What was the cause of the U.S.-Mexican War?
In 1845, with the the almost unanimous consent of its citizens, the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States. This was the underlying cause of the war. The problem was that Mexico objected to annexation, holding that Texas was still part of that country, even though Texans had fought and won their independence nearly ten years earlier and had been formally recognized as a sovereign nation by the United States, Great Britain, France, and other countries. Some historians seek to blame the United States for the war but it was clearly the fault of Mexican leaders such as Mariano Paredes, whose unwillingness to concede the loss of Texas and whose refusal to negotiate with the United States in respect to the independence of Texas and its border pushed the two nations to the brink of war. On April 25, 1846, after Texas joined the United States, a large body of Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and ambushed a small group of American soldiers, killing sixteen and taking the remain
