DBQ
US History
American Intervention in the Mexican Revolution During the Wilson Presidency
Through the use of the documents below as well as your knowledge of US history and
foreign policy, construct an essay that answers the prompt below.
Evaluate the social, political, and economic factors which led the United States to
paternalistically support or subvert the various revolutionary governments of Mexico
during Woodrow Wilson’s Presidency, express an opinion whether or not those factors
warranted such paternalistic intervention.
Document A
Courtesy of the National Archives.
Document B
“By 1913, about 75,000 Americans were living in Mexico as miners, engineers,
merchants, and agriculturists; American investments amounted to about $1,200,000,000 -- a larger sum than that of all the other foreigners combined. Though the work of
European countries, particularly Great Britain, was important, yet Mexico was practically
an economic colony of the United States…… Americans had created this, perhaps the
greatest of Mexican industries, and in 1913, these Americans owned nearly 80 per cent of
Mexican oil…. The first diplomatic task imposed upon Page therefore was that would
have dismayed a more experienced ambassador. This was to persuade Great Britain to
retrace its steps, to withdraw its recognition of Huerta, and to join hands with the United
States in bringing about his downfall.”
Excerpt from The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page by Hendrick, Burton J. retrieved
from http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/memoir/Page/Page04.htm
Document C
Henry Lane Wilson, U.S. ambassador to Mexico from 1910 to 1913, was born in
Crawfordsville, Indiana, on 3 November 1857. He graduated from Wabash College in
1879 and married Alice Vajen in 1884, with whom he had three sons. Active in
Republican politics, Wilson was appointed Minister to Chile in 1889 by President
William McKinley, and worked in the foreign service under the subsequent
administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, culminating with his
appointment as Ambassador to Mexico by President Taft in 1910. Wilson’s tenure in
Mexico City was controversial; while Ambassador, he was personally informed by
General Victoriano Huerta that the general intended to overthrow President Francisco I.
Madero in a coup in February of 1913; later Lane invited the anti-Madero forces to use
the American embassy as the location to conclude the agreement that installed Huerta as
president. Henry Wilson urged newly elected President Woodrow Wilson to recognize
the Huerta government but the President, who mistrusted the Ambassador, instead
intervened on the side of anti-Huerta forces. Henry Wilson was recalled to the United
States in July of 1913 and forced to resign the following month. He worked for American
oil interests in Latin American following his return to the private sector, and died in
Indianapolis, Indiana on 22 December 1932.
Note: William Kamman. “Wilson, Henry Lane”; http://www.anb.org/articles/06/0600721.html; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.
Document D
Link, Arthur S., The Papers of Woodrow Wilson Vol. 27
Document E
Link, Arthur S. The Papers of Woodrow Wilson vol.30
Document F
The present situation in Mexico is incompatible with the fulfillment of international
obligations on the part of Mexico, with the civilized development of Mexico herself, and
with the maintenance of tolerable political and economic conditions in Central America.
It is upon no common occasion, therefore, that the United States offers her counsel and
assistance. All America cries out for a settlement.
A satisfactory settlement seems to us to be conditioned on—
(a) An immediate cessation of fighting throughout Mexico, a definite armistice solemnly
entered into and scrupulously observed;
(b) Security given for an early and free election in which all will agree to take part;
(c) The consent of Gen. Huerta to bind himself not to be a candidate for election as
President of the Republic at this election; and
(d) The agreement of all parties to abide by the results of the election and cooperate in the
most loyal way in organizing and supporting the new administration.
Woodrow Wilson: Address to Congress On Mexican Affairs, 27 Aug. 1913
Document G
No doubt I could do what is necessary in the circumstances to enforce respect for our
Government without recourse to the Congress, and yet not exceed my constitutional
powers as President; but I do not wish to act in a matter possibly of so grave consequence
except in close conference and cooperation with both the Senate and House. I, therefore,
come to ask your approval that I should use the armed forces of the United States in such
ways and to such an extent as may be necessary to obtain from General Huerta and his
adherents the fullest recognition of the rights and dignity of the United States, even
amidst the distressing conditions now unhappily obtaining in Mexico.
There can in what we do be no thought of aggression or of selfish aggrandizement. We
seek to maintain the dignity and authority of the United States only because we wish
always to keep our great influence unimpaired for the uses of liberty, both in the United
States and wherever else it may be employed for the benefit of mankind.
-Wilson asking for Congressional approval for military support message April 14,1914
Document H
On the 9th of April a paymaster of the U. S. S. Dolphin landed at the Iturbide Bridge
landing at Tampico with a whaleboat and boat’s crew to take off certain supplies needed
by his ship, and while engaged in loading the boat was arrested by an officer and squad of
men of the army of General Huerta. Neither the paymaster nor anyone of the boat’s crew
was armed. Two of the men were in the boat when the arrest took place and were obliged
to leave it and submit to be taken into custody, notwithstanding the fact that the boat
carried, both at her bow and at her stern, the flag of the United States. The officer who
made the arrest was proceeding up one of the streets of the town with his prisoners when
met by an officer of higher authority, who ordered him to return to the landing and await
orders; and within an hour and a half from the time of the arrest orders were received
from the commander of the Huertista forces at Tampico for the release of the paymaster
and his men. The release was followed by apologies from the commander and later by an
expression of regret by General Huerta himself. General Huerta urged that martial law
obtained at the time at Tampico; that orders had been issued that no one should be
allowed to land at the Iturbide Bridge; and that our sailors had no right to land there. Our
naval commanders at the port had not been notified of any such prohibition; and, even if
they had been, the only justifiable course open to the local authorities would have been to
request the paymaster and his crew to withdraw and to lodge a protest with the
commanding officer of the fleet. Admiral Mayo regarded the arrest as so serious an
affront that he was not satisfied with the apologies offered, but demanded that the flag of
the United States be saluted with special ceremony by the military commander of the
port.
-Excerpt from Wilson's Address to Congress April 20, 1914
Document I
Link, Arthur S, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson Vol.30.
Document J
Correspondence between Walter H Page and Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan
regarding regime change in Mexico- Link, Arthur S, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson
Vol. 30.
Document K
Document L
Document M
Document N