



Produced by David Widger from page images generously
provided by The Internet Archive









HOW WE ROBBED MEXICO IN 1848

By Robert H. Howe

1916


[Illustration: 001]



|THERE is one page of our own history that our historians pass over
lightly and to which America cannot point with any feeling of pride,
but only with shame and disgrace. I refer to the Mexican war. When the
causes and results of that war are studied it can be readily understood
why the Mexicans hate us and why the rest of the South American
republics view us with suspicion.

Prior to the Mexican war the Nation was divided over the question of
chattel slavery. That form of property had been abolished north of the
Ohio river and Mason and Dixon line, but altho the South was still in
the saddle, it felt that its seat was by no means secure. At that time
the Nation consisted of 28 states, 14 of them free and 14 slave. States
were admitted to the Union practically in pairs--one free and one slave
state being admitted at the same time. This kept the United States
Senate equally divided. But the more rapid growth of the population in
the free states of the north threatened the political supremacy of the
slave holding power. Wisconsin was applying for admission, and further
west Minnesota, Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska loomed up as future free
states. Louisiana, admitted in 1812, was the western limit of slave
territory. Beyond Louisiana lay Mexico. Adventurers not only permitted,
but encouraged by the slave power, entered Mexico and joined in a
revolt against Mexico, and Texas was declared an independent state.
Negotiations were immediately begun, looking to the annexation of Texas
with the intention of dividing it into four states, and thus securing
the South with a new lease of power