Manifest Destiny

Texas an Oregon wasn't enough for President Polk. He wanted New Mexico and California by purchase if possible and by force if necessary.  He sent a representative to Mexico to try and but them but the Mexicans refused to see them. Polk was mad and to add to that On April 25, 1846, Mexicans soldiers fired on Texan troops because Mexico and Texas couldn't agree on a border. President Polk declared war. 

 

A few months later General Stephen Kearny led his army to New mexico and dominated it easily with out firing a single shot. He then moved his troops on to California. 

 

Meanwhile in California , a group led by John C. Fremont arrested and jailed General Mariano Gualdalupe Vallejo, the Mexican commander of Northern California. 

 

When Kearny arrived in California, he joined forces withe rebels and soon all of California was under American control. Another American army led by general Winfield Scott managed to capture Mexico City in September 1847. the Mexican government couldn't help but surrender. A year later, Mexico and the United States signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico agreed for the Texan border to be the Rio Grande and agreed to give up the Mexican Cession. The Mexican Cession included present-day  states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. In return the United States paid Mexico $15 million and promised to protect the Mexicans living in the territories the United States had gained.

 

The War with Mexico was very important to Manifest Destiny because by the end of the war the United States had gained a lot of land.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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