Mexican-American War
In the year of 1824 Mexico became independent of Spain. The states that were included in the Mexican territory were Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. Empresarios were white people who got a lot of land if they brought new people to Texas. The new settlers had to become Mexican Citizens, be loyal to the Catholic Church and to obey Mexican laws in order to stay in Texas. Stephen F. Austin established a colony on the lower part of the Colorado River in 1821, by 1834 more than 20,000 Americans moved to Texas. In 1830, Americans in Texas (the Anglos) outnumbered the Tejanos. United States citizens moved to Texas illegally and they felt little loyalty to Mexico. In 1833, Austin asked Mexico if Texas could make more self-government from Mexico. The Mexicans were very mad when Austin asked this so they threw him into jail.
The Alamo
"Remember the Alamo!" Everyone has heard this phrase or chant before in their life time, but not a lot of people know what it stands for. The Alamo was a battle fought between Texas and Mexico for a fort in San Antonio. William Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett were generals in this war but all eventually died in combat. On February 23rd 1836, General Santa Anna and his army marched into San Antonio. Mexican soldiers surrounded the Alamo and the all of the Texans were trapped inside the fort. While the Alamo was still surrounded, the Texas government organized a convention that declared independence on March 2nd 1836. The Texas declaration was very similar to the American Declaration of Independence, but the Texas Declaration stated that every family in Texas was granted land and legalized slavery. The 200 Texan soldiers that were on post did not realize that Texas declared independence so they just waited in their post. The last attack came earlier than dawn on March 6th 1836. The Mexican troops charged towards the Alamo and after 90 minutes the battle ended. The entire battle lasted 13 days, so after the Alamo was over Santa Ana split up his forces in half. Half of them went towards Louisiana and the others march towards other Texas settlements. On April 21st, General Sam Houston noticed that the army was half as large, so Houston attacked the Mexican force. The battle lasted 18 minutes and the Texan forces defeated the Mexican troops and captured Santa Ana. Everyone screamed "Remember the Alamo!"
Causes
President Polk had a dream of the manifest destiny, and he wanted to expand the United States as much as possible. Polk wanted the land of Texas but in order for Polk to have Texas he had to go through Mexico. Texas also wanted to get away from Mexico because there was a lot of tension between them and they could not decide on the borders. But, when a Mexican soldier fired at U.S. troops who were patrolling Rio Grande on April 25th 1846, Congress immediately declared war on Mexico.
Watch the video above for more causes of the war.
The War
In February 1847, the Battle of Buena Vista broke out. This war occurred because the Mexicans kept losing after the U.S Congress declared war so, they asked if old General Santa Ana could come back and lead them in the war. Santa Ana was sent back to Cuba after the United States captured him after the Alamo but, Ana persuaded Polk if he came back to Mexico that he would end the war in the United States terms. Polk let him come back but, Santa Ana lied and went directly back to being the general of the Mexican Army. Santa Ana and his army suffered from heavy casualties and the United States won that battle.The Treaty of Guadalupe Higalgo was signed on February 2nd 1848, which established the boundary of Mexico and the Untied States. Instead of it being the Nueces River it is now the Rio Grande. Mexico knew that the United States and Texas were going to come together as one so Mexico offered all of its land north of the Rio Grande and some parts of California to Polk for 15 million dollars and of course Polk said yes!
The picture on the left shows the boundaries of Texas and Mexico before and after the war. The second picture shows the Mexican soldiers camping out around the Alamo fort. The last picture shows the Battle of Buena Vista. The battle was lead by Santa Ana, and he and his men suffered a lot of deaths and the United States won.
LEQ
How did the Mexican American War transform the nation?
The Mexican American War transformed the nation by expanding the United States even more! Polk wanted the United States to expand so, the Mexican American War added the land of Texas and other states like Arizona, California, New Mexico and Utah. The war also transformed the nation because it led us to the Gadsden Purchase. The Gadsden Purchase was important because it was an area that was used fro transporting goods by trains.
