Summary Of The Mexican War

In the year of 1846, after Mexican troops engaged with General Taylor’s forces killing several Americans, President James K. Polk pushed for a declaration of war against Mexico and on May 13, the Mexican War was declared. Although the engagement between Mexican troops and Taylor’s forces was one of the few events that led up to the Mexican War, it’s the events throughout the war that helped the United States reach Manifest Destiny.
The textbook “The American Republic Since 1877” is one of many that covers the Mexican war. Published in 2003 with a Texas adoption, its intended use was for students between the 6th and 9th grade. Its authors include: Joyce Appleby, Ph.D., a Professor of History at UCLA and corresponding fellow of the British Academy; …show more content…
Published in the same year of 2003, its authors include: Andrew Cayton, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of History at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a specialty in history of early republic and the Midwest; Elisabeth Israels Perry, Ph.D., holds the John Fancis Bannon Endowed Chair in History at Saint Louis University and specialization in late 19th and early 20th century history; Linda Reed, Ph.D., Associate Professor at the University of Houston with a specialization in 20th century African American history; and Allan M. Winkler, Ph.D., a prize-winning teacher and Distinguished Professor of History at Miami University in Ohio and author of 10 books(“Prentice Hall America: Pathways to the Present”). This textbook gives the war with Mexico its own section instead of the previous books’ few paragraphs. The map included in the section also provides both American and Mexican troop routes and victories on both sides. The difference between the map from “The American Republic Since 1877” and Prentice Halls map is the included dates of battles, the location of Fort Leavenworth, and the lack of U.S. naval locations. The textbook also introduces an important Mexican official (other than the president of Mexico) that goes by the name of Santa Anna, a Mexican military leader of 20,000 Mexican troops. Although the textbook introduces new …show more content…
Although the first two textbooks are over a decade old, they did have somewhat accurate information. The only thing was how shortly they explained an important part of American History and how it lacked some information from the Mexican point of view. They seemed as though the only information worth giving was how much the U.S won, and not how much Mexico lost. Whereas the up-to-date textbook by OpenStax covers both sides equally. Introducing the idea that with the passage of time, people are beginning to become open-minded in the way that we teach history. Leading to believe that maybe one day, history won’t be always told by the