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In the incident of Tampico Bay of April 1914, Mexican authorities mistakenly arrested eight U.S. sailors at Tampico, Mexico.

Mexican authorities confronted the American sailors for straying in an off-limits area.

They arrested them, some from the boat itself, and marched through a hostile crowd in the town.

A lot of americans resided tampico because of the american investment in the oil industry-

When the issue was brought to the attention of a higher Mexican Official, the sailors were released and Mexican´s gave them an informal apology.

  • Admiral Henry T. Mayo, the commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, was not satisfied at all with that apology.
  • He demanded a formal apology, that showed remorse, and they asked that Mexico raised the American flag on it´s soil and provide a 21-gun salute.
  • The Mexican commander issued the formal written apology, but refused to raise the flag.

The Tampico Incident-

President Wilson's Message to Congress

April 20, 1914

The incident can not be regarded as a trivial one, especially as two of the men arrested were taken from the boat itself—that is to say, from the territory of the United States—but had it stood by itself it might have been attributed to the ignorance or arrogance of a single officer. Unfortunately, it was not an isolated case. A series of incidents have recently occurred which can not but create the impression that the representatives of General Huerta were willing to go out of their way to show disregard for the dignity and rights of this Government and felt perfectly safe in doing what they pleased, making free to show in many ways their irritation and contempt....

The United States interests were for Mexican´s to issue the raising of their flag in their soil, so that they showed honor and respect to their country.

As President Wilson says in his letter:

"I, therefore, felt it my duty to sustain Admiral Mayo in the whole of his demand and to insist that the flag of the United States should be saluted in such a way as to indicate a new spirit and attitude on the part of the Huertistas."

They were basically giving the Huertistas an opportunity.

It is to take into consideration that this whole incident was a complete mistake and misunderstanding from the Mexican´s. The defenders of the bridge anticipated an attack, based on the two consecutive days of battles and fighting that had just happened.

Considering it was a mistake, they did not agree to raise the American flag in their soil.

Nonetheless, President Wilson did not recognize Huerta´s presidency, being a reason for Huerta to be resented and angry.

In April 20, Wilson sought Congressional approval for armed intervention in Mexico.

While waiting for authorization of Congress to carry out such action, Wilson was alerted of a delivery of weapons for Victoriano Huerta due to arrive to the port on April 21 on the German-registered cargo-steamer SS Ypiranga.

As a result, Wilson issued an immediate order to seize the port's customs office and confiscate the weaponry.

The president ordered the immediate occupation of Vera Cruz. Fighting was fierce; more than 300 Mexicans and about 90 Americans were killed.

Huerta had taken power with the assistance of the American ambassador Henry Lane Wilson during a coup d'état in early 1913 known as La decena trágica.

The Wilson administration's answer to this was to declare Huerta a usurper of the legitimate government, embargo arms shipments to Huerta, and support the Constitutional Army of Venustiano Carranza.

In conclusion, the U.S. was deeply offended due to the lack of dignity, particular Mexican´s (Huerta), have for their country. U.S. mainly wanted their respect and honor, they had a strong sense of nationalism. Mexican´s, on the other hand, saw this incident as a careless, insignificant mistake. Tampico was besieged by constitutionalist forces. As President Wilson asked the congress for permission to invade Mexico, he had already taken action. The Occupation of Veracruz had already begun. He occupied the Port of city of Vera Cruz; Lots of people were killed. The U.S. used used gunboat diplomacy for this incident, since they used intimidation by use of military force (naval). Wilson had misread this situation. Finally the ABC powers helped to mediate the dispute.The Tampico incident was cited as one of a list of contributing causes of the so called "Mexican-American" war.

Bibliography:

1. "Tampico Affair." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampico_Affair>.

2."The Tampico Incident." The Tampico Incident. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1072.html>.

3."Occupation of Vera Cruz." Occupation of Vera Cruz. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1073.html>.

4."The Tampico Incident." The Tampico Incident. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.historycentral.com/documents/Tampico.html>.

1. What was the incident of Tampico Bay and when?

2. Why was the incident of Tampico Bay caused?

3. What was the United States point of view in the incident of Tampico bay?

4. What did the United States demand Mexican´s to do after the incident?

5. What were the United States interests in the incident?

6. What was Mexico´s point of View in the Tampico Bay Incident?

7. Why was this incident a mistake from Mexico?

8. What did President Wilson attempt with the Congress approval?

9.To what other minor event did the Tampico Bay lead?

10. What did the occupation of Vera Cruz consist in?

THE OCCUPATION OF VERA CRUZ

ANALYSIS

United States Point of View

Tampico Bay Incident

The U.S. was exorbitantly angry about what happened in this incident. The fact that their sailors were arrested from the boat, which was basically their territory, angered them more. They felt that Mexican´s, particularly President Huerta´s representatives, treated without proper respect their countries dignity and rights. Nevertheless, Mexican´s did not agree to salute the American flag in their soil, as American´s had demanded. They did not like how Mexican´s regarded their country as inferior, nor how they disrespected and dishonored it. This particular incident built up with the previous ones recently occurred, as President Wilson said. This mostly demonstrated to the US that Huerta did not honor their country.

Mexican´s Point of View

STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS

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