Library Guides: America's Wars, Causes of: Mexican War

Terminology

Mexican American War
Mexican-American War
United States-Mexican War
War with Mexico

Reference Sources

Encyclopedia of the Mexican-American War by Mark Crawford; David S. Heidler; Jeanne T. Heidler
ISBN: 157607059X
Publication Date: 1999-09-03
10th Floor Reading Room E 404 .C93 1999
A fully illustrated compendium of pivotal figures, battles, and political strategies of the Mexican-American War. A-Z entries range over such diverse subjects as the Battle of El Brazito, John C. Calhoun, Antonio Campazano, Manifest Destiny, and many more. An extensive bibliography of titles in both English and Spanish guides readers in further explorations. A chronology provides an overview of key events.
The U. S. War with Mexico by Ernesto Chavez
ISBN: 9780312249212
Publication Date: 2007-12-12
General Collection E 404 .C44 2007
The U.S. war with Mexico was a pivotal event in American history, it set crucial wartime precedents and served as a precursor for the impending Civil War. ... makes a convincing case that as an expansionist war, the U.S.-Mexico conflict set a new standard for the acquisition of foreign territory through war.
Historical Dictionary of the United States-Mexican War by Edward R. Moseley; Paul C. Clark
ISBN: 0810833344
Publication Date: 1997-11-13
10th Floor Reading Room E 404 .M84 1997
The first reference work of its kind, this volume on the United States-Mexican War encompasses the decade of the 1840s, focusing on the war years of 1846-1848.

Search Suggestions

Books, Videos, etc.

For books, etc. held by Notre Dame analyzing the causes of the Mexican American War use:

ND Catalog
Advanced Search
Subject
Is (exact)
and enter:
- Mexican War 1846-1848 Causes

For books, etc. providing contemporary (1840-1850) opinion & analysis use:

ND Catalog
Advanced Search
Subject
Contains
and enter:
- Mexico and "United States" and Relations
Limit results ( on left ) to:
- 1840 to 1850
Use "facets" (left column) to further narrow results

For books, etc. held by other libraries:

Repeat search in WorldCat

Articles

For scholarly articles:

In one or more of the recommended article databases
Do a "keyword" search for:
- "Mexican war" and (cause* or origin or origins)
If retrieval is too great or too small,
- limit search terms to title, subject or abstract,
- adjust search by adding or removing or modifying search terms, and/or
- limiting search results to "peer reviewed" or "refereed" articles.

For contemporary (1840 - 1850) opinion & analysis:

In one or more of the recommended article databases

Do a "keyword" search for:
- mexico and "united states" and relations
Limit results to:
- 1840-1850
If retrieval is too great or too small,
- limit search terms to title, subject or abstract,
- adjust search by adding or removing or modifying search terms

Tip: Do not truncate (use the *) with origin. This will retrieve "original" material dealing with the actual conduct of the war rather than its causes. Therefore it may produce many irrelevant records.

Additional Article Databases

Handbook of Latin American studies This link opens in a new window
"... a bibliography on Latin America consisting of works selected and annotated by scholars. Edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, the multidisciplinary Handbook alternates annually between the social sciences and the humanities. Each year, more than 130 academics from around the world choose over 5,000 works for inclusion ..."--Home page.
Hispanic American periodicals index This link opens in a new window
"HAPI is your source for over 265,000 journal article citations about Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Brazil, and Hispanics/Latinos in the United States. HAPI currently provides over 34,000 links to the full text of articles appearing in more than 500 key social science and humanities journals published throughout the world."
Latin American periodicals tables of contents This link opens in a new window
Provides access to tables of contents for hundreds of journals, primarily in the humanities and social sciences, published in Latin America; Web database with search by journal and article and browse by country.

Primary Sources

Sample Primary Document Collection

Mexican history a primary source reader
A primary source reader with Mexican and U.S. views of the Mexican American War.

For other collections of primary source held by Notre Dame use:

ND Catalog
Advanced Search
- Subject
- Is (exact)
- "mexican american war"
AND
- Any
- contains
- (cause* OR origin OR origins) AND (sources OR documents)