Ever wonder why the US was so successful in kicking Mexico’s ass during the Mexican-American war? Or why we gave so much land back to them after our marines occupied the Halls of Montezuma in the capital of Mexico City?

In short, the northen congressmen did not want more pro-slavery land belonging to the US, so we stopped at California, Texas, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico (Oregon Territory too, but that was anti-slavery).

As to the success, just look at the junior officer’s names. You might recognize some of them as the Who’s Who of the Civil War: Ulysses Grant, Robert E Lee, McClellan, Sherman, and others. Yeah, no surprise we kicked serious ass. With those men we could have taken Europe had we not fought each other.