Mexican American War

Expansion

Show that America where we left off was just the East coast.

have them copy the map on page 187.

They then write English, French and Spanish on the three parts of the 187 map.

The English “gave” their part to the USA in 1776. At that time we had enough people to beat them at war (the mightiest nation on earth).

The French sold us their part in 1803. Why because they were fighting a war and didn’t have hardly anyone on the land. They needed 15 million more than the land.

The Mexicans got the land in 1821 and we got it from them in 1845. That is a result of the Mexi-Amer War.

Ownership

What constitutes ownership?

When the Spanish had this land did they own it?

History

History is what is interesting to the present.

Check out the number of pages that the Mexican American war commands now and it will.

The question will arise who is in whose country?

Chris Rock asked why is everything in Spanish? They must have owned it. The Spanish were here. But di dthey own it?

La Raza has been fighting for Mexican ownership for a while.

MANIFEST DESTINY

Explain the term “Manifest Destiny”

We were the shining puritan “City on the hill”

Thomas Jefferson had dreamed the US would become an “empire of liberty” For the puritans we were destined to take itto show how real christians should be. For our founding fathers and their early followers, we were to show that That freedom, our new kind of government, democracy, and progress into a new world would necesarily follow, and that this was destined.

People started to go west. And it became understood that we’d spread from coast to coast. The fact that spain, england and russia claimed much of the territory didn’t bother us.

It became our manifest destiny to spread this great expieriment of liberty and self government across the land. And it became popular to travel West.

GO WEST YOUNG MAN

There were no no roads. People went in covered wagon. Draw it and announce drawing requirements.

And this treck added to the myth of who the American is.

It takes a special sort to leave their country. Mexico has many poor people, most just stay in Mexico. Special ones leave.

And whatever the truth, we developed a national myth about ourselves. That myth is the myth of the cowboy.

Write 5 lines. What is a cowboy like?

“Important images of America” is a heading and then I ask for answers underneath.

Suggest a few of the following:

America sees itself as

New / young, tough, freedom loving, the solitary self made man. Truth telling, not stuffy and full of politeness, full of potential as the frontier,.

There was a guy called buffolo bill and he would go around and live these battles and then portray them for people in theatre and he was wildly popular.

We also have generations of Western movies that tell us about this. Are the indians bad guys or the good guys? We wiped out the indians that were here. Much of it was through disease. But we were the unstoppable force of the new cowboy ridden Manifest destiny country.

Assignment

PG 268 - 272 in the textbook.

We’ll read it together and they’ll take notes in bullet format.

The build up

Only a few thousand Mexicans were in Texas

Mexico won it’s freedom from Spain in 1821

The mission system was cruel and ridiculous and “Peaceful” indians killed many. So Mexicans were afraid.

But they wanted the land to be settled. THats why they invited Whites.

Mex gave land grants, but demanded that you swear alegience and become catholic.

Soon whites outnumbered the mexs.

Two american presidents offered to buy Texas.

But Mexico started to not like the English people

The first anti immigrant laws in the hemisphere were passed by Mexico against whites.

They raised taxes

4000 mexicans, but 30,000 whites and 30,000 indians and 5,000 blacks were there.

In 1836 Texas was free. It was an independent country.

WAR WITH MEXICO

Texas was independent for 9 years. In 1945 the united states was made a part of the united states.

The US offered to buy Texas again. The president of Mexico Herrera would even talk to us.

So Polk sent Zachary Taylor to the souther border.

We thought the rio grande the border, they thought the Nueces River the border. We set troops to the rio grande and kept them settled. They Mexicans crossed and killed 11 US soldiers and after that the war was on. Both sides claim the war is the other’s fault.

SHOW THE MEX AMER VIDEO

WE WIN

War is hell Summarize 276-7

5 lines - At the end ask if they would support the Texas revolution from Mexico?