Mobilization for War
Raising an American army has traditionally been complicated by competing political ideologies, the fear of a strong standing army, a reliance on citizen-soldiers, and wartime dissent. From the nation's inception in the late eighteenth century through the Cold War years (1946–1991), America's defenses consisted of state militia forces (later called the National Guard) and a small regular (federal) army—the latter expanded by citizen-soldiers who joined as volunteers and only when necessary as draftees. This two-army tradition of militias and professionals grew out of the colonies' early use of militia forces, the new nation's intense debate over the power of the federal government, and the growing concern that a permanent force of trained soldiers could threaten the liberty of the people. During America's wars, patriotic fervor as well as varying degrees of political dissent converged with each mobilization effort.
The Mexican War
The Mexican War (1846–1848) was no exception. Years of tension stemming from the Texas Revolution and Texas's subsequent declaration of independence from Mexico resurfaced with a boundary dispute and the 1845 admission of Texas into the United States. This was far more than a quarrel over land. President James K. Polk's insistence that Mexico acknowledge the boundary Texas claimed had more to do with the president's desire (and the desire of many other imperialists in the United States) to spread what they thought of as America's superior cultural, political, and economic institutions from sea to sea.
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