POLK 



4739 



POLK 



1845 FOLK'S. ADMINISTRATION 1849 



Salt LaKe City Founded 



Gold Discovered 

 in California 



Naval Academy founded 

 at Annapolis, 1845 



Territory Acquired 

 from Mexico 



Smithsonian Institution 

 Established 1846 



cerned only the latter and the United States, 

 no foreign country having any right to inter- 

 He also informed Congress that the Ameri- 

 can army under General Zachary Taylor had 

 occupied the west bank of the Nueces River, 

 beyond which Texas had never attempted to 



'ise jurisdiction. On December 29, 1845, 

 Texas was admitted to the Union. The Mexi- 

 can authorities, however, used every ingenuity 

 to negotiate with the United States concerning 



disputed territory east of the Rio Grande, 

 but the negotiations came to naught. There- 

 upon (M IK til Taylor's force advanced, and met 



Mexican army at Palo Alto. 

 President Polk, after the Battle of Palo Alto, 

 asked ('onunv-s to derhue war. The derlara- 

 met considerable opposition from the 

 Whigs, especially as it stated that a state of 

 war existed "by the act of the republic of 

 Mexico." Abraham Lincoln, then a member of 

 -' of Representatives, introdn<l tin 

 so-called "spot resolution*," calling on tin- 

 Pro spot of American 



\vlurh i outraged by the Mexi- 



cans and might therefore be assigned aa a rea- 

 son for war. The justification for President 



nrtXfa tl,,- deputed 



PI doubtful, :md has Mtne- 

 times bw - by impartial historians. 



It must be remembered, however, that Polk 

 himself believed the cession of Texas to Spain 

 in 1819 was a mistake which should be recti- 

 fied by reannexation. His party's platform de- 

 manded "reannexation," and the war became 

 a mere detail in securing this end. Polk be- 

 lieved that the Mexican authorities could not 

 be trusted, and that they could only be per- 

 suaded by force. However that may be, tin- 

 war undoubtedly had the approval of the ma- 

 jority of the American people, particularly after 

 tin armies of Taylor and Scott had won a few 

 victories. 



The Wilmot Proviso. A political incident of 

 the war period was the attempt to pass the 

 Wilmot Proviso (which see) . Wilmot attempt . I 

 to secure the prohibition of slavery in any ter- 

 ritory which might be acquired from Mexico. 

 The proviso passed the House, but failed in tin- 

 Senate. The result of the contest over this 

 principle soon resulted in tho origin of the doc- 

 time of "popular sovereignty," by which the 

 Democrats attempted to reconcile the North- 

 md Southern members of the party. The 

 principle of the Wilmot Proviso was finally 

 adopted in 1862, when Congress forbade slavery 

 in "any of the territories of the United States 

 um. or which may at any time here- 



ed." 



