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The War with Mexico
In the years preceding the U.S.-Mexican War, the United States and Mexico were two nations headed in
opposite directions.
The United States, fueled by new technological breakthroughs and inspired by the concept of "Manifest
Destiny," confidently expanded its territories westward. The young country was regarded as a "go-ahead"
nation, looking forward to a future of seemingly endless possibilities for itself and its people. Meanwhile,
Mexico struggled to maintain control over the vast expanses of land it had inherited from Spain following its
long war for independence. Lacking the resources to settle much of its territory and suffering from deep
internal political divisions, Mexico looked to the past for its sense of meaning, back to a time when "New
Spain" had once promised to be the continental power of the New World.
Between 1846 and 1848, two neighbors, the United States and
Mexico, went to war. It was a defining event for both nations,
transforming a continent and forging a new identity for its peoples.
By the war's end, Mexico lost nearly half of its territory, the present
American Southwest from Texas to California, and the United States
became a continental power.
Mexico and the United States went to war over a vast amount of
terrain — what would amount to half of Mexico when it was all
over, beginning of course, with Texas, which the United States
annexed. The U.S. interest in expansion is very plain. Texas we
wanted simply for its fine agricultural production, cotton in particular, which turned out to be the major
commodity. California was the real goal in the far west — to have harbors on the Pacific and make ourselves
a continental empire. We were not terribly interested in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada,
all of which belonged to Mexico as well, but those territories needed to be conquered if we were eventually to
connect the Atlantic to the Pacific by railroad, which was already a dream. From the point of view of Mexico,
these lands were not of any great value, but they belonged to Mexico. The lands were theirs and had potential
value in the future. They were not of immediate economic value, but Mexicans knew full well that Texas was
a wonderful place for agriculture. The reports that came back suggested that Texas and California were
potentially very rich provinces. Most people do not think that either the U.S. or Mexico especially
appreciated the desert. It wouldn't be until the advent of air conditioning that we would get excited about the
desert country.
What did the Mexican War mean to Americans in the mid-19th century? The answer reflects the nature and
character of mid-century America itself. Americans were reaching out beyond their border. Advancements in
transportation and communications technologies were dissolving the nation's geographic and cultural
isolation. Commerce expanded and travel increased as interest in exploration carried Americans around the
globe. The war was a "window" through which Americans saw a strange and exotic land of alien manners,
customs, and attitudes. Many were convinced that America would never be the same.
Some observations of the war were more pragmatic. The "Democratic Review" noted that the war's end
meant the "reduction of our enormous expenses by the withdrawal of the army, and the cessation with it of
the excessive jobbing which has been so long going on" (May 1848). After the treaty was ratified, some
critics of the war acquiesced, that the war had shown "that a people…devoted to the arts of peace, possessing
free political institutions, can vanquish a military people, governed by military despots" ("Merchant's
Magazine," April 1848).
Some critics predicted that the "impenetrable mountains and dry narrow valleys" of California and the
"trackless, treeless…and utterly uninhabitable" New Mexico — would prove useless, threatening the nation's
frontier settlements and draining the national treasury. Some believed that Mexico rid itself of worthless land
and received $15 million from the U.S. for the sacrifice.
Vast new territories had been incorporated as part of the United States. On July 4, 1848, the ratification of the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo by the Mexican Congress arrived at the White House. That same day the
cornerstone of the Washington Monument was dedicated.
Robert C. Winthrop, Congressman from Massachusetts and Speaker of the House of Representatives,
delivered the dedication oration. The occasion, he noted, marked "the precise epoch at which we have arrived
in the world's history and in our own history." A war against a foreign foe had been won, and he paid tribute
to the "veterans of the line and the volunteers." The "great American-built locomotive, 'Liberty'" moved "on
the track of human freedom, unimpeded and unimpaired; gathering strength as it goes; developing new
energies to meet new exigencies," with a swiftness that "knows no parallel." By the end of the day, the
dedication of the monument became even more symbolic that anyone had expected. "This great anniversary,"
declared on citizen, "has never come in, with more of enjoyment to be thankful for, and more of promise to
cheer and encourage us."
Never before had American independence been "more joyfully commemorated." The accomplishments of
"our brave and magnanimous army in Mexico" recalled the struggles of the Revolution of Independence and
the leader of that revolution now stood forth as the "founder of an empire" which would soon eclipse
anything that the "world has heretofore produced."
Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
How were America and Mexico different countries in 1846?
By the war’s end how were Mexico and America different?
Why did America and Mexico go to war?
What belief was involved in bringing about war with Mexico because it stated that the USA was
destined to spread from sea to shining sea?
5. What land did America acquire after the war with Mexico?
6. What was the treaty called that ended the war with Mexico and gave huge amounts of land to the
USA?
7. How did most Americans view the war with Mexico?