Mexican-American War

The Mexican-American War (1846-48) was fought over control of Texas. Mexico lost all the battles and in the peace treaty gave up northern territories in exchange for $15 million.

US army route to Mexico City 1847

Battle of Buena Vista 1847

Peace

Mexico was in no position to negotiate with Slidell because of its instability. In 1846 alone the presidency changed hands 4 times, the war minister changed 6 times, the finance minister changed 16 times. As one Mexican historian explains:

"Mexican public opinion and all the various political factions that aspired to or that actually shared in power at that time, had to—willingly or unwillingly—participate in a very hawkish attitude toward the war. 3 Anyone who tried to avoid open conflict with the United States was treated as a traitor. That was precisely the case of President José Joaquin de Herrera. At one time he, at least, seriously considered receiving the American special envoy, John Slidell, in order to negotiate the problem of Texas annexation peacefully. But as soon as he assumed that position, the president was accused of favoring the handing over of a part of national territory; he was accused of treason and was overthrown."

Bibliography

Surveys

• Bauer K. Jack. The Mexican War, 1846-1848. Macmillan, 1974.
• Crawford, Mark; Heidler, Jeanne T.; Heidler, David Stephen, eds. Encyclopedia of the Mexican War (1999) (ISBN 157607059X)
• De Voto, Bernard, Year of Decision 1846 (1942)
• Meed, Douglas. The Mexican War, 1846-1848 (2003). A short survey.
• Smith, Justin Harvey. The War with Mexico. 2 vol (1919). Pulitzer Prize winner.
• California History, Bancroft - http://www.1st-hand-history.org/Hhb/HHBindex.htm

Military

• Bauer K. Jack. Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest. (1985).
• Eisenhower, John. So Far From God: The U.S. War with Mexico, (1989)
• Frazier, Donald S. The U.S. and Mexico at War, (1998)
• Hamilton, Holman, Zachary Taylor: Soldier of the Republic , (1941)
• Johnson, Timothy D. Winfield Scott: The Quest for Military Glory, University Press of Kansas (1998)
• Foos, Paul. A Short, Offhand, Killing Affair: Soldiers and Social Conflict during the Mexican War (2002)
• Lewis, Lloyd. Captain Sam Grant (1950)
• Winders, Richard Price. Mr. Polk's Army Texas A&M Press (1997)

Political and Diplomatic

• Albert J. Beveridge; Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1858. Volume: 1. 1928.
• Gleijeses, Piero. "A Brush with Mexico" Diplomatic History 2005 29(2): 223-254. Issn: 0145-2096 debates in Washington before war
• Graebner, Norman A. Empire on the Pacific: A Study in American Continental Expansion. (1955).
• Graebner, Norman A. "Lessons of the Mexican War." Pacific Historical Review 47 (1978): 325-42.
• Graebner, Norman A. "The Mexican War: A Study in Causation." Pacific Historical Review 49 (1980): 405-26.
• Pletcher David M. The Diplomacy of Annexation: Texas, Oregon, and the Mexican War (1973).
• Price, Glenn W. Origins of the War with Mexico: The Polk-Stockton Intrigue. (1967).
• Schroeder John H. Mr. Polk's War: American Opposition and Dissent, 1846-1848. 1973.
• Sellers Charles G. James K. Polk: Continentalist, 1843-1846 (1966).
• Smith, Justin Harvey. The War with Mexico. 2 vol (1919). Pulitzer Prize winner.
• Weinberg Albert K. Manifest Destiny: A Study of Nationalist Expansionism in American History Johns Hopkins University Press, 1935.

Mexican perspectives

• Brack, Gene M. Mexico Views Manifest Destiny, 1821-1846: An Essay on the Origins of the Mexican War (1975).
• Fowler, Will. Tornel and Santa Anna: The Writer and the Caudillo, Mexico, 1795-1853 (2000)
• Krauze, Enrique. Mexico: Biography of Power, (1997)
• Mayers, David; Fernández Bravo, Sergio A., "La Guerra Con Mexico Y Los Disidentes Estadunidenses, 1846-1848" [The War with Mexico and US Dissenters, 1846-48]. Secuencia [Mexico] 2004 (59): 32-70. Issn: 0186-0348
• Robinson, Cecil, The View From Chapultepec: Mexican Writers on the Mexican War, (1989)
• Rodríguez Díaz, María Del Rosario. "Mexico's Vision of Manifest Destiny During the 1847 War" Journal of Popular Culture 2001 35(2): 41-50. Issn: 0022-3840
• Ruiz, Ramon Eduardo. Triumph and Tragedy: A History of the Mexican People, (1992)
• Yanez, Agustin. Santa Anna: Espectro de una sociedad (1996)

Primary Sources

• Polk, James. Polk: The Diary of a President, 1845-1849, Covering the Mexican War, the Acquisition of Oregon, and the Conquest of California and the Southwest. edited by Allan Nevins (1929)
• Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

External links

• Handbook of Texas (2004), with many detailed scholarly articles
• lecture outline
• Mexico-Texas: Alamo
• Texas War for Independence 1832-36
• PBS on Mexican-American War
• West Point Atlas
• US Army textbook
• "The San Jacinto Campaign" 1901 article by leading scholar Eugene C. Barker
• Alamo images
• images of war
• Samuel Chamberlain memoirs and drawings
• Scott at Vera Cruz 1851 essay
• Edward D. Mansfield. The Mexican war: a history of its origin, and a detailed account of the victories which terminated in the surrender of the capital; with the official despatches of the generals. To which is added, the treaty of peace, and valuable tables of the strength and losses of the United States Army.(1860 ed.)
• "Pack Mules and Surf Boats: Logistics in the Mexican War" by Robert D. Paulus from Army Logistician 1997

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