Polk Asks for War
California was more difficult. In 1845,
Polk sent an envoy to Mexico City to offer Mexico as much as $30 million
for present-day California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. The
envoy, however, was never even allowed to make the offer and instead
was ordered out of the country. Polk then ordered General Zachary
Taylor and 1,500 troops
to prepare to march to the Río Grande. Provoked, Mexican troops
crossed the Río Grande and attacked Taylor in April 1846.
Immediately after he received the news, Polk “reluctantly” requested
Congress to declare war. Congress granted Polk’s request after much
debate. Whigs were particularly skeptical about who had actually
started the war. Abraham Lincoln—then a congressman from
Illinois—continually badgered Polk to identify the exact spot where
the Mexicans had engaged Taylor. These “spot resolutions” gave
the president a black eye and led many to believe that Polk had wanted
and provoked the war himself.
The Mexican War
The United States did not lose a single battle during
the two-year war. Several months after the war had begun, John
Frémont—an explorer and Polk’s agent in California—seized
Los Angeles and accepted California’s surrender. With California
secure, Polk then concentrated on campaigns in Santa Fe, Buena Vista,
and Monterrey, and eventually captured Mexico City.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
In 1848,
the two sides signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
in which Mexico gave up nearly half of its territory to the United
States (present-day California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona,
New Mexico, and Texas). The United States agreed to pay Mexico $15 million
in exchange.
Public Opinion of the War
The Mexican War was a fairly popular war with the American
people, for land-hungry settlers had been itching for more territory
to farm and settle in the West. As a result, tens of thousands of
American men enlisted in the army within the span of just two years.
The spoils of war were demonstrable, as the size of the United States increased
by a third.
For politicians, however, the war opened a huge can of
worms. Accusations flew over who had actually started the war and
why the war was being fought. Many Whigs (and historians) questioned Polk’s
motives, believing that the war was more about California and manifest
destiny than it was about Texas or U.S. security.
