The “Mexican Cession” refers to lands surrendered, or ceded, to the United States by Mexico at the end of the Mexican War. The terms of this transfer were spelled out in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848. To the United States, this massive land grab was significant because the question of extending slavery into newly acquired territories had become the leading national political issue. To Mexico, the loss of an enormous part of its territory was a tremendous embarrassment and created lasting anger among many of its citizens. Under the terms of the cession, the United States acquired the territory that became the states of California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, with the exception of that territory that later was added by the Gadsden Treaty in 1853. The price of this was $15 million to Mexico and $3,250,000 to cover the claims of American citizens against Mexico.
In 1845 the United States annexed Texas and subsequently engaged in a dispute with Mexico over the southern Texas-Mexico border. Texas claimed that its southwest boundary extended to the Rio Grande. Mexico claimed that the boundary was the Nueces River, which is 100 miles (160 kilometers) eastward. In July 1845 President Polk ordered American troops to advance west of the Nueces. The war stirred nationalistic feelings in Mexico, and the country rallied to support the army, even though the army was badly equipped to fight a war. The United States entered the war divided. Democrats, especially those in the Southwest, strongly favored the conflict. Many in the rival Whig Party, however, viewed Polk’s motives as conscienceless land grabbing. In Mexico the lack of modern weapons contributed to the Mexican army’s defeat in many battles, even when its forces outnumbered U.S. forces. Kearny’s campaign into New Mexico and California encountered little resistance. By the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (February 2, 1848), Mexico accepted the Rio Grande as its boundary. The treaty also gave the United States Mexico’s northern provinces of California and New Mexico. The United States thus acquired vast mineral wealth, especially gold, and extended its border to the Pacific Ocean.
The Mexican-American War was a conflict between the United States and Mexico, fought from April 1846 to February 1848. Won by the Americans and damned by its contemporary critics as expansionist, it resulted in the U.S. gaining more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 square km) of Mexican territory extending westward from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean. It stemmed from the annexation of the Republic of Texas by the U.S. in 1845 and from a dispute over whether Texas ended at the Nueces River (the Mexican claim) or the Rio Grande (the U.S. claim). Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which settled the Mexican-American War, the United States gained more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 square km) of land, expanding U.S. territory by about one-third. Mexico ceded nearly all the territory now included in the U.S. states of New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas, and western Colorado for $15 million and U.S. assumption of its citizens’ claims against Mexico. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Mexican-American War, also called Mexican War, Spanish Guerra de 1847 or Guerra de Estados Unidos a Mexico (“War of the United States Against Mexico”), war between the United States and Mexico (April 1846–February 1848) stemming from the United States’ annexation of Texas in 1845 and from a dispute over whether Texas ended at the Nueces River (Mexican claim) or the Rio Grande (U.S. claim). The war—in which U.S. forces were consistently victorious—resulted in the United States’ acquisition of more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 square km) of Mexican territory extending westward from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean. Mexico severed relations with the United States in March 1845, shortly after the U.S. annexation of Texas. In September U.S. Pres. James K. Polk sent John Slidell on a secret mission to Mexico City to negotiate the disputed Texas border, settle U.S. claims against Mexico, and purchase New Mexico and California for up to $30 million. Mexican Pres. José Joaquín Herrera, aware in advance of Slidell’s intention of dismembering the country, refused to receive him. When Polk learned of the snub, he ordered troops under Gen. Zachary Taylor to occupy the disputed area between the Nueces and the Rio Grande (January 1846). On May 9, 1846, Polk began to prepare a war message to Congress, justifying hostilities on the grounds of Mexican refusal to pay U.S. claims and refusal to negotiate with Slidell. That evening he received word that Mexican troops had crossed the Rio Grande on April 25 and attacked Taylor’s troops, killing or injuring 16 of them. In his quickly revised war message—delivered to Congress on May 11—Polk claimed that Mexico had “invaded our territory and shed American blood on American soil.” Congress overwhelmingly approved a declaration of war on May 13, but the United States entered the war divided. Democrats, especially those in the Southwest, strongly favoured the conflict. Most Whigs viewed Polk’s motives as conscienceless land grabbing. Indeed, from the outset, Whigs in both the Senate and the House challenged the veracity of Polk’s assertion that the initial conflict between U.S. and Mexican forces had taken place in U.S. territory. Further, legislators were at odds over whether Polk had the right to unilaterally declare that a state of war existed. Principally at issue was where the encounter had actually taken place and the willingness of Americans to acknowledge the Mexican contention that the Nueces River formed the border between the two countries. Active Whig opposition not only to the legitimacy of Polk’s claim but also to the war itself continued well into the conflict. In December 1846 Polk accused his Whig doubters of treason. In January 1847 the by-then Whig-controlled House voted 85 to 81 to censure Polk for having “unnecessarily and unconstitutionally” initiated war with Mexico.
Fight for the title of War Wiz with this quiz on famous conflicts throughout history. Among the most-aggressive challenges to the legitimacy of Polk’s casus belli was that offered by future president Abraham Lincoln, then a first-term member of the House of Representatives from Illinois. In December 1847 Lincoln introduced eight “Spot Resolutions,” which placed the analysis of Polk’s claim in a carefully delineated historical context that sought to
Ultimately, the House did not act on Lincoln’s resolutions, and Polk remained steadfast in his claim that the conflict was a just war. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now Abolitionists saw the war as an attempt by the slave states to extend slavery and enhance their power with the creation of additional slave states out of the soon-to-be-acquired Mexican lands. One abolitionist who agreed with that interpretation was author Henry David Thoreau, who was incarcerated in July 1846 when he refused to pay six years’ worth of back poll taxes because he felt the U.S. government’s prosecution of the war with Mexico was immoral. Although he spent only a single night in jail (his aunt, against his wishes, paid the taxes, thus securing his release), Thoreau documented his opposition to the government’s actions in his famous book-length essay Civil Disobedience (1849), insisting that if an injustice of government is
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What was the main issue with the Mexican Cession?
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