Opposition to the Mexican-American War: The soldiers, the politicians, Michigan, and the future Republican Party

On May 13, 1846, the United States of America declared war on the United Mexican States. In response to this declaration, the individual states mustered volunteer regiments and deployed the Regular Army to fight for the Stars and Stripes. Though the war was popular, it did have its detractors-political opposition, religious opposition, and the like, all of which will be thoroughly examined. Furthermore, what did the soldiers sent to war think of the fight in Mexico? This paper\u27s driving theses is threefold. First, what did the soldiers think of the war and why? Second why did the politicians that oppose the war do so? Thirdly, who in Michigan opposed the wary, why, and did those same people eventually joint the burgeoning Republican Party, a branch of which formed in the same state less than a decade after the end of the Mexican-American War