American History Series: Polk Sends Troops to Border With Mexico
In 1846, President James Polk thought that force was the only way to make the Mexicans negotiate the sale of Texas. Transcript of radio broadcast:
25 February 2009
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English.
In the middle of the eighteen forties, the United States offered to buy California from Mexico. The government of Mexico refused to negotiate. American President James Polk felt that the use of force was the only way to make Mexico negotiate. So, in the spring of eighteen forty-six, he ordered American soldiers to the Rio Grande River. The Rio Grande formed part of the border between the United States and Mexico.
This week in our series, Larry West and Maurice Joyce tell about the conflict between the United States and Mexico.
VOICE ONE:
General Zachary Taylor commanded the American force. He sent one of his officers across the river to meet with Mexican officials. The Mexicans protested the movement of the American troops to the Rio Grande. They said the area was Mexican territory. The movement of American troops there, they said, was an act of war.
For almost a month, the Americans and the Mexicans kept their positions. Then, on April twenty-fifth, General Taylor received word that a large Mexican force had crossed the border a few kilometers up the river. A small force of American soldiers went to investigate. They were attacked. All were killed, wounded, or captured. General Taylor quickly sent a message to President Polk in Washington. It said war had begun.
VOICE TWO:
The message arrived at the White House on May ninth. A few days later, President Polk asked Congress to recognize that war had started. He asked Congress to give him everything he needed to win the war and bring peace to the area. A few members of Congress did not want to declare war against Mexico. They believed the United States was responsible for the situation along the Rio Grande. They were out-voted. President Polk signed the war bill. Later, Polk wrote:
“We had not gone to war for conquest. But it was clear that in making peace we would, if possible, get California and other parts of Mexico.”
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VOICE ONE:
Many Americans opposed what they called “Mr. Polk’s war.” Whig Party members and Abolitionists in the North believed that slave-owners and southerners in Polk’s administration had planned the war. They believed the South wanted to win Mexican territory for the purpose of spreading and strengthening slavery.
President Polk was troubled by this opposition. But he did not think the war would last long. He thought the United States could quickly force Mexico to sell him the territory he wanted. Polk secretly sent a representative to former Mexican dictator Santa Ana. Santa Ana was living in exile in Cuba. Polk’s representative said the United States wanted to buy California and some other Mexican territory. Santa Ana said he would agree to the sale, if the United States would help him return to power.
VOICE TWO:
President Polk ordered the United States navy to let Santa Ana return to Mexico. American ships that blocked the port of Vera Cruz permitted the Mexican dictator to land there. Once Santa Ana returned, he failed to honor his promises to Polk. He refused to end the war and sell California. Instead, Santa Ana organized an army to fight the United States.
American General Zachary Taylor moved against the Mexicans. He crossed the Rio Grande River. He marched toward Monterrey, the major trading and transportation center of northeast Mexico. The battle for Monterrey lasted three days. The Mexicans surrendered.
VOICE ONE:
Then General Taylor got orders to send most of his forces back to the coast. They were to join other American forces for the invasion of Vera Cruz. While this was happening, Santa Ana was moving his army north. In four months, he had built an army of twenty thousand men. When General Taylor learned that Santa Ana was preparing to attack, he left Vera Cruz. He moved his forces into a position to fight Santa Ana.
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VOICE TWO:
Santa Ana sent a representative to meet with General Taylor. The representative said the American force had one hour to surrender. Taylor’s answer was short: “Tell Santa Ana to go to hell.”
The battle between the United States and Mexican forces lasted two days. Losses were heavy on both sides. On the second night, Santa Ana’s army withdrew from the battlefield. Taylor had won another victory.
VOICE ONE:
Other American forces were victorious, too. General Winfield Scott had captured the port of Vera Cruz and was ready to attack Mexico City. Commodore Robert Stockton had invaded California and had raised the American flag over the territory.
Stephen Kearny had seized Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, without firing a shot. Still, the war was not over. President Polk’s “short” war already had lasted for more than a year. Polk decided to send a special diplomatic representative to Mexico. He gave the diplomat the power to negotiate a peace treaty whenever Mexico wanted to stop fighting.
VOICE TWO:
A ceasefire was declared. But attempts to negotiate a peace treaty failed. Santa Ana tried to use the ceasefire to prepare for more fighting. So General Scott ended the ceasefire. His men began their attack on Mexico City. The fighting lasted one week. The government of Mexico surrendered. Santa Ana stepped down as president. Manuel de la Pena y Pena — president of the supreme court — became acting president.
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VOICE ONE:
On February second, eighteen forty-eight, the United States and Mexico signed a peace treaty. Mexico agreed to give up California and New Mexico. It would recognize the Rio Grande River as the southern border of Texas. The United States would pay Mexico fifteen million dollars. It also would pay more than three million dollars in damage claims that Mexico owed American citizens.
The terms of the treaty were those set by President Polk. Yet he was not satisfied with just California and New Mexico. He wanted even more territory. But he realized he probably would have to fight for it. And he did not think Congress would agree to extend the war. So Polk sent the peace treaty to the Senate. It was approved. The Mexican Congress also approved it. The war was officially over.
VOICE TWO:
The United States now faced the problem of what to do with the new lands. President Polk wanted to form territorial governments in California and New Mexico. He asked Congress for immediate permission to do that. But the question of slavery delayed quick congressional action. Should the new territories be opened or closed to slavery. Southerners argued that they had the right to take slaves into the new territories. Northerners disagreed. They opposed any further spread of slavery. The real question was this: did Congress have the power to control or bar slavery in the territories.
VOICE ONE:
Until Texas became a state, almost all national leaders seemed to accept the idea that Congress did have this power. For fifty years, Congress had passed resolutions and laws controlling slavery in United States territories. Northerners believed Congress received the power from the constitution. Southern slave owners disagreed. They believed the power to control slavery remained with the states.
VOICE TWO:
There were some who thought the earlier Missouri Compromise could be used to settle the issue of slavery in California, Oregon, and New Mexico. They proposed that the line of the Missouri Compromise be pushed west, all the way to the Pacific Coast. Territory north of the line would be free of slavery. South of the line, slavery would be permitted.
Everyone agreed that governments had to be organized in the territories. But there seemed to be no way to settle the issue of slavery. Then a senator from Delaware agreed to be chairman of a special committee on the question of slavery in the new territories. The Senate committee included four Whigs and four Democrats. North and South were equally represented. Within six days, the committee had agreed on a compromise bill. That will be our story next week.
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ANNOUNCER:
Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Larry West and Maurice Joyce.Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are online, along with historical images, at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION — an American history series in VOA Special English.
This is program #73 of THE MAKING OF A NATION
American History Series: In 1845, Republic of Texas Faces a Choice
It could become a state, as invited by Congress and President John Tyler. Or it could remain a republic, with its independence recognized by Mexico. Transcript of radio broadcast:
18 February 2009
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION — American history in VOA Special English.
In eighteen thirty-six, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. Nine years later, in eighteen forty-five, the United States Congress passed a resolution inviting the Republic of Texas to join the Union as a state.
President John Tyler signed the resolution on March first. That was just three days before his term ended and James Polk moved into the White House as the nation’s eleventh president.
Britain and France tried to prevent Texas from becoming a state. They got Mexico to agree to recognize the independence of Texas, but only if Texas agreed not to join the United States.
Texas had two choices. It could become a state. Or it could remain a republic, with its independence recognized by Mexico. The Texas Congress chose statehood.
This week in our series, Lew Roland and Jack Weitzel talk about statehood for Texas and about the presidency of James Polk.
VOICE ONE:
James Polk had campaigned for the presidency on two promises. He declared that he would make all of Texas and all of Oregon part of the United States. The people had elected Polk because they shared his belief that the United States should extend from sea to sea — from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. They felt it was God’s will, and their duty, to spread American democracy and freedom across the continent.
In the words of poet Walt Whitman: “It is for the interest of mankind that [America's] power and territory should be extended — the farther, the better.”
VOICE TWO:
Traders from New England were the first Americans to visit Oregon. They stopped on the Oregon coast to trade for animal skins.
Later, American explorers Lewis and Clark crossed the Louisiana territory to reach Oregon. And in eighteen hundred eleven, John Jacob Astor built a fur trading center at the mouth of Oregon’s Columbia River.
British explorers had given Britain claims to the same territory. The British Hudson’s Bay Company also built a trading center on the Columbia and claimed a large area north of it. The two countries could not agree on how to divide Oregon between them. Since there were few settlers in Oregon, Britain and the United States agreed to occupy the territory jointly.
This system worked well until the eighteen forties. Then, thousands of Americans began moving west to Oregon. The new settlers were not satisfied with the joint occupation agreement. They wanted all of Oregon to belong to the United States.
VOICE ONE:
President Polk said he thought the United States had strong claims to all of the territory. But he said he would compromise. He offered to divide Oregon at the forty-ninth parallel of latitude. All north of this line would belong to Britain. All south of it — including the Columbia River — would belong to the United States.
The offer was given to Britain’s minister in Washington. He rejected it, refusing even to send it to London. He said Britain would accept nothing but the Columbia River as the southern border of British Oregon. President Polk withdrew the offer. He said America had no choice but to claim all of Oregon. He used strong language and seemed to say that the United States would fight, if necessary, to defend its claim.
VOICE TWO:
Polk really did not want war. But he thought a strong position was necessary in negotiating with Britain. He said softer treatment only led to stronger demands from Britain. Polk asked Congress to give him permission to end the joint occupation agreement. It did so in the spring of eighteen hundred forty-six.
In London, the British government decided that Oregon was not worth a war with the United States. It had demanded the Columbia River border because of the Hudson’s Bay trading center on the river. The center had been moved farther north to Vancouver Island. So there was no real reason to continue this demand.
The British foreign minister proposed a treaty that would make the forty-ninth parallel of latitude the border between the United States and British Oregon. The proposal was almost the same that President Polk had made earlier.
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VOICE ONE:
Leaders in the western United States demanded that Polk reject the British offer. They wanted all of Oregon. Polk decided to let the Senate vote on the British proposal. The Senate accepted the treaty, and Polk signed it.
The treaty made the forty-ninth parallel the border from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. The southern border of the Oregon territory was the forty-second parallel. South of this was California. The United States, for some time, had wanted to buy California from Mexico.
Former President Tyler had asked his minister to Mexico to try to buy California. The minister, Waddy Thompson, had been to California. He described it as the richest, the most beautiful, the healthiest country in the world. Thompson said the port of San Francisco was big enough to hold all the navies of the world. He said San Francisco, some day, would control the trade of all of the Pacific Ocean.
VOICE TWO:
There was little chance that Thompson could get California from Mexico. But then something happened that destroyed any chance of getting California peacefully. The commander of a United States navy force in the Pacific, Thomas Jones, received news that led him to believe the United States was at war with Mexico.
He sailed to Monterey, the capital of California. The navy force arrived there in October, eighteen hundred forty-two. Jones and his men seized Monterey and held it for two days. He found he had made a mistake and returned the town to Mexican officials. Jones apologized. But his actions greatly angered Mexican leaders. They refused even to talk about selling California to the United States.
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VOICE ONE:
Mexico broke relations with the United States when Congress approved statehood for Texas. Mexican officials had warned that Texas statehood would lead to war. After Polk became president, he sent a representative to Mexico to try to establish diplomatic relations again. A weak government was in power in Mexico, headed by President Jose Joaquin Herrera.
Herrera at first agreed to meet with the American, John Slidell, to discuss four offers from President Polk. Earlier, Mexico had agreed to pay more than two million dollars for damages claimed by Americans. But it did not have the money.
Slidell was to offer to pay these claims if Mexico would accept the Rio Grande River as the border between Texas and Mexico. And America would pay Mexico five million dollars for New Mexico and twenty-five million more for California. If these offers were rejected, Slidell was to try to buy part of California for five million dollars.
VOICE TWO:
Slidell arrived in Mexico City in December, eighteen hundred forty-five. The Mexican government had grown even weaker. And Herrera was afraid he would be forced from power if he met with the American diplomat.
The Herrera government fell anyway. And the new Mexican government refused to talk with the American representative. Slidell returned to the United States, firm in the belief that only force could win the Mexican territories the United States wanted.
President Polk shared Slidell’s belief. He learned in January, eighteen hundred forty-six, that Mexico had refused to negotiate with his representative. Polk had wanted a peaceful settlement of the differences with Mexico. This now seemed impossible. Perhaps, he thought, a more forceful policy would make Mexico negotiate.
VOICE ONE:
President Polk had sent several thousand American soldiers to Texas six months before, when Texas accepted statehood. This force, led by General Zachary Taylor, had camped near the town of Corpus Christi at the mouth of the Nueces River. Polk now ordered Taylor’s soldiers to the Rio Grande River. He told them to stay on the north side of the river.
Should Mexico attack, Taylor and his men were to strike back as hard as possible. General Taylor was glad to get his orders. For months, his men had been training at Corpus Christi. They were ready for action.
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ANNOUNCER:
Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Lew Roland and Jack Weitzel. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our series can be found along with historical images at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION — an American history series in VOA Special English.
This is program #72 of THE MAKING OF A NATION
American History Series: President John Tyler Shows His Independence
Tyler, who took office after William Henry Harrison died, resisted attempts by Senator Henry Clay and other Whig Party leaders to control him. Transcript of radio broadcast:
04 February 2009
Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English.
The election of eighteen forty put a new president in the White House: William Henry Harrison. The defeat of President Martin Van Buren had been expected. Still, it was a sharp loss for his Democratic Party.
Harrison was a retired general and a member of the Whig Party. He became the ninth president of the United States. But he got sick and he died after just a month in office. His vice president, John Tyler, became president.
Whig leaders, especially Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky, tried to control the new president. Clay proposed detailed legislative programs for the new administration. Among them: the establishment of a national bank. This was high on Senator Clay’s list of proposals.
But Tyler soon showed his independence. He did not approve the plans as proposed by Clay. Tyler vetoed two bills calling for the creation of a national bank. Tyler wanted peace and party unity. But he also wanted to show that he — not Clay — was president.
This week in our series, Bud Steele and Lew Roland continue the story of John Tyler.
VOICE ONE:
Clay’s supporters in the cabinet did their best to get Tyler to sign the bank bills. When the president refused to do so, Whig Party leaders urged the cabinet to resign. This would show that the president, alone, was responsible for the veto of the bills.
All cabinet members, but one — Daniel Webster — resigned. Secretary of State Webster was with the president when one of the letters of resignation arrived.
“What am I to do, Mr. President?” asked Webster.
“You must decide that for yourself,” Tyler said.
“If you leave it to me, Mr. President, I will stay where I am.” President Tyler stood up.
“Give me your hand on that,” he said, “and I will say to you that Henry Clay is a doomed man from this hour.”
Tyler named a new cabinet. And there was not one Clay supporter in it.
VOICE TWO:
The president’s veto of the second bank bill brought strong public protests from those who wanted a national bank. A large group of Whig congressmen met and voted to expel Tyler from the party.
During the struggle over the bank bills, the Whigs did not forget the other parts of Senator Clay’s legislative program. Clay especially wanted approval of a bill to give the different states money from the sale of public land. Tyler liked this idea himself. Many of the states owed large amounts of money. The distribution bill, as it was called, would help them get out of debt.
VOICE ONE:
The president was willing to support the bill. But he saw one danger in it. If all the money from land sales was given to the states, the federal government might not have enough money.
Tyler feared that Congress then would raise import taxes to get more money for the federal government. As a southerner, the president opposed taxes on imports. He finally agreed to accept the distribution bill, but on one condition. The distribution of money to the states would be suspended if import taxes rose higher than twenty percent.
Tyler signed the bill, and it became law.
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VOICE TWO:
The next year, the government found itself short of money. It was spending more than it had. Congress decided that import taxes should be raised, some even higher than twenty percent. The bill was passed by close votes in the House and Senate.
When it got to the White House, President Tyler vetoed it. He said it was wrong to raise the tax so high and, at the same time, continue to give the states the money from land sales. He said the federal government itself needed the land-sale money. The Whigs were angry.
Still, they did not have enough votes to pass the bill over the president’s veto. Then they approved a new bill. This one raised import taxes, but said nothing about distribution of federal money to the states. And President Tyler signed it.
VOICE ONE:
While the Whigs made bitter speeches about the failure of the party’s legislative program, Tyler worked to improve relations with Britain. The United States and Britain disputed the border that separated Canada from the northeastern United States. Both Canada and the state of Maine claimed the disputed area. Britain was also angry because Americans had helped Canadian rebels.
Canadian soldiers had crossed the Niagara River and burned a boat that was used to carry supplies to the rebels. Secretary of State Daniel Webster wanted peace with Britain. And there was a new government in Britain. Its foreign minister, Lord Aberdeen, also wanted peace.
VOICE TWO:
Lord Aberdeen sent a special representative, Lord Ashburton, to the United States. Lord Ashburton had an American wife. And he was a friend of Daniel Webster. He arrived in Washington in the spring of eighteen hundred forty-two with the power to settle all disputes with the United States.
Lord Ashburton said Britain regretted that it had not made some explanation or apology for the sinking of an American boat in the Niagara River. The two men discussed the border dispute between Canada and Maine.
Webster proposed a compromise border line. Lord Ashburton accepted the compromise. The agreement gave almost eighteen-thousand square kilometers of the disputed area to Maine. Canada received more than twelve thousand square kilometers.
VOICE ONE:
The Senate approved the Webster-Ashburton agreement. And American-British relations showed improvement. President Tyler then turned to another problem: Texas. Texas asked to become a state during President Van Buren’s administration. But nothing was done about the request.
Tyler was interested in Texas and wanted to make it part of the Union. Secretary Webster was cool to the idea of Texas statehood.
As a northerner, he did not want another slave state in the Union. Webster and his supporters were Tyler’s only real strength in the Whig Party outside of Virginia. The president, therefore, did not push the issue of Texas.
After Senate approval of his treaty with Lord Ashburton, Webster decided that he could be of no more real use to the administration. He resigned as secretary of state. Tyler named one of his Virginia supporters, Abel Upshur, to the job in the summer of eighteen forty-three.
VOICE TWO:
Upshur was a firm believer in slavery. He felt slaves were necessary in the agricultural economy of the South. Upshur was worried about reports that Britain was interested in ending slavery in Texas. These reports said Britain had promised to defend Texas independence and to give economic aid, if the slaves were freed.
Upshur and other southerners feared what might happen if this were done. Slaves from nearby southern states would try to escape to freedom in Texas. And the abolitionists might use Texas as a base for propaganda against the South.
VOICE ONE:
There was another reason for President Tyler’s interest in Texas. He believed it possible to make political use of the question of Texas statehood. It could help him build a new political party, a party that might elect him president for another four years. Four months after becoming secretary of state, Upshur offered a statehood treaty to Texas.
At first, Texas President Sam Houston refused the offer. He finally agreed to negotiate, but said the United States must accept two conditions. It must agree to protect Texas if Mexico attacked it. And it must promise that the United States Senate would approve the treaty.
Upshur told the Texas representative in Washington that Texas would be given military protection just as soon as the treaty was signed. And he said the necessary two-thirds of the senators would approve the statehood treaty. Houston was satisfied. And his representative began secret negotiations with Upshur.
VOICE TWO:
A few weeks later, before the talks could be completed, Upshur joined the president and congressional leaders for a trip down the Potomac River. They sailed on a new American warship that carried two large cannons. The new guns were to be fired for the president.
Upshur was standing near one of the cannons during the firing. He and two other men were killed when the gun exploded. The president was not injured. But nineteen others were hurt.
President Tyler named John C. Calhoun — a Democrat — as his new secretary of state. He did so for two reasons: Calhoun believed that Texas should be part of the United States. And Tyler — a Whig — hoped that Calhoun might be able to get him nominated as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party.
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ANNOUNCER:
Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Bud Steele and Lew Roland. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs, along with historical images, are at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION — an American history series in VOA Special English.
This is program #70 of THE MAKING OF A NATION
