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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