The Mexican War ended with Mexico ceding Texas, California, Nevada, and Utah to the U.S., along with vast portions of four other states. Although many argue that the Mexican War was necessary in order to fulfill the destiny of the U.S. and secure control of Western lands, especially in light of Mexican aggression; the war was in reality a blatant and overzealous acquisition of territories rich in resources and strategic interest to the U.S.
The war was guided by the belief America needed to gain control of Western lands to increase national security, but this was wrapped in a concept that gave the War a higher purpose for Americans. President James K. Polk would lead the call for war, guided by the increasing influence of the concept of Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine, which shaped U.S. policy toward Latin America during the era. As Bauer (1) notes, these concepts "hastened the growth of a nationalism which warped the American view of her role into a divine mission to evangelize the rest of the world with her one true way."
Americans conveniently overlooked the fact that the lands they wished to acquire were already inhabited, because American ideology, in the form of Manifest Destiny, combined with Protestant values, created a rising nationalism and a view that Americans they were somehow superior to the Latinos or indigenous people living on those lands. Proof that American policy during the Mexican War was a thinly disguised land grab is the fact that the U.S. government made two attempts to purchase California from Mexico prior to the war. Faulk and Stout (26-27) argue the U.S. tried to make a three-way deal with Great Britain and Mexico for California, "Mexico would recognize Texas independence, Oregon would be settled at the Columbia River, and in return England would use her influence with Mexico to cede Upper California to the U.S."
The fight by Texas for independence wa...