Ch. 14, Section 2 Notes Introduction

Title: War with Mexico

Main Idea: Conflict between the United States and Mexico led to war.

Key Terms: cede, abolitionist

Causes of the Wara. Mexico never recognized the

Republic of Texas and considered the USA’s annexation of Texas an insult.

b. Also, Mexico refused to accept the Rio Grande as the official boundary between Texas and Mexico. Instead, they insisted the Nueces River separated the country and state.

Causes of the War

c. Another problem was Mexico was angered by the USA’s efforts to expand trade by trying to acquire the Pacific port of San Francisco, then in Mexican California.

d. The USA offered Mexico 30 million in return for:

i. Mexico accepting the Rio Grande as the Mexico-Texas boundary, and if….

ii. Mexico would cede, or give up, California and the western half of New Mexico to the USA.

Causes of the War

e. In December 1845, President Polk sent John Slidell to Mexico to negotiate the boundary dispute and offer to buy California.

i. The Mexican government refused to talk to Slidell and diplomatic relations broke down.

f. In March 1846, President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to move his troops across the Nueces River to the Rio Grande.

OCTOBER 1845

POLK SENDS TAYLOR

TO NUECES BORDER DISPUTE: RIO GRANDE OR NUECES?

DECEMBER 1845

SLIDELL SENT TO MEXICO – MEXICO

REFUSES TO SEE HIM - INSULTS USA

War Declareda. In May 1846, American and Mexican

forces first clashed at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, which was in the disputed territory.

b. US President Polk declared Mexico had shed American blood on American soil.

c. Mexican President Mariano Paredes could have claimed Mexican blood had been shed on Mexican soil.

d. The United States declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846.

MARCH 1846POLK

ORDERS TAYLOR TO RIO GRANDE

MAY 1846 MEXICANS

ATTACK!

MAY 1846Taylor and

Polk’s Justification for

War

POLK ASKS CONGRESS FOR

DECLARATION OF WAR

War Declared

e. Some members of Congress, including abolitionists, or people who worked to end slavery, questioned the American motives to possibly expand slavery.

APRIL 1846 SOME OPPOSE MR. POLK’S

WARABOLITIONISTS

WHERE WAS THE SPOT?

War Declared

f. Many Texans, including several companies of Texas Rangers who served as scouts, fought on the American side.

g. J. Pinckney Henderson, current Texas governor, took a leave of absence to command Texas troops.

U.S. MILITARY FAR SUPERIOR

1. OCCUPY TEXAS AND NORTHERN MEXICO

2. TAKE NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA

3. MARCH ON MEXICO CITY

United States Victorya. The US forces were better equipped

and better led than were their opponents.

b. General Taylor captured Monterrey and later defeated Santa Anna at Buena Vista.

c. General Winfield Scott landed at Vera Cruz and captured Mexico City in September 1847.

d. Women, such as Sarah Borginnis, traveled with US troops, loading cartridges and dressing wounds.

WINFIELD

SCOTT SENT

SOUTH TO

MEXICO LANDS IN

VERA CRUZ

HE PUSHES TOWARD

MEXICO CITY

United States Victory

e. The Peace Treaty at Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848.

i. Mexico accepted the Rio Grande as the boundary between Texas and Mexico.

ii. Mexico ceded all territory between Texas and the Pacific Ocean, which was called the Mexican Cession. The U.S. paid 15 million for this land.

iii. Also, Mexicans living in this area would have the rights of the US citizenship.

WAR HEROES

Mexico lost about half of its land.

Mexican Cession will one day be the states of:California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico & Wyoming.

U.S. pays Mexico $15

million.

The New Mexico Boundary Dispute

a. The question of whether Santa Fe would become part of Texas became a political issue in the US.

b. The people of Santa Fe preferred to be a separate territory or state.

c. Members of congress, led by former presidential candidate Henry Clay, helped write the Pearce Act, as part of the Compromise of 1850.

The Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850 WHAT IT IS: A series of five bills that were intended to resolve

problems of sectionalism between the states regarding slavery. GOAL: To deal with the spread of slavery to territories in order to

keep northern and southern interests in balance. TERMS/PROVISIONS: 1. California annexed as a free state. 2. New Mexico and Utah were each allowed to use popular

sovereignty (means=let the people decide) to pick whether the states would be free or slave.

3. Texas gave up lands that it claimed in present day New Mexico and received $10 million to pay its debt to Mexico (the New Mexico Boundary Dispute).

4. The slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia. 5. The Fugitive Slave Act made any federal official who did not

arrest a runaway slave liable to pay a fine. This was the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850 and caused many abolitionists to increase their efforts against slavery.

The Compromise of 1850, con’t Provisions of the Compromise of 1850

– California became a state

– Utah and New Mexico became territories

– Slave trade was ended in Washington DC

– Fugitive Slave Law was put into place

– “Texas Question”: Texas received 10 million dollars to give up disputed territory to north and west

Getting the money helped Texas get out of debt

– Texas and New Mexico Act of September 9, 1850: created Texas’ present day borders

TEXAS AND THE COMPROMISE OF 1850

The Pearce Act (of Compromise of 1850)

d. The US agreed to give Texas 10 million for Santa Fe and the rest of the disputed territory.

Senator James A. Pearce of Maryland introduced a bill that offered Texas $10 million in exchange for ceding to the national government all land north and west of a boundary beginning at the 100th meridian where it intersects the parallel of 36°30', then running west along that parallel to the 103d meridian, south to the 32d parallel, and from that point west to the Rio Grande.

The Gadsden Purchase

In 1853, the U.S. paid Mexico an additional $10 million for the Gadsden Purchase, a strip of land along the edge of present-day Arizona and New Mexico.

The United States ExpandsManifest Destiny

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