The interposition of our Government to obtain redress was
again and again invoked under circumstances which no nation ought to
disregard. It was hoped that these outrages would cease and that Mexico
would be restrained by the laws which regulate the conduct of civilized
nations in their intercourse with each other after the treaty of amity,
commerce, and navigation of the 5th of April, 1831, was concluded
between the two Republics; but this hope soon proved to be vain. The
course of seizure and confiscation of the property of our citizens, the
violation of their persons, and the insults to our flag pursued by
Mexico previous to that time were scarcely suspended for even a brief
period, although the treaty so clearly defines the rights and duties of
the respective parties that it is impossible to misunderstand or mistake
them. In less than seven years after the conclusion of that treaty our
grievances had become so intolerable that in the opinion of President
Jackson they should no longer be endured. In his message to Congress in
February, 1837, he presented them to the consideration of that body, and
declared that--
The length of time since some of the injuries have been committed, the
repeated and unavailing applications for redress, the wanton character
of some of the outrages upon the property and persons of our citizens,
upon the officers and flag of the United States, independent of recent
insults to this Government and people by the late extraordinary Mexican
minister, would justify in the eyes of all nations immediate war.
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