who wasn’t yet president at this point, spoke out against the war, trying to get people to see that the Nueces strip wasn’t American land. Henry David Thoreau was also against the war, and refused to pay his taxes since he knew they could be used to support the war, or anything government related that he didn’t agree with. He only spent a night in jail, because his aunt paid his bail against his wishes, but he proceeded to write books, like “Civil Disobedience” and protest the war. Most Americans, however, did support the war, and eagerly moved into the land taken in the war.
Works used in making this page:
Zeidan, Adam. “Invasion and War.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. URL:{https://www.britannica.com/event/Mexican-American-War/Invasion-and-war}
“The Mexican American War” National Park Service. 4/August/2022. Web. URL:{https://www.nps.gov/places/the-mexican-american-war.htm}
“Mexican American War” History.com. 9/November/2009. Web. URL:{https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/mexican-american-war}
“The Mexican American War” PBS. Web. URL:{https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/grant-mexican-american-war/}
VandaCreek, Drew. “The Mexican American War” Northern Illinois University Digital Library. Web. URL:{https://digital.lib.niu.edu/illinois/lincoln/topics/mexicanwar}
Bauer, Luke. “Texan-Mexican War” School Essays, WordPress. 28/November/2023. Web. URL:{https://lukeessays.school.blog/2023/11/28/texan-mexican-war/}
“Tippecanoe and Texas Too: February 28, 1845” Catholic Textbook Project. 26/February/2021. Web. URL:{https://www.catholictextbookproject.com/post/tippecanoe-and-texas-too-february-28-1845}
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