2004-8-4
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the
Voice of America.
(MUSIC)
In the middle eighteen-forties, the United States offered to buy
California from Mexico. The government of Mexico refused to
negotiate. American President James Polk felt that the use of force
was the only way to make Mexico negotiate. So, in the spring of
eighteen-forty-six, he ordered American soldiers to the Rio Grande
River. The Rio Grande formed part of the border between the United
States and Mexico.
VOICE TWO:
General Zachary Taylor commanded the American force. He sent one
of his officers across the river to meet with Mexican officials. The
Mexicans protested the movement of the American troops to the Rio
Grande. They said the area was Mexican territory. The movement of
American troops there, they said, was an act of war.
For almost a month, the Americans and the Mexicans kept their
positions. Then, on April twenty-fifth, General Taylor received word
that a large Mexican force had crossed the border a few kilometers
up the river. A small force of American soldiers went to
investigate. They were attacked. All were killed, wounded, or
captured. General Taylor quickly sent a message to President Polk in
Washington. It said war had begun.
VOICE ONE:
The message arrived at the White
House on May ninth. A few days later, President Polk asked Congress
to recognize that war had started. He asked Congress to give him
everything he needed to win the war and bring peace to the area. A
few members of Congress did not want to declare war against Mexico.
They believed the United States was responsible for the situation
along the Rio Grande. They were out-voted. President Polk signed the
war bill. Later, Polk wrote:
"We had not gone to war for conquest. But it was clear that in
making peace we would, if possible, get California and other parts
of Mexico."
VOICE TWO:
Many Americans opposed what they called "Mr. Polk's war." Whig
Party members and Abolitionists in the north believed that
slave-owners and southerners in Polk's administration had planned
the war. They believed the south wanted to win Mexican territory for
the purpose of spreading and strengthening slavery.
President Polk was troubled by this opposition. But he did not
think the war would last long. He thought the United States could
quickly force Mexico to sell him the territory he wanted. Polk
secretly sent a representative to former Mexican dictator Santa Ana.
Santa Ana was living in exile in Cuba. Polk's representative said
the United States wanted to buy California and some other Mexican
territory. Santa Ana said he would agree to the sale, if the United
States would help him return to power.
VOICE ONE:
President Polk ordered the United States navy to let Santa Ana
return to Mexico. American ships that blocked the port of Vera Cruz
permitted the Mexican dictator to land there. Once Santa Ana
returned, he failed to honor his promises to Polk. He refused to end
the war and sell California. Instead, Santa Ana organized an army to
fight the United States.
American General Zachary Taylor moved against the Mexicans. He
crossed the Rio Grande River. He marched toward Monterrey, the major
trading and transportation center of northeast Mexico. The battle
for Monterrey lasted three days. The Mexicans surrendered.
VOICE TWO:
Then General Taylor got orders to send most of his forces back to
the coast. They were to join other American forces for the invasion
of Vera Cruz. While this was happening, Santa Ana was moving his
army north. In four months, he had built an army of twenty-thousand
men. When General Taylor learned that Santa Ana was preparing to
attack, he left Vera Cruz. He moved his forces into a position to
fight Santa Ana.
VOICE ONE:
Santa Ana sent a representative to meet with General Taylor. The
representative said the American force had one hour to surrender.
Taylor's answer was short: "Tell Santa Ana to go to hell."
The battle between the United States and Mexican forces lasted
two days. Losses were heavy on both sides. On the second night,
Santa Ana's army withdrew from the battlefield. Taylor had won
another victory.
VOICE TWO:
Other American forces were victorious, too. General Winfield
Scott had captured the port of Vera Cruz and was ready to attack
Mexico City. Commodore Robert Stockton had invaded California and
had raised the American flag over the territory.
Stephen Kearny had seized Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico,
without firing a shot. Still, the war was not over. President Polk's
"short" war already had lasted for more than a year. Polk decided to
send a special diplomatic representative to Mexico. He gave the
diplomat the power to negotiate a peace treaty whenever Mexico
wanted to stop fighting.
VOICE ONE:
A ceasefire was declared. But attempts to negotiate a peace
treaty failed. Santa Ana tried to use the ceasefire to prepare for
more fighting. So General Scott ended the ceasefire. His men began
their attack on Mexico City. The fighting lasted one week. The
government of Mexico surrendered. Santa Ana stepped down as
president. Manuel de la Pena y Pena -- president of the supreme
court -- became acting president.
VOICE TWO:
On February second, eighteen-forty-eight, the United States and
Mexico signed a peace treaty. Mexico agreed to give up California
and New Mexico. It would recognize the Rio Grande River as the
southern border of Texas. The United States would pay Mexico
fifteen-million dollars. It also would pay more than three-million
dollars in damage claims that Mexico owed American citizens.
The terms of the treaty were those set by President Polk. Yet he
was not satisfied with just California and New Mexico. He wanted
even more territory. But he realized he probably would have to fight
for it. And he did not think Congress would agree to extend the war.
So polk sent the peace treaty to the Senate. It was approved. The
mexican Congress also approved it. The war was officially over.
VOICE ONE:
The United States now faced the problem of what to do with the
new lands. President Polk wanted to form territorial governments in
California and New Mexico. He asked Congress for immediate
permission to do that. But the question of slavery delayed quick
congressional action. Should the new territories be opened or closed
to slavery. Southerners argued that they had the right to take
slaves into the new territories. Northerners disagreed. They opposed
any further spread of slavery. The real question was this: did
Congress have the power to control or bar slavery in the
territories.
VOICE TWO:
Until Texas became a state, almost all national leaders seemed to
accept the idea that Congress did have this power. For fifty years,
Congress had passed resolutions and laws controlling slavery in
United States territories. Northerners believed Congress received
the power from the constitution. Southern slave owners disagreed.
They believed the power to control slavery remained with the states.
VOICE ONE:
There were some who thought the earlier Missouri Compromise could
be used to settle the issue of slavery in California, Oregon, and
New Mexico. They proposed that the line of the Missouri Compromise
be pushed west, all the way to the Pacific Coast. Territory north of
the line would be free of slavery. South of the line, slavery would
be permitted.
Everyone agreed that governments had to be organized in the
territories. But there seemed to be no way to settle the issue of
slavery. Then a Senator from Delaware agreed to be chairman of a
special committee on the question of slavery in the new territories.
The Senate committee included four Whigs and four Democrats. North
and south were equally represented. Within six days, the committee
had agreed on a compromise bill. That will be our story next week.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Maurice Joyce and Larry
West. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.