On this day in 1846,

U.S. DECLARES WAR ON MEXICO

On this day in 1846, the U.S. declared war on Mexico because of a dispute over the southern border of Texas.  Most Whigs (later Republicans) opposed the war, including congressmen Abraham Lincoln and John Quincy Adams, while most Democrats, who represented the slave states, were in favor of the war because they wanted to acquire more land to expand slavery.  This was the first war covered by independent journalists, who were mostly in favor of the war.  The war lasted almost two years and was settled by establishing the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas, Mexico ceding New Mexico and California to the U.S., the U.S. paying Mexico $15,000,000, and the U.S. agreeing to resolve all claims of U.S. citizens against Mexico.  Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, George Meade, James Longstreet, and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson all fought on behalf of the U.S.