U.S History
November 18th 2013
We Take Nothing By Conquest, Thank God
What Zinn argues on this chapter eight is epitomized in the tittle of this chapter. “ We take nothing by conquest, Thank god. Zinn uses this statement to present how atrocious the conquest really was since there was a conquest. America wanted to hide it's evil ways behind the facade of saying that America acquire land always through peaceful purchases. The war was very unpopular to many. Polk said that the war was to gain California and also said that Mexicans invaded first. On this chapter Zinn focuses on the Mexican American war and how it really was a conquest caused by Polk. In 1821, Mexico won it's independence in a revolutionary war against Spain. Mexico was a large country which included Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and part of Colorado. In 183 Texas broke of from Mexico and declared itself “ The lone star republic” and in 1845 the U.S Congress brought it into the union as a state. Later in spring of 1846, all that was needed was a military incident to begin the war Polk wanted. It happened after General Taylor's quartermaster, Colonel Cross disappeared. His body was found eleven days later. It was assumed that the Mexicans had killed him. A lot of the Anti-Slavery congressmen voted against all war measures. Seeing the mexican campaign as a means of extending the southern. Slave territory Joshua Giddings explains his vote against supplying men and arms for the war. To Howard Zinn looks like Polk was the only one that wanted California to be part of his nation. The war barely begun in the summer of 1846, when a writer who lived in Washington refused to pay his Massachusetts poll tax. Denouncing the mexican war. He was put into jail and spent the night there. Zinn argues that the president Polk pushed for the war because he wanted to expand. He wanted to go as southwest as possible. He thought the United States needed to be larger. Polk