2. u.s. annexation
• After Texas won its
independence from Mexico
in 1836, Texans wanted,
almost immediately, to be
annexed, or “attached,” to
the United States.
3. u.s. annexation
• The people of Texas, many
of whom were American
slave owners, missed the
rights and freedoms that
they had in the United
States.
4. u.s. annexation
•In 1843, Santa Anna
threatened that annexing
Texas would be equal to a
“declaration of war
against the Mexican
Republic.”
5. u.s. annexation
• When James K. Polk, an ardent
expansionist, was elected to the
presidency in 1844, Congress
took that as a message and
approved annexation in
February, 1845, even before Polk
took office, and Texas became a
slave state.
6. u.s. annexation
• One month later, Santa Anna
and the Mexican government
broke off diplomatic relations
with the United States and the
reality of war was near at
hand.
7. war
• Polk used a shaky dispute
over the boundary between
Texas and Mexico as a
justification to send troops
into the region near the border
with Mexico.
8. war
• Mexico believed the
border between the two
countries was the Nueces
River, while the US
believed the border
between the two was the
Rio Grande.
9.
10. war
• The arrival of US troops,
under the command of
General Zachary Taylor,
in the area between the two
rivers angered Santa Anna
and the Mexicans, who
immediately set out to kick
the US out.
11. war
• When a skirmish broke out
between the two forces,
Polk had the excuse that he
needed to ask for war with
Mexico, which Congress
agreed to in May, 1846.
12. results
• The war officially ended
with the signing of the
Treaty of Guadalupe-
Hidalgo, which was signed
in February, 1848.
13. results
• The document made the border
between the United States and
Mexico the Rio Grande, and
gave New Mexico (including
pieces of what is now Arizona,
Utah, and Colorado) and
California to the United States.
14. results
• In return, the United States paid
Mexico $15 million and agreed
to take over the claims of
American citizens against the
Mexican government totaling
$3 million.
15. results
• Five years later, the United States
bought 30,000 square miles more
along the southern border of
Arizona and New Mexico for
another $10 million (Gadsden
Purchase) so that the nation could
build a southern transcontinental
railroad.
16. results
• The boundaries of the
continental U.S. were now fixed,
although the disagreements and
misunderstandings between the
U.S. and Mexico were going to
be the cause of problems
between the two nations for
many years.
