North America Divided: The Mexican War, 1846-1848 | Hispanic American Historical Review (2024)

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North America Divided: The Mexican War, 1846-1848 | Hispanic American Historical Review? ›

North America Divided provides a good starting point for anyone wishing to study the Mexican War in depth. In a crisp, well-written narrative Professors Faulk and Connor describe the origins, course, and results of the conflict and pay due attention to the Mexican as well as the American side.

It paved the way for so many other important events, from the expansion and dispossession of indigenous people, the California Gold Rush, and American Civil War. It added the states of California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming to the United States.

How did the Mexican-American War increase sectionalism in the United States? The Mexican-American War reopened the slavery-extension issue, which divided the North and South and which had been largely dormant since the Missouri Compromise.

One of the causes of this war were the continued claims to Texas from both the United States and Mexican governments. Other reasons were claims against the Mexican government by American citizens for damages during the continuous Mexican Revolutions of the period and the U.S. desire to claim California.

On May 12, 1846, the United States Senate voted 40 to 2 to go to war with Mexico. President James K. Polk had accused Mexican troops of having attacked Americans on U.S. soil, north of the Rio Grande. But Mexico claimed this land as its own territory and accused the American military of having invaded.

There were significant political divisions in Mexico which seriously impeded the war effort. Inside Mexico, the conservative centralistas and liberal federalists vied for power, and at times these two factions inside Mexico's military fought each other rather than the invading U.S. Army.

Many of Mexico's troops were outfitted with weapons that were nearly 30 years old. The country was forced to purchase old guns and ammunition in bulk from France, which had been used during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century.

The Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 was a combination of Mexican unwillingness to recognize Texas independence, the desire of Texans for statehood, and American desire for westward expansion.

The Mexican-American War was formally concluded by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. The United States received the disputed Texan territory, as well as New Mexico territory and California. The Mexican government was paid $15 million — the same sum issued to France for the Louisiana Territory.

Opponents denounced the war as an immoral land grab by an expansionist power against a weak neighbor that had been independent barely two decades. The war's critics claimed that Polk had deliberately provoked Mexico by ordering American troops into disputed territory.

What is the historical importance of the Mexican War of Independence? ›

Known as the “Grito de Dolores,” Hidalgo's declaration launched a decade-long struggle that ended 300 years of colonial rule, established an independent Mexico and helped cultivate a unique Mexican identity. Its anniversary is now celebrated as the country's birthday.

How did the Mexican-American War affect American politics? It divided the nation based on the issue of slavery in the territories. Who supported the Wilmot Proviso? Northerners who wanted to reserve new land for white settlers.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, that brought an official end to the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), was signed on February 2, 1848, at Guadalupe Hidalgo, a city north of the capital where the Mexican government had fled with the advance of U.S. forces.

Three main reasons America was unjustified in going into war with Mexico were that President James k. Polk provoked it, America's robbery of Mexico's land and the expansion of slavery.

The major argument in favor of the Mexican War in 1846: Option D is the correct answer because the Mexican government was enraged by the United States' annexation of Texas. The Mexican government never accepted or recognized Texas as an independent state, believing that the US had no authority to take or annex Texas.

On the surface, the war's outcome seemed like a bonanza for the United States. But the acquisition of so much territory with the issue of slavery unresolved lit the fuse that eventually set off the Civil War in 1861.

Final answer: The significant result of the Mexican-American War was that the United States experienced increased tension over the issue of slavery as the nation had to decide whether the new territories obtained would be free or slave-holding.

The United States received more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 square kilometers) of land (now Arizona, California, western Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah) from Mexico.