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The Mexican-American War (Series: Chronicle of America's Wars) Lerner Publishing Group, 2004 ISBN-10: 0-8225-0831-1 ISBN-13: 978-0-8225-0831-1 Pages: 96 Reading level: Grade 6 For ages 10 and older Available at most booksellers, including: AbeBooks.com Powell's Books Independent booksellers need our support! |
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In the 1830s, Mexico was more than twice the size that it is today and included the land that later would become Texas. Having recently won its independence from Spain, the new Mexican government was struggling to maintain control of its vast territories. Texas took advantage of this turmoil and declared itself an independent nation and later joined the United States of America. From 1846 to 1848, Mexico and the United States engaged in a struggle over Texas that came to be known as the Mexican-American War. The U.S. victory in the war and later negotiations brought Texas, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming into the United States. The Mexican-American War takes a comprehensive look at a volatile time in American history and includes the role of women and minorities, weaponry, medical care, and more. Eyewitness quotes and first-person accounts give readers a snapshot of the people and experiences of a war on North American soil. EXCERPT: |
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U.S.
citizens were deeply divided about waging war with Mexico.
Many people of the Lone Star Republic—formerly the Mexican
state of Texas—were eager to join the United States and to
gain additional territory from Mexico. In general, people in
the southern states favored the war. Jefferson Davis, a
congressman from Mississippi, received these words in a letter
from one of his voters: "We are in great excitement, drums
beating, fifes playing, flags flying, meetings holding, and
'To Arms To Arms,' in large Capitals stuck up at every corner
of the streets, and at every fork in the roads."
Many in the northern states opposed the
war, in part because they saw it as a means to extend slavery.
Former president John Quincy Adams described the war as a way
for the south to get "bigger pens to cram with slaves." New
York Tribune editor Horace Greeley called the war "atrocious."
By December 1846 about 300,000 men had
volunteered to join the armed forces as their patriotic duty,
as a way to have an adventure, or as a means to feed their
families. As one-year volunteers returned home maimed or ill,
the war it became less and less popular. President Polk wrote
in his diary that he was "perfectly disgusted with the want
[lack] of patriotism" in Congress. Congressmen reflected the
attitude of their voters, many of whom felt that the United
States should not be in a war Mexico.