U.S.–Mexico War Tea Party: “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God”

Today’s border with Mexico is the product of war. Grasping some of the motives for that war and some of its immediate effects begins to provide you the kind of historical context that is crucial for thinking intelligently about the line that separates the United States and Mexico. The tea party activity introduces you to a number of the individuals and themes you will encounter in Howard Zinn’s “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God.”

Procedure:

1. You are going to do an activity about the U.S. war with Mexico, 1846-1848. Each of you will receive one tea party role. There are only 21, so in some classes, some students will be assigned the same historical character.

2. You are to fill out your nametags; using the name of the individual you are assigned. I would like each of you to attempt to become these people from history. Read your roles and memorize as much of the information as possible. 3. Next, we will review a copy of “The War with Mexico: Questions.” Essentially, you should circulate through the classroom, meeting other individuals from the U.S.-Mexico War. You should use the questions on the sheet as a guide to talk with others about the war and to complete the questions as fully as possible. You must use a different individual to answer each of the eight questions. (This is not the Twilight Zone, so students who have been assigned the same person may not meet themselves.) It is not a race; the aim is for you to spend time hearing each other’s stories, not just hurriedly scribbling down answers to the different questions. After an allotted time, we will share some of our findings. 4. Post Tea-Party Discussion Questions: A. Who found someone with opinions different than your character’s opinions? Discuss… B. What were some of the different points of view you found on why the United States and Mexico went to war?

“We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God” 5. As follow-up homework, you will read Howard Zinn’s “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God,” (following Day 1) and Milton Meltzer’s chapter focusing on the U.S. soldiers from Ireland who went over to the Mexican side as the San Patricio Battalion, “Traitors—or Martyrs,” from his book Bound for the Rio Grande. (following Day 2) 6. Along with the reading, you will complete a “talk-back” journal with the Zinn reading (and the Meltzer reading). You should locate at least 4 passages from the reading that you found amusing, important, startling, moving, confusing, outrageous, or odd. You should write out each quote and your detailed reaction to it. You might attempt to find material that you can connect with information you learned in the tea party, events that relate somehow to your own lives or things going on today.

Day 2 - Zinn Discussion/ Possible Textbook Critique 1. We will begin by discussing the Zinn reading using the discussion questions below:

A. What were the pressures on the United States government to push for expansion? B. In his essay “On Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau writes that what is legal is not necessarily what is right. Do you agree? Can you think of any examples from history or current events? C. Comment on the belief of some Americans: The Mexican War was a good thing, because it gave the blessings of liberty and democracy to more people.

2. If Time(if not done in class, it becomes HW) - We will analyze a selection from Glencoe McGraw-Hill’s American Odyssey, a high school text, p. 21. Although the main focus of this 1,010-page textbook is the 20th century, the book includes 249 pre- 20th century pages. Note that this two-paragraph section is the book’s entire discussion of the U.S.-Mexico War. You will read the textbook excerpt individually (followed by group work) and consider the accompanying questions. Use these questions as a guide, but since I’m interested in whatever insights you generate, you are also to write comments and questions on the excerpt itself—to “talk back” to the textbook. When you begin marking up a passage it affirms your right to have an opinion that differs from that of the “authority.” By this time you WILL know important things that a text may have omitted or distorted.

3. Textbook Analysis Discussion Questions: a. If everything that students knew about the U.S. war with Mexico came from this textbook, do you suppose they’d think the war was right or wrong? Explain. b. How does this account differ from what you learned in the tea party and in Howard Zinn’s account in “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God”? c. Why do you think this textbook leaves out important information? d. In the Glencoe McGraw-Hill text, the entire section on the U.S.-Mexico War consists of two paragraphs. What message might that send to readers?

Day 3 - Treason? [The Irish Resistance] (Day 3) To help us spark a discussion of the Irish resistance to the war, we will listen to the song, “San Patricio Brigade,” included on New York Town, a CD by the Irish-American rock group Black 47. We will also watch a video (originally posted on YouTube) by David Rovics’ “Saint Patrick’s Battalion.”

Discussion Questions: A. Why did some Irish (led by John Riley) switch sides and form St. Patricio’s Battalion? B. Were their traitorous actions Irish justified? Why or why not? C. Assume you were against a government action (such as, in this case, war) – is it your obligation to resist? Why? Why not? In what ways?

Final Assessment:

Dialogue Poem - address controversy and differing opinions. These poems can express conflict between people in opposing situations—such as a Hiroshima bomb victim and a U.S. Air Force pilot flying the plane that dropped the bomb. Or dialogue poems can reflect commonalities between people who might not appear to have obvious similarities.

A dialogue poem reflects a dialogue between two people who represent different perspectives on a particular theme, issue, or topic. For example, in the sample provided below, Two Women, one representing the peasant or working class [regular font] and one representing the elite [bolded font], discuss their experiences after the election of socialist Salvador Allende as president of Chile and after his murder during the Us supported military coup in 1973.

I am a woman. And then, they announced that freedom had been restored! I am a woman. And then they came, young boys really.

I am a woman born of a woman whose man owned a factory. They came into my home along with my man. I am a woman born of a woman whose man labored in a factory. They came and found my man.

I am a woman whose man wore silk suits, who constantly watched his Those men whose money was almost gone. weight. They found all of the men whose lives were almost their own. I am a woman whose man wore tattered clothing, whose heart was constantly strangled by hunger. And we all had drinks to celebrate. And they shot them all. I am a woman who watched two babies grow into beautiful children. I am a woman who watched two babies die because there was no milk. The most wonderful martinis. They shot my man. I am a woman who watched twins grow into popular college students with summers abroad. And then they asked us to dance. I am a woman who watched three children grow, but with bellies stretched And they came for me. from no food.

Me. But then there was a man; For me, the woman. But then there was a man;

And my sisters. And he talked about the peasants getting richer by my family getting For my sisters. poorer. And he told me of days that would be better and he made the days better. And then they took us. Then they took us. We had to eat rice. We had rice. They took us to dinner at a small private club. They stripped from us the dignity we had gained. We had to eat beans! We had beans. And they treated us to beef. And then they raped us. My children were no longer given summer visas to Europe. My children no longer cried themselves to sleep. It was one course after another. One after another they came after us. And I felt like a peasant. And I felt like a woman. We nearly burst we were so full. Lunging, plunging—sisters bleeding, sisters dying. A peasant with a dull, hard, unexciting life. Like a woman with a life that sometimes allowed a song. It was magnificent to be free again! It was hardly a relief to have survived. And I saw a man. And I saw a man. The beans have almost disappeared now. The beans have disappeared. And together we began to plot with the hope of the return to freedom. I saw his heart begin to beat with hope of freedom, at last. The rice—I've replaced it with chicken or steak. The rice, I cannot find it. Someday, the return to freedom. Someday freedom. And the parties continue night after night to make up for all the time wasted. And then, And my silent tears are joined once more by the midnight cries of my But then, children

One day, One day, *The period of rice and beans for the poor woman in the poem occurs after the election of the socialist, Salvador Allende, as president of Chile. Allende was There were plans overhead and guns firing close by. elected in 1970. He was overthrown in a military coup in September 1973 after There were planes overhead and guns firing in the distance. a long period of destabilization launched by the wealthy classes and supported by the US government and US corporations such as International Telephone and I gathered my children and went home. Telegraph. Along with thousands of others, Allende was killed by the military. I gathered my children and ran. The coup, under the leadership of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, launched a period of severe hardship for the working and peasant classes. Although Chile currently And the guns moved farther and farther away. has a civilian government, the military is still the country's most powerful But the guns moved closer and closer. institution.

The War with Mexico: Roles

Congressman Abraham Lincoln, Whig Party, Illinois Colonel Ethan Allen Hitchcock The Whigs were accused of being opposed to I am a professional soldier, graduate of the U.S. the war against Mexico. Well, that’s true or false, Military Academy, commander of the 3rd Infantry depending on how you look at it. It’s true that we Regiment. I am an aide to General Zachary Taylor. spoke out in Congress against the war. In a speech, Like President Polk, Taylor wanted a war with Mexico, I challenged President Polk to name the exact spot and so he moved troops to the Rio Grande—terri- where Mexicans supposedly shed American blood. tory claimed by both Mexico and Texas—to provoke I was against Polk pushing this war with Mexico. the Mexicans. Eventually, the Mexicans did attack, But once the war started, we consistently voted as Taylor and Polk knew they would. And now U.S. to supply funds to wage the war and support the leaders have their war. The United States doesn’t have troops. In fact, I even gave a speech in Congress any right whatsoever to move into Mexico. The gov- supporting the candidacy of General Zachary Tay- ernment is looking for war so that it can take over as lor for president. And Taylor was the first general much of Mexico as it wants. The United States is the in charge of waging the war. aggressor. My heart is not in this war. But I am an officer in the U.S. Army and I must carry out my orders.

President James K. Polk William Lloyd Garrison, Founder, American Anti-Slavery Society I won the presidency by a close vote in 1844 and now I am president of the United States of I oppose the Mexican War, as do all true oppo- America. I am a Democrat, and a believer in “Mani- nents of slavery. President Polk is a slave owner fest Destiny.” It is God’s plan that the United States and like all slave owners, he wants to expand should spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In slavery everywhere. That’s why this war is being 1846, I ordered U.S. troops into an area that was fought: to steal more territory from Mexico so that claimed both by Texas and Mexico, historically Mexico can be carved up into new slave states. occupied by Mexicans. I knew that it was a provo- Mexico abolished slavery in 1829, and the Texans cation. As I confided to my Secretary of the Navy: I left Mexico and established their own “country” want California to be part of the United States. It’s so that they could keep their slaves. Now Texas part of Mexico and the only way to get it away from is entering the United States as a slave state. My them is war. As I’d expected, the Mexicans attacked organization and I will speak out, organize protest and I convinced Congress to declare war against meetings, write articles, publish pamphlets, and do Mexico. Some of my opponents say that I want this everything legal we can do to oppose this immoral war only because I own slaves and this is a war to war. In our newspaper, The Liberator, we have extend slavery to Mexico. Nonsense. There is much written that we hope the Mexicans will win this more at stake than slavery. This is about defending war. It’s not a popular statement these days, but America’s honor and our national interest. when it comes to justice, we cannot compromise.

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Henry David Thoreau Reverend Theodore Parker

I live in Concord, Massachusetts, where I work I am a Unitarian minister in Boston, Massa- as a writer. In order to support this war with Mex- chusetts, with a congregation of 7,000. I oppose this ico, Massachusetts passed a poll tax. I won’t pay war with Mexico because this is a war to expand it. Simple as that. The government wants to force slavery. Slavery should be ended not expanded. I people into this unjust war to go kill Mexicans or be am not opposed to the war because I like the Mexi- killed. I won’t support that. For my “crime,” they cans. As I have written, they are “a wretched people; put me in jail for a night. My friend, the famous wretched in their origin, history and character.” We writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, came to visit me Americans are vastly superior, but we must not take in jail. He said, “What are you doing in there?” I them over by force. We should resist this war. I urge replied, “What are you doing out there?” Against young men not to enlist, bankers should refuse to my wishes, friends of mine paid my tax and I was lend money for the war, ship owners should refuse released. But I have come to believe that the way to to let their ships be used for the war; manufacturers stop injustice is not merely to speak out against it, should refuse to produce cannons, swords, and gun- but also to refuse to obey unjust laws. powder for the war. Let the government prosecute me as a traitor. I answer only to God.

María Josefa Martínez, Sgt. John Riley, San Patricio Santa Fe, New Mexico Battalion, Formerly U.S. Army

Two years ago, in 1846, the United States invaded Originally, I’m from a small town in Ireland. I Mexico. That summer, Colonel Stephen W. Kearny of joined the U.S. Army and became a drillmaster at the United States Army marched into Santa Fe to West Point, training men to be soldiers. Now the take control. Up until that moment, I was a Mexi- Army considers me a deserter and a traitor. That’s can woman. Since then, I have been a conquered not how I see it. I was sent to invade Mexico with the Mexican woman. There are about 25,000 to 30,000 Army. The U.S. had no right to be there. It was like women in New Mexico. The white male conquerors the British occupying Ireland. Mexicans were treated treat us badly. They have contempt for all Mexicans, cruelly. The Mexicans appealed to me to leave the especially women. As a woman, under Mexican law U.S. Army and to join theirs. And I did. I became I was allowed to own property in my maiden name, a lieutenant and about 260 U.S. soldiers joined me and sell or give it away without my husband’s signa- fighting on the Mexican side. In Boston and Phila- ture. I could even farm my own land apart from my delphia, the Protestants had burned our Catholic husband’s land or land that we owned together. U.S. churches. The Mexicans are Catholic too. But now, women don’t have these rights. Unlike the invad- we are captured. Most of us have been sentenced to ers, I speak Spanish not English. But English is the death by hanging. The “lucky” ones are to be given language used by lawyers, judges, and tax assessors. 50 lashes with a whip, forced to dig the graves for our I worry that the U.S. authorities will use my lack of friends who will be executed, and then branded on English to take away my rights and property. our cheeks with the letter “D” for deserter.

Frederick Douglass U.S. Naval Officer

I was born a slave. When I was about 20 years I’m a lucky man. I got to sail into California to old, I ran away from my so-called master, and came seize that territory for the United States of America. to live in the north, where I have become famous It’s ours now, not the Mexicans’. Here’s what I wrote speaking and writing against slavery. I publish an in my diary when I sailed up from South America anti-slavery journal called the North Star. This war and landed in Monterey, California: “Asia will be with Mexico is disgraceful and cruel. Mexico is a brought to our very doors. Population will flow into victim of those white people of America who love the fertile regions of California. The resources of the to push around people who aren’t white. Unfor- entire country will be developed. The public lands tunately, even many abolitionists (people who are lying along the route of railroads will be changed working to end slavery) have continued to pay their from deserts into gardens, and a large population taxes and do not to resist this war with enough pas- will be settled.” This is where I’m going to settle after sion. It’s time that we risk everything for peace. we defeat the Mexicans once and for all.

General Stephen Kearny U.S. Army Officer

I command the United States Army in the West. I thought the war was going to be a lot of fun. I had the honor of winning New Mexico for the How could the Mexicans put up much of a fight when United States during the war with Mexico. The high they were up against the powerful United States? But point for me was taking the city of Santa Fe. I wanted soon enough the reality of war set in. As we moved to conquer but not to kill. I sent word that if the up the Rio Grande, it was incredibly hot, hotter than people didn’t fight us we wouldn’t fight them. We I’d ever experienced. The water was bad and many of marched into Santa Fe with our bayonets and knives my men got diarrhea, dysentery, and other diseases. out, hoping that we would frighten the residents, so It was awful. We lost a thousand men just from sick- they would not fight us. And they didn’t. We raised ness. I watched some men do horrible things. As I the American flag and fired our cannon in a glorious wrote in my diary: “We reached Burrita about 5 p.m., salute to the United States of America. Apparently many of the Louisiana volunteers were there, a law- this had a strong effect on the town’s women because less drunken rabble. They had driven away the inhab- many of them let loose a “wail of grief,” as one of my itants, taken possession of their houses, and were officers described it. The sound of their crying rose emulating [copying] each other in making beasts of above the noise of our horses as we rode along. themselves.” They raped many women there.

Oregon Trail, Wagon Train Member

In 1844, I took a wagon train from Missouri to the Oregon territory, but someone said there was better farm- land in California, and warmer weather. So I headed south to the San Joaquin Valley. It’s a part of Mexico, but there are more and more people arriving all the time from the United States. And now war has broken out. Soon this won’t be Mexico anymore. It will be the United States of America. Manifest Destiny is what they call it, and from sea to shining sea, soon it will be filled with free, white, English-speaking farmers and ranchers. Too bad it’s going to take a war to make it happen, but the Mexicans wouldn’t sell California, and then they attacked us. So fair’s fair.

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Cochise, Chiricahua Apache leader Jefferson Davis, Mississippi

Some of the whites think that my land belongs to I’m one of the largest plantation owners in the United States. Some think it belongs to Mexico. the United States. Every year, it seems that the They are all wrong. My land belongs to my people, people against slavery just get louder and louder. the Apaches. We roam the lands that Mexico calls They’re trying to keep slavery out of the Western Sonora and that the United States considers New territories like Kansas and Nebraska. And now, Mexico and Arizona. First, Spain claimed this land, like a gift from God, along comes this war against then the Mexicans, now the Americans. Over the Mexico. Think of all the new territory we can years, we’ve fought them all—the European invad- conquer for freedom—the freedom to take our ers—and we will continue to fight. Before this latest slaves wherever we like. First Mexico, then Cuba, war, the Mexicans paid Americans to help track and then Nicaragua. I can see the day when the us down. In fact, a group of them killed my father. United States could rule all of Mexico and Central When I was young I walked all over this country, east America, and all that territory will be added to our and west, and saw no other people than the Apaches. country—new states, new slave states. This is a Now the invaders are everywhere. Mexicans, Ameri- great war. Thank heavens the Mexicans attacked cans: I want them all gone from my land. us first. Justice is on our side.

General Mariano Vallejo Doña Francesca Vallejo

I live in California, a part of Mexico. I am a I live in California, a part of Mexico. I am wealthy man. I own 175,000 acres. This is where a wealthy woman, a wealthy Mexican woman. my 16 children were born. I have always been With my husband, I own 175,000 acres. I have very kind to visitors who come from the United numerous servants. I have two for my own per- States, and some even say that I am famous for the sonal service. Four or five servants grind corn hospitality I show my guests. In the 1840s, more for tortillas, for we entertain so many guests that and more people from the United States began three servants could not feed them all. About six arriving. Unbelievably, most of them looked down or seven work in the kitchen. Five or six are con- on Mexicans, and called us “greasers,” and an tinually occupied washing the clothes of my 16 inferior race—we who were born here and built children and the rest are employed in the house; wealthy ranchos. Now that war has broken out, it and finally, nearly a dozen attend to the sewing is clear what the North Americans are looking for: and spinning. This is where my children were They want to steal California away from Mexico born. I have always been very friendly to visitors and make it a part of the United States. Before the who come from the United States, and some even war, they wanted to buy California from Mexico, say that I am famous for the hospitality I show my but Mexico wouldn’t sell. So now they are making guests. And now there is a war. The United States war on us so that they can take it away. I fear that will try to take California away from Mexico, but I will lose everything I’ve worked so hard for. they have no right, and we won’t let them.

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Lieutenant, U.S. Army Infantry Francisco Márquez, Mexican Cadet

In a place called Huamantla, the Mexicans killed I am a cadet, studying at a military school in one of our officers, a man by the name of Walker. He Mexico City. The school is in a castle high up on a hill was a friend of General Lane. The general told us to in the beautiful Chapultepec region of the city. I love “avenge the death of the gallant Walker, to take all my country and I want to defend it from the invad- we could lay hands on.” And we did. We broke open ing U.S. Army. Why are they attacking my country? liquor stores and got drunk. Then we went after the Because they want to bring back slavery to Mexico? women and girls. They were stripped of their cloth- Because they want to steal California and other terri- ing and terrible outrages were committed against tories of Mexico? Why? They have done brutal things them. We shot dozens of men and ransacked their to my people. I will fight to the death. We have been churches, stores and houses. We even killed the Mexi- ordered by our officers to leave the military school cans’ horses. Drunken U.S. soldiers were everywhere, because we are too young to fight as soldiers. But I yelling, screeching, breaking open houses or chasing will stay and fight. I will fight until I am the last one Mexicans who ran for their lives. As I wrote my par- alive, and then I will wrap myself in the Mexican flag ents, “Such a scene I never hope to see again. It made and jump to my death before allowing myself to be me for the first time ashamed of my country.” captured by the Americans.

Padre Antonio José Martínez Wotoki, Miwok Indian, California

In the struggle between the rich and the poor, I live in northern California, in Sonoma. No I stand with the poor. In fact, I am called the Padre matter who wins this war between Mexico and the (Father) of the Poor. I founded the first school for United States, nothing changes the fact that this boys and girls in the entire Southwest and also is Miwok land—our land—that they are fighting began one of the first newspapers in the region. over. First, the Spaniards took over, then the Mexi- And I opposed the U.S. invaders when recently cans. Now the Americans are taking over. But they they came to take over our territory in New Mexico. all mistreated the Miwok people. Our land is now Even though I am a priest, many believe that I was owned by one of the richest men in California, the a leader of the Revolt of Taos in 1847. On January Mexican General Mariano Vallejo. They say he and 19, 1847, 2,000 Indians and Mexicanos together his wife, Doña Francesca, are kind to visitors. But rose up and killed the U.S.-installed governor in he is not kind to his Indian workers. I work on his his mansion as well as other U.S. officials who were land. Vallejo treats us almost like slaves. And the stealing our land. The rebels marched through the Americans here are no better. An American named snow and took refuge in a Catholic church in the Captain Sutter orders “his” Indians to eat out of Taos pueblo, thinking they would be safe. They four-feet-long troughs, as if Indians are pigs. Sutter weren’t. The U.S. Army destroyed the church with whips them when they disobey. I have no idea what cannon fire. The U.S. authorities put six leaders on this war between Mexico and the United States is trial and found them guilty in 15 minutes. The six about. To me, it looks like Americans and Mexicans men were hanged, holding hands as they died. killing each other so that they can steal our land.

The War with Mexico: Questions

1. Find someone who fought in the war—on either side. Who is the person? What was their experience like?

2. Find someone who supports the U.S. war with Mexico. Who is the person? Why do they support the war?

3. Find someone who opposes the U.S. war with Mexico. Who is the person? Why do they oppose the war?

4. Find someone who has an opinion on why the United States is at war with Mexico. Who is the person? What is their opinion about why the United States is at war?

5. Find someone who saw things in the war that shocked them. Who is the person? What shocked them?

6. Find someone who lives in a different part of the country than you do—or lives in another country. Who is the person? What do you agree on about the war? What do you disagree on?

7. Find someone who stands to gain from the war. Who are they? How might they benefit?

8. Find someone who stands to lose from the war. Who are they? How might they suffer?

We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God

By Howard Zinn

col. Ethan Allen Hitchcock, a profes- Republic.” In 1845, the U.S. Congress brought it sional soldier, graduate of the Military Academy, into the Union as a state. commander of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, a In the White House now was James Polk, a reader of Shakespeare, Chaucer, Hegel, Spinoza, Democrat, an expansionist, who, on the night wrote in his diary: of his inauguration, confided to his secretary of the Navy that one of his main objectives was the Fort Jesup, La., June 30, 1845. Orders came acquisition of California. His order to General last evening by express from Washington City Taylor to move troops to the Rio Grande was a directing General Taylor to move without any challenge to the Mexicans. It was not at all clear delay to … take up a position on the banks of that the Rio Grande was the southern boundary or near the Rio Grande, and he is to expel any of Texas, although Texas had forced the defeated armed force of Mexicans who may cross that Mexican general Santa Anna to say so when he was river. Bliss read the orders to me last evening a prisoner. The traditional border between Texas hastily at tattoo. I have scarcely slept a wink, and Mexico had been the Nueces River, about thinking of the needful preparations. … Vio- 150 miles to the north, and both Mexico and the lence leads to violence, and if this movement of United States had recognized that as the border. ours does not lead to others and to bloodshed, However, Polk, encouraging the Texans to accept I am much mistaken. annexation, had assured them he would uphold Hitchcock was not mistaken. Jefferson’s their claims to the Rio Grande. Louisiana Purchase had doubled the territory Ordering troops to the Rio Grande, into ter- of the United States, extend- ritory inhabited by Mexicans, ing it to the Rocky Moun- was clearly a provocation. tains. To the southwest was Taylor’s army marched in par- Mexico, which had won its allel columns across the open independence in a revolu- prairie, scouts far ahead and tionary war against Spain in on the flanks, a train of sup- 1821. Mexico was then an plies following. Then, along a even larger country than it is narrow road, through a belt of now, since it included what thick chaparral, they arrived, are now Texas, New Mexico, March 28, 1846, in cultivated Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Cali- fields and thatched-roof huts Archive

fornia, and part of Colorado. hurriedly abandoned by the After agitation, and aid from Mexican occupants, who had the United States, Texas broke fled across the river to the city Images/Hulton off from Mexico in 1836 and of Matamoros. Taylor set up

declared itself the “Lone Star Col. Ethan Allen Hitchcock Getty camp, began construction of

a fort, and implanted his cannons facing the white ticle of right to be here. … It looks as if the houses of Matamoros, whose inhabitants stared government sent a small force on purpose curiously at the sight of an army on the banks of to bring on a war, so as to have a pretext a quiet river. for taking California and as much of this country as it chooses. … My heart is not in ‘Our Manifest Destiny’ this business … but, as a military man, I am bound to execute orders. The Washington Union, a newspaper expressing the position of President Polk and the Democratic On May 9, before news of any battles, Polk party, had spoken early in 1845 on the meaning was suggesting to his cabinet a declaration of war. of Texas annexation: “Let the great measure of Polk recorded in his diary what he said to the cabi- annexation be accomplished, and with it the ques- net meeting: tions of boundary and claims. For who can arrest I stated … that up to this time, as we the torrent that will pour onward to the West? The knew, we had heard of no open act of aggres- road to California will be open to us. Who will stay sion by the Mexican army, but that the the march of our western people?” danger was imminent that such acts would It was shortly after that, in the summer of be committed. I said that in my opinion we 1845, that John O’Sullivan, editor of the Demo- had ample cause of war, and that it was cratic Review, used the phrase that became famous, impossible … that I could remain silent much saying it was “Our manifest destiny to overspread longer … that the country was excited and the continent allotted by Providence for the free impatient on the subject. … development of our yearly multiplying millions.” Yes, manifest destiny. The country was not “excited and impatient.” All that was needed in But the president was. When the the spring of 1846 was a mil- “It is our manifest dispatches arrived from Gen- itary incident to begin the eral Taylor telling of casualties war that Polk wanted. It came destiny to overspread from the Mexican attack, Polk in April, when General Tay- the continent allotted summoned the cabinet to hear lor’s quartermaster, Colonel by Providence for the the news, and they unanimously Cross, while riding up the agreed he should ask for a decla- Rio Grande, disappeared. His free development of ration of war. Polk’s message to body was found eleven days our yearly multiplying Congress was indignant: “Mex- later, his skull smashed by a millions.” ico has passed the boundary of heavy blow. It was assumed the United States, has invaded he had been killed by Mexi- our territory and shed American can guerrillas crossing the river. blood upon the American soil. …” The next day (April 25), a patrol of Taylor’s Congress then rushed to approve the war soldiers was surrounded and attacked by Mexicans, message. The bundles of official documents and wiped out: sixteen dead, others wounded, the accompanying the war message, supposed to rest captured. Taylor sent a dispatch to Polk: “Hos- be evidence for Polk’s statement, were not tilities may now be considered as commenced.” examined, but were tabled immediately by the The Mexicans had fired the first shot. But they House. Debate on the bill providing volunteers had done what the American government wanted, and money for the war was limited to two hours, according to Colonel Hitchcock, who wrote in his and most of this was used up reading selected diary, even before those first incidents: portions of the tabled documents, so that barely half an hour was left for discussion of the issues. I have said from the first that the United States The Whig party also wanted California, but are the aggressors. … We have not one par- preferred to do it without war. Nevertheless,

they would not deny men and money for the campaign as a means of extending the southern operation and so joined Democrats in voting slave territory. One of these was Joshua Gid- overwhelmingly for the war resolution, 174 to dings of Ohio, a fiery speaker, physically pow- 14. In the Senate there was debate, but it was erful, who called it “an aggressive, unholy, and limited to one day, and the war measure passed, unjust war.” 40 to 2, Whigs joining Democrats. John Quincy After Congress acted in May of 1846, there Adams of Massachusetts, who were rallies and demonstra- originally voted with “the tions for the war in New stubborn 14,” later voted for “I have said from the York, Baltimore, Indianapolis, war appropriations. Philadelphia, and many other Abraham Lincoln of Illi- first that the United places. Thousands rushed to nois was not yet in Congress States are the aggressors volunteer for the army. The when the war began, but after … It looks as if the poet Walt Whitman wrote in his election in 1846 he had the Brooklyn Eagle in the early occasion to vote and speak government sent a small days of the war: “Yes: Mexico on the war. His “spot reso- force on purpose to bring must be thoroughly chastised! lutions” became famous—he … Let our arms now be car- challenged Polk to specify the on a war, so as to have a ried with a spirit which shall exact spot where American pretext for taking teach the world that, while we blood was shed “on the Amer- California and as are not forward for a quarrel, ican soil.” But he would not America knows how to crush, try to end the war by stopping much of this country as well as how to expand!” funds for men and supplies. as it chooses.” Accompanying all this Speaking in the House on July aggressiveness was the idea 27, 1848, he said: that the United States would be giving the blessings of lib- If to say “the war was unnecessarily and erty and democracy to more people. This was unconstitutionally commenced by the intermingled with ideas of racial superiority, President” be opposing the war, then longings for the beautiful lands of New Mexico the Whigs have very generally opposed and California, and thoughts of commercial it. … The marching an army into the enterprise across the Pacific. The New York midst of a peaceful Mexican settlement, Herald said, in 1847: “The universal Yankee frightening the inhabitants away, leaving nation can regenerate and disenthrall the peo- their growing crops and other property to ple of Mexico in a few years; and we believe it destruction, to you may appear a perfectly is part of our destiny to civilize that beautiful amiable, peaceful, unprovoking procedure; country.” but it does not appear so to us. … But if, The Congressional Globe of February 11, when the war had begun, and had become 1847, reported: the cause of the country, the giving of our money and our blood, in common with Mr. Giles, of Maryland—I take it for yours, was support of the war, then it is granted, that we shall gain territory, and not true that we have always opposed the must gain territory, before we shut the war. With few individual exceptions, you gates of the temple of Janus. …We must have constantly had our votes here for all march from ocean to ocean. … We must the necessary supplies. … march from Texas straight to the Pacific ocean, and be bounded only by its roaring A handful of antislavery Congressmen voted wave. … It is the destiny of the white race, against all war measures, seeing the Mexican it is the destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race. …

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and resulting, it is said, in the talked easily about “the production of a slothful, igno- people” and “public rant race of beings.” “We must march from opinion.” Their evi- As the war went on, oppo- Texas straight to the dence, however, is not sition grew. The American Pacific ocean, and be from “the people” but Peace Society printed a news- from the newspapers, paper, the Advocate of Peace, bounded only by its claiming to be the voice which published poems, roaring wave. … It is the of the people. The New speeches, petitions, sermons York Herald wrote in against the war, and eyewit- destiny of the white race, August 1845: “The ness accounts of the degra- it is the destiny of the multitude cry aloud dation of army life and the Anglo-Saxon race. …” for war.” The New horrors of battle. Consider- York Morning News ing the strenuous efforts of said “young and ardent the nation’s leaders to build spirits that throng the patriotic support, the amount cities … want but a of open dissent and criticism was remarkable. direction to their restless energies, and their Antiwar meetings took place in spite of attacks attention is already fixed on Mexico.” by patriotic mobs. It is impossible to know the extent of pop- As the army moved closer to Mexico City, ular support of the war. But there is evidence the antislavery newspaper The Liberator daringly that many organized workingmen opposed the declared its wishes for the defeat of the American war. There were demonstrations of Irish work- forces: “Every lover of Freedom and human- ers in New York, Boston, and Lowell against ity, throughout the world, must wish them [the the annexation of Texas. In May, when the Mexicans] the most triumphant success. …” war against Mexico began, New York working- Frederick Douglass, a former slave and an men called a meeting to oppose the war, and extraordinary speaker and writer, wrote in his many Irish workers came. The meeting called Rochester newspaper the North Star, January the war a plot by slave owners and asked for 21, 1848, of “the present disgraceful, cruel, and the withdrawal of American troops from dis- iniquitous war with our sister republic. Mexico puted territory. That year, a convention of the seems a doomed victim to Anglo Saxon cupidity New England Workingmen’s Association con- and love of dominion.” Douglass was scornful demned the war and announced they would of the unwillingness of opponents of the war to “not take up arms to sustain the Southern take real action (even the abolitionists kept pay- slaveholder in robbing one-fifth of our coun- ing their taxes): trymen of their labor.” Some newspapers, at the very start of the No politician of any considerable distinc- war, protested. Horace Greeley wrote in the New tion or eminence seems willing to hazard York Tribune, May 12, 1846: his popularity with his party … by an open and unqualified disapprobation of the war. We can easily defeat the armies of Mex- None seem willing to take their stand for ico, slaughter them by thousands. … Who peace at all risks; and all seem willing that believes that a score of victories over Mexico, the war should be carried on, in some form the “annexation” of half her provinces, will or other. give us more Liberty, a purer Morality, a more prosperous Industry, than we now have? Where was popular opinion? It is hard to … Is not Life miserable enough, comes not say. After the first rush, enlistments began to Death soon enough, without resort to the dwindle. Historians of the Mexican war have hideous enginery of War?

The Recruits There were extravagant promises and out- right lies to build up the volunteer units. A man What of those who fought the war—the sol- who wrote a history of the New York Volunteers diers who marched, sweated, got sick, died? declared: “Many enlisted for the sake of their The Mexican soldiers. The American soldiers. families, having no employment, and having We know little of the reactions of Mexican sol- been offered ‘three months’ advance,’ and were diers. We know much more about the Ameri- promised that they could leave part of their pay can army—volunteers, not conscripts, lured for their families to draw in their absence. … I by money and opportunity for social advance- boldly pronounce, that the whole Regiment was ment via promotion in the armed forces. got up by fraud.” Half of General Taylor’s army were recent By late 1846, recruitment was falling off, so immigrants—Irish and German mostly. Their physical requirements were lowered, and anyone patriotism was not very strong. Indeed, many bringing in acceptable recruits would get two dol- of them deserted to the Mexican side, enticed lars a head. Even this didn’t work. Congress in by money. Some (for reasons other than early 1847 authorized 10 new regiments of regu- money) [catholic Irish] enlisted in the Mexican lars, to serve for the duration of the war, promis- army and formed their own battalion, the San ing them 100 acres of public land upon honorable Patricio (St. Patrick’s) Battalion. discharge. But dissatisfaction At first there seemed to continued. be enthusiasm in the army, fired by pay and patriotism. “The universal Yankee Martial spirit was high in New The Reality of Battle York, where the legislature nation can regenerate authorized the governor to and disenthrall the people And soon, the reality of battle came in upon the glory and call 50,000 volunteers. Plac- of Mexico in a few years; ards read “Mexico or Death.” the promises. On the Rio There was a mass meeting of and we believe Grande before Matamoros, 20,000 people in Philadelphia. it is part of our as a Mexican army of 5,000 under General Arista faced Three thousand volunteered destiny to civilize in Ohio. Taylor’s army of 3,000, the This initial spirit soon that beautiful country.” shells began to fly, and artil- wore off. One young man leryman Samuel French saw wrote anonymously to the his first death in battle. John Cambridge Chronicle: Weems describes it: “He happened to be staring at a man on horseback nearby Neither have I the least idea of “joining” when he saw a shot rip off the pommel of the you, or in any way assisting the unjust war saddle, tear through the man’s body, and burst out waging against Mexico. I have no wish to with a crimson gush on the other side.” participate in such “glorious” butcheries When the battle was over, 500 Mexicans of women and children as were displayed were dead or wounded. There were perhaps 50 in the capture of Monterey, etc. Neither American casualties. Weems describes the after- have I any desire to place myself under the math: “Night blanketed weary men who fell asleep dictation of a petty military tyrant, to every where they dropped on the trampled prairie grass, caprice of whose will I must yield implicit while around them other prostrate men from obedience. No sir-ee! … Human butchery both armies screamed and groaned in agony from has had its day. … And the time is rapidly wounds. By the eerie light of torches the surgeon’s approaching when the professional soldier saw was going the livelong night.” will be placed on the same level as a bandit, Away from the battlefield, in army camps, the Bedouin, and the Thug. the romance of the recruiting posters was quickly I have called you together to have a talk forgotten. The 2nd Regiment of Mississippi Rifles, with you. The country you inhabit no longer moving into New Orleans, was stricken by cold belongs to Mexico, but to a mighty nation and sickness. The regimental surgeon reported: whose territory extends from the great ocean “Six months after our regiment had entered the you have all seen or heard of, to another great service we had sustained a loss of 167 by death, and ocean thousands of miles toward the rising 134 by discharges.” The regiment was packed into sun. … Our armies are now in Mexico, and the holds of transports, 800 men into three ships. will soon conquer the whole country. But you The surgeon continued: have nothing to fear from us, if you do what is right … if you are faithful to your new rul- The dark cloud of disease still hovered over us. ers. … I hope you will alter your habits, and The holds of the ships … were soon crowded be industrious and frugal, and give up all the with the sick. The effluvia was intolerable. … low vices which you practice. … We shall The sea became rough. … Through the long watch over you, and give you true liberty; dark night the rolling ship would dash the but beware of sedition, lawlessness, and all sick man from side to side bruising his flesh other crimes, for the army which shields can upon the rough corners of his berth. The wild assuredly punish, and it will reach you in screams of the delirious, the lamentations of your most retired hiding places. the sick, and the melancholy groans of the dying, kept up one continual scene of confu- General Kearny moved sion. … Four weeks we were confined to the easily into New Mexico, loathsome ships and and Santa Fe was taken before we had landed at the Brasos, we con- “It is not desirable to cultivate without battle. An Ameri- signed 28 of our men to can staff officer described the dark waves. a respect for the law so much the reaction of the Mexi-

Meanwhile, by land as for the right.” can population to the U.S. and by sea, Anglo-Amer- Army’s entrance into the ican forces were moving capital city: into California. A young Our march into the naval officer, after the long voyage around the city … was extremely warlike, with drawn southern cape of South America, and up the coast sabers, and daggers in every look. … As the to Monterey in California, wrote in his diary: American flag was raised, and the cannon

Asia … will be brought to our very doors. boomed its glorious national salute from Population will flow into the fertile regions the hill, the pent-up emotion of many of the of California. The resources of the entire women could be suppressed no longer … as country … will be developed. … The public the wail of grief arose above the din of our lands lying along the route [of railroads] will horses’ tread, and reached our ears from the be changed from deserts into gardens, and a depth of the gloomy-looking buildings on large population will be settled. … every hand.

It was a separate war that went on in Cali- That was in August. In December, Mexicans fornia, where Anglo-Americans raided Spanish in Taos, New Mexico, rebelled against American settlements, stole horses, and declared California rule. The revolt was put down and arrests were separated from Mexico—the “Bear Flag Repub- made. But many of the rebels fled and carried on lic.” Indians lived there, and naval officer Revere sporadic attacks, killing a number of Americans, gathered the Indian chiefs and spoke to them (as then hiding in the mountains. The American he later recalled): army pursued, and in a final desperate battle, in which 600 to 700 rebels were engaged, 150 were soldier, wrote for General Scott “a sort of address killed, and it seemed the rebellion was now over. to the Mexican people” which was then printed in In Los Angeles, too, there was a revolt. English and Spanish by the tens of thousands say- Mexicans forced the American garrison there to ing “we have not a particle of ill-will towards you surrender in September 1846. The United States … we are here for no earthly purpose except the did not retake Los Angeles until January, after a hope of obtaining a peace.” bloody battle. It was a war of the American elite against the General Taylor had moved across the Rio Mexican elite, each side exhorting, using, kill- Grande, occupied Matamoros, and now moved ing its own population as well as the other. The southward through Mexico. But his volunteers Mexican commander Santa Anna had crushed became more unruly on Mexican territory. Mexi- rebellion after rebellion, his troops also raping can villages were pillaged and plundering after victory. by drunken troops. Cases When Col. Hitchcock and of rape began to multiply. Gen. Winfield Scott moved As the soldiers moved “I shall never forget into Santa Anna’s estate, up the Rio Grande to the horrible fire of our they found its walls full of Camargo, the heat became ornate paintings. But half his unbearable, the water mortars … going with army was dead or wounded. impure, and sickness dreadful certainty … often General Scott moved grew—diarrhea, dysen- in the centre of private dwell- toward the last battle—for tery, and other maladies— Mexico City—with 10,000 until 1,000 were dead. At ings — it was awful. soldiers. They were not anx- first the dead were bur- I shudder to think of it.” ious for battle. Three days’ ied to the sounds of the march from Mexico City, at “Dead March” played by Jalapa, seven of his eleven a military band. Then the regiments evaporated, their number of dead was too enlistment times up, the real- great, and formal military funerals ceased. South- ity of battle and disease too much for them. ward to Monterey and another battle, where men On the outskirts of Mexico City, at Churu- and horses died in agony, and one officer described busco, Mexican and American armies clashed the ground as “slippery with … foam and blood.” for three hours and thousands died on both The U.S. Navy bombarded Veracruz in an sides. Among the Mexicans taken prisoner were indiscriminate killing of civilians. One of the sixty-nine U.S. Army deserters. Navy’s shells hit the post office, another a surgi- As often in war, battles were fought with- cal hospital. In two days, 1,300 shells were fired out point. After one such engagement near into the city, until it surrendered. A reporter for Mexico City, with terrible casualties, a marine the New Orleans Delta wrote: “The Mexicans lieutenant blamed Gen. Scott: “He had origi- variously estimate their loss at from 500 to 1,000 nated it in error and caused it to be fought, killed and wounded, but all agree that the loss with inadequate forces, for an object that had among the soldiery is comparatively small and no existence.” the destruction among the women and children In the final battle for Mexico City, Anglo- is very great.” American troops took the height of Chapultepec Colonel Hitchcock, coming into the city, and entered the city of 200,000 people, General wrote: “I shall never forget the horrible fire of our Santa Anna having moved northward. This was mortars … going with dreadful certainty … often September 1847. A Mexican merchant wrote to in the centre of private dwellings—it was awful. I a friend about the bombardment of the city: “In shudder to think of it.” Still, Hitchcock, the dutiful some cases whole blocks were destroyed and a great number of men, women and children The glory of victory was for the president killed and wounded.” and the generals, not the deserters, the dead, General Santa Anna fled to Huamantla, where the wounded. The Massachusetts Volunteers had another battle was fought, and he had to flee again. started with 630 men. They came home with 300 An American infantry lieutenant wrote to his par- dead, mostly from disease, and at the reception ents what happened after an officer named Walker dinner on their return their commander, General was killed in battle: Cushing, was hissed by his men. As the veterans returned home, speculators General Lane … told us to “avenge the death immediately showed up to buy the land warrants of the gallant Walker” … Grog shops were given by the government. Many of the soldiers, broken open first, and then, maddened with desperate for money, sold their 160 acres for less liquor, every species of outrage was com- than 50 dollars. mitted. Old women and girls were stripped Mexico surrendered. There were calls among of their clothing—and many suffered still Americans to take all of Mexico. The Treaty of greater outrages. Men were shot by dozens … Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 1848, just their property, churches, stores, and dwelling took half. The Texas boundary was set at the Rio houses ransacked. … It made me for the first Grande; New Mexico and California were ceded. time ashamed of my country. The United States paid Mexico $15 million, which One Pennsylvania volunteer, stationed at led the Whig Intelligencer to conclude that “we take Matamoros late in the war, wrote: nothing by conquest. … Thank God.”

We are under very strict discipline here. Some Howard Zinn is author of A People’s History of the United of our officers are very good men but the bal- States. ance of them are very tyrannical and brutal toward the men. … [T]onight on drill an offi- Used by permission of Howard Zinn. This reading is excerpted from A People’s History of the United States cer laid a soldier’s skull open with his sword. (teaching edition), by Howard Zinn (New York: … But the time may come and that soon The New Press, 1997).

when officers and men will stand on equal footing. … A soldier’s life is very disgusting.

On the night of August 15, 1847, volunteer regiments from Virginia, Mississippi, and North Carolina rebelled in northern Mexico against Col. Robert Treat Paine. Paine killed a mutineer, but two of his lieutenants refused to help him quell the mutiny. The rebels were ultimately exonerated in an attempt to keep the peace. Desertion grew. In March 1847 the army reported over a thousand deserters. The total number of deserters during the war was 9,207 (5,331 regulars and 3,876 volunteers). Those who did not desert became harder and harder to man- age. General Cushing referred to 65 such men in the 1st Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry as “incorrigibly mutinous and insubordinate.”

Mexico in 1830

CALIFORNIA NEW MEXICO

TEXAS

Land Mexico Lost to the United States

War with Mexico

In 1836 when Texas declared its inde- On February 2, 1848, after almost two pendence from Mexico, white Southerners hoped years of fighting, the nations ended the war by to acquire Texas as a new slave state. Northerners signing the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This feared that the admission of Texas to the Union treaty gave the United States vast new regions would not only increase the South’s power in Con- that today include California, Arizona, New gress but would also embroil the United States in Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Colorado a war with Mexico. Nevertheless by 1845 enough and Wyoming. The fear that these territo- politicians were caught up in the fervor of west- ries would organize into states intensified the ward expansion—believing that it was the destiny sectional conflict between the North and the of the nation to reach from shore to shore—that South. Many Northerners opposed the exten- white Southern politicians were able to prevail in sion of slavery even into the newly acquired getting Texas admitted to the Union as the twenty- lands that lay south of the line established by eighth state. Mexico was outraged at this action. the Missouri Compromise. n

After a border skirmish between American troops and Mexican troops, the United States declared —from American Odyssey (2003). Glencoe/McGraw-Hill war on Mexico in May 1846.

Reading Questions

1. What important perspectives are missing from this textbook passage?

2. In the textbook excerpt, what do you learn about the causes of the war with Mexico? What doesn’t the book tell you about the causes?