The Mexican-American War

Texas functioned as a republic for 9 years while the United States talked of annexing it. Mexico warned the U.S. that if they annexed Texas, it would be a declaration of war.

So, naturally, Texas was annexed to the United States and Mexico wasn't very happy.

Polk was a huge fan of Manifest Destiny as we know, not only was Texas important for this idea, but he also wanted the land in between Texas and the Pacific coast, this land also belonged to Mexico.

Polk sent a messenger named John Slidell to Mexico to offer money for the land. When Slidell got there, no one would talk to him.


Slidell returned to the United States a very unhappy guy. He told Polk that the Mexicans need to be punished, then he laughed manically.



Meanwhile, back in Texas, there was a boarder dispute. Polk sent General Zachary Taylor down to keep his eye on things.

Taylor's men got into a bit of a fight with a group of Mexicans.


Even though the boarder between the United States and Mexico was in dispute, Polk used this incident to ask for a declaration of war on Mexico, even though a young member of the House of Representatives from Illinois questioned this action. He wasn't buying that Mexico had breached the boarder and wanted to know the exact spot where the skirmish broke out. This became known as the Spot Resolution, and that young representative was Abraham Lincoln, you will hear more about him later.

Despite Lincoln's Spot Resolution the Mexican-American War was on.

General Stephen Kearny left from Kansas and easily made it to New Mexico, he was kicking butt and taking names.

While Kearny was headed for California, a group of Americans declared California independent. They even had their own flag!


It had a bear on it, so it was cleverly dubbed The Bear Flag Revolt.

California was now in American hands as was New Mexico and another General, Winfield Scott decided to go straight for the heart.

General Scott led an army into Mexico City and captured it. After this, the Mexicans realized they couldn't win so they handed over the land and President Polk was happy.

Texas Independence

The Texans captured a fort called the Alamo in San Antonio. This made Santa Anna mad, so he took an army to San Antonio.

The Texans took shelter in the Alamo when they saw Santa Anna's incoming army.

They surrounded the Alamo and Santa Anna demanded they surrender. A man by the name of William Travis responded by firing a cannon at them.



The Mexicans responded with 12 days and nights of cannon fire. Eventually the Mexicans stormed the Alamo and killed all 200 of the defenders inside.

The Alamo is now a tourist attraction in San Antonio...and Pee Wee Herman traveled to this location in his movie, Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

Anyway....

While the Alamo was happening, a group of Texans were writing up a Texas Declaration of Independence and Constitution. They were really over being part of Mexico.

After a lot of fighting and retreating, the Texans and Mexicans met at San Jacinto. The Texans were victorious while shouting...


Not only did the Texans win at San Jacinto, they also captured Santa Anna and forced him to sign a treaty that ended the war and would also recognize Texas's independence. Also, for good measure, a regiment from Illinois took Santa Ana's fake leg.




Even though the Texans won, Mexico would not honor the treaty because Santa Anna was a POW (prisoner of war) at the time.

If you are wondering, Santa Anna never got his leg back, it is still in Illinois and can be viewed at The Illinois State Military Museum in Springfield Illinois!