270 Mexican-American War (1846–1848) General Winfield Scott invaded Mexico on the southern outskirts of the city of Veracruz in March 1847 He took Mexico City on September 13, 1847, after several weeks of fierce fighting that left thousands dead 1525–1918 Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1974; Mosse, Werner Eugen Liberal Europe: The Age of Bourgeois Realism, 1848–1878 New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1974 Norman C Rothman Mexican-American War (1846–1848) In a profound national humiliation for Mexico and the biggest land-grab in U.S history, from April 1846 to February 1848 the United States waged a war of conquest against its southern neighbor that had major repercussions for both nations For Mexico, La Guerra de ’47 discredited the leadership of José Antonio López de Santa Ana and his cohort of ruling conservatives, setting the stage for the emergence of a new generation of liberal reformers after 1855 It also created in Mexican national consciousness a combination of resentment, fear, and respect toward its northern neighbor that endured well into the 20th century For the United States, the war added 1.3 million square kilometers to the young republic, thus fulfilling the vision of proponents of the notion of Manifest Destiny by spreading U.S dominion from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans It also sharpened the sectional division between North and South and played a key role in the eruption of the American Civil War 13 years later Before the war, most of this vast region was claimed by Mexico but not under its effective dominion Comprising the northern frontier of the viceroyalty of New Spain and inherited by Mexico after independence in 1821, the region was inhabited by perhaps 75,000 people, some of Spanish descent and perhaps as many native peoples The Spanish-speaking population was clustered in two main zones: the Upper Río Grande Valley, centered on Santa Fe (in present-day New Mexico); and further west in the ribbon of missions and settle-