Page 331 - American Stories, A History of the United States

The decisive Veracruz campaign required massive and careful preparations. But
13.1 in March 1847, the city fell after a 20-day siege. Then Scott began his advance on
Mexico City. In the most important battle of the war, he defeated Santa Anna at Cerro
Gordo on April 17 and 18. The Mexicans occupied an apparently impregnable posi-
13.2 tion on high ground blocking the way to Mexico City. A daring flank attack that
required soldiers to scramble up mountainsides enabled Scott to win a decisive vic-
Quick Check tory. By August, American troops were in front of Mexico City. After a temporary
how did the United States obtain armistice, which the Mexicans used to improve their defenses, Scott captured the city
new Mexico and california?
on September 14.

settlement of the Mexican–American War

Accompanying Scott’s army was a diplomat, Nicholas P. Trist, who was authorized
to negotiate a peace treaty whenever the Mexicans decided they had had enough. But
despite the unbroken American victories, no Mexican leader was willing to invite the
wrath of a proud and patriotic citizenry by agreeing to the terms that Polk wanted
to impose. Even after the capture of Mexico City, Trist found it difficult to exact an
acceptable treaty from the Mexican government. In November, Polk ordered Trist to
return to Washington.
Trist ignored Polk’s instructions and lingered in Mexico City. On February 2, 1848,
he finally signed a treaty that gained all the territory he had been commissioned to
treaty of Guadalupe obtain. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded New Mexico and California to the
Hidalgo signed in 1848, this United States for $15 million, established the Rio Grande as the border between Texas
treaty ended the Mexican– and Mexico, and promised that the U.S. government would assume the financial claims
American War. Mexico relinquished
its claims to texas and ceded an of American citizens against Mexico. The 80,000 Mexican residents of the new ter-
additional 500,000 square miles to ritories would become U.S. citizens. When the agreement reached Washington, Polk
the United states for $15 million. censured Trist for disobeying orders but still sent the treaty to the Senate, which ratified
it by a vote of 38 to 14 on March 10.
The United States gained 500,000 square miles of territory from the Mexican–
American War. The size of the nation expanded by about 20 percent, adding the pres-
ent states of California, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and parts of Colorado and
Wyoming. Those interested in a southern route for a transcontinental railroad pressed
for even more territory. That pressure led in 1853 to the Gadsden Purchase, through
which the United States acquired the southernmost parts of present-day Arizona and
New Mexico. (See Map 13.3).
But why, given the expansionist spirit of the age, did the United States not just
annex all of Mexico? According to historian Frederick Merk, a peculiar combination of
racism and anti-colonialism dominated American opinion. It was one thing to acquire
thinly populated areas where “Anglo-Saxon” pioneers could settle. It was something
else to incorporate millions of mixed Spanish and Indian people. These “mongrels,”
charged racist opponents of the “All Mexico” movement, could never be fit citizens of
a self-governing republic. They would have to be ruled the way the British governed
India, and the possession of colonial dependencies was contrary to American ideals
and traditions.
Merk’s thesis sheds light on why the general public had little appetite for swal-
lowing all of Mexico, but those actually making policy had more mundane and prac-
tical reasons for being satisfied with what Guadalupe Hidalgo obtained. What they
had really wanted all along, historian Norman Graebner contends, were the great
California harbors of San Francisco and San Diego. From these ports, Americans
could trade directly with Asia and dominate the commerce of the Pacific. Once
California had been acquired, policymakers had little incentive to press for more
Mexican territory.
The war with Mexico provoked political dissension. Most of the Whig party
opposed the war in principle, arguing that the United States had no valid claims to
the area south of the Nueces. Whig congressmen voted for military appropriations

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