James Knox Polk Frontpage
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During James K. Polk's presidency, foreign policy revolved around asserting the nation's claim to territory within the continental U.S. America was still a young country, and people were concerned about territorial boundaries, statehood, and slavery. Whether through a congressional joint resolution, negotiations with England, or an all out war with Mexico, Polk was determined that America got her fair share of the North American continent.
Annexation of Texas
In the last months of President Tyler's term, he boldly sent a joint resolution to Congress for the annexation of Texas. This required only a simple majority vote in both Houses rather than the two-thirds majority in the Senate that is normally required by a treaty, because Polk knew that the two-thirds vote was not to be had. Congress passed the joint resolution a few days before Polk's inauguration in March 1845. This allowed Texas to bypass the territorial stage and come into the union as the fifteenth slave state in December 1845. Texas then moved the Texas militia into the disputed territory west of the Nueces River, claiming that their western boundary reached all the way to the Rio Grande. Mexico responded by breaking off diplomatic relations with the U.S.
Oregon
Eager to satisfy northeastern voters angry over the quick inclusion of a new slave state, Polk moved quickly to acquire sole title to Oregon. He had said in his campaign slogan that he was willing to fight the British for the full extent of the land mass between the 54th and 40th parallels. Both England and America had jointly occupied this region since 1818, and it was clear that Polk wanted it all for the United States, possibly even including Mexican-controlled California. In the end, Polk compromised rather than fight the British, accepting (in June 1846) only the American-settled region below the Columbia River -- present-day Oregon and Washington, or roughly below the 49th parallel.
War with Mexico
Next, Polk turned to Mexico, eager to go to war and ready to provoke it if necessary. Much was at stake in the area. England had been discussing with Mexico for months about the possibility of buying California. The British had earlier offered to support the independence of Texas in return for the abolition of slavery in the area. Polk moved troops into the disputed territory near the Rio Grande and sent a special envoy, John Slidell, to Mexico with the offer to buy California and New Mexico as well as to settle the disputed border claims with cash. Slidell's arrival in Mexico triggered a revolt against the Mexican president -- who had indicated a willingness to settle the dispute -- by a coup of army officers who pledged to recover the "stolen province of Mexico."
Polk responded by sending General Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grande with four thousand American soldiers. When Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and killed eleven U.S. soldiers, Polk sent a declaration of war to Congress on May 11, 1846. Most Whigs opposed the war but remembered how the nation had turned on the Federalists when they had opposed the War of 1812. Hence, only fourteen members of the House and two senators voted against the declaration.
Abraham Lincoln, a first-term Whig congressman, condemned the war as an "unconstitutional" and aggressive act, a position so unpopular with his constituents that he decided not to run for a second term.
Within seven months, the United States completely defeated the much larger Mexican army in three triumphant military campaigns. The first phase was conducted by Zachary Taylor's army on the Rio Grande. Engaging much larger forces, Taylor earned the nickname "Old Rough and Ready" for his victories at Palo Alto and, reinforced by several thousand volunteers, his capture of Monterrey in September 1846.
General Stephen Watts Kearny simultaneously led an army of fifteen hundred regulars and fighting frontiersmen west from Fort Levenworth to Santa Fe in New Mexico, which he occupied on August 18. Half of Kearny's army then fought their way through the Mexican province of Chihuahua, marching three thousand miles to link up with Taylor's army at Monterrey in the spring of 1847. The other half of Kearny's forces joined American settlers in California under the command of Captain John C. Fremont, who had captured Sonoma and declared California an independent republic. Their flag, displaying the picture of a grizzly bear, gave rise to the term "bear-flag revolt."
The third phase of the war had all the markings of a comic opera. In July 1846, Polk gave safe passage into Mexico to a former Mexican army officer who had been overthrown in a palace coup in 1844 and exiled to Cuba -- the infamous General Santa Anna. Commander of Mexican forces at the battle of the Alamo, Santa Anna was a man hated by most Texans. He promised Polk that he would make peace on American terms in return for a payoff of $30 million. When Santa Anna arrived in Mexico City, the new government named him supreme commander of the army and president of the republic. Santa Anna immediately raised a new army and marched north in 1847 to attack Taylor's force at Monterrey. In the meantime, Polk worried about Taylor's popularity. Angry with the general for having declared an armistice without Polk's approval after capturing Monterey, Polk transferred half of Taylor's army to General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, who had personally decided to lead an invasion into Mexico from the port of Veracruz in January of 1847.
Taylor, suspecting political intrigue on Polk's part, met in battle Santa Anna's eighteen thousand man army at Buena Vista on February 22. When the smoke had cleared, Taylor's five thousand Americans had defeated Santa Anna's army in a fierce battle marked by the courageous counterattack of a Mississippi regiment commanded by young Jefferson Davis. When news of Taylor's victory reached back home, his popularity soared.
Scott captured Veracruz in March 1847, then launched a five-month, hard-fought campaign over the two hundred miles to Mexico City, in one of the riskiest field maneuvers in the books. Outnumbered three to one, cut off from his supply bases, and operating in unknown terrain, most of the experts predicted disaster for Scott's forces. But in the end, and after bloody hand-to-hand fighting, Scott captured Mexico City on September 14, 1847.
With Mexico literally on its knees, Polk sent his diplomat, Nicholas Trist, to negotiate the terms of Mexican surrender by yet a new government that had overthrown Santa Anna after his loss of Mexico City. Expansionist fever at home pressured Polk to instruct Trist to wring every possible concession from Mexico. Trist ignored Polk's instructions, however, and signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, which authorized U.S. payment of $15 million for California, New Mexico, and a Texas border on the Rio Grande. With the treaty in hand, Polk wisely decided to submit it to the Senate for its consent. It was approved on March 10, 1848 by a vote of thirty-eight to fourteen. Half of the opposition came from Democrats who wanted more Mexican territory, and half from Whigs who wanted none at all. The treaty reduced by 50 percent the size of Mexico, and increased by one-fourth the size of the United States.
American casualties in the war reached almost 13,000 deaths-although only 700 died in battle with the rest having died from disease. Another 4,100 Americans were wounded. It was the first war covered by large numbers of the press, and Polk's reliance on volunteers gave the war a democratic character. American intellectuals like Walt Whitman and James Fenimore Cooper saw it as the beginning of a world movement to extend democracy. The cost in dollars reached $97 million. Mexico, on the other hand, suffered nearly 50,000 casualties.
Treaty of New Granada, June 3, 1848
Concerned that England would use the dispute with Mexico to expand its claims in Central America and the Caribbean, Polk responded to the initiative of New Granada (present-day Colombia) for a commercial treaty. The agreement signed by U.S. Minister Benjamin A. Bidlack, conveyed to the U.S. the right of way across the isthmus. In return, the U.S. promised to guarantee the neutrality of the isthmus and the sovereignty of New Granada.
Annexation of Texas
In the last months of President Tyler's term, he boldly sent a joint resolution to Congress for the annexation of Texas. This required only a simple majority vote in both Houses rather than the two-thirds majority in the Senate that is normally required by a treaty, because Polk knew that the two-thirds vote was not to be had. Congress passed the joint resolution a few days before Polk's inauguration in March 1845. This allowed Texas to bypass the territorial stage and come into the union as the fifteenth slave state in December 1845. Texas then moved the Texas militia into the disputed territory west of the Nueces River, claiming that their western boundary reached all the way to the Rio Grande. Mexico responded by breaking off diplomatic relations with the U.S.
Oregon
Eager to satisfy northeastern voters angry over the quick inclusion of a new slave state, Polk moved quickly to acquire sole title to Oregon. He had said in his campaign slogan that he was willing to fight the British for the full extent of the land mass between the 54th and 40th parallels. Both England and America had jointly occupied this region since 1818, and it was clear that Polk wanted it all for the United States, possibly even including Mexican-controlled California. In the end, Polk compromised rather than fight the British, accepting (in June 1846) only the American-settled region below the Columbia River -- present-day Oregon and Washington, or roughly below the 49th parallel.
War with Mexico
Next, Polk turned to Mexico, eager to go to war and ready to provoke it if necessary. Much was at stake in the area. England had been discussing with Mexico for months about the possibility of buying California. The British had earlier offered to support the independence of Texas in return for the abolition of slavery in the area. Polk moved troops into the disputed territory near the Rio Grande and sent a special envoy, John Slidell, to Mexico with the offer to buy California and New Mexico as well as to settle the disputed border claims with cash. Slidell's arrival in Mexico triggered a revolt against the Mexican president -- who had indicated a willingness to settle the dispute -- by a coup of army officers who pledged to recover the "stolen province of Mexico."
Polk responded by sending General Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grande with four thousand American soldiers. When Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and killed eleven U.S. soldiers, Polk sent a declaration of war to Congress on May 11, 1846. Most Whigs opposed the war but remembered how the nation had turned on the Federalists when they had opposed the War of 1812. Hence, only fourteen members of the House and two senators voted against the declaration.
Abraham Lincoln, a first-term Whig congressman, condemned the war as an "unconstitutional" and aggressive act, a position so unpopular with his constituents that he decided not to run for a second term.
Within seven months, the United States completely defeated the much larger Mexican army in three triumphant military campaigns. The first phase was conducted by Zachary Taylor's army on the Rio Grande. Engaging much larger forces, Taylor earned the nickname "Old Rough and Ready" for his victories at Palo Alto and, reinforced by several thousand volunteers, his capture of Monterrey in September 1846.
General Stephen Watts Kearny simultaneously led an army of fifteen hundred regulars and fighting frontiersmen west from Fort Levenworth to Santa Fe in New Mexico, which he occupied on August 18. Half of Kearny's army then fought their way through the Mexican province of Chihuahua, marching three thousand miles to link up with Taylor's army at Monterrey in the spring of 1847. The other half of Kearny's forces joined American settlers in California under the command of Captain John C. Fremont, who had captured Sonoma and declared California an independent republic. Their flag, displaying the picture of a grizzly bear, gave rise to the term "bear-flag revolt."
The third phase of the war had all the markings of a comic opera. In July 1846, Polk gave safe passage into Mexico to a former Mexican army officer who had been overthrown in a palace coup in 1844 and exiled to Cuba -- the infamous General Santa Anna. Commander of Mexican forces at the battle of the Alamo, Santa Anna was a man hated by most Texans. He promised Polk that he would make peace on American terms in return for a payoff of $30 million. When Santa Anna arrived in Mexico City, the new government named him supreme commander of the army and president of the republic. Santa Anna immediately raised a new army and marched north in 1847 to attack Taylor's force at Monterrey. In the meantime, Polk worried about Taylor's popularity. Angry with the general for having declared an armistice without Polk's approval after capturing Monterey, Polk transferred half of Taylor's army to General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, who had personally decided to lead an invasion into Mexico from the port of Veracruz in January of 1847.
Taylor, suspecting political intrigue on Polk's part, met in battle Santa Anna's eighteen thousand man army at Buena Vista on February 22. When the smoke had cleared, Taylor's five thousand Americans had defeated Santa Anna's army in a fierce battle marked by the courageous counterattack of a Mississippi regiment commanded by young Jefferson Davis. When news of Taylor's victory reached back home, his popularity soared.
Scott captured Veracruz in March 1847, then launched a five-month, hard-fought campaign over the two hundred miles to Mexico City, in one of the riskiest field maneuvers in the books. Outnumbered three to one, cut off from his supply bases, and operating in unknown terrain, most of the experts predicted disaster for Scott's forces. But in the end, and after bloody hand-to-hand fighting, Scott captured Mexico City on September 14, 1847.
With Mexico literally on its knees, Polk sent his diplomat, Nicholas Trist, to negotiate the terms of Mexican surrender by yet a new government that had overthrown Santa Anna after his loss of Mexico City. Expansionist fever at home pressured Polk to instruct Trist to wring every possible concession from Mexico. Trist ignored Polk's instructions, however, and signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, which authorized U.S. payment of $15 million for California, New Mexico, and a Texas border on the Rio Grande. With the treaty in hand, Polk wisely decided to submit it to the Senate for its consent. It was approved on March 10, 1848 by a vote of thirty-eight to fourteen. Half of the opposition came from Democrats who wanted more Mexican territory, and half from Whigs who wanted none at all. The treaty reduced by 50 percent the size of Mexico, and increased by one-fourth the size of the United States.
American casualties in the war reached almost 13,000 deaths-although only 700 died in battle with the rest having died from disease. Another 4,100 Americans were wounded. It was the first war covered by large numbers of the press, and Polk's reliance on volunteers gave the war a democratic character. American intellectuals like Walt Whitman and James Fenimore Cooper saw it as the beginning of a world movement to extend democracy. The cost in dollars reached $97 million. Mexico, on the other hand, suffered nearly 50,000 casualties.
Treaty of New Granada, June 3, 1848
Concerned that England would use the dispute with Mexico to expand its claims in Central America and the Caribbean, Polk responded to the initiative of New Granada (present-day Colombia) for a commercial treaty. The agreement signed by U.S. Minister Benjamin A. Bidlack, conveyed to the U.S. the right of way across the isthmus. In return, the U.S. promised to guarantee the neutrality of the isthmus and the sovereignty of New Granada.