Free American Blood by Jason Manning

appropriations bill for raising a volunteer army," said Sterling.
    "I did indeed, and I was not the only member of Congress who voted yes in spite of an aversion to war. As chairman of the Military Affairs Committee, I had a long discussion with the president. I told him I would vote men and money for defense of our territory, but not for open aggression against the Republic of Mexico. I also informed him that I strongly disapproved of marching Zachary Taylor's army to the left bank of the Del Norte, since I do not believe for a moment that the territory of the United States extends beyond the Nueces. Since I feel that way, how could I accept the president's contention that Mexico, by crossing the Del Norte and attacking our troopson the left bank, had invaded our territory and shed American blood on American soil?"
    While in New York City, Delgado had learned of the Del Norte fight—details had been plastered over the front pages of every penny press edition in town. The trouble had started with Texas winning her independence from Mexico in 1836. Captured at the Battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna had obliged the Texans with a pronouncement, given under duress, that the Del Norte, otherwise, known as the Rio Grande, marked the legitimate southern border of the new republic. With this, Santa Anna earned his release, and the pronouncement was promptly repudiated, not only by him but by the Mexican congress. As a Spanish and then a Mexican province, the boundary of Texas had never extended beyond the Nueces, much less to the Del Norte.
    American expansionists ardently asserted that both Jefferson and Madison had claimed that Texas did extend to the Del Norte, by virtue of the disputed territory's inclusion in the Louisiana Purchase. Those opposed to expansion pointed out that even if this were so, the United States had relinquished any claim it might have had to any part of Texas by the 1819 treaty in which Spain, in return, ceded East Florida.
    Even when, by joint resolution, Congress had voted to approve annexation of Texas, its language had been circumspect regarding the boundary, which was subject to "adjustment." Such diplomatic niceties were lost on President James Knox Polk. When Mexico made belligerent noises following the annexation, Polk promptly dispatched General Zachary Taylor to the vicinity ofthe Del Norte with orders to repel any "invasion" by Mexican forces.
    In this Polk was right or wrong depending on which paper a person happened to have on hand. The
New York Herald
applauded the president for such bold leadership, while the
Tribune
roundly denounced his actions as bald-faced aggression, and likened the chances of a Mexican invasion to that of a sparrow flying into the territory of a hawk to hold it in adverse possession. Mexico would have no better chance than the sparrow; that republic was rent by internal disorders. Great Britain, whose loans were keeping the Mexican government afloat, advised against war in the strongest possible terms.
    But the Mexican people were disgruntled; they disliked the passive stance of the Herrera government. A defiant army led by General Mariano Paredes threatened to take over if Mexico conducted any further negotiations with the land-hungry Yankees. Polk's minister plenipotentiary, John Slidell, carrying a portmanteau full of papers describing the grandiose ambitions of the United States, was rudely spurned in Mexico City. Finally, last April, a Mexican force had indeed crossed the Del Norte, attacking a patrol of American dragoons, killing three and taking the rest prisoner.
    "So why," persisted Sterling, addressing Thomas Hart Benton, "did you finally vote in the affirmative, Senator?"
    Benton grinned down the table at Jacob Bledsoe. "Shame on you, Jacob, for inviting a Whig newspaperman to a gathering of good ol' Democrats."
    Smiling, Bledsoe shrugged. He could tell Old Bullion was only half joking.
    "In answer to your question, sir," said Benton, "I voted for the