Gen Grant responds to Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural

In his oft-quoted 2nd Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln said that we cannot criticize the justice of God if a drop of blood is spilled in war for every drop of blood spilled in slavery. Not many theologians today would make that point that way. But some years after Lincoln's speech, Gen/Pres Grant said something similar in his Memoirs. He said that the war that he won was caused by the evil of the Mexican War. Lincoln said the war was a just punishment for what the nation did to black slaves; Grant said it was punishment for what the nation did to Mexico. Grant had fought in Mexico ("in the halls of Montezuma"), and had a right to his opinion. But he thought the war was unjustifiable -- was a greedy theft.

In several steps over several years, we took the land that later became TX, NM, AZ, CA, NV, and parts of CO and UT. Of course, they (Mexicans) weren't using the land much. We saw work/opportunity there, and we took it. Was that justifiable?