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The Lone Star State

Lesson 3: The U.S.-Mexican War

Terms to Knowreparation payment for damages and sufferingenvoy a person who is sent by one government to represent it in dealing with another governmentrevise to change a textarmistice a temporary end to fightingabandon to leave and never return

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONESSENTIAL QUESTIONWhy does conflict develop?

Rio Gra

nde

Nueces R.

120°W

110°W 90°W 80°W

40°N

30°N

20°N

ATLANTICOCEAN

Gulf ofMexico

PACIFICOCEAN

San Francisco

San Diego

Los Angeles

Tampico

Corpus Christi

New Orleans

Doña Ana

Saltillo Matamoros

Mazatlán

San Antonio

San Pascual(Dec. 6, 1846)

El Brazito(Dec. 25, 1846)

Monterey(July 7, 1846)

Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma(May 8–9, 1846)

Veracruz(Mar. 29, 1847)Cerro Gordo

(Apr. 17–18, 1847)

Mexico City(Sept. 13, 1847)

Buena Vista(Feb. 22–23, 1847)

Monterrey(Sept. 21–24,1846)

Sacramento(Feb. 28, 1847)

Texas

Disputed withMexico

MexicanCession UNITED STATES

MEXICO

Mexican victoryU.S. victoryMexican forcesU.S. forcesMexican Cession

0 400 kilometers

400 miles0

Albers Equal-Area projection

N

S

EW

Where in the world? Where in the world?

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Lesson 3: The U.S.-Mexican War, continued

Defining

1. What are reparations?

Marking the Text

2. Highlight the sentences that explain the deal President Polk wanted Slidell to make with Mexico.

Explaining

3. Why did Mexican President Herrera react to the Slidell mission as he did?

Reading

Progress Check

4. What Mexican action angered President Polk?

Marking the Text

5. Highlight the sentence that tells how Congress reacted to Polk’s declaration of war.

Causes of the WarGuiding Question What disagreements and negotiations led up to the U.S.-Mexican war?

Texas’s annexation strained relations between the United States and Mexico. Mexico disputed the southern border of Texas. Texas and the United States maintained that it was at the Rio Grande. Mexico said it was at the Nueces River. Both nations claimed the land between the two rivers. The United States also demanded that Mexico pay reparations, or payments, to Americans for damages before and during the Texas Revolution. Mexico refused.

In 1845 President James K. Polk sent John Slidell as a secret envoy, or representative of the U.S. government, to Mexico. He wanted Slidell to purchase the disputed territory between the rivers and the area that is now California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Slidell was to settle any reparations claims, too. Slidell was to offer Mexico $30 million for the land.

Mexican president José Joaquín de Herrera feared that giving up anything to the United States would make him seem weak and cost him the support of his people. Herrera and Mexican officials refused to meet with Slidell.

Polk viewed the refusal to meet as an insult. He ordered General Zachary Taylor, the commander of the U.S. forces in Texas, to cross the Nueces River and camp near the Rio Grande. The Mexican government viewed the crossing of the Nueces by General Taylor’s troops as an invasion. Soon after, on April 25, 1846, Mexican troops attacked some of Taylor’s soldiers. Sixteen Americans were killed or injured.

On May 9, 1846, Polk was preparing a declaration of war against Mexico to present to Congress. It was to be based on Mexico’s failure to pay the reparations. Then Polk learned about the Mexican attack on what he saw as U.S. land. He could now make that the reason for war.

War and Its AftermathGuiding Question What did Texas and the United States gain as a result of the U.S.-Mexican War?

Polk quickly revised, or changed, the war declaration he had been preparing. After he delivered it to Congress on May 11, 1846, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly approved the declaration of war on May 13, 1846.

On May 8 and 9, General Taylor won battles at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, north of the Rio Grande. Then he led his army to Mexico.

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The Lone Star State

Lesson 3: The U.S.-Mexican War, continued

Explaining

6. What was the role of Texans in the war?

Identifying

7. What was the last battle of the U.S.-Mexican War and what was the outcome?

Marking the

Text

8. Circle the conditions that Mexico had to meet as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Identifying

Central Issues

9. What did the treaty promise Mexicans who were living in territory that became part of the United States?

Along with regular U.S. Army troops, Taylor had many Texas volunteers. More than 5,000 Texans fought in the U.S.-Mexican War. Governor J. Pinckney Henderson took a leave of absence to command Texas troops. Several companies of Texas Rangers assisted him.

Women also took part in the war. Sarah Borginnis, who followed her husband on the march, helped the troops by cooking, washing, and dressing wounds. She showed bravery during battle by loading cartridges and carrying wounded soldiers from the battlefield.

Taylor won the Battle of Monterrey in September 1846. He and the Mexican commander there agreed to an armistice, or a temporary end to fighting. President Polk told the army to continue its invasion of Mexico. Taylor then advanced to Saltillo. Meanwhile, a small army took control of Santa Fe before heading south into Mexico. Another American force seized cities in California.

In February 1847, General Santa Anna, who had returned to power, attacked Taylor’s forces. The two armies clashed in the Battle of Buena Vista. The Americans won.

American troops next invaded Mexico from the Gulf of Mexico. A large force landed at Veracruz. Santa Anna marched thousands of soldiers to meet the invaders. The two forces met in the Battle of Cerro Gordo on April 17–18, 1847. The Americans won, and the Mexican army retreated to Mexico City.

The last major battle came on September 12–13, 1847. The Battle of Chapultepec Castle was fought at a fort that protected Mexico City. American soldiers overran the fort. That night Santa Anna and his remaining troops abandoned, or left, Mexico City. Soon after, American forces marched into the city.

On February 2, 1848, both governments signed a peace treaty at Guadalupe Hidalgo (gwad•ah•LOO•pay ee•DAHL•goh). The treaty ended the war.

Treaty of Guadalupe HidalgoMexico agreed to: United States agreed to:

• Give up all claims to Texas • Pay Mexico $15 million • Accept the Rio Grande as

the border • Pay reparations up to $3.25 million

owed to U.S. citizens by Mexico• Give all territory between

Texas and the Pacific Ocean to the United States

• Guarantee rights to Mexicans living in the U.S.; they would have a year to become U.S. citizens

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The Lone Star State

Lesson 3: The U.S.-Mexican War, continued

Reading

Progress Check

10. How did the Pearce Plan and the Gadsden Purchase establish the boundaries of Texas and the United States?

The new territory became known as the Mexican Cession. It raised political issues in Texas and the United States. Southerners wanted the new territories open to slavery. Many Northerners objected to that. There was also a question of the Texas border with New Mexico. Texas claimed about half of what is now New Mexico. However, the people there did not want to be part of Texas. Also, many Northerners feared that Texans would introduce slavery into the area.

After much debate, Congress worked out the Compromise of 1850. It said that California would be admitted as a free, or non-slave, state. The voters in the remaining parts of the Mexican Cession could decide about slavery for themselves. The Pearce Plan was part of the Compromise. In this plan, Texas agreed to give up claims to New Mexico for $10 million to pay off its public debt.

In 1852 Franklin Pierce was elected U.S. president. He arranged the purchase of a small section of Mexican land at the southern border of New Mexico and Arizona. James Gadsden, the U.S. minister to Mexico, carried out the deal. The United States paid $10 million for the area known as the Gadsden Purchase. The purchase set the border between the United States and Mexico.

Writing Writing

Check for Understanding1. Expository What was U.S. President Polk’s original reason for war with Mexico? What was

the final reason?

2. Expository What political issues did the Mexican Cession cause for the United States and Texas?

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