20 Mexican–American War

The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the Intervención Estadounidense en México, was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico still considered Mexican territory since the government did not recognize the Velasco treaty signed by Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna when he was a prisoner of the Texian Army during the 1836 Texas Revolution. The Republic of Texas was de facto an independent country, but most of its citizens wished to be annexed by the United States. Domestic sectional politics in the U.S. were preventing annexation since Texas would have been a slave state, upsetting the balance of power between northern free states and southern slave states. In the 1844 United States presidential election, Democrat James K. Polk was elected on a platform of expanding U.S. territory in Oregon and Texas. Polk advocated expansion by either peaceful means or by armed force, with the 1845 annexation of Texas furthering that goal by peaceful means. For Mexico, this was a provocation, but Polk went further, sending U.S. Army troops to the area; he also sent a diplomatic mission to Mexico to try to negotiate the sale of territory. U.S. troops' presence was provocative and designed to lure Mexico into starting the conflict, putting the onus on Mexico and allowing Polk to argue to Congress that a declaration of war should be issued. Mexican forces attacked U.S. forces, and the United States Congress declared war.

The Aztec Club of 1847 is a military society founded in 1847 by United States Army officers of the Mexican–American War. It exists as a hereditary organization including members who can trace a direct lineal connection to those originally eligible.

"Bivouac of the Dead" is a poem written by Danville, Kentucky native, Theodore O'Hara to honor his fellow soldiers from Kentucky who died in the Mexican-American War. The poem’s popularity increased after the Civil War, and its verses have been featured on many memorials to fallen Confederate soldiers in the Southern United States, and are even to be found on many memorials in Arlington National Cemetery, including Arlington's gateway.

The California Campaign (1846–1847), colloquially the Conquest of California or Conquest of Alta California by the United States, was an early military campaign of the Mexican–American War that took place in the western part of Mexico's Alta California Department, in the present-day state of California. The California Campaign was marked by a series of small battles throughout 1846 and early 1847.

Camp Belknap was a military camp during the Mexican–American War.

On May 13, 1846 the United States Congress passed An Act providing for the Prosecution of the existing War between the United States and the Republic of Mexico, thereby declaring war against Mexico. The declaration resulted in the Mexican–American War (1846–48). The act laid out regulations for the size and organization of the militia to participate in the war, how they were to be recruited, and the amount of money appropriated for the war—10 million dollars. The act was amended on June 18, 1846 to clarify and expand the organizational structure provided for by the original law.

Manga de Clavo was one of the most famous properties and favorite hacienda of Antonio López de Santa Anna, a historic site from the first half of the nineteenth century where he lived and made decisions that defined Mexican politics of its time, serving practically as presidential residence and government house until it was burned and partially destroyed by the invading United States Army during the Mexican–American War in 1847–1848 without ever again being restored.Impossible to think of Santa Anna without thinking Manga de Clavo.

Leonardo Márquez Araujo was a conservative Mexican general. He led forces in opposition to the Liberals led by Benito Juarez, but following defeat in the reform war was forced to guerilla warfare. Later, he helped the French in their intervention to help restore the conservative cause. However, their defeat forced him into exile mostly for the rest of his life.

The Mexican Cession is the region in the modern-day southwestern United States that Mexico ceded to the U.S. in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. This region had not been part of the areas east of the Rio Grande that had been claimed by the Republic of Texas, though the Texas annexation resolution two years earlier had not specified the southern and western boundary of the new state of Texas. The Mexican Cession was the third-largest acquisition of territory in US history. The largest was the Louisiana Purchase, with some 827,000 sq. miles, followed by the acquisition of Alaska.

The Mexico City National Cemetery is a cemetery in Mexico City. It was established in 1851 by the United States Congress to gather the American dead of the Mexican–American War that lay in the nearby fields and to provide burial space for Americans who died in the vicinity.

Miguel Gregorio de la Luz Atenógenes Miramón y Tarelo, known as Miguel Miramón, was a Mexican conservative general and politician. He opposed the liberal Constitution of 1857 and served as President of Mexico in opposition to the constitutional president, Benito Juárez of the Liberal Party. He was one the youngest rulers and the first not born during Spanish colonial rule. He served in the imperial army during the French Intervention in Mexico and was executed with Emperor Maximilian and General Tomás Mejía by a republican army firing squad. He remains a controversial figure in Mexico, combining "military skill with political miscalculation."

The Model 1840 Cavalry Saber was based on the 1822 French hussar's sabre. Unlike its replacement, the Model 1860 Light Cavalry Saber the M1840 has a ridge around its quillon, a leather grip wrapped in wire and a flat, slotted throat. It is 44in long with a 35in blade and weighs roughly 2.5 lbs.

For the monument in New Mexico, see Mormon Battalion Monument.

One Man's Hero is a 1999 historical war drama film directed by Lance Hool and starring Tom Berenger, Joaquim de Almeida and Daniela Romo. The film has the distinction of being the last film released by Orion Pictures' arthouse division Orion Classics, as well as being the last Orion Pictures film, until 2013's Grace Unplugged, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer revived the Orion Pictures brand.

Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park near Brownsville, Texas is a National Park Service unit which preserves the grounds of the May 8, 1846, Battle of Palo Alto. It was the first major conflict in a border dispute that soon precipitated the Mexican–American War. The United States Army victory here made the invasion of Mexico possible. The historic site portrays the battle and the war, and its causes and consequences, from the perspectives of both the United States and Mexico.

The Resaca de la Palma Battlefield is the site in Brownsville, Texas, where American forces under General Zachary Taylor engaged Mexican forces under General Mariano Arista on May 9, 1846 in the Battle of Resaca de la Palma. A surviving undeveloped portion of the battlefield is now part of the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

In February 1847, five Mexican National Guard regiments rose up in rebellion against the Mexican government, in protest over legislation that permitted the government to requisition money and property from the Catholic Church in Mexico. Led by General Matías Peña y Barragán, the group issued a set of demands which included the resignation of the President and Vice President of Mexico. When the demands were not met, fighting broke out in Mexico City. President Antonio López de Santa Anna was able to negotiate a peaceful solution with the rebels in March 1847.

The spot resolutions were offered in the United States House of Representatives on 22 December 1847 by future President Abraham Lincoln, then a Whig representative from Illinois. The resolutions requested President James K. Polk to provide Congress with the exact location upon which blood was spilled on American soil, as Polk had claimed in 1846 when asking Congress to declare war on Mexico. So persistent was Lincoln in pushing his "spot resolutions" that some began referring to him as "spotty Lincoln." Lincoln's resolutions were a direct challenge to the validity of the president's words, and representative of an ongoing political power struggle between Whigs and Democrats.

The United States and Mexican Boundary Survey (1848–1855) determined the border between the United States and Mexico as defined in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which had ended the Mexican–American War. The results of the survey were published in the three volumes entitled Report on the United States and Mexican boundary survey, made under the direction of the secretary of the Interior by William H. Emory (1857-1859).

The Wilmot Proviso was an unsuccessful 1846 proposal in the United States Congress to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. The conflict over the Wilmot Proviso was one of the major events leading to the American Civil War.