Cover: The U.S. War with Mexico, 1st Edition by Ernesto Chavez
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The U.S. War with Mexico

A Brief History with DocumentsFirst Edition ©2008 Ernesto Chavez

The U.S. war with Mexico was a pivotal event in American history, it set crucial wartime precedents and served as a precursor for the impending Civil War. With a powerful introduction and rich collection of documents, Ernesto Ch‡vez makes a convincing case that as an expansionist war, the U.S.-Mexic...
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ISBN:9781319242794

ISBN:9780312249212

Cover: The U.S. War with Mexico, 1st Edition by Ernesto Chavez

The U.S. war with Mexico was a pivotal event in American history, it set crucial wartime precedents and served as a precursor for the impending Civil War. With a powerful introduction and rich collection of documents, Ernesto Ch‡vez makes a convincing case that as an expansionist war, the U.S.-Mexico conflict set a new standard for the acquisition of foreign territory through war. Equally important, the war racialized the enemy, and in so doing accentuated the nature of whiteness and white male citizenship in the U.S., especially as it related to conquered Mexicans, Indians, slaves, and even women. The war, along with ongoing westward expansion, heightened public debates in the North and South about slavery and its place in newly-acquired territories. In addition, Ch‡vez shows how the political, economic and social development of each nation played a critical role in the path to war and its ultimate outcome. Both official and popular documents offer the events leading up to the war, the politics surrounding it, popular sentiment in both countries about it, and the war’s long-term impact on the future development and direction of these two nations. Headnotes, a chronology, maps and a selected bibliography enrich student understanding of this important historical moment.

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Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Map: Contested Terrain in the U.S. War with Mexico

PART ONE. INTRODUCTION: Race, Manifest Destiny, and the U.S. War with Mexico

Manifest Destiny

Neighboring Republics

Indians and Westward Expansion

Colonizing Texas

The Republic of Texas and U.S.-Mexico Diplomatic Relations

Toward War

Popular Opinion and the War in the United States

Waging the War

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Foreigners in Their Native Land

Manifest Destiny Exported

Conclusion

PART TWO. THE DOCUMENTS

1. John L. O’Sullivan, Annexation, July–August 1845

2. U.S. Congress, Naturalization Act, March 26, 1790

3. Agustín de Iturbide, Plan de Iguala, February 24, 1821

4. Mexican Constitutional Congress, Mexican Constitution, 1824

5. U.S. Congress, Indian Removal Act, May 28, 1830

6. United States and Kingdom of Spain, Treaty of San Lorenzo, October 27, 1795

7. United States and France, Louisiana Purchase Treaty, April 30, 1803

8. Mexican Government, National Colonization Law, August 18, 1824

9. Legislature of Coahuila-Texas, Coahuila-Texas State Colonization Law, March 24, 1825

10. Manuel Mier y Terán, Letter to War Department, November 29, 1829

11. Benjamin Lundy, Conditions for African Americans in Mexican Texas, 1833

12. Texan Consultation of Representatives, Texas Declaration of Independence, March 2, 1836

13. Antonio López de Santa Anna, Message to the Inhabitants of Texas, March 7, 1836

14. Eulalia Yorba, Another Story of the Alamo: The Battle Described by an Alleged Eyewitness, April 1896

15. El Mosquito Mexicano, Article Criticizing U.S. Interests in Texas, June 14, 1836

16. Daniel Webster, The Admission of Texas December 22, 1845

17. John Slidell, Diplomatic Dispatch to James Buchanan, January 1846

18. General Pedro de Ampudia and General Zachary Taylor, Dispatches, April 12, 1846

19. General Zachary Taylor, Dispatch to Adjutant General of the Army, April 26, 1846

20. President James K. Polk, War Message to Congress, May 11, 1846

21. Hugh White, Statement Against the Two-Million-Dollar Bill, August 8, 1846

22. David Wilmot, Wilmot Proviso, August 8, 1846

23. Frederick Douglass, The War With Mexico, January 21, 1848

24. New York Herald, Editorial in Support of the War with Mexico, February 20, 1847

25. Walt Whitman, War With Mexico, May 11, 1846

26. Theodore Parker, A Sermon of the Mexican War, June 1846

27. Henry David Thoreau, On Civil Disobedience, 1848

28. Women of Exeter, England, and Philadelphia, Women’s Peace Petition, June 1846

29. Susan Shelby Magoffin, Comments on Mexican Women, 1846

30. American Officer, The Virtues of Mexican Women, September 1846

31. Henry William Herbert, Pierre the Partisan: A Tale of the Mexican Marches, 1848

32. Our Jonathan, Song of the Volunteers, 1846

33. John Greenleaf Whittier, The Angels of Buena Vista, 1847

34. James Russell Lowell, The Biglow Papers, 1846

35. George Wilkins Kendall, The Mexican Joan of Arc, January 12, 1847

36. Samuel E. Chamberlain, My Confession, 1855

37. Ramón Alcaraz, Description of the Battle of Buena Vista, 1850

38. Citizens of New Mexico, Report to the President of Mexico, September 26, 1846

39. Ralph W. Kirkham, Description of the City of Puebla, June 28, 1847

40. Gideon Johnson Pillow, Letter to Mary Hamilton Pillow, September 28, 1847

41. American Star, Comment on Interactions Between Mexicans and Americans, November 6, 1847

42. Ramón Alcaraz, Observations on the American Occupation of Mexico City, 1850

43. John C. Calhoun, Speech on the War with Mexico, January 4, 1848

44. United States and Mexico, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 1848

45. President Manuel de la Peña y Peña, An Address in Support of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, May 7, 1848

46. Manuel Crescencio Rejón, Observations on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, April 17, 1848

47. Nathan Clifford, The Protocol of Querétaro, 1848

48. U.S. Congress, California Land Act, March 3, 1851

49. California Landowners, Petition to the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, February 11, 1859

50. Juan N. Seguín, A Foreigner in My Native Land, 1858

51. Francisco Ramírez, Californian Hospitality, September 18, 1855

52. Los Angeles Star, An Interview with Noted Bandit Tiburcio Vásquez, May 16, 1874

53. Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin, This is Our Manifest Destiny, November 24, 1897

Appendixes

A Chronology of Events Related to the U.S.-Mexico War (1789–1897)

Questions for Consideration

Selected Bibliography

Index
Headshot of Ernesto Chavez

Ernesto Chavez

Ernesto Chavez (PhD, University of California, Los Angeles) is Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at El Paso. Chavez’s research interests center on the Mexican and Mexican American past. His first book, Mi Raza Primero! (My People First): Nationalism, Identity, and Insurgency in the Chicano Movement in Los Angeles, 1966-1978, was published in 2002 and focused on the rise of the Chicano movement in this California city. At present, he is working on a biography of Mexican-born, silent film star Ramon Novarro, tentatively titled Crossing the Boundaries of Race, Religion, and Desire: The Life of Ramon Novarro.