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The Mexican-American War had many long-term effects. The first and most obvious is the vast territory Mexico was forced to cede to the United States, including the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, part of Colorado, most of northern New Mexico and Arizona, and cease any claims on Texas, which at the time included present-day Texas, parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming and the rest of Colorado described above. This loss of territory was forced upon Mexico through the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, and is also known as the Mexican Cession (1848).

The actual reason of the conflict, California, had also become a state after the war, following the short-lived 'California Republic' (June-July 1846) which had been declared in Sonoma by American settlers in revolt against Mexico: their flag is now the California state flag.
The leading American general of the war, Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), would later be elected the 12th President in 1849 (he died in office in 1850). The Mexican-American War also served as a training ground for many officers who would later lead men on both sides of the American Civil War (1861-1865), such as Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.

The most important event in American history as a result of the Mexican-American War, was the American Civil War: with the introduction of new states, as well the potential for many more in the newly conquered territories, the delicate balance between slave states and free states was threatened. Although the Wilmot Proviso (1847) was designed to eliminate slavery within the territories acquired from Mexico, it was never fully enforced -- territories such as New Mexico began to practice slavery on Native Americans as soon as they were incorporated into the United States, while Texas never really ended such practices. Each side was afraid of losing political power to the other, and as tensions grew, so did the threat of secession, which ultimately did in 1861.

As for Mexico, the war meant a long period of indebtedness and political turmoil that lasted until the 1860's. This perceived weakness prompted the French Empire, led by Napoleon III, to invade Mexico. Napoleon's true aim was to prevent the rising of the United States as a world power by establishing a foothold in the Americas, and supporting the Confederate forces during the American Civil War. As a secondary objective, he was interested in exploiting the large silver, copper and iron mines located in northern Mexico.

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8y ago

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