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The War With Mexico. By Simon and Nick. Why did President Polk favor going to war with Mexico?. • Polk wanted more territory. • Each time the country wins a war, they get stronger and more confident.
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The War With Mexico By Simon and Nick
Why did President Polk favor going to war with Mexico? • Polk wanted more territory. • Each time the country wins a war, they get stronger and more confident. • Disrupted territory in Texas and California by Mexican troops on "American Soil" enraged him. • A Mexican-speaking American Emissary was rejected to be talked to.
Why was public opinion divided over going to war with Mexico? • The Southerners wanted to go to war because when they did, they would have the opportunity to capture more slaves. • The Northerners obviously opposed going to war because they didn't want/need slaves. • The Northerners also were afraid of Southern dominance.
How did the Mexican American war begin? • Captain Robert E. Lee and Captain Ulysses S. Grant led the first attack with Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott and captured Monterrey, Mexico • Polk promised to help Santa Anna back to Mexico only if he agreed to end the war, and he did • But as soon as Santa Anna got back to being president of Mexico, he attacked the border
How did the Mexican American War Begin ext. • But they were ready and more rested than the Mexicans and they drove them back into Mexico. • Scott captured Veracruz, which allowed the two countries to sign the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo in 1848. • And soon after they traded land known as the Gadsden Purchase
Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase • For $15 million, the U.S. got present-day California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming • Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande border for Texas and ceded New Mexico and California to the United States • The treaty guaranteed Mexicans living in these territories freedom of religion, protection of property, bilingual elections, and open borders • James Gadsden and the Gadsden Purchase established the current borders of the lower 48 states.
How did views of the war differ among the nation’s regions? • The North opposed the war because it would expand slavery and southern dominance. • The South supported the war because it would expand slavery and southern dominance. • The Government supported it to gain a lot more land
A Personal Voice A PERSONAL VOICE ROBERT E. LEE"No matter where I turned, my eyes reverted to [my brother], and I stood by his gun whenever I was not wanted elsewhere. Oh, I felt awfully, and am at a loss what I should have done had he been cut down before me. I thank God that he was saved. . . . [The service from the American battery] was terrif-ic, and the shells thrown from our battery were constant and regular discharges, so beautiful in their flight and so destruc-tive in their fall. It was awful! My heart bled for the inhabi-tants. The soldiers I did not care so much for, but it was ter-rible to think of the women and children."
Video: http://www.history.com/videos/mexico-battle-for-north-america-rio-grande#mexico-battle-for-north-america-rio-grande
Images: http://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/people/james_polk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zachary_Taylor http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/11379/Winfield-Scott-Hancock http://usa-civil-war.com/Lee/lee.html http://americancivilwar.com/north/grant.htmlv
Primary Sources: http://www.dmwv.org/mexwar/documents/polk.htm http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/379134/Mexican-American-War http://my.hrw.com/
