Excerpt from Papers of the Bi-National Conference on the War Between Mexico and the United States: Matamoros, Tamaulipas/Brownsville, Texas, February 10-11 1995 The spirit of this conference has been somewhat more difficult to capture on paper. During the gathering, the conference organizing committee invited participants to submit their presentations for possible publication. As papers came in, there was a marked absence of papers that demonstrate Mexican perspectives on the war. Fortunately, several excellent papers by Mexican scholars now seem headed for print in a separate Mexican collection. Of those papers that did arrive, some were rejected on the basis of length, some lacked proper documentation, and several interesting oralpresentations simply did not transfer well to the written word. These will not appear here, although several may emerge at a later date in a different collection. What does remain is a compilation of ten papers of various lengths and styles, representing a range of academic interest and experience, and selected without a conscious eye toward developing a specific theme or subtopic. Despite these limitations, the final product is an interesting series of glimpses of American political and military life during the formative years of the United States. As a whole, these pieces offer a view of a confident United States, sure of its destiny but, at the same time, weighed with insecurity and still defining the bounds of its democracy. Robert Johannsen points to the war as a defining moment of the Republic, a time when America proved its strength and demonstrated itself to be a model for the world. Others back this view, showing that nation and its confidence were not necessarily so strong in the years leading up to the conflict. Wesley Riddle, for example, shows a country in an uncertain courtship with Texas, with union achieved only when Texans determined a merger to be in their best interest. Likewise, Lawrence Taylor shows a nation eager to expand, but responding to fear of British domination as it proclaimed its vaguely-defined destiny to conquer the continent. Indeed, as Taylor points out, Democratic politicians in the United States played upon fears of British intrigues in Texas, California, and throughout Mexico, to rally support for annexation and war against a sister republic. At the same time, President James Polk toned down his rhetoric and settled the Oregon issue to avoid a second showdown against a more equal military foe. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Papers of the Second Palo Alto Conference: A Conference on the War Between Mexico and the United States, Its Causes, and Its Consequences With Participants From the United States and Mexico; Brownsville, Texas, February 11-12, 1994 On May 8, 1993, formal ceremonies were held to dedicate the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site. The law that created the park contained a far-reaching mandate to study the causes and consequences of the Battle of Palo Alto and the mexican-american War. Interpretations were to' reflect sources from and perspectives of both the United States and Mexico. Consequently, amid the pomp and celebration surrounding the successful establishment of the National Park Service site, Palo Alto began operations with a small gathering of researchers and scholars in a round-table event that became known as the Palo Alto Conference. Dealing with a war that continues to evoke strong feelings despite the passage of time, this conference emerged as an opportunity to bring together citizens of the two nations, to create a dialogue among them, and to establish a foundation for future park activities. Positive reaction to the 1993 conclave led to the decision to reconvene on an annual basis. In an effort to broaden the base of participation, Palo Alto personnel joined with Social Science faculty at the University of Texas at Brownsville to plan a second binational conference scheduled for February 1994 in that city. Affiliation with the university changed the format of the conference from a round-table approach to a series of thematic sessions. Keynote speaker Josefina Zoraida Vazquez of El Colegio de México highlighted an expanded list of diverse participants. Emphasis at the Second Annual Palo Alto Conference continued to be on establishing lines of communication between citizens of the United States and Mexico on the controversial mexican-american War. The planning committee encouraged the participation of established professionals, beginning scholars, military officers, trained archivists, and subject-area enthusiasts-including many who might not normally attend this type of academic forum. The call for papers in English or Spanish was open to anyone interested in the subject area, and screening of proposals was kept to a minimum. The volume of papers presented at the bilingual conference reflected this spirit of widespread participation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.