The Mexican War from 1846 to 1868 was the first war that the Americans fought on the foreign soil. The expansionist-minded President James A. Polk believed that the United States had a “manifest destiny,” a God-given right to occupy the land across the west to the Pacific Ocean. He believed that the land from Texas to California should be part of the U.S. territory. [1] It was also his strong belief that the Americans could better manage the lands and the continent than the native Indians as well as the Spanish-speaking Catholic Mexicans. As a result, he sent a message to the Mexican government to express his wish to purchase the lands in the southwest; however, the Mexico government not only refused the offer but also encouraged the massive
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won the war, the issue of slavery resurfaced. Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania first introduced a potential solution to the problem in 1846. He recommended that slavery should be prevented from the lands procured from Mexico, which would encourage the western expansion. Consequently, many politicians from the North backed the amendment, being fearful of the power increase of the South. Nonetheless, the politicians from the South claimed the amendment was unconstitutional and stopped the passage of the amendment. Moreover, Congress had to deal with the issue again when California requested for statehood 1849, the year after the war. The South disagreed on the request because California was antislavery. To avert further confrontation, Congress reached the Comprise of 1850. The Comprise allowed California to be a free state and the slave trade would end in the D.C. whereas the South could count on popular sovereignty to decide the slavery issue in the Utah and New Mexico territories. Besides, the Comprise revised the Figurative Slave Act, under which the northern states were requested to catch runaway slaves. The request seriously troubled the people of the North, arguing that the decision violated their state laws. [6] The war inflamed the anger and further widened the gap between the two camps. Nevertheless, the flame of hostility was exacerbated four years later as Kansas and Nebraska asked to join in the union, which the South was strongly opposed because of the slavery issue. To pacify the South, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act that terminated the Missouri Comprise and permitted the people living in both states to vote to decide the fate of their states. As the pro-slavery voters from nearby Missouri swarmed into Kansas to vote to make the state to become a slave state, a war broke out between the two groups. The war was dubbed Bleeding Kansas. [7] The Mexican-American War expanded American territories, but it
won the war, the issue of slavery resurfaced. Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania first introduced a potential solution to the problem in 1846. He recommended that slavery should be prevented from the lands procured from Mexico, which would encourage the western expansion. Consequently, many politicians from the North backed the amendment, being fearful of the power increase of the South. Nonetheless, the politicians from the South claimed the amendment was unconstitutional and stopped the passage of the amendment. Moreover, Congress had to deal with the issue again when California requested for statehood 1849, the year after the war. The South disagreed on the request because California was antislavery. To avert further confrontation, Congress reached the Comprise of 1850. The Comprise allowed California to be a free state and the slave trade would end in the D.C. whereas the South could count on popular sovereignty to decide the slavery issue in the Utah and New Mexico territories. Besides, the Comprise revised the Figurative Slave Act, under which the northern states were requested to catch runaway slaves. The request seriously troubled the people of the North, arguing that the decision violated their state laws. [6] The war inflamed the anger and further widened the gap between the two camps. Nevertheless, the flame of hostility was exacerbated four years later as Kansas and Nebraska asked to join in the union, which the South was strongly opposed because of the slavery issue. To pacify the South, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act that terminated the Missouri Comprise and permitted the people living in both states to vote to decide the fate of their states. As the pro-slavery voters from nearby Missouri swarmed into Kansas to vote to make the state to become a slave state, a war broke out between the two groups. The war was dubbed Bleeding Kansas. [7] The Mexican-American War expanded American territories, but it