THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR

Texas territory used to be Mexico in the 1820s and 1830s. It was a relatively unpopulated area which Mexico wanted help settling. In came American settlers who were more than willing to take Mexico up on their offer. All they would have to do is pledge their allegiance to Mexico and convert to Catholicism. This was not too high a price to pay so many Americans moved to Texas. Difficulties began when the settlers became increasingly dissatisfied with Mexican rule. Because people in America had begun to believe that it was their manifest destiny to settle the land from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, the Texans had the support of the American government against the Mexican government.

This became important in 1835 when the unhappy Texans took up arms against the Mexican government which signed a treaty to end the hostilities in 1836. This did not work because some Mexicans were unhappy with the treaty and kept the fighting going with battles along the border against the newly independent Texans. The Texans decided that becoming a state in the American union would be a good idea and since the United States were eager to support this idea, Congress officially approved the annexation of Texas into the union on July 4, 1845. This did not please Mexico which believed that its territory contained land farther north than the Texans believed was the border so border fighting continued. After the annexation the Mexican-American war began in 1846.

It was a tough war with the Mexican army fighting their hardest to stave off the American soldiers, but the Americans were too hard a foe to defeat. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848 was signed ending the two-year conflict. The United States received exactly what it wanted in this deal, land from Ocean to Ocean. In exchange for $15 million the United States took possession of the territory that is now California, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona. This land was won in the Mexican-American War and Mexico was compensated for the loss of this land, so if you hear that California and other states really still belong to Mexico, you might want to point the person who says this to a history book.

WHAT IS MEMORIAL DAY ABOUT?

Memorial Day is always the last Monday of the month of May; this year it will be May 31. You may have an opportunity to go to a picnic or some other type of celebration and have a nice day off, but it is also an occasion to remember what this holiday is about. The holiday of Memorial Day was to honor all the veterans past and present of the wars of the United States; there have been several.

This country needs a holiday like Memorial Day because there have been so many wars throughout its history. This country began with a war, the Revolutionary War. This war was fought to become independent from the British Empire. When the war was won a new country was born. Not long after that it was necessary to fight the war of 1812 also against the British; once this war was ended it was definite at that point that the United States would remain independent from the United Kingdom.

After the War of 1812, the British were no longer a problem for the Americans. They could turn their attention to other areas of the land. The Southwest was where the Mexican-American War was fought which brought a large part of the Southwest into the United States. Then in the 1860s the Civil War was fought between the northern states and the southern states; the result of this war was that the union was not broken up and slavery was abolished.

The Spanish-American War was fought at the end of the 19th century and this is when the United States gained control of several islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific. World War I, the first war of the 20th century, was fought in Europe. Most of the veterans of these wars are obviously no longer living. The only verified American veteran of World War I, Frank Woodruff Buckles, is 109.

The veterans of these wars are the people that we are to honor on Memorial Day. When you are enjoying your holiday, be sure to take the time out to think of the people who fought in these wars because they sacrificed so much for the country. There will be Memorial Day sales and it is okay to partake in them as long as you take time out to remember the veterans.