Mexican American War Essay

English as the official language. It is important to recognize the fact that the manifest destiny did not necessarily call for violence in the accomplishment of the expansion motives but in cases where it faced stiff opposition violence erupted like in the case of Mexico.

The United States had two of their offers to purchase half of the Mexican country rejected in 1835 and 1845 respectively and this is what propelled the Mexican America war into a fully-fledged battle. The second reason of the war was the Texas war of independence and the immediate uptake of the Texas by the United States as part of its territory. Texas was part of Mexico before being taken up by the United States. Texas was annexed into the united states on July 4th, 1845 this unfolding of events was ratified by the United States congress. However this has been a contentious international issue up to date, the matter has not been settled decisively due to disgruntled voices from Mexican side (Tucker et al, Pp106).

This war was to a large extent a predictable conflict that was fought by traditional armies made up of cavalry, infantry, and weaponry with some conformance to the European style and tactics. In the penetration of American forces into the Mexican heartland resulted in fierce guerilla warfare from the clashing with the defending forces. The invasion by American forces appeared to be well orchestrated as they were capturing some cities. The war was very bloody in some instances as many casualties lost their lives while they were on the battlefield. Irrespective of the losses that Mexico experienced such loss of huge tracts of land and defeat

in some major battles the Mexican government rejected the move of making peace with the United States of America. It was now evident that the American administration would only settle for a complete victory in order for the war to come to a decisive end.

This unfolding of events and the keeping in mind of the decisions held by both parties to the conflict, the war continued into the northern part of Mexico. Consequently, there was a renewed motivation to capture Mexico City which the capital city of Mexico. This was however not an easy task as it was very dangerous and required a lot of strategic planning. The Mexican army repositioned themselves with the addition of an extra 20000 men from President Santa Anna who had returned from exile.

From this point onwards, the Mexican army appeared to be pushing back the American army in a series of fierce bloody battles that Mexico seemed to be winning. Consequently, the United States troops conquered some parts of the northern Mexico. Santa Anna resigned as the president of Mexico but he retained his full command of the army that appeared exhausted and drained until it had no more strength to continue with the war. His troops were de-motivated with his resignation and in the relation they refused to fight.

In February 1848, a treaty was signed to stop the war and for the expansion of the American boundaries to the northern parts of Mexico in the parts that they had captured (Pinheiro, Pp 132) .This treaty was agreed upon by both the United States and the Mexican congress. The Mexican American war made the US incur a cost of

over 100 million dollars and the loss of approximately fourteen thousand United States military personnel.

Work Cited

1. DiConsiglio, John. The Mexican-American War. Chicago, Ill: Heinemann Library, 2012. Print.
2. Tucker, Spencer, James R. Arnold, Roberta Wiener, Paul G. Pierpaoli, Thomas W. Cutrer, and Pedro Santoni. The Encyclopedia of the
3. Mexican-American War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2013. Print.
4. Pinheiro, John C. Missionaries of Republicanism: A Religious History of the Mexican-American War. , 2014. Print.