Why Has America Won The Mexican-American War?

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A world without all of the fifty states would be a pretty different place. Well, if America hadn’t won the Mexican-American War, many of these states might not even exist. But winning the war wasn’t easy, we went through a plethora of events to get where we are today. But America wasn’t about to give up so easily, “America’s honor had been challenged.” (Roden 317) America was justified in going to war with Mexico because America was overpopulated and didn’t have enough land, innocent American soldiers had unjustly been killed, and the Manifest Destiny held many believers to our case.
In 1831, Mexico won it’s independence from it’s mother country, Spain. A few years later, Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836 just after they fought at places like the Alamo. “....and then, all was confusion, for the Texans were up and at their posts, ready for their last desperate fight.” (de la Pena 283) Later, President James K. Polk was elected the 11th President of the United States. Which would be a huge component to our country's future. “Polk was a strong supporter of Manifest Destiny.” (Roden 317) The future of America was relying on the President’s choice on going to war. If someone with a different viewpoint had been elected, we might never have gone to war. All of these events were key to the Mexican-American War. America was already at war by 1846. One reason the Mexican War was justified was because America was overpopulated.
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Mexico already had a very low population with very few residents, so they invited Americans to come over and live in Mexico. “A special effort was made to encourage American farmers to settle in the Mexican province of Texas.” (Roden 317) When Mexico invited Americans to live over there, they were practically inviting the U.S. to come and take over the land! “Citizens of the U.S. had already begun to move into Texas.” (Sumner D 329) Mexico also had hardly any control over their land, and if they couldn't control the small population that they had, it was more efficient to have America govern the land instead. “President Polk had a reason to go to war.” (Roden 317) A second reason the Mexican War was justified was because Mexican soldiers fired and killed 16 innocent American soldiers. Instead of killing our innocent American soldiers, they could asked us to leave their land peacefully, there was no reason for confrontation. “Polk saw the treatment of Slidell as an opportunity.” (O’Sullivan 323) During this slight confrontation, Mexico’s soldiers were the first to fire their guns, America had to shoot back to defend their lives. If the Mexican’s hadn’t fired their guns and had just decided to have a peaceful conversation and everything could of been fine, but we went to war instead. A third reason the Mexican War was justified was because of the Manifest Destiny. Many Americans believe that it was our destiny to govern the land from Massachusetts to California. To do so, America had to fight Mexico for ownership of the southwestern part of the U.S. Thus, the Mexican-American War took place. :It is time for the opposition to the Annexation of Texas to cease….Texas is now ours….” (O'Sullivan A 323) Just think about it, if the Americans hadn’t won the war, we wouldn’t have the Fifty Nifty

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