The story of Mexico Why Mexico is poor. final part
Mexican-American war.
The Monroe doctrine
may have made it unacceptable to invade a country in the western hemisphere but
it didn't say anything about going to war to protect American citizens as soon
as Mexico attacked the American troops in Texas president Polk announced that Mexico
had “ shed American blood on American soil end “ and that was grounds to go to
war. So congress did what Polk had wanted all along and declared war on Mexico.
The game was on let's face it compared to America’s money guns and troops.
The Mexicans were not
in a great position to fight back right from the start it was clear who the
winner was going to be and after throwing the first punch Mexico couldn't exactly
justify asking anyone for help to protect themselves they had started the war
and now they would have to see it through themselves in just a little over a
year America nearly destroyed the entire country and took over every single one
of the Mexican states along America’s border.
By late 1847 American
troops had gone so far as to capture Mexico city the country's capital down on
their luck and suffering massive losses of life and money the Mexican government
knew if it didn't end the war soon there would be nothing left of their country.
So they took a seat at the negotiating table and accepted the fact that the negotiations
were not going to end on a high note.
The treaty of GUADALUPE-HIDALGO.
Almost completely
occupied by American soldiers and volunteer fighters. Mexico didn't have a lot
of bargaining power when it came to discussing a peace treaty. The government
fought tooth and nail to keep America from taking its land but as talks carried
on and more American soldiers flooded into Mexico they realized they were
fighting a losing battle enter the treaty of Guadalupe hidalgo the agreement
that brought a two-year war to an end.
Here's what the
treaty said, “for winning the war America would be able to keep the Mexican
states in which they had the most troops”. That meant California, Nevada, Utah,
New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma and Kansas. And Wyoming all of
these states were once part of Mexico but were awarded to America after winning
the Mexican-American war.
Mexico was also
forced to relinquish any claims it had on Texas allowing it to fully integrate
into the united states. In the end, more than 55 percent of Mexico’s land was
handed over to America. As part of the treaty and in exchange America agreed to
stop invading Mexico and pay the Mexican government 15 million dollars for the
damages caused and losses incurred during the war that's around half a billion
today.
They also agreed to
forgive three million dollars of debt Mexican citizens owed to Americans and
that was it President Polk had gotten what he wanted. America had taken over
more than half of Mexico's land and it had cost them less than the 30 million
dollars they had offered to pay for California just three years earlier. Plus
no one could say they violated the Monroe doctrine because technically Mexico
was responsible for starting the war.
It was one of America's
biggest strategic political successes yet but it was about to become even more
profitable than president Polk or anyone in the American government could ever
have imagined.
The 7 years of California Gold Rush.
President Polk had
always suspected there was gold to be mined in California it was one of the
reasons he was willing to offer Mexico 1.5 billion dollars in today's money to
buy it and make it part of America. And he wasn't wrong just days before the Mexican
government signed the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and handed over ownership of California
to America, gold was discovered. In the state but by then it was too late the
deal between Mexico and America was as good as signed.
In the next seven
years which became known as the California gold rush more than 750 000 pounds
of gold were extracted worth about 500 million dollars then and around 17
billion dollars today.
In just the first
two years of the gold rush more gold was extracted in California than America
had paid for half of Mexico’s land if Mexico hadn't gone to war and lost California
there's a chance it would have been far more powerful developed and a whole lot
richer than it is today. And that wasn't even the end of the harsh consequences
Mexico had to face for daring to stand up against the only global superpower.
More from America the River Law (the fine print).
In 1922 all those
states that America had bought from Mexico decided they needed the water in the
Colorado river a whole lot more than Mexico
needed it. After all, they had big developed cities paid for with money from the
gold rush obviously they deserved to take the biggest share of the water.
So they divided it
up damned it and rerouted it across America’s southern states leaving Mexico
with nothing but a few sad drops running in from across the border.
And sure it must
have been disappointing to discover the new water agreement everyone signed
offered the entire country of Mexico less than half the water allotment they
gave California. But what made it even worse was the fine print. The part of
the agreement where Mexico was chosen as one of the first parties to lose its
water rights in case of a drought right now America’s south is experiencing one
of its worst droughts in history water levels in dams are falling. Rain is
scarce and everyone is desperately trying to figure out what to do once the
water runs out but Mexico has already cut its water usage by more than
five percent in the hopes of keeping the dams full.
American farmers are
being forced to waste water on crops they don't really need just so they don't
lose access to their water entirely known as use it or lose it laws here are
rules in place so that if a farmer doesn't use a specific amount of water every
month or year the overall amount of water they're allowed to use can be
massively cut.
Leaving them without
enough supply to keep their farms going so. While Mexicans are experiencing
water shutoffs and shortages as the government tries to save the water in America’s
dams. American farmers are planting crops they don't need and irrigating empty
fields wasting millions of gallons of water just to keep up with some laws the government
made decades ago. (The end)
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