Wars for the American Southwest
—Jason
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Beginning in 1493, the Spanish Kingdom expanded beyond the Iberian Peninsula in Europe to encompass territories in the Americas and the Far East. This world-spanning empire allowed the Spanish monarchy to control almost limitless amounts of wealth, which was used to both beautify their kingdoms and wage incredibly destructive wars. Alongside the conquests of new territories, new peoples and cultures were assimilated into blended empire. Between the voyages of Columbus to the outbreak of the French Revolution, vast territories in Central America and Southwest North America were firmly under Spanish control.
Despite this longstanding success, Spain’s holdings in Central and North America slowly unraveled as its colonial power collapsed during the Napoleonic Wars (fought between 1800 and 1815). The French and Spanish had been allies in these wars, fighting against the British, Portuguese, Austrians, Russians, and Prussians. As the war continued, France’s ruler Napoleon Bonaparte decided to sell off his Spanish ally’s territories in North America to both finance his campaigns and prevent the British from gaining the region.
The Louisiana Purchase, finalized on 30 April 1803, was an agreement between France and United States in which the latter “bought” the French territory west of the Mississippi River all the way to Pacific Coast. This was done without the consent or knowledge of the resident Native American tribes and Spanish were not fully aware of what was sold. However, there were territories that had not been ceded to the United States: what would become Texas, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and California were all considered part of Spanish-controlled Mexico.
Mexico removed itself from the Spanish Empire in the Mexican War of Independence between 16 September 1810 to 27 September 1821. Once it was independent, the Mexican government sought to normalize its relationship with the United States. Tensions over where Mexican and American territories began and ended and under which country’s law system people lived resulted in two wars: the Texas Rebellion and the Mexican-American War.
Leading up to these conflicts, American citizens were permitted to settle in Mexican territory so long as they abided by Mexican law. It was hoped the influx of American immigrants, and their wealth, would help stabilize the new Central American state. However, while slavery had been abolished in Mexican territory after its independence, it remained legal in the United States and the Americans wanted to bring their slaves with them. This became one of the major factors in why the two states eventually went to went war.
After a decade of increasingly bitter political and social disagreements between the settlers, known as Texians, and the Mexican government erupted into open rebellion in October 1835. American settlers in Texas sought to either join the United States or to form their own republic. This coincided with reforms by Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna who sought to centralize the state. The political instability of the Mexican Government was seen by the Texians as the perfect opportunity to break away.
Texian leaders sought to gain military aid from the United States during their rebellion. This was complicated by the fact that US President Andrew Jackson had no real reason to absorb the territory of a fellow sovereign state. Americans who were sympathetic to their fellows in Mexican territory raised money, supplies, and even soldiers to help the Texians. These independent acts reinforced Santa Anna’s belief that the United States sought to strip Texas away from his rule.
The crushing Mexican victory at the Battle of the Alamo (fought between 23 February and 6 March 1836) was the hightide of Santa Anna’s campaign. The thirteen-day siege culminated in the deaths of nearly every member of the Texian garrison. Flush with this victory, Santa Anna attempted to destroy the forces under Sam Houston throughout March and April 1836.
Houston’s forces launched a surprise attack against a portion of the Mexican Army on 21 April at the Battle of San Jacinto. The Texians routed their opponents and captured Santa Anna himself. To obtain his freedom, he was forced to secede all territory north of the Rio Grande River to the newly independent Republic of Texas. One of the stipulations of Treaty of Velasco prevented the United States from annexing Texas. Santa Anna refused to officially recognize the Republic of Texas allowing, in his mind at least, a possible cause for a future war.
American settlers continued to create new communities across the territories encompassing both the Louisiana Purchase and Texas Rebellion following 1836. The California Territory was a destination in which many of these people wished to set roots. The draw of cheap, or even better, free, land brought thousands of people from the Eastern United States, South America, Europe, and Asia who created a diverse cultural blending.
Settlers from the Eastern US and Europe had two options how they would enter California: either traveling overland or sailing around the entirety of South America. Either route had its own dangers in the forms of difficult weather, hostile terrain, and long travel time. The Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountain Ranges made travel by land limited to the spring and summer months to avoid settlers being trapped in the mountains during the fall and winter. Those traveling by sea had to face the unpredictable and dangerous waters of Cape Horn between the tip of South America and Antarctica.
Tensions between the Republic of Texas, the United States, and Mexico erupted into warfare once again between 1846 and 1848. Many of the citizens of Texas wished their republic to be annexed by their fellow Americans, yet the Treaty of Velasco prevented this. However, the election of new President of the United States, James Polk, laid the foundation for the final war for control of the American Southwest.
Polk in the 1844 Election arguing that the United States enjoyed, and must pursue, a policy he called “Manifest Destiny.” Manifest Destiny proclaimed that it was America’s right to unite the Atlantic and Pacific coasts under its flag by either peaceful settlement or conquest. In his view, if the Republic of Texas wanted to join the United States, then Mexico had no right to intervene. In 1845, Polk pressured Congress to officially annex the nearly defunct Republic of Texas.
Despite this limited political victory, a larger issue within the United States prevented Texas from entering the Union: slavery. Since the United States had begun its expansion west, there had been arguments over how new states would enter the country, were they to be free or slave states. Texas, which already practiced slavery, needed to be balanced by the simultaneous entrance of free state, in this case Oregon. However, Mexico had never officially recognized a common border with, much less the existence of, Texas.
President Santa Anna was still in power in Mexico and had no intention of surrendering Texas to his northern neighbor. He and President Polk quickly began to send military units towards the disputed border. A war with Mexico was not something many Americans felt was necessary: many in the northern states felt this would simply be an excuse to expand slavery. Polk made a declaration that no additional territory beyond Texas would be annexed by the United States if America was victorious in taking the republic. This promise turned out to be little more than propaganda to get support for the war.
Polk was operating on both military and political fields for which Santa Anna was little prepared. While a delegation was sent by Polk to Mexico City to potentially negotiate a cash deal for the disputed territory, the United States Army and Navy mobilized. The presence of US troops along the border incited the Mexican Army to attack on 25 April 1846. American units quickly moved from territory in Texas to occupy areas of New Mexico and secure the Rio Grande River for future operations. The Pacific Squadron of the American Navy blockaded southern Baja California preventing reinforcements from reaching that front as the US Army occupied Spanish California.
Even with these territorial losses, the Mexican government refused to negotiate a cease fire. In response to this, the U.S. invaded the Mexican heartland, with Major General Winfield Scott in command. As American forces secured Texas, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and California, Major General Scott’s group was sent by sea while another group under Zachary Taylor advanced southwards from Texas. This two-pronged assault ensured that a demoralized and scattered Mexican Army could not effectively resist either American army. Scott’s forces landed at the city of Veracruz and then marched inland capturing Mexico City by early August 1846.
Santa Anna was defeated in multiple battles taking place between September and October 1846. This weakness opened the door for a new Mexican government to form under Manuel de la Peña y Peña. President Peña decided to continue the war despite losing not only the capital, but also many other cities as well. American forces continued there multifront advance into Mexico but faced an elusive enemy. By the end of January 1847, the Pena Government was forced to concede to the reality of the situation: Mexico had lost the war.
Negotiations between the American and Mexican governments had been under way throughout the conflict. Polk’s dream of a quick war of conquest against an inferior enemy had been dashed by the resistance of the Mexican people. His promises regarding not annexing territory outside of Texas were quickly exposed as false: the regions encompassing Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah would be added to the United States. To make this annexation “legal” to both the American public and Europeans, Polk’s government authorized the “purchase” of the territories from its defeated opponent.
Thousands of square miles of newly acquired territory was the prize that Polk gained from his Mexican-American War, but his success was poisonous. These only added further confusion over the admission of new states into the Union: again, the argument of where slavery would be permitted haunted the country. Zachary Taylor became a hero of the war while Polk was rightfully criticized for his bloody war of conquest. During the 1849 Election, Polk and Taylor were on opposing platforms and the later won his bid for Presidency.
The discovery of gold in California in the 1840s led to a massive population increase for the territory. This forced the issue of free or slave state status to the Federal Congress. The Compromise of 1850 was a piece of statecraft that Taylor hoped would solve the issues plaguing the United States. It was drafted by Kentucky Senator Henry Clay, who twice before in times of crisis had come forward with compromise arrangements. He advanced a complicated and carefully balanced plan. His old Massachusetts rival, Daniel Webster, supported it. Illinois Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, the leading advocate of popular sovereignty, did much of the work in guiding it through Congress.
The Compromise of 1850 encompassed five essential clauses: 1) California was admitted to the Union as a free state; 2) the remainder of the captured Mexican territory was divided into the two territories of New Mexico and Utah and organized without mention of slavery; 3) the claim of Texas to a portion of New Mexico was satisfied by a payment of $10 million to Texas; 4) new legislation (the Fugitive Slave Act) was passed to apprehend runaway slaves and return them to their masters, this reinforced the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution; and 5) the buying and selling of slaves (but not slavery itself) was abolished in the District of Columbia.
While the Compromise of 1850 managed to cool some of the tensions between Northern and Southern segments of the United States in the short term, it failed utterly to bridge the gap that had divided the country. Instead of the agreed-upon policy of Popular Sovereignty, where citizens of territories attempting to enter the Union voted whether they would be free or slave, within fifteen years the country tore itself apart and plunged into a deadly civil war.