The United States "stole" Texas ?

I see this alleged by a number of pro-illegals here in the IMMIGRATION forum.

My answer:

1) The land was originally populated by Native Americans. They arguably have first claim, not the Mexicans

2) Huge chunks of the U.S. southwest were at various times claimed by Spain, Russia, Britain, France and the U.S., and was almost completely unsettled and unexplored until after 1800.

3) Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821. Texas seceded from Mexico in 1835, so Mexico only had that territory for barely 15 years.
Moses Austin was granted land in Texas in 1821, the same year.

4) Texans (many of whom were ethnic Mexicans) would have been content to remain part of Mexico, if they were free to police their own state, instead of the Mexican army.

5) Mexico, against the advice of Britain and France to use diplomatic means to settle the Texas border dispute in 1846, attacked the U.S., giving the U.S. provocation to fight Mexico and later declare peace terms.
Additional Details
6) The United States, on taking California, New Mexico, and the other Southwest territory, paid Mexico 15 million dollars, and forgave 3.5 million in previous outstanding Mexican debt to the U.S.

7) In 1853, the U.S. --in a time of peace-- received more land from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase, for an additional 10 million dollars (Guadalupe Hidalgo offered the U.S. the additional territoty of Baja California for an additional 10 million dollars, but the U.S. declined)

My question is: given all these facts, how can anyone credibly allege that the U.S. "stole" these lands from Mexico?

cheyenne_Z

Mexico has no claim on Texas or any other inch of US lands. It never belonged to Mexico to begin with, it does not belong to Mexico now, it will never belong to Mexico. They need to get over it and move on.
Like maybe it's about time for Mexicans to make a decent country down there, they have been a nation for about as long as the USA has been, and look at the difference. So much for "hard working". Guess that is a glaring exhibit of who is lazy and who is not.

And for anyone who is thinking about posting that Mexico has been a nation longer than the USA...... nope, wrong, it was called Nueva Espania (New Spain) NOT "Mexico" and it belonged to the european nation of Spain.

note: to some guy. The hispanics from Europe stole the land of the First Nations in the US southwest, including Texas, and they slaughtered our U.S.native American indian tribes, and after the hispanics left back to Europe, Mexicans STOLE our lands and slaughtered our tribes.

So maybe you want to get a little education on the history of this continent?

Edit: to Kathy H; EXCUSE ME! As a U.S. native American indian let me set you straight and you might learn something.
What you wrote is offensive and insulting to every single U.S. native American indian alive today and offensive to our ancestors and our tribes.
Our tribes on the lands which are now US land were NEVER "Mexican indians" - NEVER.
Mexican indians were NEVER indigenous to any land which is the USA now.
There has NEVER been any tribe with homelands on what is now US land called "Mexican" or aztec, or mayan, or toltec, or mextec, or meztiso,or hispanic, or latino,
YOU THINK YOU GOT THAT?

We were FIRST NATIONS, our tribes were NEVER Mexican, and Mexicans were never indigenous to our tribal homelands.

Mildred S

Who really cares. Texas is American now. We own it , although it appears that our government wants to sell it .. lol. North American Union. LOL

vcxzzxcvvcxzzxcv

I guess the next question should be - Was seceding from Mexico best decision in Texan history?

mistermws

By your logic, the entire USA is "stolen." Actually, Texas has flown six different countries' flags in its rather interesting history: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States, and the Confederate States.

Bob A

This country would be much better off without Texas..thats one war I wish we lost.

JFK would have probably lived long past his first term... LBJ wouldn't have been President..and neither would Bush.

Funny how a couple of good old boys from Texas could cost us so many lives in BS wars.

Vampire 13R

I for one, am more than willing to give it back.

Amanda h

Here are my 2 cents: I went to school in Mexico. I literally had a teacher scream at me- SCREAM- that it was stolen land: Texas, California, etc. I don't recall specifically what the story is, but, it is taught from young grades that, yes, we STOLE these areas by trickery... They do not accept that there was ever money exchanged. I found this to be one of the strangest things I learned while there. People are quite adamant about this issue.

AZRAEL

You've pretty well covered it all. Isn't much more to be said. Excellent research ! Congrats !

Chinagirl

!Viva Mexico! !Viva Reconqiista! Viva La Republica de Texas.
Your absolutely right. Mexico had Texas, California and several other states only a very few years and did nothing with them. Throw the boarder jumpers back over the fence

PS One of my husbands ancestors was Dolly Dobson, the woman that sewed the first lone star flag after the battle of San Jacinto.

badmotherrucker

Reread fact 5, Mexico attacked the US. Texas became a spoil of war, put in play by Mexico. If you lose money gambling, you don't get it back, so Mexico can forget about Texas. Besides, if Mexico got Texas back, the illegals would only have farther to run.

27ysq

Yeah, sure, and the US stole Illinois as well. Deal with the current problem at hand. Like go back from where you came if you came here illegally. You are a criminal trespasser and you are lucky you were not shot trying to come in. If we tried to break into a country, other than the generous US, getting shot would be a real and plausible situation.

Dirty Martini

This Aztlan stuff is about a real as Oz.

Any real Texan wouldn't let a sentence be finished in which the subject suggested a Mexico takeback.

Texans pack if you get my drift.

Eve

what goes around...eventually comes back to bite you in the a.s.s.

AlaskaMusher

Possession is 9/10ths of the law. If you are bigger and badder then you take possession. Illegal immigration is a slow time invasion.

Robert D

What's your point?

Texas was stolen by Americans. So was most of the country.

Get over it.

I personally think we should have let Mexico have it, and let the South win the Civil War, cause I can't think of one good thing about any of those states.

some guy

doesnt seem like anything major , wats worse id how early americans slaughtered native american to steal their land which they believed was " righfully " theirs

TheUber1337

What's wrong with stealing territory if the original owners of the territory don't stop you?

6.5 x 284

so big deal..we stole it...we also own it now and they have no power to get it back...tough luck

Kathe H

"The land was originally populated by Native Americans. They arguably have first claim, not the Mexicans"

They were natives, yes, but in our tradition of naming natives, they were native MEXICANS.
Oh, and if you are interested in the claim that American Indians have on the land we live on, go read about the trail of tears.

And a big point that I feel you missed is that we are a country made of immigrants. No white or black or hispanic or asian (etc.) person was here even a thousand years ago, which is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Most of our relatives got here well within the last three centuries. And what about "Bring me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free"?

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