Mexican American War Set 2: 1844-1846 (Outbreak of War)

Set 2: 1844-1846 (Outbreak of war) Document 2A: John Calhoun - Letter to W.R. King August 12th, 1844 (Printed publically) “It is impossible to cast a look at the map of the United States and Texas….without coming to the conclusion that it is their destiny to be united in institutions, laws and inhabitants...It is our destiny to occupy that vast region; to intersect it with roads and canals; to fill it with cities, towns, villages, and farms; to extend over it our religion, customs, constitution and laws; and to present it as a peaceful and splendid addition to the domains of commerce and civilization. It is our policy to increase, by growing and spreading out into unoccupied regions, assimilating all those we incorporate; in a word, to increase by accretion [addition/extension], and not through conquest…” Document 2B: Thomas H. Benton, Senator from Missouri, 1844 (despite being a southerner, Benton opposed annexation of Texas) Starting in 1836, the Republic of Texas sought official recognition from major powers, especially Britain, with whom they had close business ties. Both Mexico and Britain had abolished slavery and feared an independent Texas would become another slave nation like the US. Britain told Texas that Britain would either recognize them as a free republic or else help Mexico regain Texas to be part of slave-free Mexico. US politicians saw British interference in Texas or ties with Texas to be a threat. “Great Britain proposed [to Texas] that the slaves be emancipated in exchange for Great Britain’s acknowledgement of Texas independence...Great Britain wishes to see slavery abolished in Texas; and she has declared all the means which she means to use. It is a strange spectacle, in the nineteenth century, to [see] the United States at war with Mexico simply because Great Britain wishes to see the abolition of slavery in Texas." Document 2C: Stephen A. Douglas - Speech of Stephen A. Douglas in the House of Representatives, January 6th, 1845 “Without dwelling upon the numerous advantages that would attend the annexation of Texas, in stimulating the industry of the whole country; in opening new markets for the manufacturers of the North and East; in bringing in the waters of the Red River, the Arkansas River, and other streams flowing into the Mississippi... in growing the political power of the United States; in securing safer and more natural boundaries, and avoiding the danger of collisions with foreign power - without dwelling upon these and other considerations, appealing to our interest and pride as a people and a nation it Is sufficient argument to me that our honor and faith require the immediate annexation of Texas to the Union.” Document 2D: John L. O’Sullivan, “Annexation,” the United States magazine and Democratic Review, Vol. XVII, July 1845. Texas is now ours…Let its reception into the “family” be frank, kindly, and cheerful… [O]ther nations have undertaken…hostile interference against us,…hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence [God] for the free development of our yearly multiplying million. California will, probably, next fall away from [Mexico]…Imbecile and distracted, Mexico never can exert any real governmental authority over such a country…The Anglo-Saxon foot is already on [California’s] borders…armed with the plough and the rifle, and marking its trail with schools and colleges, courts and representative halls, mills, and meetinghouses…All this [will happen] in the natural flow of events… Document 2E: José Joaquín de Herrera, acting President of the Republic of Mexico, 1845 A Proclamation Denouncing America’s Intention to Annex Texas, June 4, 1845. [T]he congress of the United States of the North has . . . resolved to incorporate the territory of Texas with the American union . . . [T]his manner of appropriating [giving] to itself territories upon which other nations have rights, endangering the Set 2: 1844-1846 (Outbreak of war) peace of the world and violating the sovereignty of nations . . . It...attacks all the rights that Mexico has to that territory, is an insult to her dignity as a sovereign nation, and threatens her independence and political existence . . . Document 2F: SPEECH OF HON. A[NDREW] KENNEDY, OF INDIANA, ON THE MEXICAN WAR. DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DECEMBER 16, 1846 Had England or France, or any other respectable Government, treated us with half the indignity, outrage, and insult, manifested by Mexico, long since would the honor of the country have been vindicated...took advantage of [America’s] forbearance [patience], and repeated her outrages and injustices...until she finally crossed our territorial lines, and attacked our armies and citizens upon our own soil. Thus was our Government driven to the wall. National dishonor or a prompt punishment of the offender was the only alternative. It was not the President, but Congress, which made the Rio Grande our boundary line. By the annexation of Texas we bound the President to defend that as our territory. The State of Texas claimed the territory to that line. Under that claim we annexed her to the Union….The Mexican Government was concentrating a strong force on the south bank of the Rio Grande, and constantly threatening reconquest even to the Sabine River. What, in the name of all that is sacred, was the President to do but exactly what he did do...this war was conducted as the cause of God and freedom...as an act of justice.” Document 2G: War Message of President James Polk, Washington, May 11, 1846. To the Senate and House of Representatives: [On the 24th of April] a party…of sixty-three men and officers, were…dispatched from the American camp up the Rio del Norte, on its [North] bank, to ascertain whether the Mexican troops had crossed, or were preparing to cross, the river…[They] became engaged with a large body of these [Mexican] troops, and after a short affair, in which some sixteen [Americans] were killed and wounded, appear to have been surrounded and compelled to surrender… We have tried every effort at reconciliation. The cup of forbearance had been exhausted even before the recent information from the frontier of the Del Norte. But now…Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil. **Note: War Vote, May 13, 1846: US Senate – 40 yes, 2 – no; House of Rep: 174 – yes, 14 – no