Example Of The Mexican American War Critical Thinking

The Mexican - American War that occurred between 1846 -1848 marked the first armed conflict that the US was involved in more so on foreign grounds. It included Mexico against the administration of U.S. President James K. Polk who was keen to extend his borders. A border conflict along the Rio Grande kicked off the war which led to a series of Mexican defeats at the hands of Americans. When the conflict ended, Mexico lost about a third of its territory to the US. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, was credited to have helped bring to an end the Mexican-American War. It was signed in 1848, at Guadalupe Hidalgo, a city found north of the capital where the Mexican government deserted with the entry of the U.S. troops. With the victory in the war against the U. S. army and the surrender of the capital, Mexico City, in September 1847 the Mexican government entered into peace talks that were aimed at ending the war peacefully.
Wilmot Proviso was aimed at eradicating slavery in the land gained because of the Mexican War. After the war had begun, President James K. Polk asked for allocation of about $2 million as part of the terms to negotiate a treaty. Fearing expansion to a pro-slavery land, Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot proposed an amendment to the bill. Although the bill was defeated in the Senate, it heightened the increasing controversy from slavery. The principle of this amendment led to the formation of the Republican Party in 1854. Divisions that emerged over slavery in the land acquired in the war were resolved in the Compromise of 1850.
Secession, as it is applied in the context of the American Civil War, comprised the events that began in 1860, and extended to about 1861 when states in the Lower and Upper South ended their ties with the Union of States. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe was a book that demanded that the US deliver on their promise of a free and equal nation. It also strengthened the abolition of slave trade movement and made some contribution to the Civil War. The rising intensity of the abolitionist movement advocated the abolition of slavery and the recognition of African Americans as rightful citizens of the US.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed each state to decide on their own the issue of slavery on the basis of famous decisions. Then ensued the bloody Kansas, which was a series of bloody confrontations that involved anti-slavery and pro-slavery elements in the territory of Kansas and the neighboring states. The Dred Scott decision was made by the Supreme Court clarifying that a slave would always remain a slave and not even their descendants would qualify to be US citizens. During the fights between anti-slavery movement and pro- slavery John Brown’s raided a ferry. The attack on the ferry was meant to hijack weapons of the government and supply those top anti-slavery proponents to fight for freedom of slaves.
Abraham Lincoln’s nomination as a republican candidate was more memorable as he defeated the preferred candidate William Seward. In the same year, the national convention of the Democratic Party ended up splitting the party down the middle as issues of slavery, and the rights of states tore members down the middle. Then, came the civil war that’s most important causes Southerners mentioned were unfair taxation, states' rights, and the slavery issue.
Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the US over a defeating a divided Democratic Party, and becoming the first Republican who won the presidency. Though he received only 40 percent of the popular vote, he defeated the three other candidates. The Confederate States of America constituted the governments of the 11 Southern states that had distanced themselves from the Union of states in 1860-61, and carried on all their affairs as separate parties. They conducted a major war until they were defeated in the spring of 1865.The efforts to compromise were all aimed at finding a solution to the civil war that pitted abolitionists and the pro-slavery movements in the southern states that had threatened to secede. The firing of fort Sumter was an effort to quell their growing secessionist movement that was eventually won by the union of States. Lincoln then called up 75,000 troops from all of the states that had seceded to suppress the discontent. It is believed that this appeal for troops from the south precipitated the secession Upper South. These secessionist calls were as a result of border slavery in these states.
The confederate states and the union had more development as a strength and occasionally experienced war and stunted economic growth as a weakness. In 1861, Union and Confederate troops clashed in a land battle of the American Civil War. The dispute was known as the First Battle of Bull Run. After capturing Fort Henry the army advanced across the country to invest in Fort Donelson. After the failure of their all the rebel surrendered unconditionally. Battle of Shiloh took place in southwestern Tennessee not far from Mississippi. The commander of Confederate forces in the Western Theater wanted to defeat Union’s Army of the Tennessee before it could find reinforcement.
Robert E. Lee issued Special Order 191 during the campaign in Maryland. A copy of the order having that was reported lost was found by Union soldiers of the 27th Indiana on the Best Farm in Maryland. The order helped the Union Army with important information concerning the movements of the Army of Northern Virginia's and their campaign plans. Soon after the victory of the Union troops at Antietam, President Lincoln issued an Emancipation Proclamation that declared all slaves in the rebellious states to be forever free. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free any slave, however, it was an important point in the war, and changed the fight to preserve the nation into a battle for human freedom. Soon after, the confederate states began to gain foreign recognition. Soon afterwards, the Union troops waged a war to capture confederate strongholds of Vicksburg, Gettysburg and Atlanta. In 1864, Union troops launched an offensive that aimed at destroying the Confederate forces in Virginia. In the same year, General William T. Sherman led about 60,000 soldiers on a march from Atlanta to Georgia. The purpose of this demonstration was to cow the Georgia’s civilian population into leaving the Confederate cause in the war. After Atlanta, the next assault was in Petersburg. The union forces then took the fight against the confederates to Petersburg and eventually won.