War with Mexico Essays - United States, Presidency Of James K. Polk

War with Mexico James K. Polk has declared war with Mexico because of the border dispute . On the border of Texas and Mexico, American troops led by Zachary Taylor were shot on American soil from Mexican troops. James Matthew was one of the witnesses of this incident. All he heard were cries of agony and gunshots as Mexican forces kill innocent men. In Polk's war address to Congress he states, "Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States , has invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon the American soil The two nations are now at war." Kearny led his forces to take over San Pasqual to take over Northern Mexican land. He marched in and he conquered all of Northern Mexico without a single causality. While Kearny had his hands tied up, Scott leads his forces to the port Vera Cruz. After Santa Anna was demoted after losing Texas he then rises back to power as a general. The two sides fought in two battles both leading Santa Anna's forces retreating. Scott then leads his forces to Mexico City. While Scott maybe excited his troops aren't so much, so Scott arouses them with a speech after six months of walking Scott reaches the gates of Mexico City. On September 13 Scott gives the order to fire on Mexico City. On September 14 Scott has taken over Mexico City. In February of 1848 the war is over by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . Mexico agreed to give the United States all of their Northern Territory for only fifthteen million dollars this became known as the Mexican Cession . The area given to us would be separated into six different states which include: California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming. The new border is at the Rio Grande between Mexico and the United States. California After the Eustach party found gold in western California, flocks of families moved west to get the slice of richness. Because of this find a huge epidemic was going around called Gold fever , and the only cure for it was gold. A forty- niner family was granted this title for leaving home in 1849 . The Donner party was one out of the eighty thousand families that were looking for gold. This party was unfortunate because they poorly planned their trip which caused them getting stuck in the Rockies for the winter. Luckily there was a shack they found and decided to wait it all out. After all their food ran out they went down the path of cannibalism when a rescue party found them all they could see was human and dog bones on the floor. They were then led to a mining town in California. All they could see in the mining town was trading posts, a bank, and a medical base. They went to the nearby bank and asked for claim twenty-six because it was a perfect p lace for mining because of the river nearby. Once arriving to their claim after a good night's sleep they started panning for gold. They noticed that the Chinese was also here, and they looked very depressed. People were throwing stones at them, and said things like get of our land Asians." After a hard day's work they found twelve ounces of gold. They then went to the trading post, and they saw Levi Strauss and his denim jeans. He said they're worth six ounces of gold, so they bought a pair and was on their way to a rich future. Inventions Galore The industrial industry is skyrocketing, but the four inventions that changed this the most were the steel tip plow, the telegraph, steam powered factories, and the invention of Morse code . The steel tip plow was invented by John Deere he wanted to be able to build something to plow the tough soil of the prairies versus the soft rich soil of the east coast of the states. He built this in Illinois by trying his first plow which was a saw. The telegraph and Morse code was built by Samuel Morse. The telegraph was built to be able to send electric pulses quicker and longer ranges than the