How Did the Mexican-American War Provoke a Conflict Over Slavery?

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09 08 2021
How Did the Mexican-American War Provoke a Conflict Over Slavery?
The 1846-1848 Mexican-American war marked the USA`s inaugural armed struggle primarily battled on foreign soil. The war was between a militarily unprepared and politically divided Mexico and U.S. President James K. Polk`s expansionist-oriented administration, which believed in the U.S.` inherent “Manifest Destiny” to span the entire continent up to the Pacific Ocean. While primarily driven by Manifest Destiny`s economic ambitions, the war also elevated the conflict on how the acquired large territories would impact slave and free states. The battle kicked off due to the Rio Grande border skirmish, followed by numerous victories for the United States. By the end of the war after the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico had conceded most of its territory, comprising Utah, New Mexico, Texas, western Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, Arizona, almost the entire present-day California, and Nevada.
President Polk was so “destined” to expand the U.S. territories that he began his quest with shuttle diplomacy to buy the land. He sent John Slidell, an American diplomat, to Mexico with $30 million in exchange for the land. When the Mexican administration refused to meet Slidell with the offer, Polk became frustrated, and in January 1846, sent troops to Texas to provoke the Mexicans. Ultimately the Mexicans attacked the American soldiers on April 25, 1846, and President Polk was granted the excuse that he had so yearned to start the war. On May 11, 1846, he sent the order for the war to Congress. It was a questionable act as many Northerners believed that the President, a Southerner, was pursuing a personal interest to gain more territory for the slavery apologist South.
Moreover, other Americans opposed the war as they deemed it immoral to wage war against Mexico to take their land. Among the opposers was Lt. Ulysses S. Grant, who would later lead the 1861 Civil War...