MAY 13 — 1846 Polk declares war on Mexico; 1961 Happy Birthday Dennis Rodman
MAY 13
1846-Young Hickory declares war on Mexico.
…President James Polk was all about The Manifest Destiny was America’s way of saying that white English speaking settlers to North America had a god-given right to colonize wherever Americans wanted, whether Native Americans or Spanish speaking catholic Mexicans. The explanation at the time why is because the white man could manage the land better.
President James was a firm believer in the Manifest Destiny and offered to buy land in the southwest territory. Mexico refused the offer, which led to tensions in that area, especially the Rio Grande. Mexico at the time was shifting drastically through different powers, and folks living in Texas didn’t care for the way Mexico was treating them. Americans led by Sam Houston fought for independence from the Mexican government and defeated Mexican President Santa Anna and his troops.
In April of 1846, Mexican troops crossed north of the Rio Grande River and opened fire on US troops at Fort Texas. Skirmishes went on for a couple months, and finally on May 13 the US declared war. In the summer of 1846, 75,000 American men eagerly enlisted in volunteer regiments, and thousands more joined the Army. So many Americans signed up to fight Mexico many of them had to be turned away.
In California American settlers arrested Mexican politician Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo in the Bear Flag revolt and the constitution was written up for an independent republic of California. A little further south in California, fierce hand to hand combat was fought in the streets in the Battle of Monterey. US easily took Santa Fe, New Mexico, and later on Los Angeles, CA. The Americans took the fight all the way down to Mexico City, and by then, the Mexican Government was ready to negotiate.
That’s the story in a tiny nutshell. Now Americans call it the Mexican American war, but today Mexicans call it a US Invasion, even though the Mexicans fired the first bullet. It started with the “illegal” annexation of Texas, which Mexicans consider it a breach of a 1928 border treaty, and on the other hand, that treaty was a violation of international border laws to begin with. So it could be argued that Texas NEVER legally belonged to Mexico. Anyway, the debate goes back and forth to this day.
1961-Happy birthday The Worm.
…Dennis Rodman was born May 13 in Trenton NJ. In 1986 he was picked by the Detroit Pistons in the second round for the NBA draft, won defensive player in 1990 and 1991, started playing for the San Antonio Spurs in 1993, then the Chicago Bulls in 1995.
In 1996 he released his memoir Bad As I Wanna Be, then was fined and suspended from the NBA for kicking a courtside photographer. In 1999 he played for the Lakers for 22 games and then the Dallas Mavericks for 12. In 2000 he settled a lawsuit with a waitress for grabbing her breasts, and was arrested for a DUI. In 2005 he posed nude for a PETA magazine (People for ethical treatment of animals) and in 2013 became friends with Kim John Un.
Later on he travelled back to North Korea for his basketball diplomacy tour. On January 7 2014 he began a tirade on CNN against America’s treatment of North Korea, the next day sang happy birthday to Kim Jong Un, and the day after that apologized publicly for everything and a week later checked back into rehab.