Evaluation of the US-Mexico War

The American War against Mexico from May 1846 to February 1848 was a crucial war in the history of American continental expansion and westward movement. It not only promoted the formation and development of American economic powers, but also aggravated the contradiction between industrial capital in the north and slavery in the south, and became the precursor of the American Civil War.

Some people in the United States think that the unjust and aggressive nature of waging a war against Mexico against the United States is very obvious. There is a cartoon in a history book, which describes that the Mexican eagle before the war was full of feathers, but it was shriveled and emaciated after the war, with a sentence written on it: "The arrogant Americans were plundering in the 19th century" (Olev Chitwood and others; The history of the American people). On December 22, 1847, Lincoln asked the president in Congress to explain, "The exact place where our citizens shed so much blood for the first time." On January 12, 1848, Lincoln pointed out in parliament: "The blood shed in this war is to accuse Polk" and "the war launched by the President against Mexico is unnecessary and unconstitutional." In his later years, Grant said in his Memoirs that this was "the most unjust war between powerful countries and weak countries". However, American historian Justin Smith declared in his book: "It is not a war for conquest" (Justin Smith: The War with Mexico), and Polk said in his second annual address in December 1846 that the United States was justified in going to war with Mexico.

evaluation basis

(One of the theoretical bases for the American conquest is that Mexico did not "immediately pay" the compensation requirements for American citizens, so it is justified for the United States to use Mexican territory as compensation. In fact, in April 1839, January 1843 and November 1843, the United States and Mexico reached an agreement on the issue of American citizens' claims three times. The second basis is that the United States wants to safeguard the sovereignty of Texas. However, the United States established the independent state of Texas controlled by the United States through the separatist activities of immigrants, and then, on the pretext that the affairs of two sovereign States should not interfere, it countered that Mexico, the sovereign state, violated Texas' sovereignty. Mexico has never approved of the American aggression of annexing Texas. The third basis is that Mexico invaded the territory of the United States. In fact, the territorial dispute between the Naesos River and the Rio Grande is the focus and fuse of the conflict. Under Spanish rule, the area between the Naesos River and the Rio Grande has always been a part of the province of Nova Santander. After Mexican independence, it became a part of Tamaulipas and Allaway Province. In a short period after Texas's independence, there were actually few people living there. After Texas was formally incorporated into the United States in December 1845, the U.S. Congress declared its jurisdiction over the other side of Naesos, so the issue of the changing boundary of Naesos became the fuse of the U.S.-Mexico war. On January 12, 1846, Mexico flatly rejected the request of the United States to "buy" New Mexico and California. On the 13th, Polk ordered Taylor to send troops across the Naesos River to occupy the left bank of the Rio Grande. It can be seen that the border dispute is only an excuse for the United States to launch a war of aggression. On May 11th, 1846, Polk also said in his special address that Mexico "crossed our territory ... and made the blood of our citizens flow on our own land." In fact, on March 28 and April 25, 1846, there was a small-scale exchange of fire between the US and Mexican troops on Mexican territory. ) As early as March 4, 1845, Polk made it clear in his inaugural speech and conversation with Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, that acquiring California was one of the four major goals of his term. On May 9, Polk's diary wrote: "We have a good reason to go to war." "If I don't do this, I will not do my duty." (Milo Quiffey: Polk's Diary)