7. James K. Polk and the War with Mexico
Throughout the first year of his administration, 1845, James Polk prepared for a war with Mexico, dispatching troops to a disputed portion of the border area between Texas, which had been annexed as a state, and Mexico. When forces under Zachary Taylor became involved in a skirmish largely of their own making, American troops were killed and Polk presented his war message to Congress as recognizing that a state of war already existed. His message and his version of how events had transpired were disputed by Whigs in Congress, including Abraham Lincoln. One Congressman claimed that, “It is our own President who began this war”.
Polk was also a vocal opponent of the federal government undertaking or funding internal improvements such as roads, canals, and the growing railroads, despite Congress passing bills for that purpose. He either vetoed them on constitutional grounds or exercised the pocket veto, which meant he did not have to send a message to Congress describing his reasons. At the end of his, Presidency Congress outmaneuvered the lame-duck President, sending to his desk a bill which established the Department of the Interior. Polk opposed the bill but lacked sufficient time remaining in office to establish a means of establishing constitutional grounds to veto it, and with the knowledge that his successor would sign it, Polk signed it into law.