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Mexican War Dbq

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Mexican War Dbq
The United States in 1846 was not justified in going to war with Mexico. The United States did not have proper justification to respond with violence against the Mexican government. The war with Mexico was also a product of the United States’ belief of Manifest Destiny. Polk’s over ambition to seize new territory from the Mexicans and disappointment over their refusal to sell him California also possibly played a factor in his willingness to wage war against Mexico. The United States under the leadership of President Polk clearly provoked Mexico into attacking US troops. To no extent was the Mexican War a justifiable war. All these reasons show that the US had no business starting a war with Mexico for territory that was rightfully theirs.
The war with Mexico came at a time when much of the country had strong feelings of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny is the belief that fate had preordained the US to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans and from Canada to the Rio Grande. “the nation of many nations is destined to manifest to mankind the excellence of divine principles….it shall be a hemisphere – its roof the firmament of the star-studded heavens…” (Document 1). This ideal had strong influence and was one reason that there was so much popular support for the US expansion west. This ideal, while nationalistic, did not give Polk the right to go into Mexico and seize land which was rightfully theirs. The US vision of manifest destiny helped to win the public’s support for the Mexican war (Doc 2). Yet the public was misled by this sense of Manifest Destiny and those that did support it supported an unjust war. During his presidency, President Polk lusted for more land than the country had ever dreamed to control. The land Polk desired the most was California. While attempting to gain California through peaceful means, he sent John Slidell to Mexico City to offer the Mexicans up to $25 million dollars for California but was rejected by the
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