22 December 1847
Lincoln questions Polk’s war justification in the spot resolutions
U.S. House of Representatives; disputed Texas–Mexico border settlements
Abraham Lincoln introduced resolutions asking President Polk to identify the location where Mexican forces had shed American blood. His questions examined whether residents had accepted Texas or U.S. authority and whether U.S. troops had entered their settlement. The challenge disputed the territorial premise used to justify war.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
These were proposed questions, not adopted findings: the House did not act on the resolutions. They do not establish that all Whigs opposed financing the war or that Lincoln’s position represented every antiwar argument. The Mexican-community tag identifies the residents whose land and government were at issue.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 8, pp. 152–154; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- Lincoln, “Spot” Resolutions, December 22, 1847; printed text and editorial note 6, Papers of Abraham Lincoln ↗