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N0KFQ > TODAY 13.05.17 13:01l 53 Lines 2427 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 32258_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - May 12
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<VE2PKT<N0KFQ
Sent: 170513/1155Z 32258@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1846 President Polk declares war on Mexico
On May 13, 1846, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly votes in favor
of President James K. Polk's request to declare war on Mexico in
a dispute over Texas.
Under the threat of war, the United States had refrained from
annexing Texas after the latter won independence from Mexico in
1836. But in 1844, President John Tyler restarted negotiations
with the Republic of Texas, culminating with a Treaty of
Annexation. The treaty was defeated by a wide margin in the
Senate because it would upset the slave state/free state balance
between North and South and risked war with Mexico, which had
broken off relations with the United States. But shortly before
leaving office and with the support of President-elect Polk,
Tyler managed to get the joint resolution passed on March 1,
1845. Texas was admitted to the union on December 29. While
Mexico didn't follow through with its threat to declare war,
relations between the two nations remained tense over border
disputes, and in July 1845, President Polk ordered troops into
disputed lands that lay between the Neuces and Rio Grande rivers.
In November, Polk sent the diplomat John Slidell to Mexico to
seek boundary adjustments in return for the U.S. government's
settlement of the claims of U.S. citizens against Mexico and also
to make an offer to purchase California and New Mexico. After the
mission failed, the U.S. army under Gen. Zachary Taylor advanced
to the mouth of the Rio Grande, the river that the state of Texas
claimed as its southern boundary.
Mexico, claiming that the boundary was the Nueces River to the
northeast of the Rio Grande, considered the advance of Taylor's
army an act of aggression and in April 1846 sent troops across
the Rio Grande. Polk, in turn, declared the Mexican advance to be
an invasion of U.S. soil, and on May 11, 1846, asked Congress to
declare war on Mexico, which it did two days later.
After nearly two years of fighting, peace was established by the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848. The Rio
Grande was made the southern boundary of Texas, and California
and New Mexico were ceded to the United States. In return, the
United States paid Mexico the sum of $15 million and agreed to
settle all claims of U.S. citizens against Mexico.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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