Thread: Calderon Blames U.S., Mexico for Loss of 1846-48 War

Mexico marks anniversary of 1847 battle with US
Associated Press
Sept. 13, 2010, 6:32PM

Alexandre Meneghini AP
Mexico's President Felipe Calderon said the lesson of the 1840s war was that "we only prosper when we are united".


MEXICO CITY — President Felipe Calderon on Monday criticized both Americans and Mexicans for their roles in the 1846-48 war that cost Mexico half its territory during a ceremony commemorating the definitive battle of the conflict.

Speaking on the 163rd anniversary of the Battle of Chapultepec, Calderon called the war an "unjust military aggression motivated by clearly imperialistic interests."

Mexico lost about half its territory to the United States in the war, including much of what later became Arizona, Nevada, Utah and California.

But Calderon also said Mexicans deserved some blame.

"We lost because of the invasion and expansionist desires of our enemy, but also because of divisions among Mexicans," the president said, noting a widely cited theory that Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna refused to send reinforcements to another general because of bad blood between the two, contributing to a key U.S. victory that allowed the invading troops to advance to Chapultepec.

"Thus, while many Mexicans fought to the death in the war with the United States, others simply watched the American troops go by without standing up to them," Calderon said.

"We only prosper when we are united," Calderon told the crowd as Mexico prepares to celebrate the bicentennial of its 1810 independence Wednesday and Thursday. "That is the great lesson of our history."

Even though Mexico lost at Chapultepec, on a hill overlooking the capital, the battle produced a symbol of national pride.

According to traditional accounts, six cadets — the "child heroes" — fought to the death rather than surrender to invading U.S. troops. One is said to have wrapped himself in a Mexican flag and leaped to his death from the battlements.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/7199032.html

[quote]"We lost because of the invasion and expansionist desires of our enemy, but also because of divisions among Mexicans," the president said, noting a widely cited theory that Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna refused to send reinforcements to another general because of bad blood between the two, contributing to a key U.S. victory that allowed the invading troops to advance to Chapultepec. [/quote]

Mexico is not our friend, nor has it ever been. We won, we have a receipt - go home.

In all actuality. It was land that Spain owned!

Mexico ,after getting their independence from Spain ,layed claim to these said lands,years later.

Canada also considered this part of their lands.

•New Spain and Mexico laid claim to the entire west coast of what is now America, all the way up through what is now Alaska, owned by Russia, and up the Canadian coastline until the 19th Century, in 1819.

New Spain claimed the Pacific Northwest in 1493 (by a papal buil) in what is now both USA and British Columbia, Canada. Its settlement of these areas was sparse and no permanent settlements seem in evidence, but much surveying by men form New Spain was accomplished. Spanish naming of certain parts of BC is clearly evident today: the Strait of Juan De Fuca between Washington State and Vancouver Island, for instance; towns called Valdez and Cordova; Lopez Island, Malaspina Glacier, Revillagigedo Island, Bocas de Quadra, and other natural features of geography.

New Spain was concerned by Russian fur traders trespassing on Spanish property in the Pacific Northwest from around 1750 - 1799. This would place the time and place of the last Spanish exploration in North America in Alaska and BC in the latter 18th Century. In the same era, Britisher James Cook was exploring the Pacific Northwest and New Spain considered this additional trespassing. New Spain then set out to quell the Russians and the British.

http://hubpages.com/hub/New-Spain-The-F ... d-the-Last

And on the same site there was this:

21st Century Discovery
Zorro means fox and the legendary masked man in black with a sword was truly a fox like his 18th Century counterpart in the American Revolution: the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion. Both men lived, were recorded in history, and were heroes like Robin Hood, who helped the unjustly treated members of society.

Previous to the very end of the 20th Century, many thought that Zorro was a symbolic mythological hero or a character portrayed by Antonio Banderos in the movies. However, he was a real man that might be linked to any of a several men in history.

The Irish moved to area in South America as well as to North America and other nations, primarliy during and after the Great Famine, but in small numbers previously..However, Zorro was likely an Irish Catholic transplant to England and then to Spain, served in its Irish military forces in the early 1600s, and later served in Mexico.