Certainly, the Mexican-American War took place in the year 1846. The war became to be the first invention that America established. It was a conflict between Mexico and United States. In fact, Mexican-American war was the first most notable conflict, motivated by the idea of manifest destiny. The conflict took place because of annexing of Mexico by United States. The war represented the one, and only foremost military dispute between Mexico and America. The fight took place in central and northeastern Mexico, which resulted in a critical American victory (Raabe 14).
The perceptions on the expansionist elements of this war are remarkably different as compared to others. This was so because the effects of the war were immensely important in shaping the histories of United States and Mexico (Feldman 15). The effects of the war included internal issues on slavery, territorial gains by United States, as well as the collapse of Mexican government. The signing of the Guadalupe Hidalgo treaty at the end of the war made Mexico cede New Mexico and California to United States.
Additionally, the Mexico-American war opened America to indulge into conflict with other nations and international relations. Furthermore, the perception of the war is very different because the civil war that followed made it difficult to understand and evaluate the exact impacts of American-Mexican war on the western part of America. Other, subsequent events such as California Gold rush altered the entire history of the war, economy, as well as demographics (Raabe 18).
My views on the western expansions, if I voted and lived at the time, are based on the negative impacts that the war brought about. I would be against the war; this is because American-Mexican war led to slavery and human suffering. The aggressive promises of Polk and ambition to power led to the war, I would not have voted for such policies. Polk failed to initiate tremendous changes in the nation. The American-Mexican led to financial loss by the United States government. Individuals were to pay taxes to support the war, in which failure to do so lead to imprisonment (Feldman 36). The aftermath of the war led to disruption and tension in congress and created hatred between South and North.
In my opinion, the war led to human suffering and misery. Perhaps, the events that caused the war related to selfish interest of the leaders of that time. Furthermore, the war led to loss of lives and property. The resources and taxes used to support the war could be used for internal development. In this case, other people would accept my views because it affected a wide number of people. Those who benefited from the war were the leaders and those who controlled the slavery issues.
Work Cited
Feldman, R. The Mexican-American War. London: Wiley. 2004.
Raabe, E. The Mexican-American War. New York: Rosen. 2003.
