The Mexican-American War

THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR

NOVEMBER 2006

Hardly anyone disagrees nowadays that the major cause of the war between Mexico and the United States which lasted between 1846 and 1848 , was attributable to the U .S . desire to expand its territorial bs . The initial area that was under dispute between the two countries was Texas which America was laying claim to contrary to the wish of the Mexican government . Even though Texas had gained independence from Mexico since 1836 , the Mexico still harbored hopes of retrieving its territory . The U .S . on the

other hand had long viewed the territory of Texas as falling within the provisions of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase . What caused the war therefore was dispute over Texas . Of course the U .S ' claim over Texas cannot be understood completely except within the concept of what America referred to as its Manifest Destiny . This phrase , first used by journalist John O 'Sullivan , represented the need for the U .S . to expand its bs . In the words of O 'Sullivan it was by right of our manifest destiny to overspread and possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self government (Quoted in Weigley , 2002 . But as will be discovered during the war their U .S government had greater plans than the protection of their supposed territorial b in Texas . They quickly developed an interest in some of the northern regions of Mexico (Faragher

General Mariano Paredes , Mexican president at the time , have succeeded to power after the 1845 revolution , was unbending in his claim to the Texan territory . The U .S . president James K . Polk was equally determined and thereby declared Texas the 28th state following a congressional vote on December 29 , 1845 (The Mexican War , 2006

Mexico was prepared for battle against the United States and they had a well trained army ready for combat when required . From the United States end , the Americans were determined to win the battle . Therefore they invested a lot of capital both militarily and financially . As Weigley (2002 ) points out the U .S . Congress permitted the president to call for volunteers to fight in the war and in the initially stage a sum of 10 million dollars was set aside for the war . They U .S ' heavy dependence on volunteers to fight the war may be considered a good strategic move even though these volunteers weren 't well trained . Nevertheless the fact that the general population were willing to volunteer encouraged the government to ensure victory . Ibsen et al (2006 ) calculates that for the duration of the Mexican-American war the government spent a million dollars and that they equal to about 1 .1 billion in current figures . They also determine that , officially , a soldiers were involved in that battle . Obviously with so much invested in the battle and the prospect of obtaining new territory , not just Texas as they had initially set out to do , were motivating factors...