MEXICO CITY (AP) — Historians and observers have accused the Trump administration of trying to rewrite American history to justify its own foreign policy decisions toward Latin America by posting a “historically inaccurate” version of the Mexican-American War.
Monday’s White House statement commemorating the war’s anniversary described the conflict as a “legendary victory that secured the American Southwest, reaffirmed American sovereignty and extended the promise of American independence across our majestic continent.” The statement drew parallels between the period in US history and his own increasingly aggressive policies towards Latin America, which he said would “ensure that the hemisphere remains safe”.
“Guided by our victory on the fields of Mexico 178 years ago, we have spared no effort in defending our southern border against invasion, in upholding the rule of law, and in protecting our homeland from the forces of evil, violence and destruction,” the statement said, although it was not signed.
In the post, the White House does not mention the key role slavery played in the war and glorifies the broader period of “Manifest Destiny,” which led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Native Americans from their land.
It drew criticism
Alexander Aviña, a professor of Latin American history at Arizona State University, said the White House statement “undermines the massive amounts of violence necessary to extend” the US to the Pacific Rim at a time when the Trump administration has intervened in Latin American affairs in a way not seen in decades, ousting Venezuela’s president, meddling in elections and threatening military action in Mexico and other countries.
“US political leaders at the time saw this as an ugly aspect of US history, this is a pretty clear example of US imperialism against its neighbor to the south,” Aviña said. “The Trump administration actually accepts this as a positive thing in US history and frames it — historically inaccurately — as some sort of defensive measure to prevent Mexico from invading them.”
On Tuesday, criticism of the White House statement spread quickly on social media.
Asked about the statement in her morning news briefing, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum laughed, jokingly noting “we have to defend sovereignty.” Sheinbaum, who has walked a tightrope with the Trump administration, responded to Trump in a balanced tone and occasionally with sarcasm, such as when Trump changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Historical point of conflict
The Mexican–American War (1846–1848) was sparked by long-standing border disputes between the US and Mexico and the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845. In the years leading up to the war, Americans gradually moved into Mexican territory from then on. Mexico had outlawed slavery, and American abolitionists feared that the land grab was partly an attempt to add slave states.
After the outbreak of hostilities and successive U.S. victories, Mexico ceded over 525,000 square miles of territory to the U.S.—including what is now Arizona, California, western Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah—U.S.
The moment made Texas a key chess piece during the US Civil War and led former President Ulysses S. Grant to later write that the conflict with Mexico was “one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation.”
The Associated Press was founded when five New York City newspapers funded a pony express route through Alabama to bring news of the Mexican War—as it is sometimes known in the U.S.—north faster than the U.S. Post Office could deliver it.
The war continues to be a historical point of contention between the two countries, especially as Sheinbaum repeatedly reminds Trump that her country is a sovereign nation whenever Trump openly weighs military action against Mexican cartels and pressures Mexico to bend to his will.
Rewriting history
The White House statement is part of broader moves by the Trump administration to shape the language of the federal government around its own creed, said Stanford University history professor Albert Camarillo, who described the statement as a “distorted, ahistorical, imperialist version” of the war.
Aviña said the statement serves “to rhetorically assert that the US is justified in establishing its so-called ‘America First’ policy across the Americas,” regardless of historical accuracy.
The Trump administration has ordered the rewriting of history on display at the Smithsonian Institution, saying it “restores the truth and sanity of American history.”
The administration has purged government websites of history, legal records and data it deems objectionable. Trump also ordered the government to remove any signs that “inappropriately disparage past or living Americans,” including those that reference slavery, the destruction of Native American cultures and climate change.
“This statement is consistent with so many others that seek to whitewash and reframe US history and erase generations of historical scholarship,” Camarillo said.