that the adventurer would satisfy a dream of his by bringing Nicaragua under U.S. protection, thus permitting him to build a canal through it to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Many diplomats dismissed the president’s criticism of Walker and viewed Buchanan’s dreams about Nicaragua as sinister. British diplomat Charles Wyke wrote, “President Buchanan by word of mouth always condemned Walker’s expeditions, and yet his government imbued with Southern ideas, took no effectual means to prevent vessel after vessel crowded with armed men from leaving their ports.” 634
The president had an opportunity to use the army to seize large sections of northern Mexico in January 1858, when he was urged to do so by John Forsyth, the U.S. minister there. Several Americans had been killed in Mexico, including three doctors, as Mexico’s government changed hands that month. Then the new head of state, General Felix Zuloaga, who had ousted the elected president, announced that he was taxing all of America’s property and assets in Mexico.
Forsyth urged the president to attack Mexico and seize and annex one of its large northern states, Sonora, using the deaths of the Americans and the new taxes as a pretext. Wrote Forsyth, “You want Sonora? The American blood spilled near its line would justify you in seizing it…” 635
Buchanan wanted to do just that, but for another reason, one that he thought the Congress and people would applaud. The legitimate government of Mexico, forced out by Zuloaga, had reconstituted itself at the city of Vera Cruz, with General Juarez, the former chief justice and second in line for the presidency under the Mexican Constitution, as its head. Buchanan told Congress that the two governments had made Mexico weak. He said the country was “a wreck upon the ocean, drifting about as she is impelled by different factions.” That made her ripe for takeover by a foreign power, probably France, and that foreign power would pose a threat to the United States. Buchanan asked the Senate for permission to not only send the army to support the Juarez government, but take over northern Mexico. He told the senators that it was America’s responsibility “to assume a temporary protectorate over the northern portions of Chihuahua and Sonora, and to establish military posts within the same.” The Senate rejected his plea and would reject another suggestion in 1859 to send troops to Mexico to protect Americans living there and his 1860 plan to station troops in that country permanently to assist the government, whose officials claimed they faced a revolution. 636
The president’s actions to stop Walker upheld his direct military noninterference policy, but his naval action against Paraguay in December 1858 sent a signal to the nation and the world that perhaps he had changed his mind. The president certainly talked tough about his intentions in Paraguay. He told Congress, “Should our commissioner prove unsuccessful, after a sincere and earnest effort to accomplish the object of his mission, then no alternative will remain but the employment of force to obtain ‘just satisfaction’ from Paraguay.” 637
The Paraguayans understood the full meaning of his words in Washington and his warships in Buenos Aires. The Americans received everything they wanted in the ensuing talks with the government and the U.S. warships sailed home. The president used the incident to send several messages to his own country and the world. First, he wanted to gobble up as much of the world as he could; second, he would defend the Monroe Doctrine against any nation, ensuring American rights, and, third, he hoped his buccaneering in foreign affairs would somehow distract the attention of Americans at home from the slavery issue.
It did not.
T HE A TTEMPTED A NNEXATION OF C UBA
Cuba was a lush tropical island that sat just ninety miles off the southeastern tip of Florida and was, in 1858, a prosperous nation whose most
The president had an opportunity to use the army to seize large sections of northern Mexico in January 1858, when he was urged to do so by John Forsyth, the U.S. minister there. Several Americans had been killed in Mexico, including three doctors, as Mexico’s government changed hands that month. Then the new head of state, General Felix Zuloaga, who had ousted the elected president, announced that he was taxing all of America’s property and assets in Mexico.
Forsyth urged the president to attack Mexico and seize and annex one of its large northern states, Sonora, using the deaths of the Americans and the new taxes as a pretext. Wrote Forsyth, “You want Sonora? The American blood spilled near its line would justify you in seizing it…” 635
Buchanan wanted to do just that, but for another reason, one that he thought the Congress and people would applaud. The legitimate government of Mexico, forced out by Zuloaga, had reconstituted itself at the city of Vera Cruz, with General Juarez, the former chief justice and second in line for the presidency under the Mexican Constitution, as its head. Buchanan told Congress that the two governments had made Mexico weak. He said the country was “a wreck upon the ocean, drifting about as she is impelled by different factions.” That made her ripe for takeover by a foreign power, probably France, and that foreign power would pose a threat to the United States. Buchanan asked the Senate for permission to not only send the army to support the Juarez government, but take over northern Mexico. He told the senators that it was America’s responsibility “to assume a temporary protectorate over the northern portions of Chihuahua and Sonora, and to establish military posts within the same.” The Senate rejected his plea and would reject another suggestion in 1859 to send troops to Mexico to protect Americans living there and his 1860 plan to station troops in that country permanently to assist the government, whose officials claimed they faced a revolution. 636
The president’s actions to stop Walker upheld his direct military noninterference policy, but his naval action against Paraguay in December 1858 sent a signal to the nation and the world that perhaps he had changed his mind. The president certainly talked tough about his intentions in Paraguay. He told Congress, “Should our commissioner prove unsuccessful, after a sincere and earnest effort to accomplish the object of his mission, then no alternative will remain but the employment of force to obtain ‘just satisfaction’ from Paraguay.” 637
The Paraguayans understood the full meaning of his words in Washington and his warships in Buenos Aires. The Americans received everything they wanted in the ensuing talks with the government and the U.S. warships sailed home. The president used the incident to send several messages to his own country and the world. First, he wanted to gobble up as much of the world as he could; second, he would defend the Monroe Doctrine against any nation, ensuring American rights, and, third, he hoped his buccaneering in foreign affairs would somehow distract the attention of Americans at home from the slavery issue.
It did not.
T HE A TTEMPTED A NNEXATION OF C UBA
Cuba was a lush tropical island that sat just ninety miles off the southeastern tip of Florida and was, in 1858, a prosperous nation whose most
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