The United States began war with Mexico due to its imperial ambitions and need for territorial expansion. America was modernizing and preparing to compete with Europe. Capitalism and modernization have fueled competition for resources to fuel industries and markets to sell manufactured goods. A country in this world was either an exploiter or the exploited of that order of things. Being neither of these was the hardest thing to achieve. Americans have decided to be exploiters; therefore, they had to engage in competition with Europe, a group of empires that dominated the world. To successfully compete with Europe, America needed Asia's natural resources and advantage over trade routes to engage in profitable trades with Asian territories. Another reason Americans went to war with Mexico was to avoid internal instability and chaos that would slow its imperial progress. The problems of economic crisis and slavery were vital to solve. The United States had to justify its actions; therefore, they placed the blame on Mexico for starting the war. The war with Mexico was a significant event as it was the largest military expansion of the United States for modernization reasons disguised as an act of self-defense. American imperialists had plans to control the West Coast even before the Louisiana Purchase. “But no historian has yet dramatized the story of how Americans began, even before they acquired Louisiana, to view the ocean as their next frontier.” Acquiring the West Coast would provide the United States with a trade route to Asia shorter than that of Europe, and a path for further territorial expansion. At the same time, Americans would control vast natural resources such as gold and agricultural properties. In the 1830s and 1840s, with...... middle of paper ......ks CitedBarragan, Miguel. Dispatch on Texas Settlers. Edited by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press, 2009. Bauer, K. Jack. “Mexican War,” Handbook of Texas Online, last modified June 15, 2010, accessed May 2, 2014, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qdm02Douglass, Frederick. Address to the New England Convention. Edited by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press, 2009.Hitchcock, Ethan Allen. The Diary of Colonel Ethan Allen Hitchcock. Edited by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press, 2009.Williams, Appleman William. Empire as a way of life. Brooklyn, New York: Ig Publishing, 2007.____. “The Mexican American War,” PBS.org, last modified _____, accessed May 5, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-mexican-american-war/.