NEGATIVE WAR REACTIONS
The Mexicans, as one would expect, were opposed to the war, but many American groups were as well for a variety of reasons including practicality, morality, and anti-Manifest Destiny (anti-imperialism).
"The United States may triumph--but its prize like that of the vulture, will be in a lake of blood."
A Mexican resistive sentiment (Herring 201).
Henry Clay, considered the founder of the Whig Party, deeply opposed the War.
Representative from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, a Whig until 1854, admired Clay and denounced the War.
Whigs
-Whigs did not support the War or westward expansion
-farmland in the west and the agrarian-liberty ideal would be useless and obsolete to industrial United States economy.
-claimed that change must be orderly: more land would lead to chaos and lack of structure.
-Conservative, therefore, not supportive of War
-farmland in the west and the agrarian-liberty ideal would be useless and obsolete to industrial United States economy.
-claimed that change must be orderly: more land would lead to chaos and lack of structure.
-Conservative, therefore, not supportive of War
"this is no war of [defense], but one of unnecessary offense and aggression"
-Henry Clay, speech on Mexican American War
-Henry Clay, speech on Mexican American War
-Abraham Lincoln, Representative from Illinois since 1846, was a Whig until 1854
-Speech to the House of Representatives: Lincoln said Polk declared war on Mexico unconstitutionally and all justification of war were folly.
-Said that Mexico (in disputed territory) had not invaded the USA; US dragoons had invaded the contested Mexican border and incited a skirmish
-Polk's wrongful justification of war and usurpation of Presidential powers
-Speech to the House of Representatives: Lincoln said Polk declared war on Mexico unconstitutionally and all justification of war were folly.
-Said that Mexico (in disputed territory) had not invaded the USA; US dragoons had invaded the contested Mexican border and incited a skirmish
-Polk's wrongful justification of war and usurpation of Presidential powers
Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure.
--Lincoln, letter to William H. Herndon
--Lincoln, letter to William H. Herndon
American Scholars
-Widely known transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, harshly criticized the imperial efforts of the United States in this war.
"Witness the present Mexican war,the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for, in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure."
--Henry David Thoreau in Civil Disobedience
--Henry David Thoreau in Civil Disobedience
Mexicans
-Mexicans saw Americans as racist towards Mexicans and Hispanics
-Even though some wanted to emulate America, Mexicans considered Manifest Destiny not a destiny, but a materialistic cause.
-The newspaper El Siglo XIX wrote on January 24th, 1845: "vitality is their God, and prosperity their dogma" (Diaz 2)
-Quote shows sarcastic Mexican view of Manifest Destiny.
-Mexico hated American imperialism, the so-called "Manifest Destiny"; it dishonored and made them inferior.
-Even though some wanted to emulate America, Mexicans considered Manifest Destiny not a destiny, but a materialistic cause.
-The newspaper El Siglo XIX wrote on January 24th, 1845: "vitality is their God, and prosperity their dogma" (Diaz 2)
-Quote shows sarcastic Mexican view of Manifest Destiny.
-Mexico hated American imperialism, the so-called "Manifest Destiny"; it dishonored and made them inferior.
Abolitionists and Pro-Slavery Advocates
-Abolitionists and pro-slavery advocates concerned with annexation of Texas, and possible upsetting of balance between slave and free states.
"Well. sir, what has been accomplished? ...not a single object contemplated has been affected; and, what is worse, our difficulties are greater now than they were then, and the objects, forsooth,more difficult to reach than they were before the campaign commenced"
John C. Calhoun, Conquest of Mexico speech
"Well. sir, what has been accomplished? ...not a single object contemplated has been affected; and, what is worse, our difficulties are greater now than they were then, and the objects, forsooth,more difficult to reach than they were before the campaign commenced"
John C. Calhoun, Conquest of Mexico speech
"It is certainly not a popular war; it was begun and is carried on against the deep moral convictions of the sober portion of the people; its real object, the extension and preservation of slavery"
William Lloyd Garrison, personal letter
William Lloyd Garrison, personal letter
