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Brown, Albert Gallatin : The War with Mexico. Speech of Hon. A. G. Brown, of Mississippi, in the House of Representatives, February 10, 1848, In Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, on the Bill to authorize a Loan not exceeding eighteen million five hundred thousand dollars

Printed at the Congressional Globe Office, Washington, D.C.

Original publisher's beige paper wrappers. Text printed in black ink. No date, circa 1848. 5 3/4" x 9." Eight pages, complete. Pages are very clean and intact overall except for light age toning, moderate foxing, some chipping and splitting along spine, and small dampstains limited to margins at tail of spine. A Very Good copy. A speech originally delivered before the United States House of Representatives on February 10, 1848 by Albert Gallatin Brown (1813-1880), an American politician. He was a Democrat. Brown served as the 14th Governor of Mississippi from 1844-1848, a U.S. Representative from Mississippi from 1839-1841 and 1847-1853, and a U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1854-1861. After Mississippi seceded during the Civil War, Brown was a Confederate States Senator from Mississippi from 1862-1865. Brown was a slaveholder and a staunch proponent of the expansion of slavery. He was quoted as saying that he wanted a "foothold" in Central America for the express purpose of "planting or spreading of slavery" there. In this speech, Brown voices his support for President James K. Polk, the Mexican-American War, and the loan bill in question that would further finance the war. In a relatively chronological manner, Brown argues his positions regarding the different stages of the Mexican-American War and the events leading up to it. First, Brown responds to George Perkins Marsh, a Congressman from Vermont whose speech directly preceded his, and agrees him in that the "annexation of Texas was the cause of the war" and that said annexation had no "just cause." However, Brown is adamant that the U.S. did not commence the war nor did Polk. Brown argues that Polk was simply doing the bidding of the people, a large number of which supported the war. He also points out the apparent belligerence of Mexico and how she had dismissed the American envoy, John Slidell, on the simple grounds that he, by title, was an envoy, not a commissioner as Mexico had requested. Brown also references General Zachary Taylor and defends his decision to recommend troops be marched to the Rio Grande from Corpus Christi. Overall, Brown argues the following perspective: that the U.S. had legitimately annexed Texas even if the cause was not just; the border of Texas was the Rio Grande, not the Nueces; the U.S. had a right to march troops to the Riog Grande; Mexico was being uncooperative and provoked the U.S. when the U.S. had made sincere gestures toward peace; and that the U.S. had no choice but to enter the war following the provocations by Mexico. In addressing the loan bill, Brown states at the end of his speech, "I will vote for a loan, I will vote for treasury notes, and for a tax on tea and coffee; I will vote for men, regulars and volunteers; in short, sir, I will vote for anything and everything that may be needed to prosecute this war to such a conclusion as the Government can accept without dishonor. My constituents will sustain me in this. ... Their motto has ever been, "'Our country--may she be always right; but right or wrong, our country.'". Book. Book Condition: Very Good. Binding: Soft cover

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