The United States American War that is also known as the Mexican War, Invasion of Mexico, or “The War of Irrelevants” was an armed conflict that happened amongst the United States and Mexico in the years between 1846 and 1848. It is a war that can be said to be as a result of the United States invasion of Texas in the previous year in addition to the dispute on if Texas ended at the Nueces River (a claim of the Mexicans) or the Rio Grande (a claim of the United States). As a result of the war, the United States ended up acquiring more Mexican territory to the Pacific Ocean (Katcher, 3-6). This paper will be endeavoring at elucidating and expounding on the roles for the desire for revenge, the economic motives and the Mexican naturalism all of which being the causes of the United States Mexican War.
Economically, the causes of the war can be attributed to the fact that the Americans had an expansionist plan. The reason they preferred the Mexican territory specifically Texas was due to its fine agricultural production in particular the cotton that was a very imperative commodity economically (Winders, 87-88). Equivalently, the war erupted between the two neighbors as the Americans viewed the west as the only way they could be connected to the Atlantic and the Pacific. Although other territories were conquered, they were conquered only as a means for reach Californian land the prime of them all (Van, 124-125). Apart from their above revealed reason, gold was later discovered in California something that added the economic value of the land and hence the major reason for the start of the Mexican American War. Moreover, due to the fact that some of the territories supported slavery that was a source of cheap labor for economic progression, it was a sure reason why the Americans wanted to extend their territories towards the west (Dawson III, 98-100).
It was clear from the initial times in reference to when they become independent from Spain their colonial masters that the Mexican was a less populated land. The Americans were welcomed by the Mexicans to occupy the lands but after they had taken an oath that they were to be Catholics something that saw the numbers of Americans grow in the Mexican territory. Within a short time, the populace of Mexico found that they totally depended on the Americans for trade including the manufactured commodities such as metals and cloths (Resnick, 147-148). Such naturalism resulted to more of the Americans going to the Mexican territories and discovering that the Mexican lands had very good potential something that motivated the president to make advancements towards the west to take control of the potential Mexican lands. As a result, it can be concluded that the war between Mexico and the United States happened after the United States decided to aggravate the Mexican populace to leave Texas due to its economic advantages that have been elucidated herein (Katcher, 3-6). They made endeavors of pushing them away by sending troops to mark new frontiers and protecting territories that were put in place by the United States government without even considering the Mexicans opinions.
Work Cited
Dawson III, Joseph G. "Leaders for Manifest Destiny: American Volunteer Colonels Serving in the U.S.‐Mexican War." American Nineteenth Century History. 7.2 (2006): 253-279. Web.
Katcher, Philip R. N. The Mexican-American War, 1846-48. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003. Print.
Resnick, Philip. The Labyrinth of North American Identities. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012. Print.
Van, Wagenen M. Remembering the Forgotten War: The Enduring Legacies of the U.s./mexican War. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012. Print.
Winders, Richard B. Crisis in the Southwest: The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle over Texas. Wilmington, Del: SR Books, 2002. Print.
