Mexican American War - BOMA Minute 4-25-17

On this date, April 25th in 1846 the Mexican American War began.

As the current president talks about building a wall, too few of us know that most of America was once Mexico. Few know that the Mexican American War was the preamble to the Civil War and that Race; and more particularly, the enslavement of Africans was its principle instigator. Most northern Republicans opposed it; most southern Democrats supported it, fueled by their vehement belief in Manifest Destiny.

The Democrats believed that the more Mexican land they possessed, the more slaves they could acquire; plain and simple. They supported the war in hope of adding slave-owning territory to the South and avoid being outnumbered by the fast-growing North. John L. O’Sullivan, editor of the Democratic Review, coined this phrase, “It is our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” In other words, we will overtake the entire continent to keep our bronze-skinned meal tickets.

This has been a Breath of My Ancestors Minute brought to you by the Institute of Radical Reconciliation and The Enslaved African’s Rain Garden Project… #WeMustNeverForget