ABSTRACT
The Mexican-American War had tremendously important repercussions on Mexico’s subsequent economic, political, and cultural life. This chapter presents a Mexican perspective on the war. When US troops invaded Mexico City in 1847, members of the country’s national Congress withdrew to the city of Queretaro. The state of Texas had seceded from Mexico in 1836 and was subsequently incorporated into the United States of America. Past and present critics of the war in both the United States and Mexico have viewed it as an example of American imperialism. In Mexico one important legacy of the war was its role in shaping Mexican national identity. The North American Republic has absorbed territories pertaining to Great Britain, France, Spain, and Mexico. Mexico has counted on the assistance, ineffectual, unfortunately, but generous and illustrious, of a Clay, an Adams, a Webster, a Gallatin; that is to say, on the noblest men, the most appreciated for their virtues, for their talents, and for their services.
