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Why did the United States pay for land it annexed from Mexico and Spain when it acquired those as a result of wars it decisively won? Most other wars of the era ended with the loser having to pay a war indemnity, so it doesn't really make sense for the United States to have paid for lands in was already in control of following a decisive victory in war. Was it a way for the United States to try to differentiate itself from European colonial powers by making forced annexation more akin to a purchase?