. . . Historians estimate that 25,000 Mexican soldiers died, as well as 15,000 American soldiers. The vast majority of American men died from disease, not battlefield injuries, as the volunteer soldiers failed to implement necessary measures for sanitation. As many had feared, the addition of land suitable for cotton farming meant the extension of slavery, along with the human misery of the enslaved men and women who cleared and farmed the land. White settlers who moved to the west did not respect the rights of the Indigenous people or Mexican-Americans (those who had received U.S. citizenship at the war’s end) living there, often forcibly removing them from their land.

Question

. . . Historians estimate that 25,000 Mexican soldiers died, as well as 15,000 American soldiers. The vast majority of American men died from disease, not battlefield injuries, as the volunteer soldiers failed to implement necessary measures for sanitation. As many had feared, the addition of land suitable for cotton farming meant the extension of slavery, along with the human misery of the enslaved men and women who cleared and farmed the land. White settlers who moved to the west did not respect the rights of the Indigenous people or Mexican-Americans (those who had received U.S. citizenship at the war’s end) living there, often forcibly removing them from their land.

. . . For the United States, the acquisition of western lands proved both a blessing and a curse. Their rich resources, including the gold discovered in California just weeks before the end of the war, contributed to growing American economic power. But the addition of new territory upset the fragile balance of power that had kept free and slave states bound together in an uneasy union. In 1861, the tensions over the expansion of slavery into the west led to the U.S. Civil War.

Which 2 of the following quotes most clearly support the idea that the Mexican-American War was not worth the cost?
A:But the addition of new territory upset the fragile balance of power that had kept free and slave states bound together in an uneasy union. In 1861, the tensions over the expansion of slavery into the west led to the U.S. Civil War.
B:For the United States, the acquisition of western lands proved both a blessing and a curse.
C:Historians estimate that 25,000 Mexican soldiers died, as well as 15,000 American soldiers.
D:Their rich resources, including the gold discovered in California just weeks before the end of the war, contributed to growing American economic power.

Answer 1

A: But the addition of new territory upset the fragile balance of power that had kept free and slave states bound together in an uneasy union. In 1861, the tensions over the expansion of slavery into the west led to the U.S. Civil War.

C: Historians estimate that 25,000 Mexican soldiers died, as well as 15,000 American soldiers.

Both of these quotes highlight the negative consequences and costs of the Mexican-American War. Quote A emphasizes the impact on the delicate balance of power and how it eventually led to the Civil War, suggesting that the war's cost was not worth it. Quote C highlights the significant loss of life on both sides, further indicating the high human cost of the war.