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1844
- June 8 - U.S. Senate defeats treaty of annexation with Texas
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1844
- November - James K. Polk defeats Henry Clay to become eleventh president of the United States
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1845
- January 2-10 - Santa Anna attacks Puebla
- January 15 - Santa Anna captured by government forces
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1845
1845
- March 1 - U.S. President John Tyler signs the Brown Resolution, offering Texas terms of annexation
- March 4 - James Knox Polk is inaugurated as the eleventh president of the United States
- March 31 - In response to passage of the Brown Resolution, Mexico's minister to the U.S., Juan N. Almonte, requests his passports, breaking off diplomatic relations between the two countries
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1845
- July - President James K. Polk orders General Zachary Taylor to march to Corpus Christi to defend Texas frontier, and dispatches a naval squadron to the Gulf of Mexico
- July 4 - Texas convention votes in favor of annexation to the United States
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1845
- November - U.S. minister John Slidell arrives in Mexico
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1845
- December 14 - San Luís Potosí garrison calls for the overthrow of Herrera
- December 30 - Government of José Joaquín Herrera collapses in Mexico City
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1846
- January 1 - The Yucatán declares its independence from Mexico and its neutrality in the war with the United States
- January 4 - General Mariano Paredes takes the oath of office as president in Mexico City
- January 13 - President Polk orders Zachary Taylor to march from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande and orders a blockade of Vera Cruz
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1846
1846
- March - Taylor marches to Rio Grande; John Slidell leaves Mexico
- March 18 - In Matamoros, Mexican General Francisco Mejia issues a proclamation threatening hostilities against U.S. troops
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1846
1846
- April - General Mariano Arista takes command of the Mexican Army of the North
- April 25 - Thornton Affair - U.S. dragoons attacked by Mexican cavalry on east bank of Rio Grande
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1846
1846
- May 3-8 - Siege of Fort Brown
- May 8 - Battle of Palo Alto; John Slidell meets with President Polk
- May 9 - News arrives in Washington of the Thornton Affair; Battle of Resaca de la Palma
- May 11 - President's war message read to Congress
- May 13 - United States declares war against Mexico
- May 18 - U.S. troops occupy Matamoros
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1846
1846
- July 7 - U.S. naval forces occupy Monterey, California
- July 14 - U.S. forces occupy Camargo, Tamaulipas
- July 28 - General Paredes deposed in Mexico City by Mariano Salas
- July 30 - General Taylor issues orders for movement of troops from Fort Brown to Camargo
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1846
1846
- August - Pedro de Ampudia appointed commander of the Army of the North
- August 16 - Santa Anna returns to Mexico from exile in Cuba
- August 18 - U.S. forces under General Stephen W. Kearny occupy Santa Fe, New Mexico. Kearny's March
- August 19 - U.S. troops at Camargo begins march to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
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1846
- October 7 - Battle of Dominguez Rancho, Southern California
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1846
1846
- November 14 - U.S. Navy seizes Tampico
- November 16 - U.S. forces occupy Saltillo; Battle of Natividad, Northern California
- November 17 - Polk orders a seaborne invasion of Vera Cruz
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1846
1846
- December 6 - Battle of San Pasqual, California
- December - Valentín Gómez Farías assumes the duties of acting president
- December 25 - Battle of El Brazito, New Mexico
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1847
1847
- January 2 - Battle of Santa Clara, California
- January 8 - Battle of Rio San Gabriel (Los Angeles), California
- January 9 - Battle of La Mesa (Los Angeles), California
- January 11 - Acting President Valentín Goméz Farías issues edict confiscating church property
- January 19 - Taos Revolt begins; U.S. territorial governor Charles Bent killed
- January 24 - Battles of Cañada and Mora, New Mexico
- January 29 - Battle of Emudo Pass, New Mexico
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1847
1847
- February 3-4 - Battle of Pueblo de Taos, New Mexico
- February 22-23 - Battle of Buena Vista (Angostura)
- February 26 - Polkos Revolt begins in Mexico City
- February 28 - Battle of the Sacramento, Northern Mexico
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1847
1847
- March 9 - 10,000 U.S. troops land on beaches by Navy at Veracruz
- March 21 - Polkos Revolt ends
- March 22-27 - Siege and Occupation of Veracruz
- March 29 - Mexican forces at Veracruz surrender
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1847
- May 15 - Scott occupies Puebla
- May 20 – Santa Anna assumes the presidency
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1847
1847
- August 19 – Battle of Contreras (Padierna)
- August 20 - Battle at Churubusco; San Patricio battalion captured
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1847
1847
- September 8 - Battle of Molino Del Rey
- September 13 - Battle of Chapultepec
- September 13-14 - Battle for Mexico City
- September 14 - U.S. forces under General Winfield Scott occupy Mexico City; Siege of Puebla begins
- September 15 - Santa Anna resigns as president of Mexico
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1847
- December 22 - Abraham Lincoln presents his “spot resolutions” in Congress, challenging Polks' reasons for declaring war against Mexico
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1848
- January 24 - Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill, Northern California
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1848
1848
- February 2 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed
- February 4 - Last battle of the war fought at Santa Cruz de Rosales, New Mexico
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1848
1848
- March - Santa Anna departs for exile in Jamaica
- March 10 - U.S. Senate ratifies Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, with amendments
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1848
- June 3 - José Joaquín Herrera elected to two-year presidential term
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1848
- July 4 - President Polk formally announces ratification of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
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1848
- August 2 - Last U.S. troops leave Mexico
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1848
- November - Election of 1848: General Zachary Taylor elected 12th U.S. president
The U.S. - Mexico War
(1846 - 1848)
Is the largest and most significant armed struggle between two nations in the western hemisphere. In Mexico, the war left a legacy of bitterness that can be seen to this day. In the United States, tensions between North and South soon eclipsed the clash with Mexico in the national imagination. Abraham Lincoln alluded to these tensions when he described the United States in 1858 as "a house divided." A decade earlier, however, North America was a divided continent, the site of conflict between two republics that had forged two very different destinies since winning their independence from European power.
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