Photo locators denoted as follows: Top T, Center C, Bottom B, Left L, Right R Background Bkgd Opener: ©Getty Images 2 ©North Wind Picture Archives 6 ©North Wind Picture Archives 8 ©The G
Trang 1Scott Foresman Social Studies
Nonfi ction Compare and
Contrast • Chart • Map
• Captions
ISBN 0-328-14863-6
ì<(sk$m)=beigdj< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U
Fascinating Facts
Spanish explorer Hernando Cortés and his men
had taken more than three hundred years before to
defeat the Aztec Empire
served in the Mexican War Ulysses S Grant and
Franklin Pierce also served in that war
America called the United States “El Coloso del
Norte,” or the colossus of the North
CONFLICT
I N T H E AMERICAN WEST
BY RENA KORB
Scott Foresman Social Studies
Nonfi ction Compare and
Contrast • Chart • Map
• Captions
ISBN 0-328-14863-6
ì<(sk$m)=beigdj< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U
Fascinating Facts
Spanish explorer Hernando Cortés and his men
had taken more than three hundred years before to
defeat the Aztec Empire
served in the Mexican War Ulysses S Grant and
Franklin Pierce also served in that war
America called the United States “El Coloso del
Norte,” or the colossus of the North
CONFLICT
I N T H E AMERICAN WEST
BY RENA KORB
Trang 2boundary province annex manifest destiny invade rebellion negotiations cession
Write to It!
The United States had many reasons for wanting to go to war with Mexico However, Polk asked Congress for a declaration of war based only on Mexico’s attack of United States soldiers on the eastern side of the Rio Grande Do you think the United States had
a good reason for going to war? Explain your answer in one or two paragraphs
Write your paragraphs on a separate sheet
of paper.
ISBN: 0-328-14863-6
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America This publication is protected
by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise For information regarding
permission(s), write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,
Glenview, Illinois 60025.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Maps
MapQuest, Inc.
Photographs
Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.
Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education.
Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R) Background (Bkgd) Opener: ©Getty Images
2 ©North Wind Picture Archives
6 ©North Wind Picture Archives
8 ©The Granger Collection, NY
10 ©Getty Images
13 ©Getty Images
Between 1846 and 1848, the United States and Mexico
fought a bloody, bitter war At stake was both pride and
land After winning every major battle, the United States
defeated Mexico and gained more than half a million
square miles of land In this book you will learn about
the Mexican-American War and the way it changed the
landscape of the United States
Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois • Parsippany, New Jersey • New York, New York Sales Offices: Needham, Massachusetts • Duluth, Georgia • Glenview, Illinois Coppell, Texas • Sacramento, California • Mesa, Arizona
CONFLICT
I N T H E AMERICAN WEST
BY RENA KORB
Trang 3War Breaks Out
In April 1846 trouble was brewing along the banks
of the Rio Grande in Texas Mexican armies and
United States troops had gathered on opposite sides
of this mighty river Why? According to the United
States, the Rio Grande marked the boundary, or
border, between the two countries According to
Mexico, however, the boundary stood at the Nueces
River The Nueces lay about one hundred miles to
the northeast Now each army stood prepared to
defend this territory
At the end of March 1846, General Taylor’s 3,500 troops
began building forts along the Rio Grande, right across from
the Mexican city of Matamoros.
3
On April 25 the Mexican commander sent a large force across the river The Mexican troops surrounded
a group of United States soldiers In the skirmish, sixteen Americans were killed or wounded The Mexicans also took some soldiers as prisoners
General Zachary Taylor, who later became President
of the United States, was in charge of United States forces in Texas He sent word to President James K
Polk, saying, “Hostilities may be considered to have commenced.” Polk immediately went to Congress, and on May 13, 1846, the United States declared war against Mexico
The Road to War
Several events led to the outbreak of the Mexican War In 1821 Mexico had gained independence from Spain and gained control of Spain’s enormous land holdings in North America Some of these lands became
Mexican provinces of New Mexico, California, and
Texas
Many settlers in Texas, however, disliked Mexican rule In 1836 following their victory in the Texas Revolution, they declared independence and formed the Republic of Texas Mexico still thought of the area
as its own Then in 1845 the United States annexed
Texas This action increased tensions between the United States and Mexico
Trang 4Many Americans had come to believe in the idea
of manifest destiny, meaning that the United States
should extend to the Pacific Ocean Britain blocked
the expansion in the Northwest with its claims on
Oregon Territory This issue was settled in 1846,
with the United States gaining full rights to
present-day Oregon and Washington state New Mexico,
California, and Texas were provinces of Mexico
The United States tried to buy this land in 1845
Polk sent agent John Slidell to Mexico Slidell offered
to pay as much as $30 million for Mexico’s northern
provinces, where few Mexicans lived However, the
mention of Slidell’s visit in a Mexican newspaper led
to a huge cry of protest from many Mexicans The
Mexican government refused to even see Slidell Now
there seemed little chance of getting the land other
than taking it by force With the incident in Texas, the
United States had a reason it needed to go to war
Opposition to the War
Not all Americans supported the war with Mexico
Some United States senators agreed with Mexico
that the boundary between the two countries stood
at the Nueces River, not the Rio Grande This meant
that Taylor’s army had been trespassing on Mexican
land, and Mexico’s army was only defending its
territory Also, people who opposed slavery generally
opposed the war They believed that if the land in
the Southwest became states, slavery would become
legal there
5
The Invasion of Mexico
Because many people in the United States opposed the Mexican War, Polk wanted to win it quickly
Military commanders developed a strategy to attack many locations in Mexico at once One division
would invade Mexico, while other forces would
march on New Mexico and California
Even before news of the war reached Texas, General Taylor’s troops had engaged in several battles and defeated the Mexican forces Taylor then crossed the Rio Grande and entered Mexico On May 18, 1846, only one week after the war broke out, Taylor had his first major victory when he captured the town of Matamoros The Mexican army had abandoned the town before the arrival of the troops, so no fighting took place Taylor then raised the American flag over the town
Mexican Advantages
• Three times more soldiers
• Possible aid from Great Britain and France
• Disapproval of the war
by many Americans
American Advantages
• Better weapons
• Better military leaders
• Better-trained soldiers
Advantages in Fighting the Mexican War
Trang 5The Conquest of New Mexico
At the same time, United States troops were
advancing on the Mexican provinces in the Southwest
In June 1846 Colonel Stephen Kearney led about
1,500 troops westward from Kansas along the Santa
Fe Trail They were headed to New Mexico’s capital,
Santa Fe As they traveled, Kearney and his troops
claimed the towns they passed He made speeches and
posted signs in English and Spanish, explaining that
the land now belonged to the United States
Colonel Stephen Kearney captured the Mexican province
of New Mexico
7
After about two months of marching, in August Kearney and his men reached Santa Fe New Mexico had gathered an army However, these defenders had left their posts before the two armies even met
Kearney raised the American flag over the city and announced the annexation of New Mexico to the United States
Most New Mexicans accepted United States control
of the region However, in January 1847, a group of
New Mexicans started a rebellion in Taos, where the
American governor was staying They killed him along with six other men and planned to attack Santa Fe next The rebels barricaded themselves in the nearby town of Taos Pueblo After seven hours of battering the town’s walls, the troops broke through The rebels surrendered and the United States army had put down the rebellion New Mexico was now under United States control
The Bear Flag Revolt
By the summer of 1846, California was also in a state of disorder Although about five hundred settlers from the United States lived in California compared with about eight thousand Mexicans, or Californios, the settlers decided they no longer wanted to be under Mexico’s control In 1846 a United States Army captain named John C Fremont encouraged a small group of settlers in northern California to rebel
Trang 6On June 14 a small group of settlers rose up in the
settlement of Sonoma They arrested the Mexican
army commander and captured weapons They then
wrote their declaration of independence from Mexico
Since news of the war’s outbreak had not yet reached
California, they could not claim the land for the
United States Instead, they declared California to be
the Bear Flag Republic
The Bear Flag Revolt drew its name from the flag the settlers
hastily made, which pictured a grizzly bear.
9
The Conquest of California
The settlers only had shaky control of northern California, but more soldiers were on the way In July 1846 the first navy troops landed in California
Soldiers quickly fanned out Some went north and took over the region claimed by the Bear Flag rebels
Others went south and captured Los Angeles and San Diego The soldiers were successful After about a month, the soldiers were so confident of victory that commanders sent a scout back to Washington, D.C., with news of their possession of California
The military commanders, however, had a difficult job ahead of them They had the support of only a few hundred soldiers, and they were enforcing harsh rules For instance, they made many Californios obey
a curfew and refused to allow them to carry weapons
The Californios rebelled By mid-December they had regained control of most of southern California, including the coastal prize of Los Angeles
Around that time, Colonel Kearney and his army arrived in San Diego They marched toward Los Angeles and beat back two strong enemy attacks on the edges of the city With these additional troops, United States forces put down the rebellion in January The conquest of California was over
Trang 7Taylor’s Campaign in Mexico
Meanwhile, the war continued to unfold to the
south In September 1846, General Taylor led about
six thousand soldiers to Monterrey, the largest city
in northern Mexico Monterrey was nestled between
a mountain and several hills On top of these hills,
the Mexicans had built forts armed with guns and
cannons The United States troops scrambled up the
hills in the face of Mexican soldiers shooting down
on them After several attempts, the troops made it to
the top and captured the forts They were now able
to enter the city Still, the Mexican forces did not give
up They took cover in Monterrey’s stone houses The
American troops were forced to fight them house
by house in the streets After several days of fierce
fighting, Monterrey fell to American troops
11
The battle for Monterrey had killed or wounded more than five hundred of Taylor’s men The
Mexicans had been weakened as well So Taylor and the Mexican army agreed to an eight-week halt to the fighting The Mexican forces left the city, and Taylor’s troops remained in Monterrey Several months later,
in January 1847, Mexico decided to retake the city
About twenty thousand Mexican troops began a 240-mile march north They hoped to defeat Taylor’s forces of about five thousand troops For nearly a month, they struggled through the dry, harsh country
Learning that the Mexicans would be attacking soon, Taylor and his men took up a position at Buena Vista, a location near Monterrey The Mexican army arrived, and the battle broke out After a few days of hard battle, neither side appeared close to a victory
The American troops were vastly outnumbered and held little hope that any reinforcements would arrive After the second day of battle, the troops went
to sleep in the rain They expected to face another fierce struggle the next day, but to their surprise, they awoke to find that the Mexican troops had vanished
The Battle of Buena Vista marked the last skirmish
in northern Mexico Soon the fighting shifted to the central part of the country
General Zachary Taylor and his forces captured Monterrey
Trang 8Conquest in the Heart of Mexico
Despite the United States’ victories at Monterrey
and Buena Vista, the Mexican troops showed no signs
of giving up Many U.S military leaders believed that
the only path to victory lay at the end of the road in
Mexico City, the capital They planned their attack
when they knew that most of the Mexican troops
were still several weeks’ march to the north
In the early part of March 1847, about ten
thousand American troops sailed to the Mexican
coast, landing a few miles from the city of Veracruz
They left their boats and waded ashore They
bombarded the city with cannon fire
Thirty-two-pound cannonballs arched over the walls of Veracruz,
tearing through roofs and landing in many homes
While Mexican soldiers returned fire, the townspeople
took refuge in churches and in underground storage
rooms Within a few days, the cannonballs had blown
a hole in the city’s wall On March 26, 1847, the city
fell to American troops
One week later, American soldiers began the
difficult 265-mile march to Mexico City They fought
back the Mexican forces that tried to stop their
journey However, most of the towns were undefended
and surrendered without a struggle
By early September, the United States forces had gathered near the gates of Mexico City As part
of their strategy, they first attacked an old castle
in Chapultepec, which stood outside the city It was being used as a Mexican military school The fighting lasted several hours, and included hundreds
of young military students But after bloody hand-to-hand fighting, the Mexicans fled By the morning
of September 13, the battle was over On September
14, 1847, United States forces entered the capital
Mexicans watched from their windows and rooftops
as the troops entered their city The Mexicans flew the white flag of surrender An American flag waving over the capital soon replaced it
Today, Mexicans remember several cadets who fought to the death at Chapultepec as Los Niños Heroes, or “the Boy Heroes.”
Trang 9The Peace Treaty
With the fall of the capital, the Mexican War
ended All that remained was setting the terms of
peace Nicholas Trist, a United States agent, began
negotiations with the Mexican government In a
town near Mexico City, Trist and Mexican leaders
came to an agreement known as the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo In return for $15 million dollars,
the United States gained Mexico’s northern provinces
Mexico also accepted the United States’ annexation of
Texas, and the countries agreed that the Rio Grande
now served as their boundary
As result of the Mexican War, the United States
gained more than half a million square miles of
land, known as the Mexican Cession A cession is
the giving up of territory by one country to another
country This enormous piece of land includes
present-day California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of
Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming The
United States had grown with one treaty to almost the
size of Europe
Only six years later, in 1853, the United States and
Mexico made another treaty The Gadsden Purchase
gave the United States an additional thirty thousand
square miles of territory in northern Mexico in return
for $10 million Today, this land makes up portions of
southern Arizona and New Mexico
A T L A N T I C
O C E A N
P A C I F I C
O C E A N
Gulf of Mexico
C A N A D A
U N I T E D S T A T E S
M E X I C O
MEXICAN CESSION 1848
GADSDEN PURCHASE
1845
0 200 400 Miles
0 200 400 Kilometers
N
Present-day boundaries are shown.
15
Life in those former Mexican provinces soon changed Thousands of Mexicans who lived there became United States citizens Settlements grew, particularly after the discovery of gold in northern California in 1848 Over the next few years, tens of thousands of people from around the world moved
to California with hopes of finding riches in gold
With a growing western population, the United States had finally fulfilled its manifest destiny and stretched
“from sea to shining sea.”
United States Expansion in the Southwest
Trang 10Glossary
annex to add or attach
boundary a line or natural feature that separates one
area or state from another
cession the giving up of territory by one country to
another country
invade to enter by force in order to attack or conquer
manifest destiny the belief that the United States
should expand west to the Pacific Ocean
negotiations the process of working with others to
come to an agreement on an issue
province a territory governed by a country or empire
rebellion open and armed resistance to a government
Vocabulary
boundary province annex manifest destiny invade rebellion negotiations cession
Write to It!
The United States had many reasons for wanting to go to war with Mexico However, Polk asked Congress for a declaration of war based only on Mexico’s attack of United States soldiers on the eastern side of the Rio Grande Do you think the United States had
a good reason for going to war? Explain your answer in one or two paragraphs
Write your paragraphs on a separate sheet
of paper.
ISBN: 0-328-14863-6
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America This publication is protected
by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited
reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise For information regarding
permission(s), write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,
Glenview, Illinois 60025.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Maps
MapQuest, Inc.
Photographs
Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.
Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education.
Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R) Background (Bkgd) Opener: ©Getty Images
2 ©North Wind Picture Archives
6 ©North Wind Picture Archives
8 ©The Granger Collection, NY
10 ©Getty Images
13 ©Getty Images
Between 1846 and 1848, the United States and Mexico
fought a bloody, bitter war At stake was both pride and
land After winning every major battle, the United States
defeated Mexico and gained more than half a million
square miles of land In this book you will learn about
the Mexican-American War and the way it changed the
landscape of the United States