History 101: The Causes and Consequences of the Mexican-American War

This report provides a detailed analysis of the Mexican-American War, examining its origins in the 1840s, including the annexation of Texas and the concept of Manifest Destiny. It explores the causes of the conflict, such as boundary disputes and American expansionist ambitions, and details the war's progression, including military strategies and key battles. The report also discusses the consequences of the war, such as territorial gains for the United States, the impact on Mexican politics, and the rise of suspicion between the two nations. Furthermore, it highlights the war's influence on American military tactics and the emergence of prominent figures like General Zachary Taylor, concluding with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and its lasting effects. The report is well-researched, citing various historical sources to support its claims and providing a comprehensive overview of this significant period in American and Mexican history.

Running head: HISTORY
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HISTORY 2
Executive summary
The animosity between Mexico and America started back in 1840s when there was American-
Mexican war. There are several impacts of the war which included death, displacement and
increased suspicion among the two states. In this solution, it is going to elaborate the cause of the
war, how the two countries organized the fight and lastly the impacts of the battle to America
and Mexico.

HISTORY 3
The Mexican-American war
Introduction
Cummings, (2015) argues that, the Mexican-American war refers to the fight between the
United States and Mexico. From history, this war can be traced between 184 to 1848. The
primary cause of this war is the matter of boundary. The United States of America wanted to
extend its limit on the North American continent. It was the American perception that they have
the right from Almighty God to expand their country’s territory beginning from the sea to the
shining sea. Initially, Texas was part of Mexico, however, after a severe fight to become
independent, Texas left Mexico and joined the United States as one of its states. From that point,
the two parts, Texas and Mexico started disagreeing on where the boundary was.
Causes of American-Mexican dispute
From history, there are two primary roots of the disagreement between the United States
of America and Mexico. The first known cause is the United States desire to extend its territory
to the Pacific Ocean from the North American Continent. The high level of United States
greediness made all its neighbors disagree with her. For example, the British living in Canada,
the Mexicans who were on the South West American and lastly Native Americans according to
Gómez, (2018). At around 1803, president Jefferson’s acquired Louisiana territory. The
acquisition of these enormous acres of land made many Americans migrate and settle in places
that did not belong to them. However, in 1845, president Pol arose in power and introduced an
idea of Manifest destiny. The meaning of the slogan manifest destiny meant that America had the
blessings from God to extend their territories the way the liked. The idea got into many
Americans minds, and most of them continued to settle in other people’s lands according to

HISTORY 4
Luckingham, (2016). The continuous settlement of Americans ended in Mexico sparking
a severe war. It is also evident that the Americans idea of manifest destiny was not done in an
empty hand. At one point, the United States government gave out $25 million to get California
from Mexico according to Smith, (2018). The idea did not go well with Mexico; they refused to
agree on selling part of their country to America thus fueling the American- Mexican war.
On the other hand, the second evident cause of the American-Mexican war was Texas
gaining independence and becoming part of the United States of America. When Mexico got
independence from Spain in 1820s, some parts of the country was not occupied, mostly the upper
portions of the state in reference to McWilliams, Meier & García, (2016). To fill these parts,
Mexico invited everyone who would wish to part of it. The people who agreed were converted to
Catholics after which they took an oath to be loyal to Mexico. The migrants comprised some
Americans who had ran out of their country. As the days went on, Americans were getting angry
with the authority in Mexico. They were not satisfied with the way the government was treating
Texas. Several disagreements started coming out, and at some point, Texas and the Mexican
government were in the war. However, when it reached 1935, Texas separated from Mexico with
Texas forcing the president of Mexico Santa Anna to sign a treaty declaring Texas an
independent state. The main issue with the agreement of Velasco which announced Texas
independent was that many Mexicans did not welcome the idea. They fought day and night, and
when it reached 1845, the United States Congress agreed with Texas idea to join it as one of its
States. The agreement fueled the hostility between Mexico and the United States of America.
Therefore, this is another cause of the war between America and Mexico. The fight began with
Mexico claiming that Texas was still under its control. The main issue here was to define the

HISTORY 5
boundary between Texas and Mexico. The two countries struggled to control the Rio Grand
River in reference to Osorio, (2015).
How the war went on
The two countries, Mexico and America, made use of traditional armies to defend
themselves during the war. The conventional armies comprised of cavalry, infantry, and artillery.
Dell, (2015) says that, American soldiers embarked on guerrilla tactics as they penetrated to
Mexico. They harassed many Mexican soldiers who tried to invade the United States of
American. However, it was evident the European tactics the American soldiers could not render
them victorious. When the war reached its climax, the American soldiers to change their tactics
to three strategies. The United States armies divided themselves into three groups. The south of
Texas was under two army groups, Santa Fe was under another group of soldiers. The three
soldiers seemed to bear fruits to America, at one General Zachary’s army defeated many Mexico
soldiers. However, it was painful as many people lost their lives and many displaced. Despite
many casualties, Mexico continued to defend itself. American armies brought in control many
Mexico cities like California in reference to Hook & Spanier, (2018). It was a massive boost to
Mexico when president Santa Anna who left the country for exile returned and trained about
twenty thousand members of the army to counter the American influence.
The training did not bring much impact to Mexico. They continued to lose big cities,
many of its soldiers, however, it refused to surrender to the United States of America. They tried
to defend their city of Mexico. The two armies staged many battles, and it improved challenging
for the American soldiers to get their way to the town of Mexico. However later on September
14, 1846, the American army got its way to Mexico City. At this point, the United States of
America got excellent control to Mexico. President Santa of Mexico did not get it well; he later

HISTORY 6
resigned from the head of state of Mexico. However, despite abandoning, he continued to
organize some attacks to the United States Soldiers while outside the city. He was dealt a hefty
blow after the members of his soldiers were beaten and many of them died. The full war ended in
1848 February when the two countries signed a treaty called Guadeloupe Hidalgo. Both the
Mexican Congress and the United States Congress passed the deal.
Consequences of American-Mexican war
Gonzalez, (2017) argues that, there are several impacts of American- Mexican battle. The
first consequence was that the United States of America gained several parts of Mexico. Almost
half of the northern part of Mexico was under the United States after the war. The United States
had a well-organized army as compared to Mexico; they used quality tactics in managing the
battle, this left Mexico defenseless. Today the United States has gained many states such as
Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. All these states were under Mexico at first. The
second impact of the war is that President Santa Anna resigned after losing many battles. He
went to exile bit even after coming back; he was not able to control the fight. He missed all the
powers he had over Mexico.
Apart from the impacts, the other consequence was that suspicion was growing day and
night between Mexico and America. The relationship between the two nation was not at peace.
Every country was thinking that the other government is preparing for another attack. The issue
is evident when the border between America and Mexico is full of soldiers according to
DeBruyne, & Leland, (2015). However, the war gave United States of American a relaxed
environment to train their soldiers whom they would make use of in the future. For example, the
soldiers who were fighting in this war are the same people America made use of during the civil

HISTORY 7
war. It is evident that during the civil war, the soldiers were well equipped with skills on how to
deal with the enemy.
On the other hand, many people gained popularity through the war. For example, General
Zachary of America made use of the fact that he led the troops to win the battle, he campaigned
with the slogan and won the presidential election in 1848 in reference to Barraclough, (2018). On
the wrong side, many nations saw Mexico as a weak country; they continued to settle in the
country because it seemed nervous during the war. For instance, France came to Mexico to
exploit the fact that America defeated the country during the war according to Nevitte, (2017).
Many people lost their lives during the war, mostly soldiers. Mexico lost over twenty-five
thousand army members while the United States lost more than thirteen thousand soldiers.
Besides that, many nations started fearing United States soldiers because they won the battle
between them and Mexico. It was also evident that the idea of the supremacy of the United States
began to gaining momentum at this moment.
Conclusion
Many people got displaced and lost their lives during the war. However, it showed that
the United States was a superior nation as compared to Mexico. America could extend the
supremacy to other nations during the civil war.

HISTORY 8
References
Barraclough, L. (2018). Wrangling settler colonialism in the urban US West: Indigenous and
Mexican American struggles for social justice. Annals of the American Association of
Geographers, 108(2), 513-523.
Cummings, J. W. (2015). Towards Modern Public Finance: The American War with Mexico,
1846-1848. Routledge.
DeBruyne, N. F., & Leland, A. (2015). American war and military operations casualties: Lists
and statistics. Congressional Research Service Washington United States.
Dell, M. (2015). Trafficking networks and the Mexican drug war. American Economic
Review, 105(6), 1738-79.
Gómez, L. E. (2018). Manifest destinies: The making of the Mexican American race. NYU Press.
Gonzalez, G. (2017). Guest Workers or Colonized Labor?: Mexican Labor Migration to the
United States. Routledge.
Hook, S. W., & Spanier, J. (2018). American foreign policy since World War II. Cq Press.
Luckingham, B. (2016). Minorities in Phoenix: A Profile of Mexican American, Chinese
American, and African American Communities, 1860-1992. University of Arizona Press.
McWilliams, C., Meier, M. S., & García, A. M. (2016). North from Mexico: The Spanish-
Speaking People of the United States: The Spanish-Speaking People of the United States.
ABC-CLIO.
Nevitte, N. (2017). The North American Trajectory: Cultural, Economic, and Political Ties
among the United States, Canada and Mexico. Routledge.

HISTORY 9
Osorio, J. (2015). The contagion of drug violence: spatiotemporal dynamics of the Mexican war
on drugs. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 59(8), 1403-1432.
Smith, J. H. (2018). The US-Mexican War (Vol. 1&2): The Relations Between the US And
Mexico, Attitudes on the Eve of War, the Preliminaries of the Conflict, the California
Question, the War in American Politics, the Foreign Relations of the War. e-artnow.