...The Mexican-American War was from 1846 to1848; it marked the first U.S. armed conflict. Mexico’s militarily was unprepared against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. Polk, who believed the United States, had a manifest destiny to expand United States territory, but also was destined for westward expansion. United States declined to unite as one country because Texas political interests were against slavery states. Texas gained its independence from Mexico in 1836. When James K. Polk offered to purchase California and New Mexico was rejected, he instigated a fight by ordering General Taylor and his forces south into a borderline zone between the Rio Grande and Nueces River that both countries previously recognized as part of the Mexican...
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...Mexican-American War Just or Unjust The territory that started a war. “Two times over the next nine years, Texas applied to the United States Congress for annexation.” Was the United States justified by going to war? Where the Mexican-American War could be viewed as just by some, and unjust by others, the war was ultimately just. The U.S. was just, in going to war with Mexico, because Texas wanted to be in the United States territory and their leader did not care. “The treaty signed between Texas and the United States” (Document C). Which means Texas wanted to be part of the U.S. Also, Manifest Destiny “Polk was a strong supporter of Manifest Destiny. He believed it was God’s plan, that America extent its territory all the way to the pacific...
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...Nobody likes a robber.Especially when they live right next door. You see, the Americans had just gotten the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 which gave them lots of land. Then later Mexico gained its independence in 1821. After that in 1836 Texas decided to be independent too.(Background Essay) The Texans decided to sign a treaty with the U. S. and then the Americans got greedy again. They wanted the land from the Nueces River down to the Rio Grande. They wanted it so bad that they decided to go to war over it with Mexico. The United States might have been justified in going to war. No, the U. S. was not justified in going to war with Mexico because America was being disrespectful, America was stealing land, and America wanted a war. The first...
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...------------------------------------------------- Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo The Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe HidalgoSo far from God, so close to the United States – Old Mexican SayingOn September 14, 1847 the Mexican flag was not flying over the Mexican capital. Instead, Mexico’s neighbor to the north had captured the country. How and why did the United States defeat Mexico in the Mexican-American War? To the victors went what spoils? This essay will answer these questions in a nutshell.Throughout the 19th Century, the United States was increasing in power and population while Mexico was stuck in chronic “political unrest, civil conflicts, depleted treasuries, [and] separatist movements” (Oscar J. Martinez, Troublesome Border [Tucson: the University of Arizona Press, 1988], 51). The U.S. was also heavily influenced by Manifest Destiny—the idea that the U.S. had the natural right to rule North America from coast to coast. Consequently, various presidential administrations in the 1820s and 30s sought to purchase land from Mexico, with no avail.In 1835, Texas battled and gained independence from Mexico; Texas was a sovereign country for the next decade (the Lone Star Republic). In the Treaty of Velasco, the Texas-Mexico border was established along the Rio Grande. Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (pronounced “Santana”) signed the treaty but the problem lied in the fact that the Mexican Congress did not ratify it, nor did Mexican presidents after Santa...
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...In his essay/ lecture “Resistance to Civil Government”, the author and philosopher Henry Thoreau argues that a man should not be forced by his own government to do anything that goes against his conscious or natural sense of morality. Likewise, he believes it is better for a man to disobey any law or ruling he deems unjust, and accept the consequences of his actions, rather than live with a mind weighted with guilt.Thoreau himself had experience with this situation, having spent a night in a local jail after refusing to pay his poll taxes, which would have helped to fund the illegal Mexican War. While reading this work, it becomes clear that Thoreau has identified and outlined a few things that he wishes for the reader to do. He encourages the reader to challenge unjust authority, disobey unjust laws, and lastly, seek to make change within the state. Firstly, Thoreau writes that to make a change in civil government, one must challenge the state on issues that are deemed to be unjust, prejudiced and unfair. In particular to the time in which this essay was written, the issue of slavery was at the height of debate. Thoreau himself was an abolitionist, and frequently campaigned and wrote for the cause, even though the practice of slavery was still legal and protected in...
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...The US has influenced the history of Mexico more than any other country in the world. There is no other Latin American country that lost so much in one fell swoop against a power hungry neighbor from the north. In one single act the US took all the land making up the areas we call home. California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada were taken from Mexico, in one of the largest land seizures of the century. This act was one of the results of the Mexican-American war of 1846, and will remain to be a topic of hostility between Mexican American relations till the end of time. The war is a historical event that has a shadow of suspicion cast over it. It seems to be misunderstood by all sides and it seems like the more that one looks into and researches...
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...The American Dream Is wanting a better life a crime? Doesn’t everyone deserve the opportunity to constantly improve? Wouldn’t it make more sense if people tried to comprehend the choices others make without chastising and belittling them? Immigrants have always wanted to live the American dream; however, not only do they always encounter the reality of their struggles in life, but they are also psychologically and verbally abused. The novel, The Tortilla Curtain by T.C Boyle, demonstrates the abuse, racism, and cultural stereotypes that immigrants are subjected to, as well as, the idea that, no matter how hard an immigrant may try to retain the fantasy of the American Dream, in the end, the reality of North American racism and cultural stereotypes is always present. Tortilla...
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...vast majority of Mexicans, Texas was first claimed by the Spanish, and later declared its own independence in 1836, seceding from Mexico to become the Republic of Texas. This newfound independence was short-lived however, in 1845, the United States government decided to annex Texas in order to create a new state for the growing country. Although at the time Texas’s population was still dominated by Mexicans, slowly whites began to migrate to Texas to take advantage of fertile, cheap land, perfect for ranching and agriculture. This growing number of whites brought many problems among the native Mexican people; these will later be explored in this essay. Mexico did not take well to Texas’s secession and the United State’s recent annexation; consequently they saw the state as a rebel territory. From 1846 to 1848, the Mexican/American war was fought; ultimately, the United States won, but it did not put a stop to the localized conflicts and battles still being fought between Mexicans and the immigrating whites. Ben Johnson, author of Revolution in Texas, explores the revolution following the conclusion of the Mexican/American war. Johnson speaks of a different revolution, separate from the original war, a revolution that was fueled by racial, land, cultural, and border disputes. When the railroad finally reached Texas in 1904, this sparked a massive influx of white settlers that only fueled the growing dissent among Mexican rancheros and farmers. Whites and Mexicans clashed over land...
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...In the current state of the Archmere AP English Language curriculum, students read from The Language of Composition and explore literature on the themes of gender, economics, politics, language, community, and environment. However, the current curriculum excludes a good number of essays in the book. For example, in the essay “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience”, Henry David Thoreau reacts to slavery and the Mexican-American war by arguing that American citizens have not only a right, but a responsibility, to resist their government when it becomes unjust. Similarly, Sarah Vowell uses her essay “The Partly Cloudy Patriot”, to qualify what it means to be a good citizen while the government takes action she does not support. Vowell’s concerns...
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...Tammy Prater Survey of American History I HIST 2010 Spring 2014 “Manifest Destiny and American Territorial Expansion A Brief History with Documents” By Carrie Duncan Manifest Destiny is an event, and a philosophy, that changed how the United States expanded from thirteen colonies into what it is today. The term, Manifest Destiny, was first used in 1845 by John O'Sullivan, to give explanation for the United States' right of expansion. He stated that"...the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federaltive development of self government entrusted to us. It is right such as that of the tree to the space of air and the earth suitable for the full expansion of its principle and destiny of growth." 1 The principle behind Manifest Destiny has been around since Christopher Columbus first discovered the Caribbean. Many years after Columbus' discovery of the New World, Europe and Mexico were wanting to expand, and control new territories in North America. This want for new territory, would cause boundary issues and fears to arise soon after the Revolutionary War with the fledgling government of the United States. These boundary issues and fears would help the supporters, who wanted to expand the United States borders, to push for acquiring new territories in...
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...Abstract: Civil disobedience is the valuable spiritual wealth of American spirits. From Henry David Thoreau to Martin Luther King, civil disobedience theory also had developed into a new stage. American people began to commonly accept and practice the civil disobedience theory, which pushed American Civil Rights Movement forward. This essay focuses on the origination of the civil disobedience and briefly introduces its development. Key Words: Civil disobedience Conscience Government 1、 Thoreau’s Imprisonment The Mexican-American war, which started from 1846, was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico over the territorial dispute of Texas. Most abolitionists and transcendentalists were against this war, because they thought that this war was an act of a bullying government anxious to grab land from a weaker nation. Some even thought this war was a conspiracy of the southern slaveholders. Then Texas admitted slavery, while Mexico forbade slavery. They regarded this war as the expansion of slavery, which could strengthen the influence of the south in federation. Therefore the abolitionists and transcendentalists did their best to resist this war. Among them, Henry David Thoreau was a famous representative. Thoreau did not agree this aggressive war. To resist, he refused to pay the Massachusetts poll tax, which was a “per head” tax imposed on all citizens to help support the Mexican War. His refusal landed him in the Concord jail in 1846. As he...
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...pay a poll tax, believing that it supported the Mexican-American war and the expansion of slavery. Because of this, Thoreau was arrested by a sheriff and jailed overnight. But being the Protester he is, Thoreau used his jail time and refusal to pay the poll tax as a way to inspire and raise awareness about the Mexican-American War. After he was released, he wrote an essay called “Resistance to Civil Government”, later titled “Civil Disobedience.” The essay was written about how tyrannical the government’s actions were and how we were to change things. “Civil Disobedience” has been an influence to peaceful protesters around the world, such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Without Martin Luther King Jr. our country might still be discriminating and racist. Without Thoreau’s inspiring essay, Martin Luther King Jr.’s protests may not have been as effective and peaceful as they...
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...González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros in the year 2000, there has been an indubitable resurgence in the amount of interest in, and amount of films being produced within Mexico. This picture, as well as Y Tu Mamá También (2001) by Alfonso Cuarón both received worldwide acclaim and have set a high benchmark for the other Mexican releases since the millennium to live up to. This essay will explore the prominence of narrative structure in the aforementioned Amores Perros (2001), as well as Amat Escalante’s Los Bastardos (2008) and Guillermo Del Toro’s El Espinazo del Diablo (2001). The constituents of a film’s narrative structure come under two different entities: the content of the film’s story, and the way in which the story is presented to the spectator. Vis-à-vis the content of the films story, the essay will mention how, on a thematic level, these films each rely heavily on the use of violence to delineate its message and intentions. James Kendrick states that the use of violence in a film is employed as a structuring device and it is evident that each of these films uses violence for differing intentions, of which the essay will later make discernible. Subsequently, the essay will contrast the order in which the stories are presented to the viewer, chiefly, regarding how Amores Perros uses a non-linear structure while Los Bastardos and El Espinazo del Diablo use a linear structure. Finally, the ending of the films will be discussed. These films are all open ended and are open to interpretation...
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...Grant vs Pemberton Essay The seemingly average general conquered the well known general in what seemed to be an underdog victory.The Commonlit article, “The Siege of Vicksburg: A Tale of Two Generals,” by Mike Kubic, describes why the battle between opposing generals John Pemberton and Ulysses S. Grant may not have been an underdog victory. The article describes each general’s past, uprising, and the battle between them. Grant and Pemberton both attended West Point Military Academy and during their time there, they both nearly flunked out because of their drinking problems. Pemberton however, easily rose ranks in the military while Grant struggled to be noticed by military officers. Grant and Pemberton had very similar early military carriers...
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...US History II Honors 16 September 2015 Pre-Civil War Essay The first cause of the American Civil War was the Mexican-American War in 1848. The Mexican-American war was fought in order to determine which country gained control over the south-western states. The south-western states include; Texas, New Mexico, California, and Arizona. In the end the Mexican-American war concluded with an American victory. At the same time the Mexican-American War was taking place the California Gold Rush was also beginning. During the Gold Rush people from all over the US were traveling to California in the hopes of getting rich. Due to the quantity of people to go to California all at the same time California qualified for statehood (based on their population at the time). Prior to the Gold Rush in 1849 the US had 30 states; 15 free states (north) and 15 slave states (south). By adding California the number of states becomes an odd number. The southern states (slave) wanted California to enter as a slave state, and the northern states (free) wanted California to enter as a free state. The Compromise of 1850 made California a free state, which made the south mad that they were now no longer even with the north. In order to make the south happy since the north got California the Fugitive Slave Act was put into place. The Fugitive Slave Act was an act that said the north must help the south to retrieve their slaves who escaped to the north. The main problem with this act was that there...
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