The Costs and Benefits of the Mexican War

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 was negotiated with Santa Anna by Nicholas P. Trist, the chief clerk of the State Department, and gave America the area from California to Texas for only $15 million plus a United States promise to assume the claims of Americans against the Mexican government. This gave America the prize of California, which it had sought before, as well as respect from foreign nations, particularly Britain, that looked down upon the …showed first 75 words of 1003 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1003 total…coast in most areas. The cost of this, however, was training American soldiers for the bloody battle fields of the Civil War and creating still more internal conflict over slaver, which in turn helped escalate the situation into the Civil War. Despite this, from an objective viewpoint, the Mexican war was extremely beneficial to America, and added a great deal to the nation both in size and in respect, making it an ultimately worthwhile war.