President James K. Polk And The Stealing Of The Southwest

 

President James K. Polk (Munsey's Magazine. January 1897)

James K. Polk was probably the most unsociable, drab, stick-in-the-mud ever elected president. Fun was a four-letter word in his book. Sports, drinking, dancing, and anything to do with being around people didn’t make his A-list. Instead, he was short, scholarly, lived for his work, and avoided face-to-face conversations and confrontations.

The only thing Polk had going for him was his friendship with Andrew Jackson. Jackson’s support pushed Polk into the White House. The general ensured Polk understood his presidency’s two critical goals: annexing Texas and Oregon.

Four years, a war, and several treaties later, Polk would accomplish it all.

After Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836, most of the Lone Star State’s citizens favored annexation by the United States. However, Americans weren’t as sure about the idea. President Martin Van Buren worried the move could trigger a war with Mexico. In addition, the Democrats and Whigs feared it could cause a split in Congress over slavery in the new territory. As a result, annexation was a moot point until President John Tyler raised the issue in 1844.

The Senate voted annexation down in June 1844. Tyler brought the issue before Congress again in early 1845. It passed on March 1, and Texas became a state on December 29.

In 1845, President Polk offered Mexico five million dollars to recognize the southwestern boundary of Texas at the Rio Grande. He provided another five million dollars for New Mexico, including parts of Nevada and Utah. Polk also made a twenty-five million dollar offer for California. When Mexico refused his requests, Polk forced the issue. He sent General Zachary Taylor and 3,000 troops to Corpus Christi, Texas. In March 1846, General Taylor moved his forces into the disputed territory between the Rio Grande and the Nueces Rivers.

About a month later, a detachment of Mexican Cavalry crossed into the disputed territory and engaged in a minor scuffle with a small force of American soldiers. Polk used the attack as an opportunity to declare war on Mexico. His proclamation issued on May 11 said: “Mexico...invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil.” Two days later, Congress approved Polk’s declaration of war.

The Declaration was hotly debated. The New York Daily Tribune published an editorial on May 15, 1846, saying: “Three months ago, if a party of our people had gone down to the Rio Grande, halted opposite of Matamoros, threatened that city with cannon, and blocked the river, they would have been marauders and land pirates, and everybody would have admitted that Mexico was justified in so treating them.”

The paper followed those words up, declaring, “...our troops, and not Mexicans, are the actual and wrongful invaders.”

Congressman Abraham Lincoln protested the war, demanding that Polk identify the “exact spot” where the Mexican Army “shed American blood upon the American soil.”

It was clear to almost everyone that the United States provoked Mexico into a war it was trying hard to avoid. Mexico calls the Mexican War, The United States Invasion of Mexico.

Polk’s excuse for sending troops was a promise he made to protect Texas after its annexation. He ordered the army to prepare for war, positioned naval vessels near American ports, and sent General Taylor with 3,000 troops to Corpus Christi, Texas. He thought it would be a brief war, with just a few minor engagements. Then Mexico would resume negotiations for the land purchases he desired.

The war lasted two years, cost over one hundred million dollars, and claimed the lives of nearly thirteen thousand Americans.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war was signed on February 2, 1848. It required the United States to pay Mexico fifteen million dollars and settle a little over three million dollars in American citizens’ claims against Mexico. In return, they established the border with Texas at the Rio Grande, and the United States received California, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The Gadsen Purchase in 1853-1854 added portions of Arizona and New Mexico for another ten million dollars.

The United States stole or purchased (depending on how you look at it) nearly one-third of Mexico’s land. As a result, the country stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast for the first time.

The downside was the war’s effect on the slavery issue.

Congressman David Wilmot tried to add a provision to an appropriations bill on August 8, 1846, to outlaw slavery or involuntary servitude in areas gained because of the Mexican conflict. The Wilmot Proviso was hotly contested by Southern states and failed to pass. Wilmot tried to revive it in 1847 and again in 1848, when he tried to tack the measure onto the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

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