The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-06-04

er's candidate for the presidency.
When Polk went to Washington, as
the spokesman of the West and Sou1n,
and tool up the reins OF government.
he invited Walker to a principal seat
in the cabinet and began at once the
execution of the decree of the peo-
pie who seemed to him to have SAID
all of Texas, all of Oregon. Ana
in his simple-minded loyalty to MS
party pledges he gave no heed TO
threats of war on the part OF Eng
land. The country had said, carry
out your program: II that meant
war with all Europe, it was not MS
affair. Calhoun, a more experienced
politician, looked upon this simple
procedure as an example of the most
dangerous Western tendencies; he
had thought that platforms were
mad to win elections, not to GUIDE
the course OF statesmen when in OF
flee, and perhaps some MODERN leaders
have felt the same way to their IN
doing.
But the West was in earnest and
the declaration Of war which the
President managed to get Mexico TO
| provoke was to al the great valley
Of the Mississippi a call to arms or
the most urgent character. With a
population Of 400, 900 in 1850. the
Northw est sent nearly 25 900 soldiers
to the front, while h whole North,
from Maryland to Maine, with a popu-
lation of $500, 600, furnished only IL
900. The Southwest, including Ken
lucky and Missouri, had, according
to the same census, 4,985,O00 people,
OF whom at least one-thlrd were
negroes; bat from these lower MlsS,S-
sippi States, there were more than
$4,000 soldiers. OF the total number
of volunteers, 69,54O, at least 10000
were from the strictly Western States
and 1890 were from the sparsely set
tied Northwest, mainly Illinois and
Indiana; while from all the Northern
States, with q population twice as
great and wealth many times greater,
only 1890 volunteers offered. Plain
ly the interest in the Mexican war
was In the West and South and more
in the former than in the latter.
1t was not merely the question Of
Texas hat set all these troops in
motion. The West wanted most or
all of Mexico, and their leaders had
been bred to a hatred of England and
a desire for the annexation of Canada,
which caused them to seize upon any
opportunity h a gave promise of ex-
pansiOn northWard or to the north
west. And there was still another
reason. The West loved the Union;
it was to the interest of this section
u 1ONo lIlc cOcTdi 0OFcTIlI1leflt -
favorite theory of theirs had come
down to them from Jefferson, that, as
the number Of States increased, the
stability Of the Union was the more
certain. Walker had not miscalcu-
lated when he urged in his pamph-
let, las you augment the number OF
States, the bond of union Is stronger
The men who drew the program al
Baltimore believed that the United
States chn,,1d orhYoco fho whn1c
area Of North America, and wher
the Calhoun treaty was still pending
before the Senate, Walker, Allen, OF
Ohio; Breeze, of Illinois; Bagby, OF
Alabama, and Fulton Of Arkansas
tried to pick a quarrel with England
the nation which stood in the way o!
this extravagant expansion in order
views. England was known to bt
interested in California, in northern
Mexico and Texas, and desirous O.
holding the Pacific coast from Alask:
to the Gulf Of California. The adito,
of the greatest paper in illinois SAL
as early as December 27, 1874: -
war shall ensue, let it not close uI>ti
the empire Of Mexico, as we'll a
Texas, is added to the territory Of IN,
Union; and the broad continent onl,
limit the domains Of the Unite'
States from east to west Will
Long John Wentworth, then clos
to the President-elect, wrote to hi
paper, the Chicago Democrat. in tn
early days Of March, 1S45, that "th
United States must possess Cali
%fornia.' And during the autumn O
1876 and the first half of 1S47 tn
purposes and ambitions of the lead
ers of the West became clearer Still
At first there was a fear of Englan'
which only an almost unanimous feel
ing hat the Pacific coast, all the wa
to Alaska, must become American en-
abled the politicians to overcome
Next came the demand for all tn
; upper part Of Mexico, of which tn
Illinois State Register declared, "a
the foreign buster on earth shOul
not be allowed to deprive US. Thi
sentiment grew as the months passe
: until the whole West seemed com
mitted to the policy of a complet
: ACKNOWLEDGMENT Of Mexico; and tn
I leading Eastern organs of public opir
{ ion one after another took I'M tn