The Unites States Stole Nothing From Mexico
It is time to set the record straight. Some of those who argue in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens crossing the southern border will sometimes imply, (or downright claim) that immigrants from the south have a right to be here, because "the United States stole the southwest from Mexico in a greedy attempt to fulfill our 'manifest destiny.' " Nothing could be further from the truth. Frankly I'm shocked at the ignorance Americans have of their history in general, but especially of the post-colonial period leading up to the Civil War. It is time to set the record straight: the United States stole nothing from Mexico.
In 1803 President Jefferson purchased the 828,000,000 square mile Louisiana Territory which included all of modern Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and major portions of North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and a corner of Northeastern New Mexico. These territories immediately became territories of the United States and open to settlement. The President sent Merriweather Lewis and William Clark to explore the territory and beyond into the modern day Northwest, which was claimed by the United States the Spanish, the British, the Russians, Chinese and others. These territories extended the U.S boundary as far as the Western most part of the continent which was claimed by Spain.
The modern southwest was Spanish territory until Mexico won Independence from Spain on September 27, 1821. All Spanish territories in North America were ceded to them in recognition of their independence. This area had been settled by English, Spanish, Russians and Chinese and of course, Native Americans. The new Mexican government was dysfunctional, corrupt and brutal. Mexico began to seek to purge the land of settlers of non-Spanish decent. Legal white settlers ownership of land, which the Spain had recognized, was nullified. Mexico attempted to stop all immigration into their territory, which they had a right to do. No one questioned their right to sovereignty, and the same legal rights the United States had over land it had won from the British. The way Mexico treated legal citizens and settlers on their land and enforced their sovereignty lead to tensions with the citizens of the region. Remember the Alamo.
In 1836 Mexico sought to expel a group of mostly white settlers living near modern day San Antonio Texas, which at the time was part of the Mexican province of Texias. The settlers took refuge in an abandoned mission called the Alamo and appealed to the militia under the command of Sam Houston to protect their homes. Mexican General Santa Anna beat the militia to the fort and massacred more than two hundred men, women and children there. Not only was this one of many incidences of genocide, other subsequent incidences continued. Resentment grew between white settlers in the southwest and the Mexican Government. The resentment was often heralded in the slogan "Remember the Alamo."
At the time of the massacre expatriated American settlers were only a generation away from the American Revolution. Their parents had rebelled against the tyranny of the British. They had settled in the southwest to start new lives of freedom and independence. Many who had left the U.S. were willing to live peaceably as citizens of Spain or Mexico. The genocide committed by the Mexican government, caused many to seek the liberty and opportunity they had left in the United States. The slogan "remember the Alamo" became a call for revolt against the Mexicans. Sam Houston continued fighting Santa Anna and won the area's independence. Two separate movements for Independence from Mexico arose in what is now the southwest during the decades following the Louisiana purchase (1803) and proceeding the Mexican American War (1848).
One of the lesser know freedom fighters was a U.S. cavalry officer and abolitionist John C. Fremont, who had explored much of the southwest and found mountain passes for those seeking to cross into modern California. In 1846 Freemont and others in the U.S. Army allied with citizens of the newly formed Big Bear Republic in a war of independence against Mexico. The new republic had no standing army. The United States came to the defense of the young republic. At the conclusion of the Mexican- American war all of the modern southwest gained their independence from Mexico. The State of California still bears the grizzly bear, the symbol of the Big Bear Republic on its flag. In its infancy the young republic had no militia or military to defend it's territory so it allied with the U.S in its war on Mexico. After The Big Bear Republic consisting of modern day New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada part of Utah and California won it's independence, and quickly joined the United States. The impetus to rebel against Mexico came from what the people of the southwest had observed a generation prior during the American Revolution, and their memory only a decade before of the Texas War of Independence.
After Santa Anna massacred civilians at the Alamo he continued his carnage of Texias eventually being defeated by Sam Houston's militia. The defeat of the ruthless dictator Santa Anna (and his subsequent exile to Cuba) failed to stop the Mexican tyranny and the citizens of Texias gained their independence, forming a new republic called Texas in March of 1836. The war was costly and Texas's economy was devastated. Mexico refused to recognize Texas's independence and continued invading and killing Texas's citizens. Texas appealed to the U.S., hoping the US. economic and military support would be a deterrent to Mexican aggression. In order to pay off the country's debt and protect it's territory the U.S. with the support of the people of Texas, annexed it. The entrance of Texas into the union was hotly contested. Texas was a slave state, and many in the north felt, the territory would divide into as many as eight states, making slave states dominant in the U.S. Congress. Almost nine years after their War of Independence Texas was admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845, but hostilities between Mexico and Texas, now part of the United States, continued.
The United States War with Mexico was like all Wars before or since. It was both controversial and complex. There is no doubt that President Polk believed in manifest destiny and had an expansionist foreign policy, and there were those in the country and the Congress, including a young Congressman from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, who disagreed with Polk's policy and the war. After the U. S. annexed Texas, Mexico severed relations with the U.S. Polk attempting to avoid War with Mexico sent John Slidell on a secret diplomatic mission to attempt to restore relations, and negotiate a settlement of the border issue and to offer to purchase California for $30 million dollars. Mexican President Herrera of Mexico refused to receive him and recalled General Santa Anna from exile in Cuba. Interpreting these movements as hostile and to protect U.S citizens along the Texas border Polk sent a small contingent of soldiers under the command of General Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grand to defend the Texas border. Taylor's contingent of 200 soldiers posed little threat to the huge Mexican Army along the border. The Mexican's claimed that the Nesches river was the proper border and attacked Taylor's forces, killing 14. Claiming the soldiers were defending our border and were attacked on U.S. soil, which Lincoln and others disputed, Polk asked Congress for a declaration of war, which he was granted.
Arguing over whether the Mexican War was over manifest destiny or Mexican tyranny and brutality is like arguing whether the Civil Was was over slavery or states rights. The issues at the time were intertwined. Every President since John Adams espoused "manifest destiny" -- the belief that the United States border should extend from Atlantic coast to Pacific coast. Polk believed ardently in the doctrine. However, the doctrine of manifest destiny was not the immediate cause of the war. The Texas war for independence as well as the Big Bear Republic's revolution were liberty movements the United States supported. Some in Congress opposed our expansion into these territories. The existence of slavery in Texas nearly prevented annexation of the state. Many in Congress in the Post-colonial period were in no mood for war over manifest destiny as the unity of the states was all ready tenuous. The movement towards war with Mexico began at the Alamo.
Had there been no Alamo (which occurred a decade prior to the war) or no brutality and tyranny in the southwest, the U. S would have had no justifiable reason for war. Many of the settlers in the area were content to live under whatever government was there. The two revolutions were caused by Mexican brutality and genocide of whites. The United States stole nothing from Mexico. Had there been no revolution in Texas, the events of the following decade would have been entirely different. There would have been no Texas statehood, no border to defend, no war to fight. Without Texas one can question whether slavery would have expanded into the Louisiana territory. Fewer slave states may have prevented a Civil War. Though the War, like every one before and after, had it proponents and it's detractors, it was a war for liberation not for conquest.
The Mexican American War once again demonstrated an exceptional quality of the American Republic. We are not motivated to expand our borders by conquest. When the United States won the war we did what we always do. First we protected the liberty and sovereignty of our allies. Both the Republic of Texas and the Big Bear Republic became independent of Mexico. Although both republics eventually were annexed by the United States, Mexico no longer had any claim to either of them.
Once the War was won the United States now had claim to all of Mexico from the Guatemalan border to the Rio Grand, the Bay of Baja and California. north to the Canadian border. The United States once again did what no other nation does. We paid the Mexican national debt and returned Mexico's territory to Mexico and its government to its people. Mexico was stronger and in a better position to secure the liberty of it's people after it lost a war to the United States, than it was before the War. In the Mexican American War the United States stole nothing from Mexico. We defended our newly acquired state of Texas, and allied with the Big Bear Republic to defend the liberty of the Southwest. When the war ended we showed exceptional grace and respect to our enemy.
Those today who would argue that America's border to the south should be open due to some injustice we perpetrated by greedily grabbing half of Mexico's territory almost 200 years ago show and incredible lack of understanding of Mexican American relations then and now. The corruption, and dysfunctional Mexican economy of today are a result of cultural and historical forces that have been at work in Mexico since its independence from Spain. United States has always sought to defend freedom loving people where ever they may be. The Mexican government has always been and continues to be a corrupt plutocracy. The solution to Mexico's problems is not to send it's indigents to the United States, but to take responsibility for its economic failures. The United States has never usurped opportunity or taken territory from Mexico. Even a summary review of events surrounding the Mexican American war make it abundantly clear: the United States stole nothing from Mexico.
In 1803 President Jefferson purchased the 828,000,000 square mile Louisiana Territory which included all of modern Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and major portions of North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and a corner of Northeastern New Mexico. These territories immediately became territories of the United States and open to settlement. The President sent Merriweather Lewis and William Clark to explore the territory and beyond into the modern day Northwest, which was claimed by the United States the Spanish, the British, the Russians, Chinese and others. These territories extended the U.S boundary as far as the Western most part of the continent which was claimed by Spain.
The modern southwest was Spanish territory until Mexico won Independence from Spain on September 27, 1821. All Spanish territories in North America were ceded to them in recognition of their independence. This area had been settled by English, Spanish, Russians and Chinese and of course, Native Americans. The new Mexican government was dysfunctional, corrupt and brutal. Mexico began to seek to purge the land of settlers of non-Spanish decent. Legal white settlers ownership of land, which the Spain had recognized, was nullified. Mexico attempted to stop all immigration into their territory, which they had a right to do. No one questioned their right to sovereignty, and the same legal rights the United States had over land it had won from the British. The way Mexico treated legal citizens and settlers on their land and enforced their sovereignty lead to tensions with the citizens of the region. Remember the Alamo.
In 1836 Mexico sought to expel a group of mostly white settlers living near modern day San Antonio Texas, which at the time was part of the Mexican province of Texias. The settlers took refuge in an abandoned mission called the Alamo and appealed to the militia under the command of Sam Houston to protect their homes. Mexican General Santa Anna beat the militia to the fort and massacred more than two hundred men, women and children there. Not only was this one of many incidences of genocide, other subsequent incidences continued. Resentment grew between white settlers in the southwest and the Mexican Government. The resentment was often heralded in the slogan "Remember the Alamo."
At the time of the massacre expatriated American settlers were only a generation away from the American Revolution. Their parents had rebelled against the tyranny of the British. They had settled in the southwest to start new lives of freedom and independence. Many who had left the U.S. were willing to live peaceably as citizens of Spain or Mexico. The genocide committed by the Mexican government, caused many to seek the liberty and opportunity they had left in the United States. The slogan "remember the Alamo" became a call for revolt against the Mexicans. Sam Houston continued fighting Santa Anna and won the area's independence. Two separate movements for Independence from Mexico arose in what is now the southwest during the decades following the Louisiana purchase (1803) and proceeding the Mexican American War (1848).
One of the lesser know freedom fighters was a U.S. cavalry officer and abolitionist John C. Fremont, who had explored much of the southwest and found mountain passes for those seeking to cross into modern California. In 1846 Freemont and others in the U.S. Army allied with citizens of the newly formed Big Bear Republic in a war of independence against Mexico. The new republic had no standing army. The United States came to the defense of the young republic. At the conclusion of the Mexican- American war all of the modern southwest gained their independence from Mexico. The State of California still bears the grizzly bear, the symbol of the Big Bear Republic on its flag. In its infancy the young republic had no militia or military to defend it's territory so it allied with the U.S in its war on Mexico. After The Big Bear Republic consisting of modern day New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada part of Utah and California won it's independence, and quickly joined the United States. The impetus to rebel against Mexico came from what the people of the southwest had observed a generation prior during the American Revolution, and their memory only a decade before of the Texas War of Independence.
After Santa Anna massacred civilians at the Alamo he continued his carnage of Texias eventually being defeated by Sam Houston's militia. The defeat of the ruthless dictator Santa Anna (and his subsequent exile to Cuba) failed to stop the Mexican tyranny and the citizens of Texias gained their independence, forming a new republic called Texas in March of 1836. The war was costly and Texas's economy was devastated. Mexico refused to recognize Texas's independence and continued invading and killing Texas's citizens. Texas appealed to the U.S., hoping the US. economic and military support would be a deterrent to Mexican aggression. In order to pay off the country's debt and protect it's territory the U.S. with the support of the people of Texas, annexed it. The entrance of Texas into the union was hotly contested. Texas was a slave state, and many in the north felt, the territory would divide into as many as eight states, making slave states dominant in the U.S. Congress. Almost nine years after their War of Independence Texas was admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845, but hostilities between Mexico and Texas, now part of the United States, continued.
The United States War with Mexico was like all Wars before or since. It was both controversial and complex. There is no doubt that President Polk believed in manifest destiny and had an expansionist foreign policy, and there were those in the country and the Congress, including a young Congressman from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, who disagreed with Polk's policy and the war. After the U. S. annexed Texas, Mexico severed relations with the U.S. Polk attempting to avoid War with Mexico sent John Slidell on a secret diplomatic mission to attempt to restore relations, and negotiate a settlement of the border issue and to offer to purchase California for $30 million dollars. Mexican President Herrera of Mexico refused to receive him and recalled General Santa Anna from exile in Cuba. Interpreting these movements as hostile and to protect U.S citizens along the Texas border Polk sent a small contingent of soldiers under the command of General Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grand to defend the Texas border. Taylor's contingent of 200 soldiers posed little threat to the huge Mexican Army along the border. The Mexican's claimed that the Nesches river was the proper border and attacked Taylor's forces, killing 14. Claiming the soldiers were defending our border and were attacked on U.S. soil, which Lincoln and others disputed, Polk asked Congress for a declaration of war, which he was granted.
Arguing over whether the Mexican War was over manifest destiny or Mexican tyranny and brutality is like arguing whether the Civil Was was over slavery or states rights. The issues at the time were intertwined. Every President since John Adams espoused "manifest destiny" -- the belief that the United States border should extend from Atlantic coast to Pacific coast. Polk believed ardently in the doctrine. However, the doctrine of manifest destiny was not the immediate cause of the war. The Texas war for independence as well as the Big Bear Republic's revolution were liberty movements the United States supported. Some in Congress opposed our expansion into these territories. The existence of slavery in Texas nearly prevented annexation of the state. Many in Congress in the Post-colonial period were in no mood for war over manifest destiny as the unity of the states was all ready tenuous. The movement towards war with Mexico began at the Alamo.
Had there been no Alamo (which occurred a decade prior to the war) or no brutality and tyranny in the southwest, the U. S would have had no justifiable reason for war. Many of the settlers in the area were content to live under whatever government was there. The two revolutions were caused by Mexican brutality and genocide of whites. The United States stole nothing from Mexico. Had there been no revolution in Texas, the events of the following decade would have been entirely different. There would have been no Texas statehood, no border to defend, no war to fight. Without Texas one can question whether slavery would have expanded into the Louisiana territory. Fewer slave states may have prevented a Civil War. Though the War, like every one before and after, had it proponents and it's detractors, it was a war for liberation not for conquest.
The Mexican American War once again demonstrated an exceptional quality of the American Republic. We are not motivated to expand our borders by conquest. When the United States won the war we did what we always do. First we protected the liberty and sovereignty of our allies. Both the Republic of Texas and the Big Bear Republic became independent of Mexico. Although both republics eventually were annexed by the United States, Mexico no longer had any claim to either of them.
Once the War was won the United States now had claim to all of Mexico from the Guatemalan border to the Rio Grand, the Bay of Baja and California. north to the Canadian border. The United States once again did what no other nation does. We paid the Mexican national debt and returned Mexico's territory to Mexico and its government to its people. Mexico was stronger and in a better position to secure the liberty of it's people after it lost a war to the United States, than it was before the War. In the Mexican American War the United States stole nothing from Mexico. We defended our newly acquired state of Texas, and allied with the Big Bear Republic to defend the liberty of the Southwest. When the war ended we showed exceptional grace and respect to our enemy.
Those today who would argue that America's border to the south should be open due to some injustice we perpetrated by greedily grabbing half of Mexico's territory almost 200 years ago show and incredible lack of understanding of Mexican American relations then and now. The corruption, and dysfunctional Mexican economy of today are a result of cultural and historical forces that have been at work in Mexico since its independence from Spain. United States has always sought to defend freedom loving people where ever they may be. The Mexican government has always been and continues to be a corrupt plutocracy. The solution to Mexico's problems is not to send it's indigents to the United States, but to take responsibility for its economic failures. The United States has never usurped opportunity or taken territory from Mexico. Even a summary review of events surrounding the Mexican American war make it abundantly clear: the United States stole nothing from Mexico.
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