The Mexican–American War was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States (Mexico) from 1846 to 1848. Throughout the war many people had their own viewpoints on the war; many that was similar but some that was different. James K. Polk, the eleventh president of the United States, led the nation to war with Mexico and acquired large amounts of territory during his term in office.What Polk wanted was to push Mexico into negotiating with the United States, and he was willing to create a threat of war to do this. If he had to fight, he wanted a short war and a quick victory. He never expected a long-drawn-out war. The Army was not ready for war and had never fought so far from home before. The country was divided. So Polk needed an excuse to declare war, expecting at the most to fight a few skirmishes on the Rio Grande and then start negotiating. The Mexicans gave him the excuse he needed. The…show more content… They insisted that their nation had a manifest destiny to dominate the continent and felt that it was their mission to extend the “boundaries of freedom” to others by passing on their idealism and belief in democratic institutions to those who were capable of self-government. Firstly, during that period of time, the United States was experiencing high population growth rate from increasing in birth rate and immigration. Therefore there was a need to expand into new territories to accommodate with this huge population growth. Secondly, the United States suffered from two economic depressions therefore driving people to seek living in frontier areas since frontier land was inexpensive or free. Thirdly, expansion into frontier areas provided new opportunities for commerce and individual self advancement thus promoting economic growth. The Mexican American War was purely driven by economical, social and political pressures to expand U.S
