The US conquered Mexico in the mid 1800's. Should we have annexed it?

Question

How would that have affected life these days?

Answer 1

Although it would have taken further battles (which likely would have been won), it is possible (based on military/economic/political might of the time).

The real question is whether the US could have integrated the Mexican states into the country - although many concessions would have to have given in order to pacify the populace. While the Mexicans in general may have initially been okay with the situation, in time they would have revolted if they thought that they were on the bottom of society. While this is one of historys great 'what ifs', ultimately, it would have changed history.

For example - it would have postponed the US civil war, either indefinately or for many years. How would have the southern states reacted to integrating Mexican states into the country (im not sure about the situation of slaves in mexico at the time). Also, the time it would have taken to integrate the mexican states would have taken away from the time it took from the US to modernize, industrialize, and begin to become active in world events.

The history of the world would be different ever since.

In general, I suggest, no, it was a good call not to annex the populated parts of Mexico, but stick to the relative unpopulated parts that later became the moutain and western states. There is no real animosity between the US and Mexican people (only political problems), and one day as the spanish speaking population of the US raises above 50%, it may be possible to annex latin american (including mexico) countries as states. But talk of the future is another what if.

Answer 2

We couldn't have held it. First of all, look at the differences between Mexican and American cultures at the time. No way would the Mexicans have taken being conquered laying down. Also, did you know that the Mexican army was expected to win the war by most foreigners? While it was defeated, it was really only by a slim margin, mainly because of errors in the Mexican commanders. In addition, the population of Mexico was, at the time, slightly greater than the US'. We couldn't have put enough troops in the field to hold it. Finally, the real reason that the Mexican government gave up so much territory was that it wanted to live; most members were captured. If the US had annexed Mexico, then the Mexican Revolution of 1910 would have come much earlier, and the Mexicans would have been united against the US. Pancho Villa, Zapata, Corranza, all the military leaders of Mexico would have been fighting us instead of each other. Imagine Vietnam, only 100 times worse. Everyone would hate us, and fight a gurilla war against the occupying forces. In summery, we couldn't have annexed Mexico, even if we wanted to. We would have had to slaughter the Mexican people, down to the last man, woman, and child, which, frankly, we couldn't do.

Answer 3

Uh, no, the U.S. defeated Mexico, but never conquered it. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries the U.S. foreign policy towards the rest of world was more along the lines of isolationism despite several conflicts with Spain and Mexico. The war with Mexico though was part of a greater ideological struggle called Manifest Destiny. You see, in the 19th century, some believed that it was the "destiny" of the U.S. to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The Mexican-American War was part of that plan. So no, since they didn't conquer Mexico, I don't think they would have annexed it.

If we had conquered Mexico though, I don't think we would have annexed it. We would have probably let Mexico maintain their sovereignty because it would hypocritical for the U.S. to hold "colonies".

Answer 4

I don't think you can say the U.S. conquered Mexico. We might have won some battles, I assume you are speaking of the Mexican American war, but winning battles in Mexico doesn't mean one conquered the country. Look at the state it's in now; even its own government can't control or conquer Mexico.

Hell, no, we shouldn't have annexed it. We can't even run our own country adequately.

Answer 5

Although the US never actually conquered Mexico, that's an interesting question. Consider this as an answer....

At the end of the Spanish American War we held Cuba and Puerto Rico. Cuba we gave away but, we kept Puerto Rico. Would Mexico have been like Puerto Rico?

Answer 6

It would've been a perfect oppurtinity. We could've had more americans settle down there too and assimilate the natives already there. Then we can Americanize the region.

Then mexico wouldn't have overpopulated like it is today with 100 million people. And we wouldn't have that big of an illegals problem.

Answer 7

we didn't conquer Mexico...we won a Territorial battle with them....we didn't want Mexico....we wanted Texas and all
points west. It was called our manifest destiny..for the us to
go from one coast to the other.
the Mexicans just happened to be in the way.....sam houston
and his followers (with help from powers in DC) went into the
(now) texas territory knowing it would cause a confrontation

Answer 8

We did its called Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado.

Answer 9

I think we should have, they would be in a lot better shape today than they are now and we wouldn't be fighting so much illegal immigration.