Mexican War
noun
the war between the U.S. and Mexico, 1846–48.
British Dictionary definitions for mexican war
Mexican War
noun
the war fought between the US and Mexico (1846–48), through which the US acquired the present-day Southwest
Cultural definitions for mexican war
Mexican War
A war fought between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. The United States won the war, encouraged by the feelings of many Americans that the country was accomplishing its manifest destiny of expansion. Mexico renounced all claims to Texas north of the Rio Grande and yielded a vast territory that embraces the present states of California, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
notes for Mexican War
Many generals of the
Civil War, including Ulysses S.
Grant and Robert E.
Lee, gained experience in battle during the Mexican War. The Mexican War was opposed by many Americans, notably by the author Henry David Thoreau, who was put in jail for refusing to pay a tax to support the war. His
essay
“Civil Disobedience” explains the principles of his action.