It is surprising how little attention is given to the idea of expansion in general, and the war with Mexico specifically, in the platforms of American political parties between 1832 and 1848. With Texas, Oregon, Manifest Destiny, and the Mexican War defining the period, I expected to find these subjects being addressed in the party…
Category: Mexican- American War
Mexican- American War/ Part 4B: More Background
Three documents are key to understanding how Mexico was able to achieve independence from Spain. These same documents attempt to join the fractured society under the most inclusive umbrella possible. Mexican society featured groups that often held interests that were in opposition to the goals of the other groups, or to the cause of the…
History Nugget #19: October 2019
UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, BY THE DELEGATES OF THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS, IN GENERAL CONVENTION, AT THE TOWN OF WASHINGTON, ON THE SECOND DAY OF MARCH, 1836 When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose…
Mexican American War: Part 4/ The Questions I Asked and What I Have Learned, So Far…
Colonial Eras to Independence Once I began studying the Mexican American War, it became apparent that my original writing plan (Mexican- American War: Part 2/ Research and Writing Plan) would not provide an understanding of the conditions that existed in Mexico and the United States in 1846. If the purpose of this history is to…
History Nugget #18: September 2019
Colonization Law State of Coahuila and Texas 1825 Article 1. All Foreigners, who in virtue of the general law, of the 18th August, 1824, which guarantees the security or their persons and property, in the territory of the Mexican Nation, wish to remove to any of the settlements of the state of Coahuila and Texas,…
History Nugget #17: September 2019
Emperor Agustin’s Colonization Law Decree of 1823: Articles 1-4 Article 1. The government of the Mexican nation will protect the liberty, property, and civil rights of all foreigners, who profess the Roman Catholic apostolic religion, the established religion or the empire. Article 2. To facilitate their establishment, the executive will distribute lands to them, under…
Mexican- American War: Part 3C/ Legacy of Mexico’s War for Independence
When coupled with the issues inherited from her colonial period, Mexico’s War for Independence further hampered her development. Beginning with the War of Spanish Succession, the futures of Spanish and French Empires were joined. Bourbon kings ruled both empires. Spain, and her empire, suffered greatly as the French Revolution and then Napoleon constant war which…
History Nugget #16: August 2019
“It would be an idle waste of time to set about refuting the various attacks which have been circulated against me; they are framed in terms well calculated to reflect disgrace upon their authors”: they seem to be inspired by the furies; they breathe only of vengeance and of blood;—and those who wrote them, having…
History Nugget #15: August 2019
“the evils I have caused America, now that the dream has been removed from my eyes and my penitence has left me prostrate in bed: from here I can see, far off, the gallows upon which I shall be executed, and with each moment I breathe out pieces of my soul and feel that, before…
Mexican- American War: Part 3B/ Revolutionary Legacy of the U.S.
Mexico and the United States moved from their colonial experiences into revolution on very different roads. Those experiences imparted important legacies on each nation. Legacies that provided challenges to and offered promise for life as independent nations. Because the United States and Mexico were both new nations, understanding their colonial and revolutionary legacies is critical…
History Present 