A History Lesson
In 1846 Democratic president James K. Polk ordered American troops into the hotly contested border area between the Rio Grande and the Nueces rivers following some hostilities in the area. In doing so he asked Congress not to declare war, but to admit a state of war with Mexico already existed. Charging that shots had been fired on American soil, he rallied the patriotic fervor of the nation, which saw over 300,000 men enlist to fight the Mexicans (50,000 would be sent to modern day Texas in order to defeat the Mexicans).
A freshman representative would challenge Polk to prove the first shot had indeed been fired by Mexicans on American soil (a hotly contested issue at the time). President Polk ignored him. The local newspapers would compare him to Benedict Arnold for going against the obvious right of the United States of America to defend herself. The young representative claimed that to 'accept Polk's position without question was 'to allow the President to invade a neighboring nation...whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary.' The Whig party (later to reorganize as the Republican party) he represented voted on a measure which called the war 'unecessarily and unconstitutionaly' initiated by the president.
Today, President Polk is considered a top ten president for his annexation of Texas (prior to the war) and his stern negotiations in victory, receiving reparations which would incude all of modern-day California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, and a small portion of Wyoming (the Mexican Cession). The young representative is viewed by most as the Nation's greatest president, Abraham Lincoln.
25 comments:
So why did They Might Be Giants write a song about James K. Polk and not Abraham Lincoln?
Does this post imply Iraq will have to cede Basrah and Anbar provinces? Wait; to the victor go the....What exactly does Iran want anyway?
ummmm , football is cool!!
Supposedly I am related to President Polk. Well, it's better than being related to that Gadsen guy I guess.
"In 1848 Democratic president James K. Polk ordered American troops into the hotly contested border area between the Rio Grande and the Nueces rivers following some hostilities in the area."
I just looked this up, and US troops had been in the disputed area since much earlier and indeed had been attacked by Mexican forces. From wikipedia:
On April 24, 1846, a 2,000-strong Mexican cavalry detachment attacked a 63-man U.S. patrol that was sent into the contested territory north of the Rio Grande and south of the Nueces River. The Mexican cavalry succeeded in routing the patrol, killing 11 U.S. soldiers in what later became known as the Thornton Affair, after the slain U.S. officer who was in command. A few survivors escaped and returned to Fort Brown.
On May 3, Mexican artillery at Matamoros opened fire on Fort Brown, which replied with its own guns. The bombardment continued for five days and expanded as the Mexican forces gradually surrounded the fort. Two U.S. soldiers were killed during the bombardment, including Jacob Brown, after whom the fort was later named.
On May 8, Zachary Taylor arrived with 2,400 troops to relieve the fort. However, Arista rushed north and intercepted him with a force of 3,400 at Palo Alto. The Americans used a new artillery method named flying artillery — a mobile light artillery that was mounted on horse carriages, with all cannoneers mounted as well. U.S. artillery had a devastating effect on the Mexican Army. The Mexicans responded with cavalry skirmishes and its own artillery. The U.S. flying artillery somewhat demoralized the Mexican side, and they felt the need to find a terrain more to their advantage. They retreated to the far side of a dry riverbed (resaca) during the night, which provided a natural fortification, but they also scattered their troops so that communication was difficult. During the Battle of Resaca de la Palma the next day, the two sides engaged in vicious hand-to-hand fighting. The U.S. cavalry managed to capture the Mexican artillery, leading the Mexican side to retreat—a retreat that turned into a rout. Because of the terrain and the dispersion of his troops, Arista found it impossible to rally his forces. Mexican casualties were heavy, and they were forced to abandon their artillery and baggage. Fort Brown inflicted further casualties as the withdrawing troops passed by them and swam across the Rio Grande where many drowned.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War
So, it looks like it wasn't tooooo crazy to say that war already existed. It also looks like Texans were at the root of this problem. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
So Bush will annnex Mesopotamia and Barack Obama will free the Mexicans? Awesome.
never forget, winners write history.
lincoln's point, and that of the whig party at the time, was that we couldn't be sure who started the hostilities, and until we knew that war might not be the best option.
i think many scholars would argue the 60 troops there were there as guinea pigs and the provocation came from the americans trying to bait the mexicans into war (ironically a similar position taught by japanese in regards to pearl harbor). ]
i mistyped the date, it was 1846 in which lincoln was speaking, and the issue was very much contested at the time.
oh, and lincoln got booted from office for his very unpatriotic stance, not even making it out of the primary. the new whig candidate blamed his defeat in the general election on Lincoln's anitwar position...
One more point- winners write history, but all kinds of people write Wikipedia. It's my first stop whenever looking something up, but sometimes it is slanted, and sometimes just wrong.
what the hell is wkipedia anyway?
wow, im blown away by such intelligence and plagerism.. Oh , and isnt Wikipwdia the capital of Kansas?? GO CHARGERS!!!!!!!!!!
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written by submitters, i.e. you could write an entry on Montana or edit one that already exists. While this can lead to problems, for most historical issues like this war, they have expert review and footnotes. You can also flag entries in various ways.
It looks from the entry that Texas was viewed as a renegade province by Mexico and they were interested in taking it back. There was another area of territorial dispute, which by its nature sort of means any troops there would be a provocation by either side. It sounds like both sides wanted war.
By the way, the wikipedia entry had a link to the Spanish language entry for the same war - it would be interesting to see how different that was.
Wikopedia is indeed a bucket of shit. Any group of people could easily start up there own version and have it turn out to be cited as fact in the future.
How about Frenchiepedia where future generations could learn about the Philadelphia Eagles superbowl dynasty run from 1980-2022.
Breadpedia where he supplants Marco Polo as the worlds most famous explorer and discovers Madagascar...I mean Bread Island
Mendozapedia where the road to enlightenment is through BC bud and mullets are the sign of the anti-christ.
Now that would be interesting...or as Karl correctly put...just wrong.
Jim,
Hi.
j-hole,
Ni Howdy.
link the spanish language thing, i'll check it out and get back to you.
by the way, keep posting, we may break our record of 22 comments at this rate.
JIM!!!!!!! FUCKING PRICELES!!!!!!! Im going to buy something with my Mastercard!!!!!
oh, by the way, who is hannibal?
Come on Hannibal has always been Jimbo. Some Americans are wide, and some are just thick. Present company excluded (except BREAD). and peoples moms
Chargers vs Saints , Superbowl 2007 about time we get a good offensive championship game !!!!! Go Chargers!!! Love me the bandwagon!!!!!!
Interesting that Red A is related to Polk. Sandy is related to Zachary Taylor.
Colonel Ethan Allen Hitchcock of the Rio Grande-occupying US army wrote in his diary in the spring of 1846,
"I have said from the first that the United States are the aggresssors...We have not one particle of right to be here...It looks as if the governmment sent a small force on purpose to bring on a war, so as to have a pretext for taking California and as much of this country as it chooses, for, whatever becomes of this army, there is no doubt of a war between the United States and Mexico...My heart is not in this business...but, as a military man, I am bound to execute orders..."
Reminds me of LBJ's Gulf of Tonkin Incident in which they fabricated shots being fired at a US ship so as to have an excuse to bomb North Vietnam...
Or I am really reminded of Bill Hicks' old routine where he likens the US to the Jack Palance character in "Shane" speaking to the poor farmer...
PF: I don't want no trouble mister.
JP: (throws a gun at his feet) Pick up the gun.
PF: I dont wanna pick up the gun mister, you'll shot me.
JP: Pick up the gun.
PF: Please mister, I dont want no trouble, I'm just mindin my own business here..
JP: (SPIT-WHISPERS) Pick up the gun!
the farmer seeing no other way out nervously creeps towards the gun and lays his hand on it at which point Jack Palance draws his and BOOM! shoots the poor farmer... He turns to the assembled crowd and declares,
"You all saw him, He had a gun!"
Anyone remember famed linebacker Cornelius Bennett of the Buffalo Bills?? Well im related to him!!!!!
Okay, now see Rye has posted some stuff...when I was a young'un, I too thought that The USA was the aggressor in the Mexican War, seriously, that's why I don't lead with the "I am related to the honorable Mr. Polk" at bars and when dealing with the senoritas. But, after reading the entry at wikipedia, denizen of lies, I realized:
a. Texas was involved...and that means anything goes.
b. 3,000 calvary wiping out 63 Americans is a nice casus belli, but it says something about the Mexican planning and intent. Sounds like they were moving in force.
c. Since the Mexican side was also clamoring for all of Texas back on account of Santa Ana not being authorized, well, see point B for a motivation.
d. It was 1846...both sides were full of 19th century piss and vinegar...
Now, I may need to educate the Canadians and Texans about California...they are often ignorant about my state. WE WERE AN INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC FOR ABOUT 7 DAYS (how many more do you need before America snatches you up for god's sake and with Canada still a waiting around in 2006, jaysus) and the Mexicans didn't have enough people up there to muster not 3,000 nor 30 cavalry to seize the pub where the Bear Flag Republic was founded. And it twas in 1849 that the gold rush occurred or maybe a little earlier...so this Ethan Allen Hitchcock fellow must be very smart indeed.
Let us remind the people of what California was doing before Hollywood, Rap videos, and teaching folk far and wide what the proper accent of English truly is. Gracias.
"In 1846, the Mexican territory of California was thinly populated, with small and scattered settlements of Spanish-speaking Californios and Hispanos, and, living among them, small communities of English-speaking immigrants; both groups were outnumbered by the Native American populations.
On June 14, 1846, 30 American settlers in Sonoma, after a night of drinking, arrested and imprisoned Lieutenant Colonel Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo and proclaimed an independent republic of California; this proved to be a short-lived "republic," and its influence -- save for the making of the flag of California, which was created during the rebellion -- had little influence, never reaching further than Sonoma and scattered parts of northern California."
WHERE'S THE MENTION OF THE GOLD, RYE?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerra_de_Intervenci%C3%B3n_Norteamericana
and one last comment which is being assisted by Jimmy Beam...why the heck does a law school student need assistance to find the Spanish wikipedia article?
Billable hours requirement means law students learn quickly to charge for such "services" as learneing the English language: 2 hours. Typing in google search: 1 hour. Invoicing you: 1 hour. Your bill is US$ 13,275.00
Good to see Hannibal here, too.
The Washington Union wrote in early 1845 on the meaning of the Texas annexation...
"Let the great matter of annexation be accomplished, and with it the questions of boundary and claims. For who can arrest the torrent that will pour onward to the West? The road to California will be open to us. Who will stay the march of out western people?"
or from the same paper also in 1845, "A corps of properly organized volunteers...would invade, overrun, and occupy Mexico. They would enable us not only to take California, but to keep it."
Manifest destiny and all that rot.
So those drunks who managed to make California a Republic for a whole week wouldn't have lasted long anyhow.
Washington wanted California no matter what.
Bottom line- from John Schroeder's "Mr. Polk's War", "...President Polk had incited war by sending American soldiers into what was disputed territory, historically controlled and inhabited by Mexicans."
They knew exactly what would happen. Shots would fired then they would have a solid self-defense pretext for invasion... simple.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgU4VdEh8-U
This is where this thread started so maybe it's the best place to finish.
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