Note 16 — VI THE AMERICAN ATTITUDE ON THE EVE OF WAR 1845

Comm. Bulletin, Mar. 17, 1842. (Wealth) Smith, Annex. of Texas, 49. (Willing) Tribune, May 11, 1845. 210I. E. Holmes to Hammond, May 10, 1846 (The Westerners want to despoil the churches and plantations). (Letter) Globe, Aug. 25, 1845. News in Mobile Herald and Tribune, Sept. 7, 1845. The Whigs were of course inclined on partisan grounds to denounce the Democratic party and the administration for every sign of hostility to Mexico, and to maintain that if the Texas policy of their candidate for the Presidency, Henry Clay, had been followed there would have been no danger of war. Indeed, it would seem at first sight as if they could have found no logical escape from this position. But they were able to say, particularly in the south: We opposed immediate annexation; we predicted that it would cause trouble with Mexico; but the country voted that way, and now as patriotic Americans we accept the consequences. Sentiment in favor of fighting Mexico was by no means confined to the Democrats.