Mexico annexed after 1848

[12th Doctor]

Well, first off, there are a few territorial changes.  Most of the Mexican states stay as is, with a few being incorperated into others.  The Arizona Territory encompases almost all areas West of the Rio Grande.  Texas consists of all OTL Texas east of where the Pecos meets the Rio Grande, then from that point, in a 15 degree angle to the Red River.  The new eventual state, consisting of all the land from OTL New Mexico (east of the Rio Grande) the remainder of OTL Texas and the Oklahoma Panhandle (admited in 1886) is eventually dubed "Amarillo" and its capital is situated in Amarillo City.  California is split into the "Baja California" territory, which consists of all the Baja Penninsula and Southern California up to just north of LA (the capital of which is San Diego), and "Norte California" which consists of all of the present Northern California, small parts of western Utah Territory and most of southern Oregon.  There is no "Nevada" as the remained remains in the Utah Territory.  Luckly... Las Vegas remains in Arizona.  Washington and the the remainder of Oregon are admited as the state of Oregon in 1862.

Now that all that is behind me...

The Civil War is averted due to a massive wave of Western Expansion that sends both Southerners and Northerners alike into the new territory, including Mexico.  Also, the effort needed to keep order in the new territories takes presedence over internal struggles.  Many Irish Catholic immigrants from Boston, New York and Philadelphia (about 30% of the total Irish Catholic population by 1900), move into the South West seeking religious tollerance.  As a result, Irish integration in the Northeast takes a bit longer, since they were not bonded to their country, nor did they gain any greater respect from their country men through the war, and they lack the same political power as in the OTL.  Other Catholic immigrants eventually follow in the foot steps of the Irish, and the former Mexican territories have substantial Polish, Austrian, German and esspecially Italian (who currently make up 15% of the overall population) minorities by the end of the 20th century, though about 40% of the population traces its roots back to Mexican and at least one other ethnic root.

Economically, there is a brief two year depression in the after math of 1848, which is then followed by nearly 30 years of almost constant economic expansion.  The Credit Mobiler scandal, and several other banking, business, and government corruption problems that arise eventually lead to an almost decade long depression in the 1880's, which is finally ended by government reforms, expansion of trade to the Orient, the adoption of the Silver Standard (aided by Mexican Silver loads), and the 14th Ammendment; Abolishing Slavery and esstablishing the "Reconstruction Act" aimed taking steps to reform the Southern economy, after the collapse of King Cotton, by President Grover Cleveland (Reformed Whig).

By 1890, English is the unofficial first language of the United States, spoken by almost all citizens, throughout all the land.

Eventually, historians seeking to put a better moral justification on the wa, and seeing the progress that the US has brought to Mexico rewrite the history books to claim that granting the Mexicans freedom from Santa Anna and spreading American Democracy to the Mexican people.  By the end of the 1890's, this is the commonly held view.  As such, when photos of the brutal treatment of Cubans under the Spanish regime cirrculate back to the United States, the US, under President William Jennings Bryan (Progressive-Populist), has no trouble justifying a war against Spain in 1897.  In so doing they sieze all Spanish territory ceeded in the OTL.

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Hmmmm... I gotta go... I'll finish this later.