How the Yanks grabbed half of Mexico

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo) was the peace treaty almost entirely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a Mexico militarily occupied by US forces following the end of the illegal and entirely aggressive Mexican-American War (1846–1848).

The Mexican–American War was an armed military conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas. Mexico did not recognize the secession and subsequent military victory by Texas in 1836, and considered Texas a rebel province.

The United States was animated by a popular belief in its own "Manifest Destiny" and the opportunity to gain territory for the expansion of slavery.

The most important consequence of the war for the United States was the Mexican Cession, in which the Mexican territories of Alta California and Santa Fé de Nuevo México were ceded to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with enormous loss of territory to Mexico and huge gains to a rapacious, grasping, greedy and aggressive American government.

And what was this “Manifest Destiny”?

That’s right, folks!

The very thing that my previous posts were describing and criticizing!

A highly fanciful allegory of the "Manifest Destiny" of the United States conquering the West and laying telegraph wiring. The reality was often enough merely naked aggression.

Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. It was the belief that westward expansion was “obviously” right and was the “destiny” of the United States. It was the bastard offspring of that other similar doctrine, the so-called Monroe doctrine.

It was an astonishingly arrogant doctrine.

But it was what many Yankees believed in.

The Battle of Vera Cruz - an episode from the Mexican-American war

The term was first used primarily by Jacksonian Democrats (well, surprise, surprise!!) in the 1840s to promote the annexation of much of Oregon, Texas and much of what was then Mexico.

Even today some Americans still naively believe that it is their country’s job to tell other countries how to run themselves and blockade, or even invade, them if they don’t agree.

In short, exactly the attitude I was criticizing in my posts.

The Guadalupe treaty provided for the ensured safety of pre-existing property rights of Mexican citizens in the transferred territories, which the United States government later all too often dishonoured, just as it had failed to honour its treaty obligations to the native American Indians.

Texas had been annexed by infiltrating Americans into the country as false Catholics and then – when there were enough of them – declaring independence for Texas and asking the US to “protect” the infiltrated American false Catholics (who thereafter quickly reverted to their former heathenism or Protestantism).

After this, President Polk then provoked Mexico into further war so that he could annex the remaining northern parts of Mexico. Polk, a believer in “manifest destiny” and yet another Yankee Freemason and enemy of the Catholic Church, declared a war on 13 May 1845.

Mexico’s subsequent defeat left them with little choice but to accept the United States’ demands, or risk total annexation of Mexico.

The treaty was signed by Nicholas Trist on behalf of the United States on 2 February 1848 just as US troops under the command of General Winfield Scott were occupying Mexico City.

The troops of Gen Winfield Scott occupying Mexico City to force the Mexicans to surrender to unjustified Yankee demands for huge portions of their land and territory

This was the clearest possible example of Yankee bullying, greed, annexation and grand theft of other people’s territory.

And afterwards the US government reneged on parts of the treaty which was supposed to protect the inhabitants of the new territory.

Another fanciful allegory of the belief that civilisation moves westward and so it was the destiny of the USA to kick the Indians and the Spanish off their land illegally, violently and aggressively

Border disputes continued; the United States’s desire to expand its territory continued unabated leading to the equally controversial Gadsden Purchase in 1854.

Land grant claims still persist to this day.

But all too many Yankees simply do not know this - or a great deal else about their own country's history.

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Some Yankee mothers do have 'em...

It was inevitable that some dumb-bunny would emerge to share their bigotry with us.

Step forward Karen H, aka "Gem of the Ocean".

She has bought the whole, received, Yankee history of "How the West was won" - hook, line and sinker.

And she does not scruple to spew forth racism despite her supposedly being a Catholic.

I'd like to have shared her post with you...

...but it was so crass that I wanted to spare your blushes and her the ignominy.

I suppose one must make allowances for the apparent fact that, according to US government surveys, 58% of people leaving High School in the USA never again read a book.

Karen's blog describes her as a "Right minded woman on the left coast. Catholic. Conservative. All American. Who could ask for anything more?"

Well, Karen, one could ask for quite a lot more, actually.

Racism does not become a Catholic, let alone a Conservative Catholic. Neither does ignorance and neither does crass rudeness and bigotry.

Let's check out the ignorance.

Dear Karen indignantly thinks that I have never heard of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and, in high dudgeon, claims that this is how the West was won: the Mexicans ceded all of alta California.

Passing over the fact that my post nowhere denies the existence of the treaty, let us just remember a thing or two about this "great" treaty.

I set it all out in my next post.

Karen's next claim is even more laughable. She claims - again indignantly - that President Abraham Lincoln returned the Catholic missions to the Catholic Church after they had been - so she claims - plundered by the Mexicans.

Here are the facts.

Mexico, constantly infiltrated by pro-Yankee agitators and fifth columnists but also by its own home-grown Freemasons or Spanish ones imported from Europe, suffered numerous revolutions which, despite the Catholicism of the ordinary people, eventually succeeded in eradicating Catholic government from Mexico. The US government constantly supported the anti-Catholic forces with money and arms - hence their repeated success.

The wars and revolutions that Mexico endured cost the country dear. This, and the anti-clericalism of the government, led to the decline of the Spanish missions and they fell into ruin, anti-Catholic Yankees being well content to let the Papist missions fall into disuse.

This was in the 1840s.

By the 1860s most of the missions were in ruins or nearly so. There was thus but little to give back to the Catholic Church and Lincoln's supposed generosity in so doing was very small beer - a cheap gesture indeed.

Catholics must be very careful not to put the myths about their own country above truth, faith and charity.

But Karen seems to think it was all down to some innate defect in the Mexican race.

Not quite, Karen, I'm afraid.

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