hello and welcome to our lecture on the war with Mexico today we're looking at how the U.S Mexico war was a response to sectional tensions within the United States over slavery and how it increased that sectionalism within the country as well Texas in the 1830s was part of Mexico's Northern Frontier as you see on the map that included Texas Arizona Utah Nevada New Mexico and California but only New Mexico and California had large settlements when Mexico declared independence from Spain in 1810 there were about 2 000 Mexicans living in what is now Texas and that war for independence would last from 1810 to 1821. Mexico then gave a land grant to a man named Moses Austin to encourage settlement and Austin stunn Stephen Austin sold the Grant in smaller Parcels of land about 7 000 Americans went to the Mexican state of coahilla itejas or coahilla in Texas Mexico later annulled this land contract it canceled it and it banned further immigration into taxes and this expansion of federal Power by Mexico made Texans nervous slavery had been abolished in Mexico but they had been allowed to bring slaves in and squatters illegally entered Texas at this point and illegally brought more enslaved people with them and since slavery was outlawed outlawed anglo's used quasi-legal workarounds like 99-year contracts to bring them in Austin and his Elites wanted more autonomy from the Mexican federal government and they wanted slavery to be legally protected and although Mexico had cut off legal immigration they couldn't physically stop anglo-immigration into the state in 1835 the Mexican General Santa Ana LED an expedition to expel some of these American settlers but by 1836 35 000 American citizens remained in Texas and Texans organized an army and declared their independence within Mexico so Texas will now be its own State inside of Mexico no longer part of Texas ecohela and that is in 1835. and later they will declare their independence from Mexico itself in 1836. so this disagreement over taxes and slavery became an outright confrontation Rebellion became Revolution which Santa Ana tribe had ultimately failed to put down Texans made a stand at the Battle of the Alamo on March 13 1836 even though Texas General Sam Houston had ordered them to abandon that mission the Texans were overwhelmed by the Mexican Army and about 187 men were killed Sam Houston defeated Santa Ana and his army at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21 1836. Pop Quiz where is San Jacinto students normally know the battle but not necessarily where it's at San Jacinto is in Houston you can still go visit the battlefield today Houston forced Santa Ana to sign a treaty recognizing Texas Independence but Mexico refused to recognize the legitimacy of that document as it was signed at swordpoint border Skirmish has continued but there was no further War at this point Texas wanted to immediately join the United States they never wanted to be their own Nation but American officials were concerned about a border dispute you see Mexico only recognized independent taxes from the Nueces river which is where Corpus Christi is today North Texas claimed far more than that and far more than modern day taxes all the way over here into bits of what's now Oklahoma and New Mexico warns that if Texas was annexed the U.S should respect its borders at the Nueces and presidents Jackson and Van Buren just ignored Texas's request to be annexed it was too controversial it would open up a can of worms so Texas remained an independent nation largely because the US government would not risk taking in such a large slave state which was also in a border dispute with Mexico now if you remember the Democratic Republicans became the national Republicans and then formed the Whig party out of everybody who hated Andrew Jackson and in the election of 1836 Martin Van Buren a Democrat succeeded Jackson they had founded the party together and Van Buren had to face the depression created by Jackson's policies what big policy created the panic of 1837 that's right Jackson killed the bank in the election of 1840 the Whigs nominated William Henry Harrison whose name you should remember he's the former Governor of the Indiana territory who burned down tecumseh's prophets town on the Tippecanoe River so Harrison ran on the slogan Tippy Canoe and Tyler too because his vice presidential running mate was John Tyler facing a backlash caused by the panic of 1837 Van Buren the Democrat lost to Harrison the wig but at age 68 he was the nation's oldest president until Reagan was elected in 1980 at age 69 and then Trump in 2016 at age 70 and then Biden Harrison fell ill a few weeks after taking office he felt anxious and tired he had indigestion and developed a chill and then constipation he's treated with laxatives enemas laudnam which is an opium for pain and Mercury which is toxic on day five Harrison had trouble breathing and began coughing up blood Harrison died on April 4th 1841 making him the shortest serving U.S president of all time so he's only in president about a month now his doctor concluded this was kind of a strange form of pneumonia he doesn't really know what caused this but the American people want to know something so he just tells them it's pneumonia modern scientists concluded that Harrison likely died of enteric fever caused by bacteria which attacked the lining of the gut and can cause it to break open pneumonia is a common secondary infection because the infection is spread in the bloodstream and goes to lungs it is spread by contaminated water or food and the White House water supply was a spring seven blocks away from a human waste Dumping Ground Polk Will Survive a similar Illness but with sickly and Taylor will die one year into his presidency it's something all of the big presidents have in common they die it just happens so when Harrison died his vice president John Tyler became president in the election of 1844 Van Buren was again the leading candidate for the Democrats but he denounced any plan to Annex Texas as it would likely provoke a war with Mexico Southern Democrats wanted Texas as a slave state so they nominated James K Polk Polk was a veteran politician and former governor of Tennessee he had no problems with slavery and he was fine taking taxes even if he meant more with Mexico Polk beat Van Buren for the Democratic nomination he ran on expanding territory but not just slave territory in the South and the north too his slogan was 54 40 or fight 5440 is the lower boundary of Alaska up here off the map Polk wanted to take the Oregon territory all the way up to the lower boundary of Alaska 5440 or fight meaning war with Britain so he wants to end joint jurisdiction with Britain take all of it for the U.S so his campaign slogan says that he's going to fight for free territory in the north as well as be willing to Annex Texas and risk War for slave territory in the south now the wig candidate was Henry Clay the great compromiser who you probably remember from the corrupt bargain clay would not support the use of forced to Annex lands even though he's a slave owner the popular vote was very close remember Manifest Destiny is not universally accepted here but a third party based on anti-slavery sentiment split some of that wig vote so it took away some of their votes and that means the Democrats will win this one Polk the Democrat has a decisive Electoral College Victory as you can see from the map Congress approved to Texas as annexation a few days before Pope took office in March 1845. now to Annex Texas President Tyler used a joint resolution which only required majority approval in congress not the two-thirds majority that a real treaty would need so some viewed it as an illegal way to Annex a slave state a move that wasn't popular enough to Garner the two thirds vote needed to do it in Congress properly now despite his campaign slogan Polk wanted to split organ at the 49th parallel even though he says 54-40 or fight all the way to Alaska there when England initially rejects the steel pulp gives them an ultimatum he says you have one year to compromise but at that point the U.S is going to claim sold jurisdiction over the entire Oregon Territory it's a calculated decision Polk's bluffing here he doesn't really want to risk war with England eventually England agrees on the 49th parallel as the border between British and American claims now Northerners and some westerners were very disappointed they call this the Oregon betrayal remember Polk had literally campaigned on taking all of Oregon or going to war 5440 or fight so they wondered if there really was some kind of Southern conspiracy in control of the US government which would only risk War for slave territory not free territory Oregon was admitted as a free state in 1846 and with Texas coming in as a slave state the Senate remained balanced and you remember how important that is Polk also went in California and he wants Texas which we just talked about so in November of 1845 backing up here Polk sent John Slidell to get Mexico to agree to the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas remember they say it's the Nueces Slidell offered 30 million dollars to buy California from Mexico was insulted they reminded the U.S that nations are not real estate Ventures and Mexico withdrew its ambassador from Washington DC after the insulting offer the U.S reciprocated and then President Polk carefully and methodically set the stage for war in July of 1845 Polk sent troops under Zachary Taylor to Louisiana and then to Corpus Christi and he also ordered Commodore David Connor to prepare a squadron in the Gulf of Mexico in April of 1846 Taylor sent his men South into the disputed region right so they're in the disputed Zone General Arista and Matamoros sent his Calvary north of the Rio Grande into the disputed Zone to meet them and as Polk intended fighting broke out one U.S officer concluded quote we were sent here to provoke a fight indeed pulkin ordered the U.S military into a disputed Zone to provoke War a gross violation of international law and an illegal act of War in May 1846 using the Bloodshed as an excuse Polk asked Congress to declare war he said that Mexicans had quote shed the blood of our citizens on our own soil and a majority of Americans supported Polk and his War Frederick Douglass said quote Mexico seems doomed victim to Anglo-Saxon love of dominion the determination of our slave holding president to prosecute the war and the probability of his success is made evident by the puny opposition arrayed against him been an Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln issued the spot resolutions so Lincoln goes to the four of Congress and he asked eight questions about the exact spot on the map on which these armies clashed and blood was spilled Lincoln said quote allow the president to invade a neighboring country whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion and you allow him to make war at pleasure Lincoln led the Whig opposition to the 1846 to 1848 U.S Mexico War which he called quote from beginning to end the sheerus deception and a dangerous misuse of executive power despite Lincoln's efforts Congress declared war on Mexico on May 13 1846 Irish Catholic immigrants in the U.S military were victims of nativist harassment and the US Army barred them from attending Catholic mass so they're not being treated great even so thousands of Irish immigrants went with General Zachary Taylor's Army to invade Mexico but some of them tired of abuse from Protestant officers and were uneasy about fighting their fellow Catholics because like Ireland most of Mexico was Catholic a group of them called the San patricios or the Saint Patrick's Brigade deserted the American Army and joined the Mexican Army to fight against the U.S instead fighting under this Shamrock festoon flag with Promises of land and Glory the St Patrick's Battalion knew that surrender to the U.S was equivalent to death because they would be treated as deserters and traitors not prisoners of War which we abbreviate pow their founder and leader was an irish-born U.S army deserter named John O'Reilly and at the end of the war the only American deserters that were hanged were the San patricios American General Taylor drove the Mexican Army back across the Rio Grande in a series of battles in May of 46 and continued moving south in these battles the San patricios became one of Santa Anna's greatest weapons experts at employing the artillery that the U.S employed with crushing Effectiveness because they'd been trained by the U.S at the Battle of puravista in February of 47 Taylor had only 4 500 men as most others had been reassigned to Scott in preparation for an invasion of Mexico City Santa Ana saw Buena Vista as his best chance to retake northern Mexico but this required moving his army ahead of his supply lines his Manhattan had any food for 36 hours but they were prevailing and Santa Anna sent Mexican Calvary around to encircle the Americans but American reinforcements arrived at the last minute thwarting those efforts both sides claimed Victory here but the battle was more of a stalemate the San patricio's captured two pieces of U.S artillery in the battle annoying the hell out of Taylor but this was the last major battle in northern Mexico one of the largest battles of the war and if Mexico was going to win the war they really needed to win this one not just a stalemate Winfield Scott traveled via the Gulf of Mexico and landed at Veracruz in March of 1847 opening a second front in the war with a brutal 12-day Siege of that City so Scott takes Veracruz and then moves West towards Mexico City on August 20th Scott's men took Churubusco which is about five miles from Mexico City 83 San Pedro seals were captured here about half of the total group including their leader John O'Reilly quartz Marshal were issued and O'Reilly claimed Mexican nationality but being born in Ireland she also called himself a British subject Santa Ana endorsed his Mexican nationality and tried to get pow status for all of the San patricios both the British minister to Mexico and the Archbishop of Mexico tried to intervene as well but despite their efforts 50 San patricios were sentenced to hang the death sentence could only be handed down to those who deserted after the official declaration of war so The Men Who deserted before the war officially began could only be flogged and that included O'Reilly who deserted Before the War Began so he and seven others were flogged and the letter d for deserter was branded into their cheek but the letter was mistakenly placed upside down on O'Reilly so it was ordered that it be turned over and done correctly on the other cheek the people of sun and Hell raised a monument to the San patricios that you see on the slide after the war it was a cross with three symbols a Gamecock which is a fighting rooster to symbolize bravery a pair of dice and skull and crossbones to symbolize that they had gambled and lost Mexico City fell on September 12th and 13th 1847 about 18 months after the start of the war now the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in February of 48 Mexico got only 15 million for territory that more than doubled the size of the United States this is Remembered in Mexico as the dismemberment two-thirds of their territory forcibly taken Mexico ceded most of California and New Mexico and they agreed to agreed that the Texas border would be the Rio Grande the treaty said that Mexicans in the land seated could become American citizens if they chose they are granted citizenship but despite the treaty Mexican Americans were not treated equally either socially or legally as we'll see in future lectures in 1848 between 75 000 and 100 000 Mexicans and about 150 000 Native Americans lived in this new territory and the first 12 years under the U.S the native population in California dropped from 150 000 down to thirty thousand Polk himself supported something called the all Mexico movement which was incredibly radical they wanted the so-called Golden Circle of American expansion to take all of Mexico and then parts of Central America Northern South America Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean all as American slave states now those who pushed back against the Golden Circle idea didn't always agree with each other one group were northerners and Whigs who didn't want any more slave territory and they're still upset over the Oregon betrayal but they're joined by Southerners oddly enough who were fearful of incorporating Latin Americans into the United States John C Calhoun argued on the Congress floor against further Southern expansion and expressed racist opposition to absorbing Mexicans and Latin Americans into White America saying quote our sir is the government of a white race the greatest misfortunes of Spanish America are to be traced to the fatal error of placing these colored races on an equality with the white race end quote in the end the US would not take all of Mexico but this was not the last time Americans tried to take land in Latin America so proceed to the next video clip to learn a little bit more about how the end of the war with Mexico exacerbated sectional tensions within the United States