Blog Post for the Week of January 20

 This week, I found our discussion of the Mexican-American War to be very interesting. This war is fascinating, as it seems to have set off some very interesting events. Mexico lost a huge portion of its country, and within a little over a decade would be invaded by the French. Gold was discovered in California shortly after the war, sparking the gold rush, but the new land added to the US heightened the fighting over whether new states should have slavery or not, ultimately leading to the Civil War. This reminds me of the poem we read in Professor Serrata's part of class. The land Mexico relinquished to the US truly is beautiful. With the Grand Canyon, the Redwood Forests, and the Rocky Mountains, the land contains a wealth of natural beauty. Instead of wondering at this beauty, though, the two countries decided to go to war over it, and much blood was shed over who could keep this land and exploit it for wealth. Additionally, this war would indirectly lead to other wars in each of the countries involved. I find this all kind of sad. Rather than relishing in and sharing the wonders of the natural world, people choose to kill each other over who gets sole possession of the land. Hopefully, however, we as humanity learn from these mistakes of the past and take more time in the future to enjoy the beauty around us rather than fight over it.

Comments

  1. Linnea FrantzJanuary 21, 2022 at 6:01 PM

    Hi there Joe! I totally agree with you that it is very sad that instead of appreciating and taking care of the land, that we instead went to war in order to exploit it. I find your post quite interesting because I had not thought about connecting the two classes in this way. It makes you wonder what the world would be like if we all took a little more time to appreciate the beauty of nature and instead of wondering how it could benefit us, wonder how we could benefit it.

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  2. Professor StarkFebruary 3, 2022 at 1:56 PM

    Thank you, Joe, for the post. I am glad you enjoyed learning about the Mexican-American War but I am curious what stood out to you the most about the war. Mexico didn't seek war like the U.S. did but fought to defend what was territorially theirs. I am not following the connection between the war and the poem from Professor Serrata's part of the class.

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