YEAR: 1848

Mexican-American War

The Mexican-American War has its roots in Texas. When Mexico moved to abolish slavery in the 1820s, white settlers in Texas territory (then part of Mexico) violently rebelled. The 1836 “Texas Revolution” – which resulted in the succession of Texas from Mexican control – was not a revolution for “independence” waged by valiant fighters, but one fundamentally defensive of the institution of chattel slavery.

Mexico rejected the U.S. annexation of Texas in 1845, and the U.S. responded with a war Ulysses S. Grant would later call one of the “most unjust” wars and a cause for national shame. “We had no claim on Mexico,” Grant said, “and yet we pushed on to the Rio Grande and crossed it. I am always ashamed of my country when I think of that invasion.” 

Meanwhile, working class Irish immigrant soldiers in the St. Patrick’s Battalion recognized the war’s injustice in real time and defected to fight alongside Mexico in an heroic act of solidarity. The St. Patrick’s Battalion was ultimately captured by the U.S., and 50 of its members were executed for treason, but the soldiers remain honored as heroes in Mexico to this day.