Why did the US just expand west instead of expanding north and

>>2650816
it traded north and south to genocide west, which was one direction (into the mountains), if it went north south it would have turned into a backwashed shit show with indians continually strengthening from a pocket position.

Geography and climate

>>2650816
America took the best part of the Americas. Invading the rest of mexico wouldn't have made it any richer, just more like mexico.

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>implying it could defeat the mighty Empire of Brazil

>already broke away from england, didnt need another war with england.
>france was north too, US and France were allies
>spain was to the south, and the u.s already took the important parts in the mexican war

>>2650816
We tried to expand north in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and neither time was successful. We briefly considered invading Canada again in the 1840s, but decided against it.

We didn't expand south because we didn't want a country full of beaners. Despite what Mexicans claim today, the Mexican Cession actually had almost no Mexicans in it in the 1830s and 1840s, and would continue to be mostly beaner-free until the change in immigration laws in the 1960s and 1970s.

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hth

>>2650816
The midwest was really nice and we didn't want to have to integrate Canadians and Mexicans.

>>2650863

Mexico had a tiny population then though. Although, we still didn't want all those Catholics.

Really, I think it's more "already have more desert and tundra than we could ever use."

By the time we wanted Mexico or Canada for resources we already had a stake in supporting a world order that said no to conquest through force.

>>2651083
This.

At the time of the Mexican-American War, we didn't know about Mexico's oil reserves and their silver mining wasn't enough to make us want to take Mexico.

In retrospect, we SHOULD have kicked out the natives and begun colonizing/industrializing Mexico as US territories on the way to becoming states. This is, of course, assuming the Civil War wouldn't have become a big opportunity for some kind of reconquista.

>silver
>oil
>good fisheries
>all that cattle grazing land
>tons of fertile land for orchards

It wouldn't be a bad addition to the USA at all, if it were correctly populated. Settle it with a ton of German immigrants and we're in business!

>>2651150
>In retrospect, we SHOULD have kicked out the natives and begun colonizing/industrializing Mexico as US territories on the way to becoming states. This is, of course, assuming the Civil War wouldn't have become a big opportunity for some kind of reconquista.

Wouldn't this prevent the whole Wilmott Proviso clusterfuck since all the land is below the Missouri Compromise line?