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1. Overview of Southwest Expansion and the Mexican-American War

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1. Overview of Southwest Expansion and the Mexican-American War

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Watch the attached video to get an overview of the time period when the U.S. expanded into the Southwest.

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War & Expansion: Crash Course US History #17

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2. The Beginning of Mexican Texas Settlement

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2. The Beginning of Mexican Texas Settlement

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In 1824, Mexico adopted the Federal Constitution of the United States of Mexico through which the federal government granted many powers to the states. Opposition at this time came from the Centralists, who favored strong governmental control at the national level. Most Texans favored the Federalist approach because it gave them more freedom to carry out their business and lives with a minimum of interference from the Mexican government.

The Ley de Colonización, state legislation governing colonization in Coahuila y Texas, was passed in March of 1825. Mexican citizens wishing to move to Texas had first choice of lands, but Anglo settlers were also able to obtain land grants for both ranching and farming purposes. New immigrants promised to abide by the state and federal constitutions, to worship in the Catholic Church, and to display sound moral principles and good conduct. In return, they received land, a temporary tax abatement, and status as naturalized Mexican citizens.

One issue not spelled out clearly in the colonization laws was slavery. Mexican law generally prohibited slavery, although it allowed indentured servitude. The secretary of state at Saltillo issued a somewhat ambiguous clarification when he stated that "What is not prohibited is to be understood as permitted." Anglo settlers, many of them from the southern United States, brought their slaves with them when they came to Texas, feeling that the territory would not be productive without the use of forced labor.

[Source: http://dallaslibrary2.org/texas/exhibits/spirit_splendor/mexican.htm]

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Date / Event

1830:

On April 6, the Mexican government forbids further American emigration to Texas.

1832:

June 26, the Battle of Velasco. This battle saw the first casualties in relations between Texas and Mexico.

The Convention of 1832 was called by Texans to ask for reforms in government policy towards Texas. The reforms were rejected by the Mexican government.

1833:

The Convention of 1833 was another attempt by Texans at reforms and they also drafted a constitution patterned after those in the United States. These measures were also rejected by the Mexican government.

1834:

Stephen Austin as a representative of the Convention of 1833 was arrested without specific charges.

1835:

On October 2, the Battle of Gonzales is waged and the War of Texas Independence begins.

On October 9, the Battle of Goliad takes place and ends with a victory for Texas.

On October 28, Texans are victorious at the Battle of Concepcion despite being outnumbered 5:1.

On December 11, the Seige of Bexar ends with the Texans capturing San Antonio.

1836:

On March 1, the Convention of 1836 begins meeting to sign a new constitution and form a new government.

On March 2, the Texas Declaration of Independence is adopted.

On March 6, the Battle of the Alamo is lost by Texas and becomes a rallying cry for the continued struggle for indepencence.

On March 27, the Goliad Massacre takes place in which Mexican General Santa Anna orders the execution of 400 surrendered Texans. This also becomes a rallying cry for Texas independence.

On April 21, Texans under Sam Houston soundly defeat General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. This victory secured Texas' Independence.

[Source: http://americanhistory.about.com/library/timelines/bltimelinetexasind.htm]

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On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio López de Santa Anna's army outside San Antonio nearly caught them by surprise. Undaunted, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo together. The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna's army.

William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to communities in Texas. On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly two hundred. Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground and asked any man willing to stay and fight to step over — all except one did.

As the defenders saw it, the Alamo was the key to the defense of Texas, and they were ready to give their lives rather than surrender their position to General Santa Anna. Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee.

The final assault came before daybreak on the morning of March 6, 1836, as columns of Mexican soldiers emerged from the predawn darkness and headed for the Alamo's walls. Cannon and small arms fire from inside the Alamo beat back several attacks. Regrouping, the Mexicans scaled the walls and rushed into the compound.

Once inside, they turned a captured cannon on the Long Barrack and church, blasting open the barricaded doors. The desperate struggle continued until the defenders were overwhelmed. By sunrise, the battle had ended and Santa Anna entered the Alamo compound to survey the scene of his victory.

While the facts surrounding the siege of the Alamo continue to be debated, there is no doubt about what the battle has come to symbolize. People worldwide continue to remember the Alamo as a heroic struggle against impossible odds — a place where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. For this reason, the Alamo remains hallowed ground and the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

[Source: http://www.thealamo.org/history/the-1836-battle/index.html]

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In 1845, the Republic of Texas voluntarily asked to become a part of the United States, and the government of the United States agreed to annex the nation. Mexican leaders had long warned the United States that if it tried to make Texas a state, it would declare war. And, almost immediately after Texas joined the union, the United States and Mexico went to war about where the proper border for the state of Texas should be.

[Source: http://www.learner.org/interactives/historymap/states_texas.html]

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6. Did President James K. Polk provoke Mexico into Fighting the Mexican-American War?

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6. Did President James K. Polk provoke Mexico into Fighting the Mexican-American War?

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James K. Polk wanted to push Mexico into negotiating with the United States, and he was willing to create a threat of war to do this. If he had to fight, he wanted a short war and a quick victory. He never expected a long-drawn-out war. The Army was not ready for war and had never fought so far from home before. The country was divided. So Polk was taking a considerable risk in his bold stand toward Mexico.

Negotiations might have been possible if Polk had tried a different approach. Mexico had refused to recognize either the independence of Texas or its annexation by the United States, and when annexation occurred, broke relations and withdrew its minster from Washington. Polk rightly believed that he had to restore diplomatic relations, so he sent a special temporary envoy to Mexico. The Mexicans expected that envoy, John Slidell, would offer an indemnity to settle the Texas question, after which Mexico would receive him or someone else as permanent minister. Instead Polk made Slidell permanent minister and instructed him to open negotiations for the sale of California, ignoring Texas completely.

This did not suit the Mexicans at all. If they started by making a concession on Slidell’s status they would probably never get any settlement on Texas. Also Polk had backed up Slidell by sending troops to the Rio Grande, which Texans claimed was their proper boundary. The Mexican president, José Herrera, was newly in office and not very powerful. He did not dare receive Slidell for fear of being overthrown, as the opposition press was accusing him of planning to betray the country by selling Texas. Since he could not be received, Slidell left Mexico City for a town a few miles away, and Herrera sent troops to the Rio Grande to confront the Americans. Matters had reached an impasse.

Polk now needed an excuse to declare war, expecting at the most to fight a few skirmishes on the Rio Grande and then start negotiating. The Mexicans gave him the excuse he needed. The general commanding their troops on the Rio Grande sent a force across the river, and it ambushed a detachment of Americans and killed or captured all of them. The American general, Zachary Taylor, reported this action as a Mexican attack and concluded: "I presume this means the beginning of war." Polk and his cabinet prepared a declaration of war. Congress, badly divided between war and peace, had to support American soldiers under attack and voted to send supplies and reinforcements, whereupon Polk’s Democratic supporters convinced them that they might as well declare war altogether.

But Polk still did not expect the Mexicans to put up much of a fight. When his brother in Europe learned of what had happened, he wanted to come home and enlist, but Polk told him not to, as the war would soon be over.

[Source: http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/prelude/jp_jp_and_the_mexican_war.html]

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7. Overview of the Mexican-American War and It's Impact Today 

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7. Overview of the Mexican-American War and It's Impact Today 

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Watch the attached video to get an overview of the Mexican-American War, and how it still impacts the United States and Mexico today.

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For the U.S., the Mexican-American War expanded its territory as a victory of manifest destiny; for Mexicans, the "American Invasion" still stirs emotions 165 years later. Mo Rocca traveled to Mexico City and the site of the Battle of Chapultepec to learn about a "forgotten war" that helped determine the fate of North America.

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9. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848)

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9. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848)

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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was a peace treaty signed on the 2nd of Feburary, 1848, at the Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo (presently known as Gustavo A. Madero, D.f).  The signing of this treaty ended the war between the United States and Mexico.  By the treaty’s terms, Mexico ceded 1.36 million square kilometers (525,000 square miles) of its territory to the United States in exchange for $15 million US dollars. America also agreed to take over $3.25 million US dollars in debts Mexico owed to American citizens.

The cession included several states, presently known as the states of Colorado, Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming and New Mexico.

United States sent Nicolas P. Trist as the American representative to sign the treaty, and Mexico had Luis G. Cuevas, Bernardo Couto and Miguel Atristain as their representatives.  The treaty was later ratified by the United States Senate on 10th of March (1848), and ratified again by the Mexican government on 19th of May (1848).  The exchange of the two countries’ ratification took place on the 30th of May in 1848, at the city of Santiago de Queretaro.  However, the version of the treaty ratified by the United States Senate removed Article 10, which was the article that stated the American government would honor and guarantee all land grants awarded in lands ceded to America to citizens of Spain and Mexico.  In addition, Article 8, which guaranteed the Mexicans staying for more than one year in the ceded lands would automatically become American citizens, was significantly weakened by Article 9.  Article 9 was written by the United States Senate, which stated that Mexican citizens would only be admitted at the time when the Congress of the United States determines is the right time.

[Source: http://www.umich.edu/~ac213/student_projects06/magsylje/outcome.html

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The Mesilla Valley, along the Rio Grande about 75 miles north of El Paso,was the most practical southern route for a railroad to the Pacific Ocean. U.S. President Franklin Pierce wished to secure this land to fulfill railroad expansion in the west. In order to do so, Pierce and the American minister to Mexico, James Gadsden, orchestrated the Gadsden Purchase.

Under the purchase, the United States paid $10 million for approximately 30,000 square miles that runs south of the Gila River, extends east to El Paso and west to California. The purchase -- which included the town of Tucson, in Arizona -- was a major step in resolving an outstanding Mexican American border issue. Prior to the purchase, the border between Mexico and the United States followed the main fork of the Gila River to its junction with the Colorado River. At the time the United States claimed the south fork and Mexico claimed the north fork as their main boundaries. This was the final boundary adjustment between the United States and Mexico.

[Source: http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/timeline/8.html