THE CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION OF THE SOUTHWEST 1 Legacy of hate: The conquest of Mexico’s northwest The invasion of Texas-Not all the Anglo-Americans favored the conflict. Eugene C. Barker states that the immediate cause of the war was “ the overthrow of the nominal republic by Santa Anna and the substitution of centralized oligarchy” which allegedly would have centralized Mexican control. Texas history is a mixture of selected fact and generalized myth. Historians admit that smugglers were upset with Mexico’s enforcement of her import laws.B. The invasion of Mexico- In the mid-1840s, Mexico was again the target. The expansion and capitalist development moved together. The two Mexican wars gave U.S. commerce, industry, mining, agriculture, and stockraising. The truth is that the Pacific Coast belonged to the commercial empire that the United States was already building in that ocean. C. The rationale for conquest- the Polk-Stockton Intrigue, Americans have found it rather more difficult than other peoples to deal rationally with their wars. Many Anglo-Americans historians have attempted to dismiss it simply as a “bad war”, Which took place during the era of Manifest Destiny.D. The myth of a nonviolent nation- most studies on the Mexican –American war dwell on the causes and results of the war, and dealing with war strategy. Mexicans attitude toward Anglo-Americans has been influenced by the war and vice-versa. E. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo- By late 1847 the war was almost at an end. Scott’s defeat of Santa Anna in a hard fought battle at Churubusco put Anglo –Americans at the gates of Mexico City. Although Mexicans fought valiantly, the battle left 4,000 dead, with another 3,00 prisoners. February 2, 1848 the Mexicans ratified the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo, with Mexico accepting the Rio Grande as the Texas border and ceding the Southwest.2 Remember the Alamo: The colonizat...
