War and American History

Assignment #3

1. Summarize the issues and events of either: (a) the War of 1812 or (b) the Mexican War. What did the United States achieve as a result of the war you chose?

In 1821, newly independent Mexico (from Spain) starts inviting American settlers into Texas to settle the Comanche-dominated territory. In the early 1830s, Mexico, doubtful of the settlers' loyalty (whether it was to the U.S. or to Mexico), stops immigration from the United States and outlaws slavery. In 1835, the Texas Revolution breaks out, which is ended by Texas' victory in 1836. Although the Texans would petition for immediate annexation into the United States, concerns over slavery in Texas and offending Mexico, which does not recognize Texas independence and sets the border at the Nueces River, 150 miles north of the Rio Grande, independence would wait until 1845. In 1845, the United States annexed Texas. President James Polk orders Gen. Zachery Taylor and half the then American standing army to the Rio Grande. Mexican forces, asserting that the Rio Grande area is part of Mexico, cross the Rio Grande and ambush an American cavalry patrol, allowing the US to declare war on Mexico. Taylor invades Mexico from the north.

Concerned that Taylor was winning too much glory in his fight against the Mexicans (Polk was concerned that Taylor, who was a Whig, had aspirations to be President and, in fact, Taylor would succeed Polk as President), the Democrat Polk withdraws most of Taylor's experienced troops and assigns them to Winfield Scott, who will lead an advance from Veracruz to Mexico City. Scott bombards Veracruz to force its surrender. He then advances and takes Mexico City, but finds the Mexican government has fled. After finding someone to negotiate a peace treaty with, the United States forces Mexico to recognize the Rio Grande as the Texas border and sell it California.

The goals and objective of the United States were to force Mexico to recognize the annexation of Texas with a boundary at the Rio Grande and to sell the US California. While there were some muted voices to have the US annex Mexico at the conclusion of the war in 1848, particularly since the Mexican government and army had collapsed, the final peace treaty was limited to the land the United States attempted to purchase prior to the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, and the U.S., despite winning the war, "purchased" the land from Mexico.

As for the "poorly-trained" Mexican Army, they were trained by Europeans and they were over three times the standing strength of the United States standing army. And, in addition, the Mexican Army had defeated the Spanish Army. Further, like the United States Army, the Mexican Army was in continuous fights with American Indians, particularly the Comanche's of Texas and Apaches along the current Texas/New Mexico