The story of Mexico Why Mexico is poor. part one
THE MONROE DOCTRINE.
in 1821 Mexico
gained independence from Spain after fighting against them for more than 300
years.
But becoming a successful
independent country turned out to be a whole lot more complicated than anyone
in Mexico. Expected right off the bat no one could decide who should lead the country
or how which led to a whole lot of fighting and a very unstable government, and
then to make matters worse Spain came right back and tried to take over Mexico
again.
And when Spain didn't
succeed France also tried their luck it seemed like Mexico just couldn't catch
a break no matter how hard they tried right until seemingly out of nowhere
America Mexico’s big bad neighbor to the north stepped in and laid down the
rules.
you see America had
originally been settled by Europeans looking to escape their oppressive
governments and they didn't exactly like the idea of some European country like
Spain or France taking over the North American continent.
They really didn't
want to have worked so hard to get away from Europe’s rules just to be
surrounded by their colonies again. It
would be like living in Europe all over again.
So in 1823 president
James Monroe decided to make a statement and put them in their place he told
Europe that now that America is a rich and powerful nation, they wouldn't get
involved in Europe’s affairs as long as Europe would agree not to create any new
colonies in the western hemisphere or try to interfere with any of their politics.
it was a classic you stay out of my business and I’ll stay out of yours arrangement
and it became known as the Monroe doctrine.
Americans were
pretty proud of the Monroe doctrine and what it stood for it meant they had
finally made it onto the global stage. America could tell Europe what to do and
they would just have to listen, but it also put America in a tricky position.
You see just like
their European ancestors Americans really liked the idea of conquering all of north
and maybe even south America, but now
with the Monroe doctrine basically saying hands off the west. They would look
like pretty big hypocrites if they tried taking anyone else's land.
James Polk President of America and manifest destiny.
In 1845 James Polk became president of America and he had some pretty
clever ideas on how to get around the pesky Monroe doctrine. President James Polk
was a firm believer in manifest destiny the idea that white Americans were
destined to take control of all of North America and the only thing standing in
their way was the Monroe doctrine.
If they wanted to conquer
north America while still looking like they respect the doctrine they would
have to do it in a way that looked nothing like what Europe used to do. They
couldn't just invade kill a bunch of people and claim the land as their own
they would have to use subtler tactics that looked less like conquering and a
little more like making a friendly arrangement.
So in 1845 president
Polk sent a representative to Mexico to ask if America could buy Alta California
the ex-Mexican state we know as California today. Alta California was believed
to be rich in gold and if president poke could get his hands on some of it America
would have all the money it needed to buy up as much of its neighbor's land as
possible. So president Polk offered the new Mexican government 30 million dollars
for the state or around 1.2 billion in today's money.
Mexico was furious they
couldn't believe America dared to offer to buy a massive chunk of
their land for just 30 million dollars. Did they really think they were that
hard up? They were so angry.
The Mexican
government even refused to meet with President Polk’s representative, and he
was sent packing back to Washington. So Polk’s first plan had failed but luckily
he had a few more tricks up his sleeve.
Comments
Post a Comment