Shannon Costello

My latest class is forcing me to bone up on my American History…I just finished a middle school level book on this particular war.

1) I understand better why the state flag is prominently dispayed underneath — but just barely — the American flag in the state of Texas.

2) I am surprised that I observed as little anti-American sentiment as I did in Mexico. We deliberately provoked a nation into a war we were certain we could win. American soldiers commanded by Zachary Taylor rampaged through the streets of Monterrey doing terrible things to ordinary citizens.

(To be fair, we could have been worse. There was talk of annexing all of Mexico, which we did not do, and the treaty of Guadalupe did give Mexico money for all the land we acquired.)

3) Given the deliberate way in which American settlers settled in the Mexican territory that was Texas and refused to abide by Mexican laws, I have a harder time with Americans complaining about Mexicans who are currently entering the country illegally.

4) I am glad to know Abraham Lincoln opposed this war….Mr. Polk’s war.