The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 2, 1848, ends the Mexican-American War by forcing Mexico to cede 55 percent of its territory—including present-day California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming—to the United States for …
U.S. SenateMexicoMexican AmericansU.S. governmentAnglo settlerstreaty-guadalupe-hidalgoland-theftmexican-american-wartreaty-violationinstitutional-corruption+1 more
On January 4, 1847, Connecticut gun manufacturer Samuel Colt rescues the future of his faltering gun company by winning a contract to provide the U.S. government with 1,000 of his .44 caliber revolvers for use in the Mexican-American War. Colt had received a U.S. patent for a revolver mechanism in …
Samuel ColtSamuel WalkerU.S. governmentEli Whitney Jr.war-profiteeringmexican-american-wargovernment-contractsmilitary-industrial
On August 8, 1846, amidst the Mexican-American War, Democratic Congressman David Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduces an amendment to President James Polk’s $2 million appropriation bill for purchasing territory from Mexico, boldly declaring that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude …
David WilmotJames K. PolkU.S. House of RepresentativesU.S. SenateNorthern Democrats+1 morewilmot-provisoslavery-expansionsectional-conflictmexican-american-warterritorial-expansion+1 more
President James K. Polk obtains a declaration of war against Mexico after deliberately provoking hostilities by sending American troops into disputed territory between the Nueces River (Mexico’s claimed boundary) and the Rio Grande (Texas’s claimed boundary) in January 1846. When Mexican …
James K. PolkU.S. CongressMexicoWhig Party oppositionAbraham Lincolnmexican-american-warslavery-expansionland-grabmanifest-destinyinstitutional-corruption+1 more