Posted on 05/16/2006 8:25:57 PM PDT by fgoodwin
How much do you know about the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846?
http://www.mysanantonio.com/salife/stories/MYSA051606.01P.mxwar.1162a2d9.html http://tinyurl.com/jywhy
Web Posted: 05/16/2006 12:00 AM CDT Elaine Ayala Express-News Staff Writer
For many, knowledge about the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-1848 runs from nonexistent to sparse. Funny, given that without that major U.S. conquest, we might be living in Mexico, not Texas. Americans' knowledge of that crucial period may be limited to the U.S. takeover or purchase (depending on your perspective) of what today is the Southwestern United States ranging from Texas to California. But like many historical events, things were a lot more complicated than that.
The war — declared by the United States against Mexico 160 years ago on May 13, then counter-declared by Mexico on May 23 — was influenced by many events.
A pop quiz is in order, given its two anniversaries this month. Several questions have more than one answer, but don't worry, your score won't become a part of your permanent record. Answers and explanations are on Page 4C.
1. The U.S. Mexican war was nicknamed ________ War?
a. Taylor's b. Santa Anna's c. Polk's d. the Westward
2. Why did the United States declare war on Mexico?
a. Mexico wouldn't sell California to the U.S. b. Mexican troops had fought U.S. soldiers on American soil. c. Mexico had not paid reparations to U.S. merchants. d. None of the above.
3. Who were two of the biggest U.S. opponents of the war?
a. Benedict Arnold b. Santa Anna c. Abraham Lincoln d. Henry David Thoreau
4. What was the southernmost boundary of Texas at the time?
a. The Nueces River b. San Antonio de Bexar c. The Rio Grande d. The Gila River
5. The United States provoked the war because it
a. was land hungry. b. wanted to build trade. c. believed in Manifest Destiny. d. All of the above.
6. What did Manifest Destiny mean to the United States in the 1800s?
a. It was destined to be a world leader. b. It was clear Mexico was ignoring its northernmost territories. c. It was the will of God that it expand westward. d. The British and French had to be expelled from the Americas.
7. What role did slavery have in the conflict?
a. A small one. b. The war was not related to slavery in any way. c. A significant one. d. None of the above.
8. What was the immediate impact on people living in the territory newly acquired by the United States?
a. They gladly became U.S. citizens. b. They lost their land. c. They had to learn English quickly. d. They moved farther south into Mexico.
9. What was the immediate impact on Mexico?
a. It lost a third of its territory. b. It was shamed by yet another conquest. c. It triggered Mexican nationalism. d. All of the above.
10. What was the name of the treaty that ended the war?
a. The Treaty of San Jacinto b. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo c. El Plan de Ayala d. The Treaty of San Francisco
11. What Spanish word become part of U.S. lexicon after the war?
a. Hacienda b. Patio c. Gringo d. Hola
12. How many soldiers died during the conflict?
a. Only 1,000 b. About 10,000 c. More than 35,000 d. None of the above
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Check your answers on our U.S.-Mexican War quiz
http://www.mysanantonio.com/salife/stories/MYSA051606.04P.mxwaranswers.1155cde2.html http://tinyurl.com/kejxh
Web Posted: 05/16/2006 12:00 AM CDT Elaine Ayala Express-News Staff Writer
Below are the answers to the pop quiz on the U.S.-Mexican War. Eyes off until you're done answering the questions.
1. C. The U.S. Mexican War was referred to as "Polk's war." Ironically, President James Polk never spent a day in uniform, yet led one of the biggest military expansions in U.S. history, says Joe Regan, adjunct professor of history at San Antonio College.
2. A, B and C. The United States declared war on Mexico for several reasons. Many historians say Polk provoked the war after Mexico wouldn't sell California to the United States, so he had to find other justifications. These included unpaid U.S. claims against Mexico and Texas' claim that its border rested at the Rio Grande. His goal was takeover of the Port of San Francisco, says historian Gilberto Hinojosa of the University of the Incarnate Word. "Historians have reached a consensus that Polk initiated this thing," he says. "Like the Gulf of Tonkin, like weapons of mass destruction, it was an excuse."
3. C and D. Two major opponents of the war were Abraham Lincoln and Henry David Thoreau. When Polk tells Congress "American blood has been spilt on American soil," Lincoln challenges Polk to point to the "spot" where blood was spilled, which earns him the nickname "Spotty" Lincoln. Thoreau was jailed for refusing to pay taxes for the war effort. It led to his essay on "Civil Disobedience." Decades later, President Ulysses S. Grant called the war unjust.
4. A. Texas' southernmost boundary was not the Rio Grande but the Nueces River, says Nora McMillan, history professor at San Antonio College. There was no basis for the claim that the border rested farther south, at the Rio Grande, says UTSA history professor Felix Almaraz.
5. D. The United States, specifically Polk, provoked the war for all the reasons listed, many historians say. The United States was "power-hungry and land-hungry. It was nothing more than the greed of the Anglo American," says McMillan. It also wanted to build trade to the Far East through California, specifically the Port of San Francisco. Like other historians, McMillan says the United States took advantage of an anemic nation. Its wealth was taken by Spanish conquest and self-serving politicians including Santa Anna, exiled for a second time after losing the war, she says, and that loss represented Mexico's second conquest.
6. C. "Manifest means 'clear.' But the word 'destiny' for people in the 1800s meant something different," Hinojosa says. "It meant 'the will of God.'" So westward expansion was divine providence. Regan, a retired lieutenant colonel, agrees: "The United States at that point in time was very confident of itself. There was a good feeling about our culture and political system, that it was better than anything anyone else had and should be shared."
7. C. Slavery played a significant role in the U.S.-Mexican War, because with expansion came the question of whether new states and territories would be "free" states or "slave" states. California, for example, didn't want slavery for fear of the economic competition from slave labor — especially when it came to panning for gold. The U.S.-Mexican war, often called the Mexican-American War, also became a dress rehearsal for the Civil War. It was the first war to be covered by U.S. media and gave Civil War generals (North and South) combat experience and a place to field-test weapons.
8. B. Many people living in the newly acquired U.S. territory lost their lands, says Sister Maria Eva Flores, director of the Mexican American Studies Center at Our Lake of the Lake University. "That Mexico lost the territory means that individual families lost land, and in losing land, they lost those things that linked them to economic and political power and status."
Families lost a sense of "being seen as equals" and gained one of "not belonging," Flores added. "Some people then said they did not cross the border, the border crossed them," said UTSA's Almaraz.
9. D. Although Mexico lost a third of its land as a result of the war, it gained a sense of nationalism, says McMillan. The war also destroyed the Criollo military stronghold and sent Santa Anna into exile again, opening the door to mestizos such as Benito Juarez to rise politically. "I don't know if we really understand how hurt Mexico feels by this," Regan says, "and how much I think it really bothers them even today."
10. B. According to terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico received $15 million (some say $18 million) for its land. The treaty also set present-day boundaries. The land the United States received wasn't annexed, says Ned Barnett, a Nevada-based writer working on a Civil War book. "We bought it and, considering what it was worth at the time, we gave Mexico a fair price."
11. C. After the war, the word "gringo" became part of the language. The term was used by Mexicans to refer to foreigners, specifically the French. After the war, gringo came to refer to Americans in a pejorative way.
12. C. Sources differ but several say more than 35,000 U.S. and Mexican soldiers died in the war. On the U.S. side, it was about 13,000. On the Mexican side, it's about 25,000. A minority died of war-related wounds, says Regan; disease such as dysentery claimed most of the rest.
Leftist Mexican Revanchist propoganda
As I understand it, the government of Mexico invited anglos into Texas with promises of the constitutional protections of the Mexican Constitution. When Santa Ana took over Mexico, he suspended the Constitution and Texas rebelled and established itself as a separate country. The declaration of its independence was signed by at least a couple of people with Hispanic surnames.
Ten years later, the people of Texas asked to be annexed into the United States and the war started shortly thereafter. One has to wonder why the United States would start a war at the Texas line.
Typical University History class test.
loaded questions and answers
Texas' southernmost boundary was not the Rio Grande but the Nueces River, says Nora McMillan, history professor at San Antonio College. There was no basis for the claim that the border rested farther south, at the Rio Grande, says UTSA history professor Felix Almaraz.
BS
"How much do you know about the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846?"
Enough to know that I stand a better than average chance of surviving the next one.
"Funny, given that without that major U.S. conquest, we might be living in Mexico, not Texas."
What an ignorant fool ... Texas was INDEPENDENT from 1836 and not part of Mexico even prior to war with Mexico.
Are they in the Santa Ana appreciation society, or on Aztlan payroll? :-)
Direct sources to debunk this historical revisionist lie:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ghtreaty/
"By February 1836, Texans declared their territory to be independent and that its border extended to the Rio Grande rather than the Rio Nueces that Mexicans recognized as the dividing line. Although the Texans proclaimed themselves citizens of the Independent Republic of Texas on April 21, 1836 following their victory over the Mexicans at the Battle of San Jacinto, Mexicans continued to consider Tejas a rebellious province that they would reconquer someday."
Hidalgo Treaty map
http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ghtreaty/ghmaps.jpg
WE WON!
Kinda' like the Spanish won over the locals to create Mexico.
Maybe its time for all the Spanish speakers to be sent back to Spain. (sarcasm)
The ebb and flow of national boundaries continue to this day.
Mexican Army was raiding and out right invading the Texas border prior to the war. This caused the American Troops there at the time to counter thus really starting the war before proper declaration. I think they are still sore over how we kicked their butt so hard when they supposedly had one of the best trained and experienced army. But who cares, this was a small war and was pretty much nothing more than a breading and testing ground for the coming Civil War.
Is this supposed to make me say...oh yea..Mexico can invade a sovereign country..let's just let them take over.
Ahhhh..I don't think so. No sale.
ping for later
Look at some of the answers. 'Land hungry'?
Revisionist history is under way as we speak. This cannot stand.
bump
Maybe. But the term *gringo* has been described as having been derived from the Mexicans overhearing the marching troops singing the tune Green Grow the Rushes, Oh! an old English *counting song* akin to the *Twelve Days of Christmas.
I strongly suspect that French troops would have been singing something else....
Accordingly, other *facts* in this story are also suspect.
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