LAD/Blog #13: Polk's War Message

As an attempt to fix Mexico-American relations, President James K. Polk sent a diplomat to Mexico. Unfortunately, Mexico was unwilling to negotiate and proceeded to invade the United States, leading to the loss of American troops.

When a message was delivered to the Mexican minister of foreign affairs asking if a meeting to discuss diplomacy to amend disputes would be acceptable, the minister replied and agreed to meet an American diplomat by the name of John Slidell. This meeting most likely would have been successful if the Mexican government hadn't been seized by a military dictatorship, but, nevertheless, the dictatorship refused to accept the American envoy.

As a result of this governmental takeover, the Mexicans adopted a new aggressive foreign policy, making it near impossible for the U.S. to achieve complete peace with their neighbor to the south. Even today, the Mexicans have disregarded the established American borders and the issue of border control is still a highly debated topic.





President Polk's War Message reminded me of President Trump's message to Mexico in regard to foreign policy because both relate to issues on the subject of Mexico and the American southern border.