Section II: Wars of Expansion Title: Conflicting Voices of the Mexican War Grade Level: High School Objectives: Research conflicting perspectives of the Mexican War. Conduct “fictional” interviews of key individuals in that war. National History Standards: Standard 2: Historical Comprehension; Standard 3: Historical Analysis and Interpretation; Standard 4: Historical Research Capabilities; Standard 5: Historical Issues—Analysis and Decision-Making; Era 4:1: United States territorial expansion between 1801 and 1861, and how it affected relations with external powers and Native Americans. LESSON 4 Time: 90–180 minutes with a pre-assigned research project Background: President James K. Polk came into office in 1845 determined to acquire territory from Mexico. He believed that obtaining the sparsely populated Mexican land that stretched from Texas to California was critical to the future of the United States. The president hoped to purchase—not conquer—the land, but when Mexico rebuffed his advances, Polk ordered American troops under Zachary Taylor to march to the Rio Grande River, across land Mexico claimed. Violence erupted, and Polk asked Congress to declare war. Many Americans, including Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln, opposed the war. Polk, however, prevailed. President Polk planned a complex campaign. He sent one army under Stephen Kearny to capture New Mexico and then march on to California. Commodore John D. Sloat assaulted California from the sea. Zachary Taylor attacked the main Mexican force from the north with a second army. Battles were hard and marches long. Despite losses in New Mexico, California, and on its northern front, Mexico refused to surrender. To finish the war, President Polk followed the advice of his general in chief, Winfield Scott, and sent an army to capture Mexico City. He chose Scott himself to make an amphibious landing at Veracruz and then follow the path Hernando Cortés took centuries earlier when he defeated the Aztecs. Scott planned and executed a brilliant campaign, in which he consistently defeated larger forces through superior tactics and bold maneuvers. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 ended the war. 18 the price of freedom: americans at war mexican war Victory in Mexico City Courtesy of University of Texas at Arlington Libraries “Now Mexico has passed the “People of the United States! boundary of the United Your Rulers are precipitating States … and shed American you into a fathomless abyss blood upon the American of crime and calamity! soil. She has proclaimed Awake and arrest the that ... the two nations are work of butchery ere it now at war.” shall be too late to preserve —President James K. Polk, 1846 your souls from the guilt of wholesale slaughter! —Horace Greeley, prominent war opponent and editor of the New York Tribune, 1846 mexican war the price of freedom: americans at war 19 Materials: Online Video—Jose Maria Tornel y Mendivil, Mexican secretary of War, 1837 http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/resources/video/Lesson4a.asx Online Video—George Ballentine, English volunteer for the US, 1853 http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/resources/video/Lesson4b.asx Online Video—Juan Batista Vigil y Alarid, acting governor of New Mexico, 1846 http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/resources/video/Lesson4c.asx Online Video—Ulysses S. Grant, American soldier, 1885 http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/resources/video/Lesson4d.asx Access to library for extra research Lesson: Play the rst-person accounts from the Mexican War on the online videos to introduce the class to di erent perspectives on the war. Have the students discuss 4 those perspectives and consider how various groups felt about the war. Then ask them N to split up into pairs and choose one perspective of the Mexican War to research. O S S E For their research project, students choose either an individual or a group of people L impacted by the con ict. Individuals could include those from the videos as well as the following: President James Polk, General Zachary Taylor, General Win eld Scott, President Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican general Mariano Arista, or Robert E. Lee (like Grant, then a rising young o cer in the U.S. Army). Another possibility is Ramon Alcaraz, a Mexican writer who re ected on the war after its conclusion. Henry David Thoreau and William Tecumseh Sherman both provide American perspectives on the war. Groups include American politicians, Mexican leaders, Mexicans in the conquered territories (especially New Mexico), American soldiers, and Mexican soldiers. Students will search through library reference materials and biographies for information about their chosen individual or group. Students will then create ve to ten speci c questions about the war to ask their individual or group; and they will research the most likely answers to those questions. Taking on the role of interviewer and interviewee, the student pairs will perform their interviews before the class, which will thereby develop a deeper understanding of di erent sides of the Mexican War. Broadside for recruiting volunteer ghters National Museum of American History 2 0 THE PRICE OF FREEDOM : AMERICANS AT WAR MEXICAN WAR Map of the United States (detail), 1839 Courtesy of Library of Congress mexican war the price of freedom: americans at war 21 Bibliography General Daso, Dik, ed., with Howard Morrison and David Allison. The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. Marquand Books, 2004. Section I: War of Independence Brenner, Barbara. If You Were There in 1776. Bradbury Press, 1994. Galvin, John R. The Minute Men: The First Fight—Myths and Realities of the American Revolution. AUSA Books, 1989. Marrin, Albert. George Washington and the Founding of a Nation. Dutton Children’s Books, 2001. Meltzer, Milton. The American Revolutionaries: A History in Their Own Words 1750–1800. HarperTrophy, 1993. Tourtellot, Arthur B. Lexington and Concord: The Beginning of the War of the American Revolution. W. W. Norton, 2000. Whitelaw, Nancy. The Shot Heard ’Round the World: The Battles of Lexington & Concord. Morgan Reynolds, 2001. Section II: Wars of Expansion Bachrach, Deborah. Custer’s Last Stand: Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven Press, 1990. Christensen, Carol and Thomas. The U.S.-Mexican War. Bay Books, 1998. Herb, Angela M. Beyond the Mississippi: Early Westward Expansion of the United States. Lodestar, 1996. Marrin, Albert. Tatan’ka Iyota’ke: Sitting Bull & His World. Dutton Chidren’s Books, 2000. Section III: Civil War Better, Susan Provost. Billy Yank and Johnny Reb: Soldiering in the Civil War. Twenty-First Century, 2000. Chang, Ina. A Separate Battle: Women & the Civil War. Lodestar Books, 1991. Everett, Gwen. John Brown: One Man Against Slavery. Rizzoli, 1993. McPherson, James M. Fields of Fury: The American Civil War. Simon & Schuster/Atheneum, 2002. Meltzer. Milton. Voices from the Civil War: A Documentary History of the Great American Conflict. HarperCollins, 1989. Murphy, Jim. The Boy’s War. Confederates & Union Soldiers Talk about the Civil War. Clarion Books, 1993. Reef, Catherine. Civil War Soldiers: African-American Soldiers. Twenty-First Century, 1993. Section IV: World War II Bachle, Rosemary Eckroat. Women’s War Memoirs. Western Heritage Books, 1999. DeLee, Nigel. Voices from the Battle of the Bulge. David and Charles, 2004. Gluck, Sherna Berger. Rosie the Riveter Revisited: Women, the War, and Social Change. Twayne, 1987. Green, Gladys and Michael. Patton and the Battle of the Bulge. Motorbooks International, 1999. Josephson, Judith Pinkerton. Growing Up in World War II 1941–1945. Lerner Publications, 2003. McNeese, Tim. Battle of the Bulge. Chelsea House, 2003. Section V: Cold War/Vietnam Blight, James G., and David A.Welch. Intelligence and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Frank Cass, 1998. Brugioni, Dino A. Eyeball to Eyeball: The Inside Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Random House, 1991. Edelmann, Bernard. Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. W. W. Norton, 2002. Palmer, Svetlana, and Sarah Wallis. Intimate Voices from the First World War. William Morrow, 2004. Section VI: September 11 and Its Aftermath Dudley, William, ed. The Attack on America: September 11, 2001. Greenhaven, 2002. Frank, Mitch. Understanding September 11th. Viking, 2002. Thoms, Anne, ed. With Their Eyes: September 11th—the View from a High School at Ground Zero. HarperCollins, 2002. 66 the price of freedom: americans at war bibliography The Price of Freedom: Americans at War Teacher’s Manual DVD Menu Americans at War, produced by The History Channel World War II An introduction to the themes of the exhibition World War II Cartoons, produced by The History Channel War of Independence World War II Overviews in the Newsreel format, produced by The History Channel First-Person Accounts, produced by Pyramid Studios: From World War I to World War II Lydia Minturn Post, Long Island housewife, 1776 The North Atlantic and North African Theater James Collins, teenage soldier, no date The European Theater Doonyontat, Wyandot chief, 1779 The Pacific Theater Elijah Churchill, recipient of the first Purple Heart, 1783 The USO in World War II, produced by The History Channel Mexican War First-Person Accounts, produced by Pyramid Studios: First-Person Accounts, produced by Pyramid Studios: George Hynes, U.S. Army, a last letter home, 1942 José María Tornel y Mendívil, Mexican secretary of war, 1837 Robert Morris, U.S. Coast Guard, fighting in Italy, 1943 George Ballentine, English volunteer for the United States, 1853 Robert Sherrod,