Forming A New Nation

Click to play: Mexico opens Texas to Americans who come to claim it as their own.

Was “Manifest Destiny” just? Was it right?

Manifest DestinyOur culture was superiorIt’s our destiny…it’s our right…it’s ours for the taking!!! Oregon gained 1846-President Polk

compromises with Britain Boundary with Britain, we

gunna share it! Oregon Territory

included present day states: Oregon, Washington, Idaho 11th - James K. Polk (1845–1849).

Mexico doesn’t agree with the U.S. getting Texas Ticked Off

The U.S. offers to buy California and New Mexico for $30 million Mexico refuses Now the U.S. is ticked off!

Tensions with Mexico

Trouble is looming…Texas claimed its southern border is the Rio GrandeMexico argued that it was the Nueces RiverNueces River is about 200 miles north of the Rio GrandeUh oh?

The Event That Sparked the War

March 1846-

President Polk orders soldiers to cross the Nueces River and set up posts along the Rio Grande.Polk knew that Mexico claimed this and hoped it would spark a war.Mexican troops fight the US briefly.

War is Declared!President Polk signs a declaration of war against Mexico. He hopes to not only secure the border of Texas, but also

to gain from Mexico the territories of California and New Mexico.

Polk claims Mexico “had shed American blood upon the American soil” – when in fact it wasn’t American soil !!!

Video: The United States declares war on Mexico 1:18

Northerners protest Saw this as plot to add more slave states

West and South Wanted more land and were happy

Many volunteers join the army Lots from the West and South

U.S. vs Mexican Army

Ok…ok… So after all the fighting…trust me, I could

go on and on with all the battles and stuff, but…

The end result is…next slide…

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Mexico gives California and New Mexico to the U.S.

About ½ of Mexican territory is now the U.S.’sU.S. pays Mexico $15 million and also respected the rights of Spanish speaking peoples in the new land.The treaty increased the size of the United States by about one-third--an addition greater than the Louisiana Purchase. Few Americans even know the name of the President

that brought the most land under the American Flag...President James K. Polk.

1853- The U.S. pays $10 million for a strip of land in present day Arizona and New Mexico To provide a good railroad route to California.

Manifest Destiny is a reality!

Final Addition…The Gadsden Purchase

Western Expansion Map, 1853

The American Indians: Protecting sacred land

Video: The American Indians: Protecting sacred land, 1:38The American Indians of the Southwest look neither forward nor backward to find meaning, but rather to their land. With a tradition of playing colonial powers off against each other, the Indians initially side with the Americans against the Mexicans during the war, but they ultimately face disastrous results.

Americans just did not respect the Mexicans or Indians.

That’s the simple truth!

The Treatment

Looking back: A just war?

Was “Manifest Destiny” just? Was it right? Video: While the U.S. gained much from its

defeat of Mexico, some see the war as leading inevitably to the American Civil War, while others like Ulysses S. Grant, who fought in the U.S.-Mexican War, regard it as “one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation.” 2:14

The Aztlan Movement Today

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By 2028, this is supposed to happen? Do you think it will? What states would be the first to go?