According to Ernesto Chavez, the editor of the The U.S. War with Mexico: A Brief History with Documents, the war was significant in part because of the "centrality of race" in defining an enemy and in considering how the spoils of war would be managed. After carefully reading Part I of the book (an introduction that explains the history of the U.S. War with Mexico), along with relevant material on westward expansion from Chapter 13 of Give Me Liberty!, write a well-organized essay that answers the following question:
What role did race play in the U.S. War with Mexico?
In answering this question, you must draw upon at least FIVE documents from Part II of the book, which provides 53 separate historical documents related to manifest destiny, U.S. involvement with Mexcio, the conduct of the war, and its aftermath. As you develop your answer, consider the following questions:
How did race inform U.S. federal expansionist policies?
How did Americans view Native Americans? Mexicans? How did these views shape justifications of westward expansion and territorial acquisition?
What role did slavery play in the colonization of Texas and its development as an independent republic?
How did President James Polk justify war with Mexico? On what grounds did some Americans oppose war with Mexico?
How did race shape popular opinions of the war in the United States? How did Mexicans view the war?
How was the war conducted?
What were the terms of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo? How issues of race enter into debates over the treaty?
How were Mexican inhabitants of the ceded territories treated after the war?