The Mexican-American war from 1846 to 1848 represented one of the tensest moments between the United States and Mexico. The term “The Mexican War” is mostly used by United States historians. However, from a Mexican perspective, the war is termed as “The US Invasion.” The emergence of the war was preceded by other events such as the Texas Rebellion against Mexico and the annexation of Texas. The conflict between the two countries was precipitated by the United States invasion of Mexico’s territories.
Before 1836, Texas was one of the territories that formed Mexico. However, a rebellion mostly led by American settlers in Mexican Texas led to the declaration of Texas as an independent country called the Republic of Texas. The recruitment of immigrants from the US to settle in the sparsely populated Texas and the sale of land to American settlers led to the increase of American settlers in Texas to about 7000 by 1830 (Khan Academy, n.d.). The settlers were opposed to the Mexican government rule, which required them to change to Roman Catholicism, end slavery, and adopt a Mexican way of life (Minster, 2019). The settlers revolted and declared themselves an independent country in 1836 (Khan Academy, n.d.). Antonio Lopez de Santa, the Mexican leader, together with his forces, attacked Texas to reclaim it and killed Americans and Tejanos (Khan Academy). The settlers under the leadership of Sam Houston retaliated in the Battle of San Jacinto. They defeated Santa’s troops leading to the recognition of Texas’ independence.
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The root cause of the Mexican -American War from a Mexican Perspective is identified as the annexation of Texas to the United States. Mexico claimed that the annexation was in contravention of the 1828 boarder treaty, which had placed Texas under Mexico’s sovereign territory (Kelly, 2004). Mexico disputed the move on legal and security grounds, although the Texas government had consented to the annexation. The Mexican government supported the idea of a peaceful settlement of the conflict. It was open to receive an arbitrator from the US who would enable the peaceful settlement of the dispute. However, the US government was opposed to the negotiations and threatened to annex New Mexico and California from its territories (National Constitution Center, 2019). The US threats placed Mexico in a precarious situation. Their surrender to the US would make them a US lapdog or slave. Mexico could also choose to go into war with the US if it made real its threats.
The Mexican government resolved to protect its territorial sovereignty against any further invasion. Through a congressional decree, the president, Mariano Paredes, made sure that different articles that supported Mexico’s move were enacted (Ikas, 2013). The Mexican government defended its actions citing the different scenarios in which the United States had aggressed Mexico by invading its territories. Mexico, termed its use of force against the US to be an act of self-defense (Ikas, 2013). Mexico believed it was justified in its actions because it was guarding its territorial integrity against the US invasion. Thus, it would not be associated with having caused the war; instead, it was invaded.
The Mexico-America conflict was partly due to the disagreement on Mexico’s borders. They disagreed whether the Nueces or the Rio Grande River was the northern Mexican border. Mexico laid claim to Nueces River as its northern border while the US claimed the border to be at Rio Grande River (US Department of State, n.d.). The US president, Polk, commanded Zachary Taylor, the army leader in Texas, to occupy the disputed territories. The failure of the US to persuade Mexico to sell off the disputed territories led to the declaration of war on Mexico in May 1846 after some skirmishes (National Constitution Center, 2019). The US enjoyed a stronger army than Mexico and conquered the lands, including Mexico City, Mexican capital in 1847 (US Department of State, n.d.). Mexico’s only option out of the war was through a peace treaty. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo came into place on 2 nd February 1848 (US Department of State, n.d.). Mexico agreed to a monetary settlement that saw the US occupy about 55 percent of the formerly disputed land, including New Mexico and California (Griswold del Castillo, 1998).
The US invaded Mexican territories, and at no one point did Mexico attack the sovereignty of the US. US actions were driven by greed to expand their boundaries, as was common then. Mexico only acted to defend its territories. Thus, it is right to refer to the war as the US Invasion of Mexico.
References
Griswold Del Castillo, R. (1998). Manifest Destiny: The Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Sw. JL & Trade Am. , 5 , 31.
Ikas, K. (2013). Beyond Conflicts and Borders: Reconciliation and Latinotopia. Revue LISA/LISA e-journal. Littératures, Histoire des Idées, Images, Sociétés du Monde Anglophone–Literature, History of Ideas, Images and Societies of the English-speaking World , 11 (2).
Kelley, S. (2004). “Mexico in his head”: Slavery and the Texas-Mexico border, 1810-1860. Journal of Social History , 37 (3), 709-723.
Khan Academy. Annexing Texas (article) | Khan Academy . Khan Academy. Retrieved 25 February 2020, from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/the-early-republic/age-of-jackson/a/annexing-texas .
Minster, C. (2019). Why Did Texas Want Independence from Mexico? ThoughtCo. Retrieved 25 February 2020, from https://www.thoughtco.com/causes-of-texas-independence-2136245 .
National Constitution Center. (2019). The Mexican-American war in a nutshell - National Constitution Center . National Constitution Center – constitutioncenter.org. Retrieved 25 February 2020, from https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-mexican-american-war-in-a-nutshell .
US Department of State. The Annexation of Texas, the Mexican-American War, and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1845-1848 . 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 25 February 2020, from https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/dwe/16336.htm .
