Mexican American War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Mexican American War - Essay ExampleD. Eisenhower, Frederick Merk, and David M. Pletcher in three important works on the Mexican American war. These works are, severally So Far From God The U.S. War With Mexico, Manifest circle and Mission in American History, and The Diplomacy of Annexation. The paper begins by discussing each authors thesis, arguments and evidence provided to corroborate the thesis one at a time. It then discusses the works in a comparative fashion. While this author agrees most strongly with Merks argument that U.S. expansionism-Manifest Destiny was not some unique strategy that was only pursued by Americans, there are merits to the arguments presented in the two other works. The paper ends with a goal summarizing the major points covered.John S. D. Eisenhowers daybook, So Far From God The U.S. War With Mexico is a narrative history of the Mexican American war. Eisenhower has a distinctly top bulge out militaristic, traditional historgraphy approach. It is o ne that emphasizes the VIPs of the war such as presidents and generals - essentially a bully men view of history. The book is peppered with military details such as battle actions and tactics.One of Eisenhowers contentions is that the great military man, Santa Anna y Perez de Lebron (Santa Anna), who fought for Mexican independence from Spain was just an indiscreet popular figure. Eisenhower argues that these indiscretions in his pleasures and private life of Santa Annas effectively proscribe him from belonging to the elite of Mexican society.2 However, Eisenhower doesnt discuss the possibility of a person being able to be both a populist and a section of this elite at the same time.Eisenhower used primarily books as his sources, though some of the books contain collections of primary resources such as letters and official political sympathies documents of the day.3 He also used newspapers and periodicals, though again, the majority of these are not primary or contemporary sourc es4. This is perhaps a reflection of his preference for traditional, great men history, in respecting the opinions of other already published historic works. First hand anecdotes are frequently used when Eisenhower discusses the details of events from the battlefields. There are maps include both assist the reader in following and understanding the text, as well as serve to emphasize the authors headquarters history approach.5 The full title of the book So Far From God The U.S. War With Mexico 1846-1848 suggests that the book is from the U.S. Side of the war. Substantial sections are written based on earlier writing by northeastward American historians. The breath of research is limited to English sources and, with the exception of three sources, all of non-Mexican origin.6 One of the non-Mexican sources is of Fanny Caldern de la Barcas memoirs and de la Barca was born in Scotland7. Eisenhower attempts to be unbiased towards Mexico and Mexicans. This is especially evident in his re ferences to Mexican soldiers who, he concludes, had to fight an unbalanced war just to maintain their national pride. Eisenhower frequently draws attention to their heroism as well, especially in reference to the poor, rough leadership they were under.It is rare that a work is completely unbiased, however, and that is the case for So Far From God. Eisenhowers biasis is revealed through the diction he uses to refer