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Mexican-American War One hundred and seventy-three years ago in May of 1846, Congress was deciding whether or not the United States should declare war on Mexico. President James K. Polk said to Congress, "Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon the American soil... The two nations are now at war," (Mexican-American War). After Texas became an independent country from Mexico, the Texan and Mexicans never agreed where the border of Texas was: the Nueces River or the Rio Grande (Background, Mexican-American War Overview). This means that the U.S. soldiers shot by the Mexican troops didn't really have the right to be patrolling the land. The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because Mexico only fired on American troops as a result provocation, Mexico asked to keep the peace, and the U.S. gave up lives in a war to gain land. Mexican troops did fire first at American troops patrolling the border. The fact that Mexico fired the first shot may have seemed like a good reason for the United States to declare war. The background source says, "President Polk sent troops to this disputed area in March 1846. Mexicans saw this as an invasion and attacked U.S. troops" (Mexican-American War Overview). The problem is, the land where American blood was spilled didn't officially belong to the United States; the American troops were patrolling disputed land. Also, the Mexican troops were provoked into firing at the Americans. "Mexican-American War" explains that American General Zachary Taylor led his troops to the Rio Grande, directly across from Mexican troops stationed near Matamoros, Mexico. After General Taylor refused to obey the orders of the
Mexican commander and withdraw from Mexican territory, the two units had a disagreement. This led to the death of several U.S. soldiers. An excerpt from the newspaper article "The Mexican War: Its Origin and Conduct" says, "A Mexican force threatened to attack Texas... We merely ordered troops to protect a distant post.. The Mexicans took the lead with their usual craftiness and love of blood. Mexico murdered two officers and attacked some troops in Texas for no reason" (The United States Magazine and Democratic Review). This source is very biased and missing some of the facts. The author uses words like "craftiness" and "love of blood," which are opinions, insulting, and untrue. Therefore, this source is biased. This source also doesn't address the opposing claim, and it is missing key details such as the fact that the American troops were patrolling disputed territory. While Mexico did fire first, the American troops provoked the Mexicans by camping across from their troops, patrolling the disputed land, and refusing to leave. Despite this, Congress decided to declare war on Mexico. This is yet another reason why the war between Mexico and the United States wasn't justified. To begin with, Mexico asked the U.S. not to take Texas in order to preserve some level a of peace between the two countries, but President Polk ignored their requests. According to "Corwin's Speech," an excerpt from Senator Corwin's speech to the U.S. senate on February 11, 1847, the president of Mexico agreed to have a low-level official from the U.S. come to settle the boundary of Texas. Instead of sending a low-level official like Mexico desired, President Polk sent an important government official, Minister Slidell, to negotiate with Mexico. "Corwin's Speech" states, "...it is perfectly clear that if Mr. Slidell had acted as a humble official to work out the Texas boundary, treaties and not bullets would have solved the problem," (Corwin's Speech). This shows that it could have been possible to avoid the war entirely and work out the boundary of Texas with peaceful negotiation, but the U.S. didn't only want Texas. "Mexican-American War" says, "Slidell came with an offer to buy New Mexico and California for $30 million.
