Texas' war for independence from Mexico and the Guadalupe Treaty - Essay Example

These expansionist policies were a reflection of aggression on the side of the United States’ administration and can only be considered to have propagated unfairness and injustice on the Native American and Mexican people who lacked sufficient defense mechanisms to protect themselves from the unjust acts of the United States. The Battle of San Jacinto, organized by General Houston, between Texans and Mexicans and was important for the emancipation of Texas from Mexico, and involved a harsh confrontation between who led a group of Texans and Mexicans.

Although Houston was later elected as the president in an independent Texas, other individuals such as Stephen F. Austin equally contributed their efforts to ensuring the independence of Texas from Mexico (Hammeken 374). The war lasted less than ten minutes, even as Texans won the victory (Winters 143). This war was critical, as it marked the beginning of the strained relationship between Mexico and the United States, as these two countries shared a common interest of owning the then independent Texas.

It was in this regard that Polk commissioned the Mexican War that followed shortly after. The United States wanted to possess Texas, which had just gotten independence from Mexico; but Mexico claimed Texas was still its possession, and this resulted in disagreements between the United States and Texas. This was a major contributing factor to the Mexico-American war that lasted between the years 1846 and 1848, even as President Polk of the United States called for the Mexican-American war as a strategy of achieving the goal of his administration with regard to expansion of the country.

Polk did not employ any democratic procedures in negotiating with Mexico over his objectives. Instead, it was coercion and war, which all lead to the victimization of the inferior party, and in this case, Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo