What Caused The Mexican American War?
What Caused the Mexican American War? The Southern desire to spread slavery caused an outbreak of war between the United States and Mexico in 1846. However, other major factors pushed these two countries to war. In the years after the War of 1812, the United States went through an industrial and technological revolution. This revolution benefited the north to a large extent and pushed the southern U.S. towards slavery and its expansion. This expansion on slavery could have been the cause of the Mexican American War. The Whig and Democratic parties of the time had different views of slavery and how it was spread into Texas, thus creating the tension needed to begin a war with Mexico. As hostility grew between the nations, the United States
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Not only did these groups disagree on the idea of slavery, with Whigs against it and Democrats for it, but these groups disagreed on land distribution. Each political party believed in their superiority and power over the other in terms of economics, Whigs, who were anti slavery, resided in the north and Democrats, who were for slavery, dominated the south. Both parties disagreed on whether or not to annex Texas, but they had the same view on why it would be annexed, for the spread of slavery. Henry Clay believed that annexing Texas would not benefit the United States. In an 1844 Letter to the Editor of the National Intelligencer, Clay asks “would Texas really add strength to that which is now considered the weakest part of the Confederacy?” Clay, a member of the Whig party, has a justified view of the unindustrialized south, for he resides in the north. Not only does Clay believe it would weaken the nation, but he believes the territory of Texas would be split into five different states, three free and two slave. In Democrat James K. Polk’s 1845 Inaugural Address, he believes that annexing Texas would be best for both areas and their safety. Polk claims “none can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace if Texas remains an independent state or becomes an ally or dependency of some foreign nation more powerful than herself…” In Frederick Douglass’s 1848 editorial he blames Polk for beginning the war, claiming it was “the determination of our slaveholding president to prosecute the war.” The Whig and Democrat views on Texas’s annexation created a dispute over power and caused the Mexican American
Not only did these groups disagree on the idea of slavery, with Whigs against it and Democrats for it, but these groups disagreed on land distribution. Each political party believed in their superiority and power over the other in terms of economics, Whigs, who were anti slavery, resided in the north and Democrats, who were for slavery, dominated the south. Both parties disagreed on whether or not to annex Texas, but they had the same view on why it would be annexed, for the spread of slavery. Henry Clay believed that annexing Texas would not benefit the United States. In an 1844 Letter to the Editor of the National Intelligencer, Clay asks “would Texas really add strength to that which is now considered the weakest part of the Confederacy?” Clay, a member of the Whig party, has a justified view of the unindustrialized south, for he resides in the north. Not only does Clay believe it would weaken the nation, but he believes the territory of Texas would be split into five different states, three free and two slave. In Democrat James K. Polk’s 1845 Inaugural Address, he believes that annexing Texas would be best for both areas and their safety. Polk claims “none can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace if Texas remains an independent state or becomes an ally or dependency of some foreign nation more powerful than herself…” In Frederick Douglass’s 1848 editorial he blames Polk for beginning the war, claiming it was “the determination of our slaveholding president to prosecute the war.” The Whig and Democrat views on Texas’s annexation created a dispute over power and caused the Mexican American