"We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God"

In 1845, a group of American soldiers under General Zachary Taylor was ordered by President Polk to patrol the land bordering the Rio Grande.  As the troops set out to secure the border with Mexico, Polk was well aware that the military presence of the United States might provoke Mexico into fighting.

   In April, Colonel Cross, an assistant to General Taylor was reported missing after he was ordered to ride up the Rio Grande.  Eleven days later, his body was found with severe head wounds.  It was assumed that Mexicans had crossed the river and attacked him.  On April 25th, a patrol was attacked by Mexican soldiers.   Sixteen soldiers died, others were wounded, and all the rest were captured.  General Taylor sent a message to President Polk: "Hostilities may now be considered as commenced."  This attack would be the opening shots of the Mexican-American War, a conflict that would forever alter the histories of Mexico and the United States.  

   The circumstances surrounding the attack on Taylor's troops are suspicious and cloudy.  Did the attack take place on Mexican soil or American soil?  To the Mexicans living in that area, the United States had invaded their territory and started the fighting.  For many Americans, the attack was a sign of open hostility towards the United States and an insult to American integrity and honor.  

I want you to think of the reading as a book or a movie.  The reading was filled with characters who had their own motivations and beliefs.  In class, we took a closer look at some of the people who were living during the Mexican-American War.  Some, like Walt Whitman, were very eager to go to war with Mexico.  Whitman wrote, "Mexico must be throughly chastised (punished)! ...Let our arms now be carried with a spirit which shall teach the world  that, while we are not forward to a quarrel, America knows how to crush as well as how to expand!"

   Whitman, a poet and author, seems very eager for the U.S. to punish Mexico.  He feels that the world will learn that the United States is not going to seek out trouble, but will defend itself if there is the need.  Many Americans were caught up in  this patriotic fever of the time.  

   Some politicians, like Congressman Joshua Giddings were against the war.  Giddings referred to the war as being "unholy, aggressive, and unjust."  Giddings feared that the war will allow the evils of  slavery to expand across the continent.  

A young politician from Illinois doubted the validity of Polk's claim that the United States was attacked.  He challenged the President to show him the spot where American blood was shed.  His "spot resolutions" gained him some early recognition in his young political career.  While serving in the House of Representatives he would declare that while "the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced" Abraham Lincoln would vote for supplying the American soldiers with supplies.  Not denying those serving of weapons, food, and clothing.