FEATURED ESSAYS 1. The Witness 2. The Witness 3. Creative Writing: American Dream 4. Creative Story: Joel's Dream 5. Joel Poinsett 6. Joel Poinsett 7. Go Ask Alice 8. Go Ask Alice 9. Go Ask Alice! 10. Go Ask Alice 2 11. Phsyslogical Thriller The 6th Sen... 12. A Great Heron 13. The Sixth Sense 14. The Maltese Falcon

Joel Poinsett

In 1825 President John Quincy Adams appointed Joel Poinsett as the first
U.S. minister to Mexico. His first assignment was to persuade the Mexican
government to sell the U.S. the province of Texas, thus continuing the
rapid expansion of the American democracy. The United States continued to
pursue Texas with little success for the next 20 years. It was not until
December 1845 when the U.S. finally annexed Texas by a joint resolution
(and thus simple majority) . Immediately following the Texas acquisition,
and with U.S.-Mexico relations swiftly deteriorating, the U.S. wanted the
Mexican province of California, mainly for her harbours San Frasisco and
San Diego. The American policy towards Mexico which ensued in the following
years was governed almost exclusively by President James Polk's personal
opinions and actions, as well as Nicholas Trist's defiant behavior; a
manifestation of the state-centric theory in which key individual decision
makers govern policy. In addition, Polk's policies were secondarily
influenced by the consideration of relative power, American mass ideology,
and Public opinion. In 1845 President Polk began, cofidentially from the
public, considering the annexation of California. Polk's initial desire was
to simply purchase California, attempting to maintain peace. He soon
learned this would be impossible. When Polk ordered General Taylor to cross
the Nueces River and eventually to fortify on the Rio Grande, he fully
understood the possilble consequences of these actions. In fact, by
deploying Taylor and his troops, Polk putting a slow squeeze on the
Mexicans which would leave them with no other option than to strike back.
Polk waited for the initial attack to be made by the Mexicans and then
struck back. Polk claimed that American blood had been spilled on American
soil, thus garnering enough public and congressional support to declare war
on Mexico safe from domestic unrest. Norman Graebner states that, " Polk
was too astute a politician to favor any cause until public opinion had
crystallized "1 Although the war decleration contained no reference to the
territorial conquest, Polk's persaonal diary conveys his clandestine
intentions of acquiring the much coveted California as well as New Mexico.
The intentions of the President to occupy Mexico undoubtedly took into
consideration public opinion, but the most prominent reason for the
decleration of war was Polk's belief that california was a strong economic
and militarily strategic addition to the U.S. Secretary of Navy George
Bancraft noted that the acquisition of California was among Polk's top four
priorities from the outset of his administration, however, Polk had kept
this under wraps. Glenn Price also points out that, "...the Mexican War was
a result of President Polk utilizing Texas as a means to achieve annexation
of California. "2 It is quite evident that Polk may have been following his
own personal agenda in regards to acquiring Mexican territories, and
beginning a war to do so.

Unquestionably the most important domestic issue in the years prior to the
American Civil War was slavery. John C. Calhoun recognized that, ...if the
treaty ending the conflict was silent on the subject of slavery in the
ceded territory, the North will oppose it, and if it should prohibit
slavery the South would, and in either event there would be a
constitutional majority.