...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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...reinterpretation of the Mexican War justified the actions that were committed in pursuit of Manifest Destiny. He recognized Polk’s aggression as a retaliation to Mexico’s uncooperative nature. By continuously commenting on the unreasonable reactions of Mexicans, he implies that the War could have been avoided; but, due to the stubbornness of Mexicans, the war was inevitable. Recent historians, like Amy S. Greenberg, have challenged this argument. Greenberg, like Merk, does not fully examine the Mexican perspective in her analysis; however, her research reveals the unjust nature of the war instead of justifying the war. In A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 US invasion of Mexico, Amy S. Greenberg emphasizes Polk’s territorial goals, to expand shore to shore, as a major cause of the war. Before Polk was elected as president, the Whig party predicted Polk’s election would lead to war. Polk pursued the...
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...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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...expansion were Americans and the Native Americans that were being poorly treated by the Americans. Although the Americans didn’t treat the Native Americans well, they also unfairly treated Mexicans and Chinese. During the Westward expansion in around the 1800s, people moved west to conquer new land including the lands of the Native Americans, Chinese, and Mexicans. They did this because they believed that moving west was their duty. This belief is called Manifest Destiny. When the Americans went to conquer these lands, Native Americans, Chinese, and Mexicans faced racism, harsh and unjust treatment, and discrimination. The experience of Native Americans in America during the...
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...Did the Americans have the right to manifest destiny/ annex Texas?Americans and Mexicans, In disputed territory or Texas/ Mexico. It all started when Mexico wanted more citizen so they made a compromise deal with Americans, they had to follow the guidelines that the Mexican government had created, but they broke them because they wanted to have slaves and were lazy people and Mexico did not like that idea. So because Americans wanted to disobey the law they thought it was a good idea to go to war with texas and eventually gained their independence.The U.s was not justified to go to war with Mexico because For one they stole mexico's land from under their nose, two Americans illegally brought slaves, which were specifically quoted in the deal,...
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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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...Mexican-American War The Mexican-American War was fought between the United States and Mexico between 1846 and 1848, and it was marked the first American military battle to be fought on foreign soil. The Mexican American War was mainly driven by the idea of “Manifest Destiny”; the belief that the Americans had a God-given right, based on racial superiority, to spread across the Pacific Ocean (Chavez 2). The motives that were really behind Manifest Destiny was the acquisition of new territory, and the Americans wanted territories which were relatively uninhabited by people they considered inferior. As Americans wandered in search of land towards the west, the reality that the majority of those lands had occupants living in them got overlooked. President Polk shared and guided the dream of manifest destiny, and offered to purchase some territory of Mexico. His aim was to convince Mexicans to get into a negotiation and surrender a portion of their land to America .However, the refusal of the offer by the Mexican government and the unbending of the Polk to populate the area resulted in tension in the two nations. President Polk told the congress that blood had been shed, and he provoked war with Mexicans. With the end of the Mexican War, the United States absorbed one third of that nation’s total area. Even though American’s gained a considerable amount of land, it created great political sectionalism in America. The Mexican American War was for the most part determined...
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...felt strongly about it, dedicating a whole essay as well as spending a night in jail for paying his taxes in protest of the unjust mexican american war. Civil disobedience is a form of protesting that most likely will result in legal repercussions, thus making it a more extreme form of protesting. Thoreau wrote about Civil Disobedience and the need for it is still relevant today. In thoreau’s time period he believed more men needed to stand up for what they believed in. He tried his best in not paying his taxes because he thought that by doing so he was funding the army that was fighting an unjust war. This was the mexican american war. By not paying his taxes Thoreau ended up having to go to jail and spent a night in jail. Thoreau also stood against slavery, he believed “According to "Civil Disobedience," the symbolism of a public act of principled defiance would galvanize the nation and lead quickly to the abolition of slavery” . Thoreau opens his essay stating that "That government is best which governs least.” showing his disdain with the american government and their unethical legislature. He believed justice was only achieved...
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...Mexico’s War of 1847 was fought for one main reason, for Texas. When Texas gained its independence in 1836, Mexico blames the United States for its loss. The land between the Sabine River and the Rio Grande was under dispute. The biggest problem was bringing slavery into this new land. Ulysses Grant stated “The southern rebellion was largely an outgrowth of the Mexican War”. The war was fought along 3 fronts, Monterrey, Buena Vista, and the beach south of Veracruz. The battle for Monterrey was a very costly struggle marked by bloody streets and a door-to-door struggle to secure the city. The Battle of Buena Vista was fought in a narrow pass between the mountain ranges south of the city of Saltillo. Most of Taylor’s men were volunteers who didn’t think they could win until Santa Anna withdrew his army in the safety of darkness. The third and final front required months of planning and carful coordination. General Scott led 9000 men on the beach in 5 hours without suffering a single casualty. After many close engagements, Scott occupied the Mexican capital in September 1847. After taking control of the Mexican capital the fighting came to an end. Mexico had several disadvantages going into the war. They had been independent only 25 years before the war started and had a long struggle to achieve social, economic, and political stability. The failure to establish a durable political arrangement was the main reason for being instable. The ill-assimilated Indians who inhabited the...
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...The Mexican people were subject to a wide range of oppression, and became second class citizens within the U.S. Mexicans as well the indigenous people never fully assimilated into American society, Mexicans as well as the indigenous became a colonized group of people within the United States conquest. After many years of institutionalized racism, Mexicans began to develop an identity, Chicano was a way for people to identify with who they were, and became the staple to gather up the masses as well as go against an unjust system that have not only put them in a position of isolation and segregation, but have too denied them the ability to gain access to the equality of rights that have once been fought for in relation to the Treaty of...
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...defined as the refusal to obey government laws, in an effort to bring upon a change in governmental policy or legislation. Civil disobedience is not an effort to dissolve the American government, because without government our society would result in chaos. Sometimes, when there is an unjust law and the government won't take the initiative to fix it, the public must act as civil disobedient to bring awareness and fix the unjust law. There have been times when citizens have felt the need to revolt against the government because of an issue that is unjust. There were such cases during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau made such actions to prove their point. Civil disobedience is justified when its goal is to obtain equal rights and service for everyone, without causing physical damage to people and their property, and without breaking the just laws that are already enforced. It should only be practiced when the government fails to uphold justice and fix laws that don't allow everyone the equal rights already given to some. In his essay, "Civil Disobedience" Thoreau wrote in 1849 after spending a night in the Walden town jail for refusing to pay a poll tax that supported the Mexican War. He recommended passive resistance as a form of tension that could lead to reform of unjust laws practiced by the government. He voiced civil disobedience as "An expression of the individual's liberty to create change" (Thoreau ). Thoreau felt that the government had...
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...order to establish a free and just society, the people must be willing to reject unjust and immoral laws. This is because laws that violate the human rights of any individuals threaten everyone else as well. Civil disobedience is the violation of unjust laws and acceptance of the punishment that comes with breaking those laws. The punishment that comes with violating the law must be accepted in order to ensure that order is maintained and that so to draw a distinction between civil disobedience and lawlessness. Peaceful resistance to unjust laws is needed in order expose and call attention to laws that are unjust and therefore positively impacts society. The resistance must be peaceful or many may be unwilling...
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...cusp of the Mexican-American War, which he protested heavily against as he believed it to be a plot to extend slavery. Dr. King on the other hand was in the heart of the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1960s, objecting the oppression of African-American lives with unrestrained fervor. In Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government” and Dr. King’s “Letter to Birmingham City Jail” they shared comparable principles, since they both fought against the unjust actions of their era by their preparedness to go to jail for their views and by informing their reader the significance of fighting for what they believe to be right. Firstly, in both essays they wrote about how they...
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...up and opposed joining the military draft. That soon caused him to be stripped of his boxing title and was sentenced to five years in prison, but was appealed and avoided his prison sentence. Another example is Henry David Thoreau, who spent a night in jail for not paying his taxes, in protest of the Mexican American War. The influence of Henry Thoreau's writing has been read by civil rights leaders in the United States and around the world over the years. He believes when the government is doing wrong that the people should refuse to follow the law, like he did due to the practice of slavery in some territories. And the only purpose of the government was to ensure individual freedom and not misuse...
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...In this battle analysis, I will analyze the Mexican-American war, discuss when the battle occurred, where it took place, the principle adversaries, review the settings of the battle operationally, and discuss the different areas of operation, such as the weather and terrain. I will also describe and analyze the American and Mexican armies in leadership, size and composition, technology, logistical systems, command, control and communications, intelligence, tactical doctrine and morale, the battle chronologically, followed by the significance of the battle, addressing the effects of the war and how lessons learned from this war affect the way our military operates today. So first, lets start by discussing the Mexican-American war. During April 25, 1846 to February 2, 1848 the Mexican American War occurred. This conflict happened between the Centralist Republic or Mexico and the Unite States. The war consisted of four campaigns as follows, the Texas, California, Pacific Coast and Mexico campaigns. President James K. Polk, who was elected in 1844, believed the United States had a “manifest destiny” to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean (Frazier, 1998). At first, the United States declined to incorporate Texas into the union, because northern political interests were against the addition of a new slave state. The Mexican government encouraged border raids and warnings that if any attempt to annex Texas it would lead to a war. As time went by Polk had his eyes on the...
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