American Military History, Topic 5: The Mexican-American War and James K. Polk s Request for War (1846)

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1 Background: James K. Polk fought the Mexican-American War ( ) to expand the territorial boundaries of the United States, and, by 1848, the president had completed almost the entire present-day continental border of the nation. At the cost of thirteen thousand American and fifty thousand Mexican lives and strained Mexican-American relations for generations Polk made the war the crowning event in his grasp for the continent, which would oversee the final and largest acquisitions of over a million square miles of new territory in the 1840s: the greatest wave of expansion since Thomas Jefferson s purchase of nine hundred thousand square miles of Louisiana in Polk s justification for such expansion rested squarely on the ideology of Manifest Destiny : the nationalistic belief that both God and history had destined America to cover the continent through westward expansion that would sow the seeds of American civilization in un-american regions. As John L. O Sullivan, the Democratic politician and editor, famously wrote, the claim to new territory by persuasion, if possible, and force, if necessary was the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federative self-government entrusted to us. Inspired by such rhetoric, John Tyler (the outgoing president) annexed the Republic of Texas (which had won independence from Mexico in 1836) in 1845, and Polk acquired Oregon Territory (which included present-day Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming) from the British in 1846 and waged the Mexican-American War to gain the entirety (minus a small portion that the U. S. would acquire in the Gadsden Purchase of 1853) of present-day California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, as well as the remaining parts of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico needed to merge the boundaries of Texas s claims (boundaries larger than those acknowledged by Mexico after the Texas Revolt of 1836), the Louisiana Purchase, and Oregon Country. The dispute over the border between Texas and Mexico ignited Polk s war for expansion. Polk sided with Texans, who claimed that the Rio Grande was the Texas border between the United States and Mexico. The Mexican government insisted that the actual border lay one hundred miles north at the Nueces River, as it had when Texas had been part of Mexico prior to the Texas Revolt of Polk, other American expansionists, and Texans desired the Rio Grande as a border because it more than doubled the size of Texas. In the summer of 1845, to protect their claim to the disputed border, Polk sent 3,500 troops under the command of future president Zachary Taylor to the Nueces River to defend a potential Mexican invasion or to lure Mexicans into firing the first shot in order to mask expansion with the appearance of selfdefense. Polk also sent a message to Californios (Californians of Spanish descent) and Americans in California (part of Mexico at the time), which declared that the United States would support them in a revolt against Mexican rule, and secretly ordered the American navy to take control of ports in California once war began with Mexico. In a last-ditch attempt at diplomacy, Polk sent John L. Slidell to Mexico to purchase California, New Mexico, and Texas s disputed claims, but Mexico rejected his offer. Hearing the news, Polk determined to bait

2 Mexico into attacking. On 13 January 1846, he ordered Taylor s forces to move from the Nueces to the Rio Grande. Then he commanded Taylor to blockade the mouth of the Rio Grande and to build a fort on its northern bank, across from the town of Matamoros. For months, the Mexicans refused to be provoked. Then, according to disputed American accounts, on April 24, Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and attacked a unit of American soldiers, who quickly repulsed them. Polk had already prepared a request to Congress for war, and, by the time the news reached him in early May, he redrafted it and sent it to Congress for a declaration of war, asserting that war exists by the act of Mexico herself because Mexico has invaded our territory, and shed American blood on American soil. On May 13, Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of war: 40-2 in the Senate and in the House. News of the vote incensed a minority of Americans, especially Whigs, who charged that Polk had deliberately muscled the nation into the war behind the pretense that American troops had been the innocent victims of Mexican aggression. Imperialism under the guise of self-defense was still imperialism, they said. Nevertheless, the nation went to war: a struggle Polk s forces would win decisively but at great cost. Mexican forces lacked the modern artillery and navy necessary to compete with the Americans and were less organized. Despite exhibiting great individual bravery, they lost to Taylor s forces at Monterrey in September Stephen Kearny s troops took control of Santa Fe and the rest of New Mexico in the summer of 1846 and then marched to California to take command of the Bear Flag Revolution, which pitted American settlers, an exploring party under John Frémont, and the American navy against Mexican forces. By the fall of 1846, he had brought California under American control, and occupation troops, including members of the so-called Mormon Battalion (who had left Brigham Young s migration west to raise money for their families and the poor leaving Nauvoo and demonstrate loyalty to the American government) maintained an American military presence throughout the territory. In January 1847, American forces suppressed a revolt of Taos Pueblos in the disputed northwestern territory of Texas and then repulsed a Mexican attack at Buena Vista in February. To win the war, Polk sent General Winfield Scott, the commanding general of American forces, down the Mexican coast to take Veracruz by amphibious invasion. With a force of only fourteen thousand, Scott then marched 260 miles to conquer Mexico City in September 1847 and did not lose a single battle along the way. Scott s heroics led to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February 1848, by which Mexico ceded all of California and almost all of the present-day American Southwest, including a border at the Rio Grande, to the U. S. Polk was upset that the treaty did not include the annexation of all of Mexico! Nevertheless, America had expanded greatly, and sentiment for Manifest Destiny ran high. At the same time, the acquisitions caused violent sectional debates about slavery in the new territories, debates that would be decided by the bloodiest war in American history: the Civil War. Questions to Consider as You Read:

3 According to Polk, why did he move American troops to a position between the Rio Nueces and Rio Grande? What does Polk say to paint Mexico as a perpetrator and the U. S. as a victim? What does Polk say to justify his request for a Congressional declaration of war? Research: President Polk, Request to Congress for War against Mexico (1846) As you read, don t forget to mark and annotate main ideas, key terms, confusing concepts, unknown vocabulary, cause/effect relationships, examples, etc. An envoy of the United States repaired to Mexico with full powers to adjust every existing difference. But though present on the Mexican soil by agreement between the two Governments, invested with full powers, and bearing evidence of the most friendly dispositions, his mission has been unavailing. The Mexican Government not only refused to receive him or listen to his propositions, but after a long-continued series of menaces have at last invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil. In my message at the commencement of the present session I informed you that upon the earnest appeal both of the Congress and convention of Texas I had ordered an efficient military force to take a position between the Nueces and the [Rio Grande]. This had become necessary to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces, for which extensive military preparations had been made. The invasion was threatened solely because Texas had determined, in accordance with a solemn resolution of the Congress of the United States, to annex herself to our union, and under these circumstances it was plainly our duty to extend our protection over her citizens and soil. Texas, by the final action of our Congress, had become an integral part of our Union. The Congress of Texas, by its act of December 19, 1836, had declared the [Rio Grande] to be the boundary of that Republic. Its jurisdiction had been extended and exercised beyond the Nueces. The country between that river and the [Rio Grande] had been represented in the Congress and in the convention of Texas, had thus taken part in the act of annexation itself, and is now included within one of our Congressional districts. Our own Congress had, moreover, with great unanimity, by the act approved December 31, 1845, recognized the country beyond the Nueces as a part of our territory by including it within our own revenue system, and a revenue officer to reside within that district has been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. It became, therefore, of urgent necessity to provide for the defense of that portion of our country. The movement of the troops to the [Rio Grande] was made by the commanding general under positive instructions to abstain from all aggressive acts toward Mexico or Mexican citizens and to regard the relations between that Republic and the United States as peaceful unless she

4 should declare war or commit acts of hostility indicative of a state of war. He was specifically directed to protect private property and respect personal rights. No open act of hostility was committed until the 24 th of April. On that day General Arista, who had succeeded to the command of the Mexican forces, communicated to General Taylor that he considered hostilities commenced and should prosecute them. A party of dragoons of 63 men and officers were on the same day dispatched from the American camp up the [Rio Grande], on its left bank, to ascertain whether the Mexican troops had crossed or were preparing to cross the river, became engaged with a large body of these troops, and after a short affair, in which some 16 were killed and wounded, appear to have been surrounded and compelled to surrender. War actually existing and our territory invaded, General Taylor, pursuant to authority vested in him by my direction, has called on the governor of Texas for four regiments of State troops, two to be mounted and two to serve on foot, and on the governor of Louisiana for four regiments of infantry to be sent to him as soon as practicable. In further vindication of our rights and defense of our territory, I invoke the prompt action of Congress to recognize the existence of the war, and to place at the disposition of the Executive the means of prosecuting the war with vigor. 1 Notebook Questions: Reason and Record According to Polk, why did he move American troops to a position between the Rio Nueces and Rio Grande? What does Polk say to paint Mexico as a perpetrator and the U. S. as a victim? What does Polk say to justify his request for a Congressional declaration of war? Notebook Questions: Relate and Record 1 SOURCE: Richardson, James D., ed. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, , vol. 4. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Congress, 1902.

5 How does the document relate to FACE Principle #3: America's Heritage of Christian Character: The image of Christ engraved upon the individual within, bringing dominion and change to his external environment. The model of American Christian character is the Pilgrim character with these qualities: faith and steadfastness, brotherly love, Christian care, diligence and industry, and liberty of conscience? How does the document relate to Alma 43:45-47 and Alma 48:14? Record Activity: Multiple Choice Comprehension Check 1. Background: All of the following are true about American expansion in the 1840s except which one? a. James K. Polk fought the Mexican-American War ( ) to expand the territorial boundaries of the United States, and, by 1848, the president had completed almost the entire present-day continental border of the nation. b. Polk made the war the crowning event in his grasp for the continent, which would oversee the final and largest acquisitions of over a million square miles of new territory: the greatest wave of expansion since Thomas Jefferson s Louisiana Purchase. c. Polk s justification for such expansion rested squarely on the ideology of Manifest Destiny : the nationalistic belief that both God and history had destined America to cover the continent through westward expansion that would sow the seeds of American civilization in un-american regions. d. John Tyler annexed the Republic of Texas (which had won independence from Mexico in 1836) in e. Polk acquired Oregon Territory (which included present-day Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming) from the British in f. Through victory in the Mexican-American War, Polk gained the entirety (minus a small portion that the U. S. would acquire in the Gadsden Purchase of 1853) of present-day California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, as well as the remaining parts

6 of Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Tennessee needed to merge the boundaries of Texas s claims (boundaries larger than those acknowledged by Mexico after the Texas Revolt of 1836), the Louisiana Purchase, and Oregon Country. 2. Background: All of the following are true about why the Mexican-American War started except which one? a. Polk sided with Texans, who claimed that the Rio Grande was the Texas border between the United States and Mexico. b. In the summer of 1845, to protect America s claim to the disputed border, Polk sent 3,500 troops under the command of future president Zachary Taylor to the Nueces River to defend a potential Mexican invasion or to lure Mexicans into firing the first shot in order to mask expansion with the appearance of selfdefense. c. Polk also sent a message to Californios (Californians of Spanish descent) and Americans in California (part of Mexico at the time), which declared that the United States would support them in a revolt against Mexican rule, and secretly ordered the American navy to take control of ports in California once war began with Mexico. d. In 1846, Polk ordered Taylor s forces to move from the Nueces to the Rio Grande. Then he commanded Taylor to blockade the mouth of the Rio Grande and to build a fort on its northern bank. e. Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and attacked a unit of American soldiers. f. Polk had deliberately muscled the nation into the war behind the pretense that American troops had been the innocent victims of Mexican aggression. Imperialism under the guise of self-defense was still imperialism. g. Polk did not even try diplomacy as a way to get what he wanted. John L. Slidell wanted to purchase California, New Mexico, and Texas s disputed claims for the U. S., but the president rejected his offer. 3. Source: Polk says all of the following to paint Mexico as a perpetrator and the U. S. as a victim except which one? a. The Mexican Government not only refused to receive [an American diplomat] or listen to his propositions, but after a long-continued series of menaces has at last invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil. b. [Ordering American troops to occupy disputed territory in Texas] had become necessary to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces, for which extensive military preparations had been made. The invasion was threatened solely because Texas had determined, in accordance with a solemn resolution of the Congress of the United States, to annex herself to our union, and

7 under these circumstances it was plainly our duty to extend our protection over her citizens and soil. c. The movement of the troops to the [Rio Grande] was made by the commanding general under positive instructions to abstain from all aggressive acts toward Mexico or Mexican citizens and to regard the relations between that Republic and the United States as peaceful unless she should declare war or commit acts of hostility indicative of a state of war. He was specifically directed to protect private property and respect personal rights. d. It is the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federative self-government entrusted to us. Therefore, it is our right to invade Mexico to take her land in order to gain riches and room to grow for the culturally and racially superior United States. e. In further vindication of our rights and defense of our territory, I invoke the prompt action of Congress to recognize the existence of the war.