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Johnson, Andrew : The Veto Power and the Mexican War. Speech of Hon. A. Johnson, of Tennessee, in the House of Representatives, August 2, 1848

Printed at the Office of Blair & Rives., Washington, D.C.

Original publisher's beige paper wrappers. Text printed in black ink. No date, circa 1848. 5 3/4" x 9." Seven pages, complete. Pages are very clean and intact except for light age toning, small occasional spots of foxing or discoloration, slight offsetting, and slight chipping and splitting along spine. A Very Good copy. A speech that was originally delivered before the United States House of Representatives on August 2, 1848 by Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), an American politician, the 17th U.S. President, and the 16th U.S. Vice President. He was Vice President to President Abraham Lincoln and became President following Lincoln's assassination. He also served as a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1843-1853, the 15th Governor of Tennessee from 1853-1857, and a U.S. Senator from Tennessee from 1857-1862 and in 1875. He was a Democrat. In this speech, Johnson defends the presidential veto power and gives a brief history of its origins. For the rest of his speech, Johnson discusses the Mexican-American War and places the blame on the Whigs. He traces the war's inception to the administration of President John Tyler, a Whig, and further admonishes the Whig Party for the continued prosecution of the war. In particular, Johnson opposes the candidacy of Zachary Taylor, the Whig nominee for the 1848 presidential election, and argues that he was instrumental in the prosecution of the very war the Whigs opposed. Many Whig politicians had opposed the Mexican-American War and argued that Taylor had simply followed the orders of President James K. Polk when the former marched his troops from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande. However, Johnson cites the actions of Lord Effingham, a British soldier who resigned his military commission because he believed that the war in which he was called to serve was unjust. Johnson contends that if Taylor had similarly felt that the Mexican-American War was unjust (as was the overall consensus of the Whig Party), then he should have resigned his commission. Toward the end of his speech, Johnson also denounces the public critiques made by Whig politicians about Polk and the U.S. involvement in the war and accuses them of aiding the enemy (Mexico) by boosting its morale through their criticism of the president and the war.. Book. Book Condition: Very Good. Binding: Soft cover

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