On May 13, 1846, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly voted in favor of President James K. Polk’s request to declare war on Mexico in a dispute over Texas. In the months after war was declared some questioned Polk's motives accusing the president of having goals of territorial expansion. In December of 1846, James K. Polk used his annual address to congress to layout the reasons for war. He squarely blamed the war on Mexico over both indemnity and aggression regarding the annexation of Texas. President Polk told congress and the American people that it was Mexico who waged war on America. After describing in great details the injurious actions of Mexico against America, and the revolutionary climate in Mexico,
Polk exclaimed, that on May 13th, we did not declare war with Mexico, but rather we officially recognized that war has already existed:
"Upon the commencement of hostilities by Mexico against the United States the indignant spirit of the nation was at once aroused. Congress promptly responded to the expectations of the country, and by the act of the 13th of May last recognized the fact that war existed, by the act of Mexico, between the United States and that Republic, and granted the means necessary for its vigorous prosecution. Being involved in a war thus commenced by Mexico, and for the justice of which on our part we may confidently appeal to the whole world, I resolved to prosecute it with the utmost vigor. Accordingly the ports of Mexico on the Gulf and on the Pacific have been placed under blockade and her territory invaded at several important points. The reports from the Departments of War and of the Navy will inform you more in detail of the measures adopted in the emergency in which our country was placed and of the gratifying results which have been accomplished."
Ultimately the war was over the annexation of Texas. Mexico claimed that Texas was not an independent nation with rights but rather Texas was "claimed as a revolted province of Mexico". In this same address to congress President Polk, laid out his argument for the annexation of Texas:
"The United States never attempted to acquire Texas by conquest. On the contrary, at an early period after the people of Texas had achieved their independence they sought to be annexed to the United States. At a general election in September, 1836, they decided with great unanimity in favor of "annexation," and in November following the Congress of the Republic authorized the appointment of a minister to bear their request to this Government. This Government, however, having remained neutral between Texas and Mexico during the war between them, and considering it due to the honor of our country and our fair fame among the nations of the earth that we should not at this early period consent to annexation"
Furthermore, Polk explained to congress that every effort to resolve the matter peacefully had been exhausted:
"Every honorable effort has been used by me to avoid the war which followed, but all have proved vain. All our attempts to preserve peace have been met by insult and resistance on the part of Mexico. My efforts to this end commenced in the note of the Secretary of State of the 10th of March, 1845, in answer to that of the Mexican minister. Whilst declining to reopen a discussion which had already been exhausted, and proving again what was known to the whole world, that Texas had long since achieved her independence"
Abraham Lincoln was one of those who questioned not only Polk's motives, but also called James K. Polk a liar. In 1848, Lincoln addressed the chairman of the house regarding the constitutionality of the war with these words:
"In [Polk's] message of Decr. 1846, it seems to have occurred to him, as is certainly true, that title--ownership--to soil, or any thing else, is not a simple fact; but is a conclusion following one or more simple facts; and that it was incumbent upon him, to present the facts, from which he concluded, the soil was ours, on which the first blood of the war was shed ... Now I propose to try to show, that the whole of this,--issue and evidence--is, from beginning to end, the sheerest deception.
My biggest problem with Polk's address is that he took so long to make a point, and oft the point was very confusing. But alas, Lincoln also felt the same way,
"His first item is, that the Rio Grande was the Western boundary of Louisiana, as we purchased it of France in 1803; and seeming to expect this to be disputed, he argues over the amount of nearly a page, to prove it true; at the end of which he lets us know, that by the treaty of 1819, we sold to Spain the whole country from the Rio Grande eastward, to the Sabine. Now, admitting for the present, that the Rio Grande, was the boundary of Louisiana, what, under heaven, had that to do with the present boundary between us and Mexico?"
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http://www.animatedatlas.com/mexwar/lincoln2.html
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