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The Us -Mexican War

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The U.S. –Mexican War
Article Reviews
Chicano Studies 141
Paula Riddell
March 22, 2013

This pre-war article talks about the Anglo-Saxon expansion of the west. The U.S. wanted to expand their civilization and fulfill what they saw as their “manifest destiny”(Edmunds). They intended to expand their colonies and settle into unknown territory and bring it to life. There was only one problem. The west already had life and that was the
Indians, so they had to move. Was this fair? No but the way they justified their thinking was the
Indians had a different way of life and it didn’t fit the mold of the U.S. They thought the Indians were uneducated, unclean, savages who didn’t know how to make the most of the modern civilization. The rest of the unknown territory needed railroads, manufacturing, and agricultural growth. They also thought the Indians would be better off with their own kind and in a place of their own, meaning further west. But the Indians were educated people. They could read and write, some spoke three languages and they were the original expansionists. They helped tame the west and shape it way before the settlers. They were already “farmers and entrepreneurs”(Edmunds). Also, the Indians didn’t believe anyone owned the land, it was for everyone to share. So this land that was founded on the rights of others (U.S.), decided to take their land (the Indians) and basically told them you don’t belong here. This land is ours now. But the U.S. was a democracy and this was their destiny, to bring their knowledge and
“technology” (Edmunds) to the untamed west. After all, they were just doing what all the other countries were doing, growing, prospering and bringing this land into the 19th century. I think the displacement of the Indians has always been a black spot on the white shirt of American history. The early

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