Abraham Lincoln and president polk??

Question

Abraham Lincoln charged that President Polk was not justified in requesting congressional authorization for war with Mexico because

a. he had failed to make any attempt to purchase land from Mexico before using force
b. Texas could adequately defend itself against Mexico
c. he had provoked a Mexican attack by moving American troops onto land claimed by Mexico
d. he had launched an offensive war against Mexico without any provocation
e. there was much opposition in Congress to acquiring any territory from Mexico.

Answer 1

C, absolutely. Lincoln made that the CENTRAL point in his House speech against Polk's action on January 12, 1848.

That should be clear from the following slips and summary from the beginning of his speech (see link at the end for the full text of his speech):

". . . of the vote given a week or ten days ago, declaring that the war with Mexico was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the President [Polk]. . . . I am one of those who joined in that vote. . . "

Lincoln then states that he will explain exactly WHY he joined that vote.

"The President, in his first war message of May 1846, DECLARES THAT THE SOIL WAS OURS ON WHICH HOSTILITIES WERE COMMENCED BY MEXICO; and he repeats that declaration, almost in the same language, in each successive annual message, thus showing that HE ESTEEMS THAT POINT, A HIGHLY ESSENTIAL ONE. In the importance of that point, I entirely agree with the President. To my judgment, IT IS THE VERY POINT, UPON WHICH HE SHOULD BE JUSTIFIED, OR CONDEMNED."

Lincoln claims Polk misrepresented the whole matter....

"A true issue, made by the President, would be about as follows "I say, the soil was ours, on which the first blood was shed; there are those who say it was not."

"I now proceed to examine the Presidents evidence, as applicable to such an issue. When that evidence is analized, it is all included n the following propositions:

1. That the Rio Grande was the Western boundary of Louisiana as we purchased it of France in 1803.
2. That the Republic of Texas always claimed the Rio Grande, as her Western boundary.
3. That by various acts, she had claimed it on paper.
4. That Santa Anna, in his treaty with Texas, recognised the Rio Grande, as her boundary.
5. That Texas before, and the U. S. after, annexation had exercised jurisdiction beyond the Nueces--between the two rivers.
6. That our Congress, understood the boundary of Texas to extend beyond the Nueces.

Lincoln then lays out evidence that each of these is either untrue or irrelevant.

http://www.animatedatlas.com/mexwar/lincoln2.html

Answer 2

The answer is most likely C. However, every history book is different so I strongly advise you to look this one up.

In 1846 President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor's army to advance to the Rio Grande River. Mexico had never recognized the United States' 1845 annexation of Texas, and skirmishes followed the arrival of Taylor's force. Lincoln opposed the resulting war, which he thought a contest Polk provoked as a vote-getting device. Lincoln contended that the disputed territory between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande only belonged to Texas where her jurisdiction had been clearly established, and he did not think it extended to the Rio Grande.
Lincoln opposed the war because he believed the war was wrong for America. The President's stated reasons for the war were, Lincoln said, a pack of lies, and the war itself a violation of American principles and the Constitution itself.
What compelled Lincoln to speak, he said, was President Polk's mis-statement of the support the war received in the House. According to Lincoln, Polk had taken a vote in the House for war supplies to be an endorsement of the war itself. So, Lincoln said, the support for the war in Congress was not as strong as Polk made it out to be, and Lincoln would not stand idly by and be misrepresented.

Answer 3

The answer seems to be “c” although it should be pointed out that this was land also claimed by the US. Lincoln and other Whigs did not want to start a war over this land as it would possibly add territory to the slaveholding South.