In his book Missionaries of Republicanism, John Pinheiro spent his time writing about how religion affected the Mexican-American war of the late 1840s and the view of “Manifest Destiny”. The main topic of discussion is the rise of “anti-Catholicism” and how it changed history. Anti-Catholicism is the view of some people that expressed a dislike of the Catholic Church and actually contended it was not a religion at all but more closely related to the Book of Revelation than to anything with Evangelical meaning. In Pinheiro’s own words, “By intention the scope of this book is concerned with what the interplay between religion and the war tells us about mid-nineteenth-century America” (Notes 1). That could not have been accomplished without providing background context for both the move to the Americas, what life was like there, why the war started, and how the Mexican people viewed their religion in comparison to the religions that came into play in the Americas. Pinheiro also looks at the war as a moral and controversial battle by exploring the actions of President Polk such as sending chaplains with the army to Mexico and the actions of hypocritical anti-Catholicism followers.…show more content… With detailed background and concrete support from all denominations, Pinheiro makes a strong case that religion did in fact play a huge role in the way the Mexican-American was planned, executed, and reacted to by all religions and people involved. It was easy to move past the lack of defining important terms to really delve into the rich religious history of the 1840s Mexican-American war which ultimately lead to the annexation of Texas. However, if you want to learn more about President Polk’s religion and how his personal beliefs affected the war, it might be wise to look somewhere
