The Mexican American War was the first American military conflict fought entirely on foreign soil and the first to be closely chronicled by the press. The war ended with American victory and a treaty that increased the nation's size by more than half a million square miles. This brought upon as what we know as Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny is the 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable. "Although the movement was named in 1845, the philosophy behind Manifest Destiny always existed throughout American History. For example, in 1818 Andrew Jackson, while taking a broad interpretation of vague instructions from President Monroe, led military forces into the Florida's during the Florida crisis."(www.let.rug.nl).
For this portfolio we were to choose a photo from around the manifest destiny era dating back to the 1840s to the 1900s. The photo that I chose was of "The Battle of Monterrey" which took place in Mexico which is now California on September 21-24, 1848. The photo was made in 1951 by Adolphe Jean-Baptiste Bayot who was French after researching the photo was originally produced by a man of the name Carl Nebel whom was a German engineer. The reason why the photo was created was because it gave viewers a view point as to what was possibly going on within the war time period. This particular picture is of men retreating from a possibly war site in Mexico or traveling to a war site. The war consisted of about 10,000 men and in this picture you can see men posted outside of a small town shooting cannons towards the town while the others lie down for cover."The annexation of Texas caused an immediate rupture between the United States and Mexico, for the latter claimed Texas as a part of her territory, notwithstanding its independence had been acknowledged by the United States, England, France, and other governments.
