U.S. Mexico War: “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God”

Teaching Activity PDF. Lesson by Bill Bigelow and student reading by Howard Zinn. 21 pages.
Interactive activity introduces students to the history and often untold story of the U.S. Mexico War.

Download PDF.

Student handouts for this lesson are also available in Spanish.

Today’s border with Mexico is the product of invasion and war. Grasping some of the motives for that war and some of its immediate effects begins to provide students the kind of historical context that is crucial for thinking intelligently about the line that separates the United States and Mexico. It also gives students insights into the justifications for and costs of war today.

This activity introduces students to a number of the individuals and themes they will encounter in the chapter from Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God.” The individual roles include: Cochise, Colonel Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Congressman Abraham Lincoln, Doña Francesca Vallejo, Francisco Márquez, Frederick Douglass, General Mariano Vallejo, General Stephen Kearny, Henry David Thoreau, Jefferson Davis, María Josefa Martínez, Padre Antonio José Martínez, President James K. Polk, Reverend Theodore Parker, Sgt. John Riley, William Lloyd Garrison, and Wotoki.

Published by Rethinking Schools in The Line Between Us: Teaching About the Border and Mexican Immigration.

Related Resources

Bound for the Rio Grande: Traitors—Or Martyrs. The story of the San Patricio Battalion, Irish-American soldiers who deserted the US Army during the US-Mexican War and fought on the side of the Mexicans. Written by Milton Meltzer for middle- and high-school students.

San Patricio. Ballads about the San Patricio Battalion during the U.S. Mexico War. Although the members of the San Patricio Battalion were treated as traitors and deserters by the U.S. government, Chieftains’ founder and frontman Paddy Moloney says, “the men of the San Patricio Battalion are remembered by generations of Mexicans to this day as heroes who fought bravely against an unjust and thinly veiled war of aggression.” ‘San Patricio’ brings their story to life through heart-stirring ballads and effervescent dance songs from both countries, including traditional “sones” that the San Patricios might have heard while in Mexico, and Irish airs and reels that evoke the homeland they left behind.

Frederick Douglass’ article “The War with Mexico,” printed in The North Star on January 21, 1848. The article can be found in Voices of a People’s History of the United States, edited by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. Below is an excerpt from “The War with Mexico” read by actor Benjamin Bratt on February 1, 2007 at All Saints Church, Pasadena, CA. Find more clips at the Voices of a People’s History website and in The People Speak film.