Mexican View Point on the War with the United States

A Mexican View Point on the War With the United States Introduction Jesus Velasco-Marquez wrote “A Mexican View Point on the War With the United States” sometime around 1991. He wrote to share how the Mexicans felt about the U. S-Mexican War. Mexico was only reacting to the United States government taking what was rightfully theirs. Body The U. S- Mexican War has two very different stories depending on whom you ask. The war officially started when the president of the United States at the time (James K. Polk) sent troops to the region between Rio Grande and Nueces River, Texans believed that its border was the Rio Grande.

Mexicans did not acknowledge the Rio Grande as the border; they believed it was the Nueces River. The troops thought they were on Texan soil. Mexicans thought that the Americans had invaded their soil. So Mexican troops attacked The American troops, which gives birth to the widely conceived rumor of the Mexicans killed Americans on American territory. Jesus thought it was important to point out that this was not entirely true because the land was rightfully the Mexicans and they truly believed they were just defending their land.

It was important to him to tell how the Mexicans were not just attacking American soldiers in cold blood. Even though there was a peace treaty wrote up before the fighting began Mexico did not consider it much of a compromise. They would lose all of Texas, Oregon and California. From the Mexican view point it looked like that had no choice but to fight the matter out. If they did not stand up for themselves they would look like a weak country. It seemed to them that the Americans were not treating them fairly. So, they started taking action. Which ended in an all out war.

Marquez wrote his article with many valid points concerning the war and the Mexican viewpoint. I believe that it was a little hard to understand. Although it did have all the points well organized. One thing that Jesus thought was important to learn from his article was Mexico was simply defending its national security. Also he thought it was important to let the reader know that Mexico was not being arrogant, just responding to the American governments actions. He wanted others to know that the Mexican government was somewhat unstable at the time.

If any leader tried to come to an agreement with the Americans and someone else didn’t like that decision that person would be overthrown. “Most people in Mexico believed the use of arms was the only option available to defend their rights and territorial integrity. ” I think that this is an important quote from the text. It shows the view of most Mexicans at the time. They were not being irresponsible by fighting but just standing up for what they believed was right. In the American Pageant the Mexican-American War is mentioned in chapter 17.

One subtitle is Misunderstandings with Mexico; the war is described as a result of the president’s want for manifest destiny. Another subtitle describing the war is American Blood on American (? ) Soil, which describes the confusion there was over the Rio Grande River and Nuece River being boundaries. /the page numbers are 368-373. Conclusion Before reading Jesus Velasco-Marquez article I knew nothing of the Mexican-American War. After reading the article I am much more informed about the war in general. Also I know have a greater understanding of the challengers the Mexicans faced during this war.