What Is The Significance Of The Mexican American War

The Mexican-American war is one of the most important conflicts that the U.S. had to this date. It is what seemed to be an inevitable war all due to the Jacksonian era and its aggressive manifest destiny. This war was against a new Mexican government who was unprepared, and they were almost blindsided by the States. They were hoping to become allies but they became enemies all too quickly. First they had one of their territories become independent, and then as they were trying to get it back, the U.S. swooped down to steal it, and many other territories including modern California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. It all started with the Louisiana Purchase to begin the idea of manifest destiny. Then it moved on to Florida, and landing
This battle involved many important American figures, including David Crockett. On February 23rd, Mexican forces appeared at the Alamo, heavily outnumbering the Texan forces. The Texans had no plan on retreating, though even saying Victory or death. With the walls crumbling at the Alamo from bombardment, an assault was announced on March 5th from the Mexican forces. “Around 5:00 A.M. on Sunday, March 6, he hurled his columns at the battered walls from four directions. Texan gunners stood by their artillery. As about 1,800 assault troops advanced into range, canister ripped through their ranks. Staggered by the concentrated cannon and rifle fire, the Mexican soldiers halted, reformed, and drove forward.” This battle hosted one of the bloodiest hand-to-hand combat instances of the war. The assault lasted all of 90 minutes and every single defender was killed. Some historians say Davy Crockett was one of them. There are officially 189 deceased from this battle. This battle was so important because of the “Remember the Alamo” statement. The effects of this battle was the wrath of the Texas rebels who eventually broke free from
was steamrolling Mexico. Within the first year, the U.S. easily took New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The Northern part of Mexico was a breeze for the U.S. to take over. “The Mexican military was antiquated, inefficient, and overstaffed, but fought hard to protect its homeland.” The Mexican government couldn’t seem to hold a leader throughout the war. They were constantly changing ideas and beliefs. Mexico’s old leader, Santa Anna, offered to get him smuggled back into the country in order to settle on beneficial terms for the U.S. Once the U.S. did this though, Anna went back on his offer, and then asked for Zachary Taylor’s immediate surrender, to which he replied “Go to Hell.” When Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott’s troops pushed into Mexico City, the government was so far gone that they had no clue as to who they should negotiate with. After 3 years of fighting U.S. came up with a treaty called the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It was signed by people who had no handle on the country quite at all. In the treaty, the U.S. got to keep 55% of the top half of Mexico, while Mexico kept the bottom 45%. The U.S. paid Mexico 15 million for the land they had just conquered. This was half the original asking price for the