Home
  Journal   Friends   Calendar   User Info   Memories
 

Andersen Silva's Journal

11th September, 2007. 12:00 pm. We take nothing by conquest... thank God

In 1846, U.S. President James K. Polk sent General Zachary Taylor and his troops to the Rio Grande as a challenge to the Mexicans; the United States and its new state Texas claimed this as the border, while historically the Nueces River had been Texas' border with the rest of Mexico. The Mexicans took the bait and attacked some of Taylor's soldiers, and the President asked Congress to authorize a declaration of war.

Henry David Thoreau refused to pay his state poll tax and denounced the war, spending a night in jail before his friends paid the tax on his behalf and without his consent. Two years later, speaking in the House of Representatives in support of General Taylor's candidacy for President, freshman Congressman Abraham Lincoln claimed, "...The war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the President..." William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass were among others who spoke out against the war. And this was a war the U.S. was winning, and did win in the end. Taking half of Mexico's territory from it, the U.S. government paid Mexico $15 million for the land, prompting the Whig Intelligencer to note that "we take nothing by conquest... thank God."

Current mood: thoughtful.
Current music: "Empire" by Queensrÿche.

Make Notes

Back A Day - Forward A Day