Election of 1844

The two leading candidates, Henry Clay and Martin Van Buren, opposed the annexation of Texas. Van Buren’s position countered that of his fellow Democrats who strongly supported the idea of Manifest Destiny.  The desire to annex Texas was especially strong among Southern Democrats who viewed Texas as a new bastion for slavery.  The Southern Democrats blocked Van Buren’s nomination through eight ballots at the Democratic national convention, and on the ninth vote they nominated a fellow southerner from Tennessee, James K. Polk. 

The election was close, but Polk won.  Polk was the first “dark horse” candidate, meaning he had not been a candidate before the national convention. John Tyler, the incumbent president, took Polk’s nomination as a mandate of approval to proceed with the annexation of Texas. Tyler asked congress for a joint resolution that required only a simple majority of each house to pass rather then the usual two-thirds vote of the Senate needed to ratify a treaty.

Texas Joins the Union

Congress passed its resolution to annex Texas, and Tyler signed the annexation into law on March 1, 1845. Texans voted nine to one in favor, and the state formally entered the Union in December 1845. Texas retained several unique provisions in its statehood bill:

• Texas kept its own public lands instead of turning them over to the federal government.
• Texas paid off its own debts instead of having the federal government assume them.
• Texas, of its own consent, had the right to divide into as many as five states in the future.

The Polk Presidency

Polk was a successful lawyer and planter from Tennessee. He had a great deal of political experience, serving fourteen years in Congress and two years as a state governor. He had three primary goals when he became president:

• to reduce tariffs
• settle the Oregon question
• and acquire California

He proved successful at achieving all three.

 

Tariff Reduction

Robert J. Walker served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Polk.  Walker was a supporter of an independent treasury and was largely responsible for creating the Independent Treasury Act of 1846.  Under the measure, the Treasury Department became the sole entity responsible for the nation’s monies.  The act also created subtreasuries that were responsible for handling of the nation’s revenue.

During the campaign, Polk had promised to lower the tariff.  In keeping with his promise, the Walker Tariff Act of 1846 reduced the tariff.  The reduction stimulated trade and increased revenue for the United States.  The measure also maintained the Democrats general trend of lowering tariffs.

Oregon

By long-standing agreement, the Oregon Territory had been jointly occupied with Britain. After the Oregon Trail opened in 1845, approximately 5,000 Americans moved west and settled in the territory. Polk and many other expansionists wanted sole ownership of Oregon, all the way to the southern border of Alaska. The slogan “54° 40’ or fight” became popular because citizens demanded a new border all the way to latitude 54° 40’. Over time negotiations with Britain over the border slowed down, and Polk asked Congress for permission to give the British a one year’s notice that joint occupation of the territory would cease. If the British did not evacuate by the end of the year, the United States would declare war. One newspaper man claimed, “Oregon is ours, and we will keep it, at the price, if need be, of every drop of the nation’s blood.” In reality neither country wanted war. Polk faced a growing crisis with Mexico and did not want to aggravate the situation with England. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 resulted in Britain granting the United States all of the Oregon Territory that it had a reasonable claim to—to the 49th parallel.

Acquiring California—The Mexican-American War, 1846-1848

Resolving the Oregon question left Polk free to pursue his objective of acquiring California, allowing him to deal more effectively with the problems with Mexico. Mexico remained angry about losing Texas, and the Mexican government viewed the annexation of Texas as a hostile act.  In response to annexation, Mexico broke diplomatic relations with the United States over annexation.

The Slidell Mission

President Polk sent John Slidell to Mexico in November 1845 to negotiate a peaceful settlement to some of the problems with Mexico. But even before Slidell left, Polk prepared for a negative outcome from the negotiations, ordering General Zachary Taylor and 4,000 troops to a position south of the Nueces River in Texas. At the same time, he ordered the Navy in the Pacific to occupy California ports in the event war broke out with Mexico. Polk sent Colonel John C. Frémont on a “scientific” expedition to California. Among the scientific equipment, Frémont carried a significant stock of weapons. With these preparations, Slidell met with representatives of the Mexican government, offered to buy New Mexico for $5 million and California for $20 million. Additionally, the United States would pay all claims by American citizens if Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande as the border between the two nations. As expected, Mexico refused. With no treaty in sight, Polk ordered Taylor to move his troops to a location near Matamoras in 1846.  Soon thereafter, a scouting party reported that they were fired upon by the Mexican army. Polk asked Congress for a declaration of war, declaring that Americans had been killed on American soil. In fact, the scouting party was in Mexico when they were fired on.  Whigs complained that the whole war was a setup so the United States could have more territory for slavery to expand and Democrats would have a larger power-base.

Causes of the Mexican-American War

• The war evolved from more than just the annexation of Texas. The two countries fought over the southern border of Texas. The United States recognized the boarder along the Rio Grande River. Mexico claimed it was the Nueces River.
• An unstable Mexican government added to the problems. Revolutions occurred frequently in Mexico, and the new leaders could not protect American property within the country. Each new government failed to reimburse Americans for their lost property.
• Americans wanted to take California from Mexico. Many Americans had settled in the state, and the federal government wanted to take it as a port of trade with the Far East and as a terminus for a transcontinental railroad.