Space, the final frontier

Booking under: Nicole

North America is enormous in size and covers 9.5 square miles stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. While United States took command of the 27 states in the East in the mid 1800s, tons of land further to the West still went unexplored and unclaimed.

Texas colony bore strategic importance to the States on the western frontier and was also on the northern frontier of Mexico at the same time. It was no surprise that the two nations would come into clash for this hotly contested spot and many others. Stephen Austin was the commander of Texas and together with Sam Houston, they fought a battle against General Antonio López de Santa Anna to declare independence from Mexico.

In 1845, Texas was officially annexed and admitted into the U.S. union which has accelerated the conflict and triggered the Mexican–American War.

The acquisition of Texas symboled the States’ ambition in penetrating into the western frontier. James K. Polk took office in the same year of Texas annexation. What followed was further expansion into Mexico’s soil and armed conflict with the Mexicans. Polk eyed on Oregon Country and came into an agreement with the British on its ownership (which is Oregon and Washington today). Of course, Oregon was by no means the end tail.

Here we go California, ruled under Mexico at that time.

Polk demanded his troops to march into Rio Grande, a land that both Texas and Mexico claimed ownership. To respond, Mexico launched a series of attack on U.S. troops. In 1846, Polk announced the declaration of war on Mexico during the Congress. The U.S. severely wounded the Mexicans in the town of Sonoma and defeated Santa Anna in Mexico city. This victory is paramount in the U.S. history in the sense that it acquired more than half a million square miles of a new territory. Not only was California in the bag, present-day Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming also unveiled the Stars and Stripes flag. It was the first time such conquest was seen in North America since the Seven Year’s War.

Summing Up

Indeed, the Mexican-American War was nothing but a welcoming success to the States -an aggressive expansion into the western frontier, a clearly (or not so?) defined boundary line between the U.S. and Mexico, and you name it…

Not all Americans agreed with the declaration of the War. From far away came the opposing voice of Ralph Waldo Emerson. What impact did it bring to Mexico other than a humiliation of national honor and resentment towards Americans? More from Keith next week!