Manifest Destiny

The Greatest Land Grab in American History...

Most Americans don’t have a good grip on Mexican history. This article isn’t exactly “Destiny for Dummies,” but I’ll paint in broad strokes so we can have a little better understanding for those Mexicanos who believe California, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and a good piece of Colorado, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Kansas should still be Mexico. (Spoiler Alert: They’ve got a good point.)

Manifest Destiny was never a law. In fact, there was nothing formal about it, having been coined by a journalist. However, like a viral YouTube video, there was something about it that was sticky. Millions of Americans used this phrase to justify whatever actions were necessary to expand the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Some might say that Mexico was in the right place at the wrong time. There’s truth here, too.

The Mexican people paid for their independence from Spain in blood and treasure. Beginning in 1810, Mexican soldiers fought for eleven years, one week, and four days to oust their colonizers. In the Treaty of Cordoba which ended the conflict, Mexico received the vast territory of New Spain that comprised all the current U.S. states mentioned above. Holding onto the land was a different challenge, especially considering the premise of Manifest Destiny being embraced by large swathes of the American population and politicians.

Texas was part of New Spain and Mexico knew they had to get it populated, quickly. They invited American citizens to come west, receive parcels of land, and make it their new home. They requested three things of these new pioneers, which in relation to our current burdensome federal bureaucracy, did not seem all that crazy:

• Accept the Catholic faith

• Learn Spanish

• Pay your taxes to Mexico

At the time, Mexico Texas’ population was comprised of Mexicanos (Tejanos), Native Americans, and a sprinkling of adventurous gringo settlers. The new influx of white Americans did indeed swell the population, but they had a big problem with the three rules, especially the one about paying taxes. Maybe the phrase, “Don’t Mess With Texas” had its roots there. Rebellion fomented by the new Texans led Mexico City to send General Santa Anna to the Alamo. The General won that battle and dozens more as his armies worked their way up the Gulf Coast. In retreat since the Alamo, Texas General Sam Houston was getting his butt kicked. He was outmanned and the majority of his volunteers were young and green. He hid his army in the marshlands south of what is now Houston and spent the time training soldiers as Santa Anna closed in on his army. At 4 pm, on April 21st, 1836, Houston stopped retreating, cried out, “Remember the Alamo,” and defeated the Mexican army at San Jacinto, capturing Santa Anna in the process. Mexico Texas was gone. It turned out that Texas was only the first piece in the Manifest Destiny puzzle. The second shoe would drop twelve years later.

The United States finally annexed Texas in 1845. Since General Houston’s victory in 1836, there had been a long-simmering dispute about Texas’ southern border with Mexico. Texas said the Rio Grande, while Mexican politicians lobbied for the Nueces River some 160 miles north. Neither the Republic of Texas nor Mexico had formally accepted the boundary. When some Americans were attacked north of the Rio Grande in 1846, the United States Senate voted to go to war with Mexico. Without much opposition, the American armies had few setbacks and met in Mexico City to end the war with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago in 1848. The United States was now physically connected from sea to shining sea. Manifest Destiny had delivered on its promise.