What were the causes of the Mexican-American war Essay

What were the causes of the Mexican-American war - Essay Example Before the war, several issues had occurred. First, Mexico got its independence from Spain in 1821, and it comprised of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama (Brands, Breen and Williams 222). The state under Mexico at independence owned states of California, Nevada, Utah, Texas and parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. The negotiation between the US government and Mexican government led to complications. In 1835, the Mexican president took steps to change Mexico from the Federal Republic to Centralist Republic. The move led to rebellion and cessation of Yucatan and Texas. However, the Mexican government waged war to recover the two states. Yucatan was recaptured, but Texas managed to become a state on its own by defeating the Mexican army. Mexican government warned the US against Texas Annexation (Brands, Breen and Williams 123). The US president John Tyler knew California had riches compared to Texas. In fact, the president valued the California because of the riches and stated the importance of the acquisition of the area. The president was a strong believer of Manifest Destiny, which was translated to mean the annexation of all North America into the US. Despite the disliking of Texas by the president, he was pushed to accept it, and Texas was annexed. The successor President James K Polk ratified led to war with Mexico. The fear of losing Texas was the main propellant of the war. The Mexican government wanted to protect and win back Texas, but the war decreased their chances of winning the state thus massive loss for the government. The Mexican American war was based on land and states. The association of some states in America led to aggression by the Mexican government. The success of annexation encourages development of the federal government of US while creating aggression by Mexico (Brands, Breen and Williams 145). During the 19th century, the war between Mexico