Texas Tidbits: The Mexican-American War

Texas in 1836

We are getting to a very interesting period in Texas History over the next couple of months and I am really looking forward to posting about it. To be sure, some it I will have posted about before, but the events we'll be covering were of such historical importance to Texas and Texans, that they bear repeating, lest we forget. And with God's help, forget we won't.

One of the Wars that involved Texas specifically is one we really don't hear or read much about, but it was a significant event for Texas the new US State and for the United States as well. The end of this war brought about a realization of the doctrine of Manifest Destiny of the Polk administration in the 1840's. The idea of Manifest Destiny was to expand the United States from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the Pacific. The signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hildalgo in 1848 ending the Mexican-American War made that dream a certainty.

A little background; the Mexican government was still pissed about losing the Texas Revolution and the land that went with it. You gotta remember that in 1836 when Texas won its Independence from Mexico, it was a HUGE hunk of real estate covering present-day Texas and parts of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming. So, the Mexican Army attacked some US troops in Texas and war on Mexico was soon declared by the United States. Long story short, the US won the War and as we know, to the victor belong the spoils. The spoils in this instance were the rest of the land west of pre-American Texas all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Manifest Destiny had been realized and the soon-to-be Western United States was born. That's the short version of the story of the Mexican-American War 1846-1848.

Texas History that awaits us includes the stories of Goliad, the Alamo and San Jacinto amongst others. We'll also look at the men and women of the Texas Revolution who fought and sacrificed so much so that they could live as a free people. I. Am. Stoked.