President Polk's Justification For The US War With Mexico

The United States war with Mexico continues to be a divisive topic, seeing as how the justification for the war may go both ways. It all began with Mexico offering cheap land in hope of bringing in settlers. Thousands of Americans came into Mexico only to end up having to follow untenable laws, and a dispute over who owned Texas’ land, as former Americans now outnumbered the Tejanos, and the majority of Texas wanted to break away from Mexico anyhow, broke out. Things escalated, and blood was eventually shed. Although this war is seen as controversial, evidence from the fact the U.S. government attempted to form an alliance with Mexico beforehand, the attack of American land, and the discord over Texas’ ownership points to the conclusion that
the war had legitimate reasons for beginning. Tension slowly developed between America and Mexico due to the Mexican government’s adamancy when refusing to form an alliance.
From ‘Polk’s Address to Congress’.., “The strong desire to establish peace.. on liberal and honorable terms, and the readiness of this Government to regulate and adjust our boundary.. as would lead to permanent relations of the most friendly nature induced me..” As one can see, President Polk wanted to establish a peaceful, friendly relationship with Mexico to ensure they would be on good terms. He had sworn to go to lengths as far as altering their boundaries to an agreeable measure to keep the Mexican government pleased. According to the same document, however, “The Mexican Government not only refused to receive him, or listen to his propositions, ..and have made no proposition of any kind.” Despite Polk’s kind plea, Mexico made it their job to refuse the offer and completely ignored America until they needed
settlers. Tension formed between America and Mexico due to disputes over which country owned Texas’ land. When Congress “admitted Texas as a slave state,”, Mexico “viewed this as an act of war.” according to Creating America. Prior to this event, Texas admitted itself as an independent state, uncontrolled by America nor Mexico. Yet, Mexico continued to believe Texas was their land. When Texas officially became part of America, Mexico saw it as America stealing their rightful land. After some major events took place, Mexico agreed to recognize Texas as American land after signing the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, as stated in Creating America. With this treaty, the nearly two-year war saw its end. Predictably, with this loss Mexico felt demoted; They were now the minority in a superior nation. Before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo finalized the war, many other factors had to have come in to initiate it.
Tension had skyrocketed when Mexico attacked Americans when neither had a valid reason for being provoked. The problem began when Polk ordered for troops to be stationed on a portion of the disputed territory. Affirmed by Creating America, Mexico sent troops that killed 16 American soldiers after believing this was an act of war.. This action caused a major uproar among Americans and the call for war was almost certain. On May 13 1846, a few weeks after the incident, war was officially initiated when Polk made the statement to Congress that “Mexico has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil.” Thousands of volunteers from America and Mexico alike enlisted in their respective armies to defend their country and
beliefs. Those that see the reasons for the war as illogical will argue that Americans invaded Mexico in the first place. However, Mexico was the one that invited them in the first place. Due to the following problems, Mexico obviously wasn’t prepared to take on the responsibility that came with advertising cheap land in hopes of bringing in settlers. Not only did this take place, but America was heavily restricted by Mexico’s unrealistic regulations they weren’t clear of beforehand. Alternatively to helping the Americans meet these guidelines, the Mexican government restricted them even more, practically forcing the Americans to rebel to save their entitled liberty. This war had defensible reasons for having begun, as demonstrated in the facts that Mexico refused to cooperate with America, caused a fuss over Texas’ ownership, and attacked Americans when unprovoked. The cause of the war appears to have been, overall, Mexico’s fault. They set unrealistic standards for their laws, continued to bicker over land, and jumped to the strangest conclusions as to why the Americans acted as they did. Today, this war appears to still cause passive tension between the American and Mexican governments. We may not have been in the wrong, but that doesn’t mean we were completely in the right.