Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/375

 POLK

POLK

of the treasury; William L. Marcy of New York, secretary of war; George Bancroft of Massa- chusetts, secretary of the navy; Cave Johnson of Tennessee, postmaster-general, and Jolin Y. Mason of Virginia, attorney-general. The only changes in the cabinet during the administration were in the navy department, where Mr. Bancroft was

THE WHITE. HOUSE - ISSO.

succeeded in 1846 by John Y. Mason, and in the attorney-general's office, where Mr. Mason was succeeded in 1846 by Nathan Clifford of Maine, who was in turn succeeded in 1848 by Isaac Toucey of Connecticut. The President appointed as U.S. minister to Great Britain, Louis McLane of Maryland, who resigned, Aug. 18, 1846, and was succeeded by George Bancroft. John L. Martin of North Carolina was made U.S. charge d'affaires at Paris, and was succeeded in 1847 by Richard Rush of Pennsylvania as U.S. minister. William H. Stiles of Georgia served as charge d'affaires at Vienna, Austria; Ralph I. Ingersoll of Con- necticut as U.S. minister to Russia, resigning in 1848 and being succeeded by Arthur P. Bagby of Alabama; Romulus M. Saunders of North Caro- lina as U.S. minister to Spain, and JohnSlidell of Louisiana, U.S. minister to Mexico. During Pre- sident Polk's administration he appointed the following justices of the U.S. supreme court: Samuel Nelson of New York and Levi Woodbury of New Hampshire in 1845, and Robert C. Grier of Pennsylvania in 1846. In the President's first annual message to congress, Dec. 2, 1845, he de- clared that any attempt on the part of Mexico to interfere in the matter of the annexation of Texas to the United States would be resented by the government; recommended the speedy settle- ment of the Oregon boundary question; called the attention of congress to the importance of modifying and reducing the rates of duty im- posed by the tariff laws, and recommended that a constitutional treasury be created for the safe keeping of the public money. On Dec. 20, 1845, John Slidell, U.S. minister to Mexico, was ap- prised that the Mexican government could not receive a minister from the United States, and on Jan. 13, 1846, an order was issued to Gen, Zachary Taylor, directing him to advance to- ward the Rio Grande and to be ready for an open act of hostility. Taylor reached Point Isabel, VIII. — 23

Jan. 24, 1846, where he was met by a deputation who protested against liis advance into the coun- try. This he ignored, however, and on March 28, 1846, he took position opposite Matamoras on the Rio Grande. On April 24, learning that the Mexi- cans were crossing the river above his camp, he sent Captain Thornton with a company of dragoons to reconnoiter. Thornton, however, fell into the hands of a large force of Mexicans, and his whole company was either killed or impri- soned. This was the first engagement of the war, and on May 11, 1846, the President issued his " Mexican war message," calling on twelve states and the District of Colum- bia for 23,000 volun- teers, asking for a loan of $10,000,000 to carry on the war, and for an appropriation of §2,000,000 to be used in an amicable settlement of difficul- ties with Mexico by arbitration. Congress passed an act. May

13, 1846, declaring war with Mexico. General Taylor, meanwhile, was attacked at Palo Alto, and although greatly outnumbered, defeated the Mexicans under General Arista, and on May 9, followed this up by a victory at Resaca de la Palma, which drove Arista across the Rio Grande into Mexico. On Sept. 5 he moved toward Monterey; on the 21st the attack on the place began, and on the 24th the Mexi- cans capitulated, and Taylor took possession of the city. The conquest of California and New Mexico was begun in May, 1846, by the Army of the West under Gen. Stephen W. Kearny, and on Aug. 18, 1846, the army reached Santa Fe, which immediately capitulated without defence, and Kearny declared New Mexico a territory of the United States. In January, 1847, an insurrec- tion took place in New Mexico, and Governor Bent and other officers of the government were murdered, Jan. 19, 1847, by Mexicans and Puebla Indians, but it was put down after a fight at Puebla de Saos by the armj' under Col. Sterling Price, who had the leaders of the insurrection convicted of treason. President Polk, ho%vever, ordered their liberation. In the President's second annual message, Dec. 8, 1846, he set forth clearly the causes and responsibility for the war with Mexico, and favored the further prosecu- tion of the war, arguing that California, New Mexico, and a considerable territory west of the Rio Grande had been conquered, and that any