Despite the often stated claim that the southern US border is porous, America gained a clearly defined defensive line against any possible invaders from the south. By seizing (oh yea, I forgot, a nominal chunk of money was 'paid out) by seizing the Sierra Nevada Range and the Southern Rocky Mountain Range, other than mineral rights, what has become increasingly more important are the water rights. Calculate how much revenue comes in from harnessing the waters of the Colorado to power millions of homes across America not to mention water for irrigating millions of acres of crops.
And judging by the amount of Latinio/Hispanic bashing done on this forum and across America, America earned the right to trash Hispanics/Latinos while exploiting them for cheap labor!!!
A quick note / \ if it were not for the timing of the Mexican War, if there had been no war and Gold was still discovered in California it is quite possible that California would have become an Independent Nation most likely incorporating large chunks of Nevada. Without an 'American' California, there would have been less incentive for the Mormons in Utah to 'cling' to their American heritage. Thus you can imagine a US of A without a Southwest or a Utah with only Oregon & Washington as the Pacific States with a large independent Nation of California and a smaller but independent Utah. And Arizona and New Mexico still an outpost of Mexico.
How does this play into 'one thing leading to another?' Well it was California refusal to allow Slavery (among other things) that 'forced' the South to secceed and guess what helped the North defeat the South? The Silver pouring from the mines of Nevada!! So the outcome of the not so Civil War may well have been quite different..
Peace./ / - - - - - O - i - O - - - - - \ \
