Encourage all of you to see the exhibit. The relationship is intriguing. What i want to talk about today is my west most recent book, a wicked war polk, clay, lincoln, and the 1846 u. S. Invasion of mexico. The title is taken from a quote from ulysses s. Grant from late in his life. Grant looked back on everything he had done in his career. In his memoirs, he writes frankly about the experiences he had good and bad. It makes for good reading. One thing grant spent time thinking and talking about late in life was his role in the u. S. Mexico war of 1846. Grant said at the time, i do not think there was ever a more make it more more a wicked war waged by the United States against mexico at the time and i had not courage enough to resign. At the time, he was a lieutenant. I found that a moving quote and that is why i took it for my title. Grant was not alone in thinking the u. S. Invasion of mexico was somehow wicked. One thing i will talk about is the evolution of the American Public during the course of the war, which was not long by any means, from being enthusiastic and in favor of invading mexico to largely turning against the war. I see the u. S. Mexico war as the moment of americas First Antiwar Movement coming into being. There was antiwar sentiment during the revolution and certainly during the war of 1812 but that sentiment was limited. What you see in 1847 is a consensus across the board. People from different regions across the country soldiers in the field, officers, politicians, all the citing a war being waged in another country was wrong and protesting that war. I think that is an interesting moment in American History. It takes place in a war that people do not know much about. The u. S. Mexico war people dont write about it a lot. It does not have a good place in the historical imagination of americans. It is often confused with the Texas Revolution eight years before were ignored or ignored altogether. When historians to talk about the u. S. Mexico war, they tend to think about the war in relationship to the civil war. They narrate the u. S. Mexico war as the first stop on the road to secession, arguing the land that came from mexico at the close of the war was what caused sectionalism to heat up. In fact, that is true. You can look at the war is the moment the civil war became inevitable or you can look at it on its own terms, which is what i try to do in the book. What i was interested in doing when i wrote the book was to show the impact of the war on individuals and families. The u. S. Mexico war had the highest mortality rate of any american war. 15 of soldiers who served in mexico for the United States died. 78,000 troops served in mexico. It was a war that had a big impact on people at home. I wanted to write a narrative that explored how people in the United States and mexico, how the war impacted them and their families. Some of the people i talk about our abraham lincoln, who makes his first Major Political speech a speech i found was widely document and and discussed in newspapers. This first major speech in congress is about the u. S. Mexico war, condemning the war. Lincolns First Political stance on the National Stage is against the u. S. Mexico war. That is one person i talk about. Another personal talk about is john harding. He was part of an important family in jacksonville. For a time, he was the leading whig politician in illinois, not abraham lincoln. Some people have argued he makes lincolns half forward and wrote the presidency policy the less possible because he was under the shadow of harding until that happened. His family is deeply affected by the u. S. Mexico war. Let me tell you a little bit about the war. I am assuming like most people, you probably dont know much about it. The north American Invasion as it was known in mexico began with president when president james polk sent troops into a disputed area with the intention of starting a war. Polk wanted war. He was set on declaring war if the mexican army did not rise to debate. He found the mexican army had crossed the river and killed 14 sold to soldiers. Polk went to his cabinet and set i think we should declare war against mexico. His cabinet said we really cannot because the mexicans have not done anything. We sent 4000 american troops into land mexico thinks is theres, and we are waiting for something to happen and has not happened so cannot declare war yet. He finds out an incident happened two weeks before. News traveled slowly then. He went to congress on may 11, 1846, and stated mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, invaded our territory, and shut american blood on american soil. This was a lie. Everyone knew it was a lie. The wig party, the opposition party, lincolns party, everybody in congress new the land where the soldiers had been sent where the army was occupying him always been considered mexican land. A lot of congressmen write privately to each other after polk makes the statement that the idea this is american soil blood was shed on is dubious. The fact is everyone lines up in favor of his declaration of war. You cannot really call it a declaration of war. He says the war is already going on, lets send support to the troops. The whigs are afraid of looking unpatriotic. All but 14 members of Congress Vote in favor of declaring war against mexico. That is how the war start. The mexican war is short, 20 months total. Only 16 of those are actual fighting. As you will hear today, the war was not sure enough for the American People. It was marked by a number of stunning military successes by the United States, such as the battle of buena vista where 5000 u. S. Soldiers defeated an army under General Lopez the santa ana with 15,000 to 20,000 soldiers. The ratio is quite astounding. The fact of the matter is in almost every battle of the u. S. Mexico war, mexican troops greatly outnumbered u. S. Troops. Yet the u. S. Won every single military engagement in the war with the exception of one in california which americans prefer to think of a skirmish of as a skirmish rather than a battle. There were three theaters of the war. In the first stage of the war general taylor secured northern mexico with key victories including this one at buena vista in 1846 and 1847. The second theater, the general general kearny traveled from kansas through new mexico, concord new mexico and all the way to california. That happens about the same time. Unfortunately, neither of these tremendous victories bring what paul wants which is peace and the securing of texas and california into the american union. California refuses to surrender despite the victories. Polk decides to send general Winfield Scott to invade central exit code. He bombards aircrews and travels through central mexico securing the capital in the fall of 1847. In the eyes of americans, it was a foregone conclusion there side would win and easily because most citizens posted racist views of mexican men as being too lazy and cowardly to fight. In point of fact, mexican troops ought very hard as you can see in this rare print. Mexico produced few images of the war so it is great when you find one so you can get a sense of how they envisioned what was happening. Mexico lost all of these battles and ultimately the military side of the war because they had vastly inferior weapons. Their leadership was terrible. Mexicos government was in turmoil. They were broke. There were various battles where no money was making it to the army to support itself. Because hostile native american tribes in the north of mexico had so ravaged northern mexico that there was very little will to resist among a lot of mexican residents in the northern part of mexico. On the mexican side, most of the army was made up of conscripts who did not fight as hard as other mexican troops. On the u. S. Side, most soldiers were volunteers. That is an interesting thing about this war. At the start of the war, support for the war was so overwhelming in the midwest that many more men volunteered to fight them could that could be taken in volunteer regiments. Overwhelming enthusiasm for the war. The midwest provides the most troops fighting in midwest. A lot of people think it is the south. It is not. Missouri and illinois provide the most troops that go to fight in mexico. Nonetheless, support for the war was not universal at the beginning. Here we have a Campaign Poster for henry clay, the whig nominee in 1844. His opponent in 1844 was james k. Polk who ran on a platform of annexing texas and expansionism generally. Clay opposes annexing texas in 1844 because he believes it will report in war with mexico. I loved this poster when i discovered it. It is from a Campaign Appearance in indiana. If you look at the list why you should support henry clay from 1844, the first couple are typical week whig economic positions. The whigs are the party of Economic Development in the United States in the 1840s. When you get to the fourth reason, you can see are you for or against the annexation of texas . Are you for or against the assumption of texas debt . Are you for or against an unjust and disgraceful war with mexico . My favorite one, are you for or against national dishonor and disgrace . This is in 1844. This is what whigs will say. If you dont vote for henry clay, you will Bring National disgrace on the country and we will be in a war with mexico. Clearly, people could see the writing on the wall. In new england at the start of the war, antislavery sentiment was widespread and also antiwar sentiment. Early on in the war, the massachusetts house of representatives states the war is immoral and they will oppose it. A lot of new england intellectuals provide stringent critiques of the war. Ralph waldo emerson, henry david thoreau, all these people speak out against the war in strong terms. I think if opposition to the war had remained limited to new england, it would be interesting but not that different from what happened in the war of 1812. What you see happened is over the course of the work, new england stops being the only place where people protest the war actively and you begin to see a national Antiwar Movement grow. There were four main grounds upon which americans opposed the war. The first which you can see clearly in the poster is on the grounds of morality, that this was an unjust war which would Bring National dishonor on the United States. Congressman Joshua Giddings of ohio repeatedly warned the house of representatives that in order to be patriotic, people had to dissent from this aggressive, unjust, and unholy war. He said i can take no part now or hereafter. Giddings was strong in his opinions, that that is the kind of critique you see by march of 1847 when the United States bombarded the town of veracruz leading to the deaths of a lot of civilians. There was an antimexican war based on morality. The second grounds were on the grounds of slavery. Giddings was an abolitionist. It was not just abolitionist or people in new england who saw issues of slavery being important to the war. A lot of people felt if the United States did annex large portions of mexico, it would make slavery spread and make the slave power stronger. It was not just people in new england who held this view. Consider for a moment this popular print of the war. Maybe some of you have seen this. When you look at it, it is a neat image of the power of newspapers in the 1840s. This was by a wellknown and respected artist at the time. At first it looks like an image of people being enthusiastic about the war. They just got news about the war in their newspapers. In fact, the u. S. Mexico war was the first war where journalists traveled and were embedded with troops. Journalists traveled with the troops and wrote back stories. This is the first war where people are getting immediate news from a firsthand account from journalists traveling with the troops. Look at the image more closely. I should tell you woodville was from baltimore, not new england. Notice how he places slaves front and center of the image. I think what he is asking readers to think about the implications of slavery by putting the slaves in the front of the image. If you look to the edge, you can see a guy tossing a match into a barrel. He was sort of suggesting, what is mescalero mexico going to do except set off a firestorm . Another major critique had to do with what people saw as the impact of service in mexico on the american character. People argued the mexican war was making the american character worse. It was degrading american soldiers and turning them into the kind of people we did not want them to be. This critique became especially strong after reports of bad behavior by american troops made it into u. S. Newspapers. I see that happening about the middle of 1847. Particularly in northern mexico, the volunteers behaved extremely badly. They murdered civilians in the streets. They raped mexican women. There were reports of entire villages being burned down. General Zachary Taylor felt he could not control the volunteers. The volunteers were under the control of their own commanders, coming from their own towns and none of them seemed to abide by the kind of discipline taylor expected and got from the regulars in the army. There is one image of a massacre 25 mexican civilians by arkansas volunteers in northern mexico in february of 1847. This was painted by a soldier from illinois who claimed to see this massacre happened. He did not have to see it. It was reported all over the United States. They were taking revenge on the people of mexico for the murder of one of their own so they sort of indiscriminately touted a bunch of mexicans and killed them. This was a widely reported incident but by no means exceptional. A couple of weeks after this there was another massacre similar perpetrated by texans. When the American People read about this kind of behavior, it also helped turn them against the war. The st. Louis republican was a newspaper that when it heard about the massacre, in initially claimed it could not be true. They denied it. Once the newspaper got verification, it wrote to all of its readers, let us know longer complain about mexican barbarity. No act of inhuman cruelty perpetrated by the most desperate robbers can excel what was committed by our soldiers. This was running in an american paper. The fourth and perhaps most important reason the Antiwar Movement spreads and becomes a major force in america is basically races. Racism. A lot of americans felt the association with mexicans would not just corrupt american manhood, it also had the potential of degrading the United States altogether by watering down when americans believed to be there anglosaxon blood through the incorporations of mexicans. South carolinas greatest orator who was a Firm Believer in the importance of slavery in American Society was an active opponent of the war with mexico because he thought mexicans did not belong in the United States. He said i protest against the incorporation of such a people. Ours is the government of white men. Calvin was not alone. A lot of americans felt the land was desirable but having to take mexican people with it closed a problem for the United States. It was not just intellectual ministers and reformers making these critiques. One of the contributions my book makes is showing soldiers and officers played in the evolution of the Antiwar Movement. This brings me to colonel john harden a gentleman i already introduced you to and who i have come to know well after spending many hours with his family papers in chicago. Harden from jacksonville was a former we congressman he was part of a wealthy and prestigious kentucky family related to henry clay through marriage and blood. Very tightly woven kentucky aristocracy. Harden was the first man in illinois to volunteer to fight. He was volunteering to fight before the war started. He was writing letters to Stephen Douglas who even though he was a democrat was a good friend. Harden had a lot of military experience. He was an officer in the black hawk war and was in charge of kicking the mormons out of illinois. Harden was a big military guy also a political guy and he really wanted to fight mexico. He wrote letters to newspapers saying this is our greatest possible opportunity to gain california for the United States and if war is declared i will be at the front of the movement. And in fact, he was. Pardon is very excited about the possibility of taking a lot of mexican territory. Hes a big opponent of manifest destiny. When he gets to mexico, his views change quickly and dramatically. When he first gets to mexico, he writes in rapturous terms about potential silver mines he has heard about. He says the silver mines here are supposed to be the richest in mexico and were only abandoned by the ignorance of the mexicans. He said it would only require a little skill to make these mines valuable. He is excited and can see mexico in american hands. The longer he stays in mexico the less he likes it. Just a few months after he arrives, he wrote his law partner, there is not an acre in 500 hear a man in illinois would pay taxes on and the people of mexico were worse. I never seen a drunken mexican that is the only thing i can good thing i can say about them. They are a miserable race and is much slaves as the negroes of the south. They would make a miserable addition to any portion of the United States. To another friend he wrote a week later that the only difference between a p owns of the southwest color. He said a