The politics of desertion

Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-94)This project examines the impact that deserting US soldiers had on the Mexican- American War. Three different groups each at a different level of the war effort explain the impact: US Politicians, military leaders, and deserting US Soldiers. My research provides a political analysis of US Politicians and the US Military during the war as well as a social analysis of deserters. The major findings of this paper are that politicians used deserters as a political tool to help legislate their vision for the nation. The military's handling of desertion was influenced by the Presidential aspirations of the Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor. Deserters were men who either did not accept the patriotic appeals to nationalism and those who had that appeal wear off