Provocation and Land Acquisition in the Mexican-American War

The US government absolutely provoked the Mexican-American War to steal land. In 1846,

President Polk wanted California, so he ordered troops into disputed territory that was historically

Mexican. The plan was to bait Mexico into a fight. A US colonel even

wrote in his diary, "We have not one particle of right to be here." When a skirmish

finally happened, Polk told Congress that Mexico had "shed American blood upon the American

soil" and got his war. It was all for "Manifest Destiny." In the end,

the US took half of Mexico's territory, including what's now California and the Southwest.