Transcript History 1302: United States History since 1877

The War Against Mexico,
1846-1848
Thesis
• In order to understand the multicultural makeup of
the United States in the 21st century, it is necessary
to explain the conflict and evolution of the
colonization of Texas and the Southwest since the
early 1800s. Such interactions, often violent,
between European Americans, ethnic Mexicans,
African Americans, Native Americans, Asian
Americans and other ethnic groups, resulted in a rich
history which is reflected in the ethnic make up of
the Unites States today.
Slavery in Florida
• Since the 1730s. Runaway African American
slaves from Georgia and the Carolinas,
enlisting them into the Spanish militia.
The Peninsular War
• Napoleon’s armies invaded Spain and Portugal in
1801. Acquires Spanish Louisiana
• Vacuum in Latin America
• Mexican Independence Revolution, 1810-1821.
• 1810. Mexican insurgent leader Priest Miguel Hidalgo
abolishes African and Indian slavery and returns
lands to the Indians.
• Early 1800s. Aaron Burr: “Mexican Texas is ripe for
annexation”.
Tejanos and Texians in Texas
• In 1828, a new Mexican government sought to regain control
of Texas by restricting immigration, and raising custom duties.
• 1829. The Mexicans abolished slavery. President Vicente
Guerrero. Sought to reaffirm the prohibition of slavery in
Texas.
• Mexican government established a series of military posts to
enforce the aforementioned measures.
• Runaway slaves: Freedom in exchange for military service.
• Americans came to see their own culture as superior to that
of the “mongrel Spanish-Indian.”
• Slavery became the primary topic of disagreement between
Mexican authorities and U.S. settlers in Texas in the 1830s.
Origins of the Mexican-American
War
• James K. Polk committed to expanding U.S. territory.
• 1846. President Polk orders Zachary Taylor to take 3,500
troops, volunteer paramilitaries, and Texas Rangers, from the
Nueces River to the Rio Grande.
• April 25-May 8. Four separate skirmishes between Mexicans
and Americans at the Rio Grande. c. 64 American casualties, c.
600 Mexican casualties.
• 10 April 1846. Colonel Truman Cross killed.
• April 25. A patrol of Taylor's soldiers surrounded and attacked
by Mexicans: sixteen dead, others wounded, the rest
captured.
• May 13, 1846. U.S. Congress declared war on Mexico.
Mr. Polk’s War
• Opposition from abolitionists and northerners.
• Henry David Thoreau: It is a moral obligation to disobey
unethical laws.
• Abraham Lincoln of Illinois: “The war was unprovoked and
unnecessary”, but voted in favor of war appropriations
• Joshua Giddings of Ohio, called it "an aggressive, unholy, and
unjust war."
• Mass and individual protests.
• Polk planned the war strategy, sending troops into the
northern provinces of Mexico, conquering New Mexico and
California. Victories in central Mexico were costly.
Conflicting American Goals
• Ultra-expansionists wanted all of Mexico.
• Southerners demanded withdrawal to the Rio
Grande.
• President James Polk and the Democrats
wanted to annex all the Mexican territory
north or the 26 parallel (north and west of the
Rio Grande. See map on Levinson, p. 116).
Ethnic Composition of the Invading
Army
• c. 40% recent immigrants, mostly Irish and
German Catholics.
• Few African Americans.
The Mexican-American War, 1846–48
Wars Within War
• Nationalist insurgents. Knowing that the national
army couldn’t hold its ground against the Americans,
in early 1847 acting President of Mexico Pedro Maria
Anaya commissioned leading citizens as leaders of
Light Corps.
• Peasant and indigenous insurgents. Besides these
groups, spontaneous peasant and indigenous
guerrillas arose in 1847. These spontaneous groups
attacked both the haciendas of the Mexican rich and
the American invaders.
Divide and Conquer
• Mexican Conservatives vs Mexican Liberals
• Moderate Liberals vs. Puro Liberals
• The Americans “legitimized” a Puro Liberal local government
of Mexico City. They also courted the Conservatives
• Peasant and Indigenous vs Large Landholders
• 1846-1848. Thirty-Five separate revolts in different parts of
Mexico.
• Mexican Regular Army, Light Corps, Peasant-Indigenous
Guerrillas
Guerrilla Leadership
• Important guerrilla leaders
included Benito Juarez,
Miguel Negrete, and Santos
Degollado in central Mexico,
and Juan Cortina in the
South Texas-Mexico border.
• Juan Cortina, Mexican
borderlands hero, fighting
the Americans since 1845.
Juan Cortina as a guerrilla leader.
The Mexican-American War, 1846–48
Saint Patrick’s Batallion
(Los San Patricios)
• At least 800 Catholic Irish Americans and
German American soldiers deserted.
• Discriminated against in the U.S. army
because of their religion.
• Felt the war was unjust.
• Joined the Mexican army.
• Those who were captured by the Americans
faced execution.
Lancers (Chinacos)
Siege of Atlixco and destruction of
towns and villages
• July 1847. Gen. John E. Wool in Coahuila ordered that all insurgents
captured be executed on the spot.
• City of Atlixco, Puebla, believed to be a base of a group of guerrilla
insurgents by the Americans.
• October, 1847. General Joseph Lane ordered the bombardment of the city.
c. 319 killed, 219 wounded.
• Fall 1847. Scorched earth campaign to destroy towns and villages along
the path of U.S. supply lines.
• Dec. 1847. Gen. Winfield Scott in central Mexico ordered that all
insurgents captured be executed on the spot.
• Counter-insurgency measures included widespread destruction of villages,
summary execution of insurgents, collective financial punishment upon
municipalities, and the assignment of 26% of W. Scott’s forces to antiguerrilla duties.
American Casualties
(see Levinson’s book, p. 123)
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90,000 Americans served in the war.
40% of them were recent immigrants, mostly Irish and German Catholics
Most of those fighting were recent volunteers without formal training
c. 1,721 died in action.
c. 11,155 died of disease and exposure to the elements.
c. 5,000 desertions.
c. 20,000 total loses, including dead and disabled due to wounds and
injuries.
• Reports of atrocities by the Americans undermined popular support for
the war.
• Harassment by Mexican guerrillas undermined the morale of American
soldiers.
• Estimates of Mexicans killed in the war vary between 40,000 and 200,000.
Regime Change
and State Building
• Even during the occupation in 1847, Mexican elites collaborated with the
Americans in crushing indigenous and peasant revolts.
• Treaty agreed between U.S. Peace Commissioner in Mexico, Nicholas P. Trist,
and Mexico’s interim President, Manuel de la Peña at Queretaro.
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed Feb. 2, 1848.
• After signing the treaty, the Americans give the Mexican army their weapons
back.
• Guerrilla leaders outraged, want to keep fighting.
• The Americans assisted the Mexican elites in crushing their common enemy:
peasant-indigenous guerrillas.
• The Americans also supplied the Mexican army with a new arsenal at deeply
discounted prices, and returned weapons confiscated at the beginning of the
war.
Regime Change and
State Building (continued)
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Most leaders of Light Corps ceased fighting after the signing of the Treaty, except for
Juan Cortina.
The Mexican government hand-picked by the Americans receives 15 million dollars.
American troops left Sept. 6, 1848.
The Americans made sure to leave a strong pro-American well-armed government
ruling Mexico.
Mexican rebel leaders Santos Degollado, Miguel Negrete, Benito Juarez, and Juan
Cortina denounced the collaborators and vowed to continue fighting.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
signed Feb. 2, 1848.
• Mexican puppet regime gives up lands north
of the Rio Grande in exchange for 15 million
dollars.
• American government guarantees the
property rights and civil rights of Mexicans
living in lands transferred from Mexico to the
U.S.
• In the official census, Mexicans will be
classified as Caucasians (whites).
Mission and Rancheria Indians
• Hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people forcefully brought to
Missions and Rancherias by the Spanish in the Texas, California, and New
Mexico territories.
• Built the missions into plantation-like, prosperous enterprises that
benefitted the Church.
• 1821. Missions privatized. Rancheria and mission Indians became farm
laborers.
• 1835-1900. Texas and American historical phase. In Texas and California,
Rancheria and Mission Indians became Mexicans in order to avoid
extermination.
• In McMullen v. Hodge and Others (1849), the state of Texas ruled that
ranchería and mission Indians who tried to pass for Mexicans can live
amongst non-Indians and thus avoid extermination or removal to
reservations.
Sources
• Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!: An American History, Seagull Fourth Edition.
New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.
• Carol Berkin, et.al., Making America: A History of the United States.
Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2012.
• Kevin M. Schultz, HIST, Volume 1. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning,
2011.
• Jacqueline Jones, et.al., Created Equal: A History of the United States,
Third Edition. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009.
• Edward L. Ayers, et.al. American Passages: A History of the United States,
4th Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2009.
• John Mack Faragher, et.al., Out of Many: A History of the American People,
Combined Volume, Seventh Edition. New York: Pearson Longman, 2011.
• Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, 1492-Present. New
York: Harper Collins, 2003.