What+caused+the+Mexican+War?+Did+Polk+provoke+the+Texas-boundary+conflict+in+order+to+gain+California,+or+expand+slavery?++CJK

Manifest Destiny was the idea in where the United States was bound to go from coast to coast and Polk was a strong believer in this. The Mexicans thought that that the Nueces was the border of their country and we believed that it was the Rio Grande. The two different understandings of the actual border was the reason why the whole war started. Polk provoked the mexicans to attack so that he could get congress to give him the right to declare war. Polk provoked the Texas conflict so he could gain California and the land between America and California.

Polk ordered General Taylor to cross the nueces and approach Rio Grande. This is what caused the Mexicans to attack the Americans and have a casualtie of 16. This act of the Mexicans made it possible for the American government to declare war on Mexico. Polk described the attack to congress as unproked and unneccesary. The war was for the land to the Rio Grande and for the land from Texas to California. The reason America believed California was ours was because we had Americans living there, and at this time in our history America thought if we had people living in an area then the land was ours. America was bound to take up this land eventually so why not now.

Polk provoked the Texas conflict so he could gain California and the land between America and California. Polk believed in Manifest Destiny and that America was bound at some time to get the land all the way to the Pacific Ocean so why not in his presidency. His provocation of the Mexican Government resulted in us getting the land past the Nueces and all the way to the Rio Grande and getting all the land around California but for a cost of a mere 15 million dollars. America gained a lot of the land it has today in this war and if it would of never happend who knows where we would be today.