Sectional Interest During and After the Mexican War

With his strong urge to obtain Texas and California, President James Polk unknowingly ignited the fire that would eventually divide a nation. Desiring to bargain an agreement to change the definition of the Mexican border and to annex Texas to the United States, President Polk sent John Slidell to Mexico City. Slidell was to ask Mexico to recognize its northern border as the Rio Grande and not the Nueces River. Unfortunately for Polk, Slidell was not successful in negotiating with the Mexican government. Unfazed by the rejection of the Mexican authorities to his offer, President Polk sent General Zachary Taylor and over three thousand troops to the Rio Grande. On April 25, 1846, Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande River and attacked American troops. President Polk was outraged and demanded war for the loss of American blood on American soil. However, Abraham Lincoln, at the time a member of the House of Representatives, demanded to see the exact spot where American blood was spilt. Because of the sectional interest of New Englanders, southerners, and westerners, debate on the Mexican War and its aftermath was very crucial to the future of the young nation. Although Southerners were clearly for the war for the possibility of gaining land where slaves could be used for agriculture, New England was completely against it because its region wanted more free states, while the western states truly did not have a definite opinion.