MEXICO DEFEATS THE UNITED STATES

What was the background to the Mexican-American War of 1846-48?

The United States in the early 19th century had a rapidly growing population, particularly in the west. [This] put it on a collision course with the Republic of Mexico, which had acquired its independence in the 1820s and claimed much of the territory in what is now the southwest of the United States, and indeed the Pacific Coast of the United States. So in the 1840s the US found itself on a potential road to conflict with both Mexico and Britain in what’s today the Pacific Northwest. That’s the big picture. The more proximate cause is that the American settlers in the Mexican province of Texas in 1836 rebelled, declared independence, fought a short but relatively bloody war of independence and achieved their independence. And then the United States, in 1846, annexed