method, and this should not be overlooked, of overcoming the obstacle of a two-thirds majority of the Senate, since a joint resolution requires the assent of only a bare majority of each House. Finally, in the last days of February, 1845, Congress passed a joint resolution for the annexation of Texas; but in deference to several senators, who had constitutional scruples as to the rightfulness of the government to acquire foreign territory except through the treaty-making power, it was also provided that the President might, at his discretion, proceed by treaty, if he thought proper, instead of the method of direct annexation, as contemplated by the resolution. It was believed by many that, as less than a week of his term remained, Tyler would not take action, and that the new President would, after his inauguration, proceed to negotiate a new treaty. But Tyler was not to be cheated out of the honor of adding Texas to his crown, and on the last day of his term he forestalled the action of his successor by choosing the first alternative of the joint resolution, and dispatched a messenger to Texas with the joint resolution for annexation. It was promptly approved by a convention of delegates called for the purpose of framing a State constitution, and on July 4, 1845, the Republic of Texas became a commonwealth of the United States. Shortly after the adoption of the joint resolution looking to the annexation of Texas the Mexican minister at Washington demanded his passports and left the United States, and a little later the United States minister to Mexico left that country. It was now evident that while we had acquired Texas, we should have to fight Mexico, and the government entered at once upon preparations for the coming conflict. Chapter XXIII POLK'S ADMINISTRATION AND THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 1845-1849 I POLK'S INAUGURATION AND THE NORTHWEST BOUNDARY DISPUTE P RESIDENT POLK was the third of our chief magistrates to be drawn from the growing West, and was, in a sense, the heir of that other distinguished Tennesseean, who, sixteen years before, had reached the Presidency. Like Jackson, he was born of Irish ancestry, in the uplands of Carolina; and like him, had, in early life, emigrated to Tennessee, where, as was the case with many Southerners, he studied law only to drift into politics. Unlike his great patron and political oracle, however, Polk was a college graduate and enjoyed more than a local reputation for ripe scholarship, especially as a mathematician and a linguist. After serving several terms as a member of the Tennessee legislature, he was elected to Congress, in his thirtieth year, where he served without interruption for seven consecutive terms. During several terms he was Speaker of the House of Representatives, and discharged the duties of this position with only fair ability, but with reasonable impartiality and dignity. As a member of Congress he was noted for his readiness in debate and his unceasing application to routine business. It was related of him that he was absent from the daily sessions of Congress but once during his fourteen years' service. In his politics, Mr. Polk was a strict constructionist Democrat, and through all the vicissitudes of the Jacksonian régime his course was marked by unwavering allegiance to his chief. In 1839 he retired from Congress and was elected governor of Tennessee, but was twice subsequently defeated by his Whig opponent, after which he remained in retirement from 1841 until his election to the Presidency in 1845. In religion he was a strict Presbyterian of the old school. His private character was above reproach, his manner plain and unassum 1845-1846 ing, while in action he was resolute and determined, although his mind was open to conviction. President Polk entered upon his administration with a definite programme, and in all but one particular it was carried out as planned. Perhaps no President ever had at the outset of his administration so clear and positive a perception of what he meant to do, or urged its accomplishment with such dispatch. His ambitions included the "reoccupation" of Oregon, the acquisition of California, the reëstablishment of the independent treasury system, which had been created during Van Buren's term, but afterwards repealed by the Whigs, and a reduction of the tariff. It is also probable that he had expected to take advantage of the second alternative of the Texas joint resolution and proceed to negotiate with the republic for annexation by treaty, had not Tyler, as has been said, forestalled his action. It was in the settlement of the Oregon controversy that Polk's programme broke down. Oregon was the name applied to a vast undefined area of territory lying along the North Pacific Ocean from the forty-second parallel of latitude to that of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes, and extending eastward to the Rocky Mountains. Originally it was claimed by Russia, Great Britain and Spain on the ground of discovery and settlement; but by treaties with the United States and Great Britain, made in 1824 and 1825, Russia gave up her claims to that part of the territory lying south of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes north latitude. In the meantime the United States had become a claimant, partly on the ground of the Louisiana Purchase, a claim now admitted to have been worthless, and the Spanish cession of 1819, in which by treaty Spain ceded to the United States all her claims of territory lying north of the forty-second parallel and west of the Rocky Mountains. What her rights to this territory were it is difficult to ascertain. By the Nootka Sound Convention of 1790 she seemed to recognize Great Britain's claim to a joint share of the disputed territory, so that when we acquired Spain's claims in 1819 we took them with this encumbrance. Thus the Treaty of 1819 left Great Britain and the United States in the field as the only disputants. The United States now put forward other claims, particularly the claim that Captain Gray's discovery and exploration of the Columbia River in 1792 antedated that of the British navigator, Vancouver. The 1 Schouler, "History of the United States," vol. iv. p. 498. 1845-1846 United States also relied upon the argument of contiguity, the Lewis and Clarke expedition, and the planting of actual settlements in the Territory, the most important of which was Astoria, founded by John Jacob Astor in 1811.2 All these claims taken together, it was said, constituted a better title than that of Great Britain and was, besides, more thorough in character. As early as 1818 negotiations were begun between the two countries for a division of the disputed territory, but the only result was a modus vivendi for the joint occupation of the country for a period of ten years. In 1828 the agreement was renewed and was to continue for an indefinite period; but each party reserved the right to terminate the agreement at any time by giving twelve months' notice to the other. Throughout Jackson's stormy administration the question slumbered, but American settlements were being slowly made on the Willamette. Webster, while Secretary of State under Tyler, had endeavored to settle the controversy with Great Britain when the negotiations for the settlement of the Northeast boundary dispute were in progress; but Lord Ashburton had declined to treat on the ground that he had no instructions. The United States then pursued a policy of masterly inactivity and did not press the matter. In fact, so little was known of the resources and possibilities of this far-away country, that the government was probably quite ready to accept the Columbia River as a compromise boundary. Until recently it was believed that Oregon was saved by the arrival at Washington in March, 1843, of Dr. Marcus Whitman, a missionary who had gone to Oregon years before, and who, having learned that the government was on the point of surrendering a large part of the Territory, had traveled all the way across the continent in order to lay before the President information concerning the region which he had explored. The information which he brought was printed and largely distributed throughout the country, and resulted, so it was generally believed, in the crystallization of a strong public opinion in favor of acquiring Oregon by negotiation, if possible, by force, if necessary. But recent historical investigation has thrown discredit to this story and it now seems 2 Read Von Holst, "Constitutional History of the United States,” vol. iii. pp. 29-49. 3 Barrows, "History of Oregon," ch. xviii. 1845-1846 worthy to be treated as a mere myth. In the presidential campaign which now ensued the Democratic party took up the question as an issue and declared in favor of the "reoccupation of Oregon," and with such slogans as "Fifty-four forty or fight," "All of Oregon or none," they marched to the polls and carried the elections. Polk was not a whit behind his supporters in their belief that Oregon by right belonged to the United States, and in his inaugural address he asserted that "our title to the whole of Oregon is clear and unquestionable," a "blustering announcement," as Lord John Russell called it, and one which many asserted lacked the essential element of unquestioned truth. As President, however, he dropped "fifty-four forty or fight," and proposed to accept the forty-ninth parallel to the Pacific as a compromise. To his surprise this proposition was rejected by Mr. Pakenham, the British plenipotentiary at Washington, who allowed the negotiations to drop with the tart suggestion that something else "more consistent with fairness and equity" should be offered. The President, half-indignant, half-delighted, thereupon directed that the compromise proposition be withdrawn and the rightful claim of the United States to the whole of Oregon be reasserted. Furthermore, upon his recommendation Congress passed, after a prolonged and spirited discussion, a resolution authorizing the executive to give notice of the intention of the United States to terminate the joint occupancy of the Territory at the expiration of one year, and the notice was promptly given. In the meantime Pakenham, who had received fresh instructions, opened negotiations and offered to accept the forty-ninth parallel, reserving Vancouver's Island to Great Britain. Polk refused to shoulder the entire responsibility for accepting a compromise which he had once proposed to the British Government, and which had been rejected, and adopted the rather unusual course of asking the Senate for its advice in the premises, saying that his own opinions on the question were unchanged, and that if he were not advised to accept the proposition, he would reject it. The Senate, much perplexed, advised acceptance, the Whigs voting *See Bourne, "The Whitman Legend," American Historical Review for January, 1901. * Richardson, "Messages and Papers of the Presidents," vol. iv. p. 381. |