►  Why does Texas request the use of Mexican soil soon after Mexico wins its independence?
►  How does Texas grossly exploit the privilege Mexico extended to it?
►  How long is Texas an independent country?
►  Why is the South in favor of annexation of Texas in 1845, and the North more ambiguous?
►  What is the border dispute between Texas and Mexico?
►  What crisis does President Polk provoke which leads to the declaration of war with Mexico?
►  Why is the Mexican War called an ugly, dirty war?
►  Why does the peace treaty reveal the nature of the war as a slave holders' war, which is Lincoln's view?
►  As a result of the war the U.S. gets an enormous expansion of its territory, which will include what states?
►  What aspect of this expansion is an ominous prelude a mere 12 years before Secession and the American Civil War?