There were many disagreements between the people of Mexico and American settlers during the expansion of the United States. Many Americans had different views on this war. Some opposed of the war and some agreed with the decisions their president, James Polk has made. The people who opposed the war were mainly those living in the north. They feared the reason why the south only wanted to expand American territories was  because of the slave trade and also because Polk was making an unconstitutional move. They believed this was unconstitutional because Mexico has gained independence not long ago, and Polk wants to take their land. The Americans who approved of this war were mainly from the south. They approved of this expansion because by doing this, they could gain more land and expand their slave trade and have equal power against the northern states in congress. The people who supported the war blamed Mexico for starting the conflict. The Americans claimed that Mexico put war on  themselves because they didn’t allow the U.S. to buy their land. Not only was this conflict controversial, but the U.S. wanted to expand their land even further than the Rio Grande.

Polk ordered one of his men named Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grande to occupy the river. In doing this, Polk hoped that this would spark a war against Mexico so that the U.S. can take their land. When the Mexican government heard about this, he sent troops over to the Rio Grande to stop the American troops, and this resulted in several deaths. The war with Mexico began when Polk sent Colonel Stephen Kearny and John Fremont to take California and New Mexico in 1846. Kearny’s first stop was in Santa Fe, New Mexico to seize the land which was on August 18, 1846. When he and his troops reached Santa Fe, New Mexico gave up their land without a fight because they wanted to be part of the U.S. After Kearny helped the U.S. gain New Mexico, Fremont took California. In 1847, Fremont took the Mexican Presidio, which led them to seize the entire California.

The War with Mexico ended after a year of continuous battle, resulting in the loss of 25,000 Mexicans and American victory at the cost of 13,000 lives. After the end of the war, the United States and Mexico agreed to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, a treaty that stated that New Mexico and California would surrender to be part of the U.S. and Texas’ border would lie on the Rio Grande. The United States also consented to paying $15 million for Mexico to cede part of their territories including present-day California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, a large portion of Arizona, and sections of Colorado and Wyoming. In return, Mexicans living in these territories were promised freedom of religion, protection of property, bilingual elections, and open borders.

The United States and Mexico has a strong relationship with one another, especially in trade. Almost 80 percent of Mexico’s good were traded with the U.S. in 2013. It is also known that the U.S. and Mexico are one of the largest trade partners. Another strong bond Mexico and the U.S. have are educational exchanges between the two countries. The U.S. wants to help Mexico improve their research, and education so they can have a better economic society and also, Mexico can have more social development within their country. There may be some arising conflicts in the near future due to our presidential candidates. Donald Trump had made many comments that may lead to conflicts between the two countries. During one of his visits to Mexico, Trump has proposed to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Although he has already discussed this with the Mexican president Pena Nieto, he claims that the U.S. will not be paying for the wall, even though he made the proposal. In an interview, Trump claimed that he wants to use the trade money between the U.S. and Mexico to help pay for “his” wall.