ABSTRACT
During the nineteenth century, a set of ideas developed in the United States (US) that suggested Latin American countries needed guidance and that dominance of, or expansion into, areas near US borders should be a part of the nation's historical mission. These ideas about the US role helped lead to war with Mexico in 1846, and later to the rise of filibustering in Central America and the Caribbean. Others, especially in South America, saw US democratic ideals as an inspiration for their own young nations. The war and the treaty were deeply contentious within the US, primarily because many leaders in the northern states saw them as a transparent attempt to expand slaveholding territory. Northern members of the US House of Representatives, from both the Whig and Democratic parties, passed an amendment to an army appropriations bill that would prohibit any territory taken from Mexico from having slavery.
