[Sidenote: An Era of Peace.]
[Sidenote: Andrew Jackson.]
An interval of over thirty years elapsed between our second war with
Great Britain and the war with Mexico. Although this period was one of
external, and, excepting the troubles which now and then arose with the
Indians, of internal peace, its social and political aspects are very
full of interest. Within its limits the first railway and the first
telegraph-lines were laid in the United States, and the great Erie Canal
was built. After three tranquil presidential terms, presided over by the
sensible though not brilliant Monroe, and by the shrewd, scholarly, and
positive younger Adams, a man succeeded to the Executive Chair whose
course was destined to revolutionize parties, to carry party bitterness
to a height of great violence, and to divert the political destinies
of the country into new channels. Andrew Jackson was well fitted by his
strong will and stubborn courage to do the dangerous work of his time.
[Sidenote: Nullification.]
Various considerations induced the State of South Carolina to defy
the Union. The alleged ground of her quarrel was the high rates of the
tariff imposed by Congress upon imports. This tariff she resolved to
resist; hence a resolution was passed by a convention in South Carolina
that after a certain date the tariff should be null and void within her
limits. It was further resolved that if the United States attempted
to enforce it, South Carolina should secede, and form an independent
government. John C. Calhoun was, or was charged with being, the
instigator of this movement. It was at once quelled, however, by the
prompt action of President Jackson. He sent troops and war-ships to
Charleston, under the command of General Scott; and "nullification" was
overawed and defeated.
President Jackson also had the nerve to veto the bill creating a
national bank; and when, after two terms of service, he retired, he gave
up to the rule of his designated successor a nation of fifteen millions
of people, solvent, prosperous, and apparently destined to a long career
of peace and power. The four years of President Van Buren's term were
not notable for great events, and are chiefly interesting as exhibiting
the re-formation of parties, in which the lines between the Whigs and
the Democrats became more defined and distinct. Van Buren was the leader
of the Democrats, but was soon to lose that leadership by reason of his
connection with the fast-growing anti-slavery cause. Henry Clay was the
Whig chief; and continued to be so, despite the rivalry of Webster, down
to the time of his death. [Sidenote: Causes of the Mexican War.]
[Sidenote: Texas.]
It was during the term of President John Tyler, who succeeded to the
chief magistracy after poor worn-out old General Harrison had exercised
its functions for one brief month, that the events took their rise which
ripened into the War with Mexico. The large territory of Texas, lying
upon our extreme southwestern border, between Louisiana and Mexico, had
revolted from the latter nation and set up an independent republic of
its own. Texas had been largely colonized from the slave States, and
General Sam Houston, formerly of Tennessee, was its President.
[Sidenote: Election of Polk.]
The republic sought admission to our Union in 1837, but the application
was then refused. Seven years later, Mr. Tyler gave it a more hospitable
reception. A treaty was framed, and at first rejected by the United
States Senate. At last, in March, 1845, just as Mr. Tyler was retiring
from office, a resolution was adopted by both houses of Congress
annexing Texas, and this resolution was approved by the outgoing
President. The presidential campaign in the autumn of 1844, between
Henry Clay as the Whig and James K. Polk as the Democratic candidate,
was fought mainly upon the issue of this annexation, and the election of
Mr. Polk was looked upon as a confirmation of it by the people.
[Sidenote: Boundary Dispute.]
No sooner had the new President been inaugurated than what the Whig
leaders had earnestly predicted came to pass. A dispute arose with
Mexico as to the boundary between that country and Texas. Mexico claimed
that this boundary was the river Nueces; Texas asserted it to be the
Rio Grande. The matter was one of some importance, as the Nueces is
a hundred miles northeastward from the Rio Grande, and that much of
territory was therefore in dispute. The brief negotiations which
ensued with a view to the settlement of this question, proved abortive.
President Polk accordingly ordered General Zachary Taylor to occupy the
disputed territory with a small body of troops. Taylor concentrated his
men at Corpus Christi, near the frontier.
[Sidenote: First Battles.]
The Mexicans were equally prompt, and the first collisions occurred at
Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, near the Rio Grande. General Taylor
repulsed the enemy with little difficulty and but small loss, and,
crossing the Rio Grande, advanced upon and captured Matamoras. Thus far
the hostilities had proceeded when a formal declaration of war was made
against Mexico by the United States. Clay and the Whigs strenuously
opposed this action; but the administration party bore down all
opposition. Volunteers now flocked, especially from the Southern States,
to Taylor's standard; and in a few weeks he found himself at the head
of a resolute though not very well disciplined force of nearly eight
thousand men. Monterey, a fortified town of considerable importance, was
held by about nine thousand Mexican troops. General Taylor's objective
point was the City of Mexico.
[Sidenote: Taylor's Campaign.]
After an attack of three days, Monterey fell into his hands. Victory
followed his army everywhere. Santa Anna, a crafty and able man, who
had sat in the presidential chair of Mexico, was now in command of the
Mexican army, and confronted Taylor at Huena Vista. His gallant attempt
to stay the advance of the triumphant Americans, however, failed, for
Taylor defeated him in what was perhaps the most brilliantly and hotly
contested action of the war. Taylor's force at Buena Vista numbered
about six thousand men, the larger part of them being but rudely
disciplined soldiers. Santa Anna's command comprised at least twenty
thousand Mexicans. It was at Buena Vista that the Lancers, the best body
of troops in the Mexican army, were routed by the dashing onset of the
American volunteers.
[Sidenote: Victory at Vera Cruz.]
[Sidenote: Scott Enters Mexico.]
General Scott now appeared upon the scene to reap fresh victories,
and to lend powerful aid, by his scientific skill and ripe military
judgment, in bringing the war to a decisive issue. He was despatched
with an army to attack Vera Cruz, the most important port and fort on
the Mexican coast. His force numbered between eleven and twelve thousand
men, and he was supported by Commodore Matthew Perry, who operated with
a fleet in the Gulf. Vera Cruz fell after a vigorous bombardment and
a brave defence. The Mexicans could no longer hold the fortress of San
Juan D'Ulloa, which was speedily occupied by General Scott. The two
victories of Buena Vista and Vera Cruz rendered the cause of the
Mexicans hopeless. The fall of the capital was only a question of more
or less delay. The resistance of the Mexicans was still obstinate,
though always ineffectual. The troops of the United States won in
succession the battles of Cerro Gordo, Cherubusco, El Molino del Rey and
Chapultepec. Finally, on the 14th of September, 1847, the American army
of six thousand, under Winfield Scott, entered the City of Mexico. This
was one year and four months after war had been declared by Congress.
Besides these main operations, there were various collateral movements
designed to cripple the power and diminish the territory of Mexico.
General Kearney, with an independent force of volunteers, had marched
into and taken possession of the province of New Mexico; Colonel
Doliphan had in like manner occupied Chihuahua; while Colonel Fremont,
placing himself at the head of a band of American settlers recruited in
the valley of the Sacramento, and supported by Commodore Stockton, had
availed himself of the opportunity to hold Upper California for the
United States.
[Sidenote: The Treaty of Peace.]
Thus Mexico was subdued and compelled to come to terms, her enemy
dictating these from her own capital. Commissioners met at the city
of Guadalupe Hidalgo to conclude a treaty of peace. By this instrument
Mexico agreed to accept the Rio Grande as the boundary between herself
and Texas, adding thereby to the territory of the United States an area
of not less than five hundred thousand square miles; to make over New
Mexico and Upper California to the United States in consideration of the
sum of fifteen millions of dollars; and to guarantee the debts due from
Mexico to American citizens. This treaty was duly ratified and
exchanged in the spring of 1848--about two years after the beginning of
hostilities.
[Sidenote: Political Effect of the War.]
[Sidenote: California.]
The political effect of the Mexican War was to add a large territory and
a fast-increasing population to the tier of slave-holding States, and
thus to aggrandize the slave-holding oligarchy, as opposed to the party
in favor of free soil. On the other hand, the military glory won by
General Taylor, and his adoption in the year after the war as the Whig
candidate for the Presidency, singularly enough brought into power the
party which had persistently opposed both the annexation of Texas,
and the war which had been undertaken to complete it. The Mexican War
provided the parties with four presidential candidates, Generals Taylor,
Scott, Pierce, and Fremont, two of whom succeeded in reaching the
summit of executive authority. When Colonel Fremont raised the American
standard in California, it was little imagined that he was acquiring
a province for the country the value of which was destined to be
incalculably greater than the Texan republic. Within a year, however,
the gold mines had been discovered, and that wonderful civilization of
the Pacific Coast which we now witness had begun to grow up in the far
western wilderness.