Essay --

[Name] [Professor] [Subject] [Date] Mexican American War What started the Mexican American war in 1846 was the obsession of the Americans, rather the one President Polk to expand American up to north through a vision of â€Å"Manifest Destiny†. Sure, this manifest destiny was the vision of Americans but it was blood and loss for Mexicans. In the plan that we now remember as Manifest Destiny President Polk asked the Mexican chief to sell New Mexico and California for $ 30 million to the US. But this was blatantly refused and the boarders that were previously drawn between the then two separate nations came out to be the point of conflict. The US claimed that the official boarder for the US was Rio Grande River, while on the contrary the Mexicans claimed that the boarder was Nueces River. In the instance, President Polk sent army to protect their claimed boarder, and when they reached there, they had a little battle with the Mexicans and some of the US army men lost their lives. This was the opportunity that the president was waiting for and he got approval for the war on Mexico as he vehemently declared that the Mexicans have shed â€Å"American blood upon American soil† (cited in Anthony). This was the beginning of what started a two year war on Mexico, that to many was not justified, not ethical, and is perceived as a mere confiscation of someone else’s land. But to some it is still regarded as the fulfillment of the dream, of the Manifest Destiny, of the vision to expand the America. I wonder why statue of liberty still survives! O'Sullivan writes that the â€Å"American people having derived their origin from many other nations, and the Declaration of National Independence being entirely based on the great principle of human equality, these f... ...nwar.htm, Accessed 11/05/03 O'Sullivan, John L. (1839) Manifest Destiny, Available at http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/osulliva.htm, Accessed 11/05/03 Heys, John (1995) Enough Blame to Go Around: Causes of the Mexican-American War, Available at http://www.azteca.net/aztec/war/Mexican-American-War.html, Accessed 11/05/03 Combs, Jerald A. (1986) The History of American Foreign Policy. New York: Knopf Publishing. Lavender, David. (1968) The Mexican War: Climax of Manifest Destiny. Palo Alto: American West. The Story of America. Ed. Elizabeth L. Newhouse. Washington, District of Columbia: The National Geographic Society, 1984. Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Ed. J.D. Richardson. Library material. The Diary of James K. Polk. Ed. M.M. Quaife. Library material The Columbia History of the World. Ed. John A. Garraty and Peter Gay. New York: Harper and Row, 1981.