Mexican War

American  

noun

1. the war between the U.S. and Mexico, 1846–48.

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Mexican War British  

noun

1. the war fought between the US and Mexico (1846–48), through which the US acquired the present-day Southwest

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Mexican War Cultural  

1. A war fought between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. The United States won the war, encouraged by the feelings of many Americans that the country was accomplishing its manifest destiny of expansion. Mexico renounced all claims to Texas north of the Rio Grande and yielded a vast territory that embraces the present states of California, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

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Many generals of the Civil War, including Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, gained experience in battle during the Mexican War. The Mexican War was opposed by many Americans, notably by the author Henry David Thoreau, who was put in jail for refusing to pay a tax to support the war. His essay “Civil Disobedience” explains the principles of his action.

Example Sentences

The Mexican War brought in Protestant Americans, civilians and soldiers.

From Los Angeles Times

Mexican War hero Zachary Taylor is elected president.

From Literature

America’s territorial conquests in the Mexican War put a border line right through an established, cohesive, Spanish-speaking cultural region.

From Seattle Times

The same fate befell a similar monument to Jose Maria Morelos, one of the leaders of the Mexican War of Independence.

From Los Angeles Times

After the Mexican War of Independence ended in 1821, German and Austrian immigrants began settling in what is today Mexico and Texas.

From Washington Post