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Difficulty: MediumMexican-American War and Sectional Tension

“Resolved, That the President of the United States be respectfully requested to inform this House:
First. Whether the spot on which the blood of our citizens was shed, as in his messages declared, was or was not within the territory of Spain, at least after the treaty of 1819, until the Mexican revolution.
Second. Whether that spot is, or is not, within the territory which was wrested from Spain, by the revolutionary government of Mexico…”
— Representative Abraham Lincoln, "Spot Resolutions," 1847

Which of the following was a primary political objective of the Whigs who supported the resolutions in the excerpt?

  1. To challenge the territorial justification for a war they feared would expand slavery and intensify sectional division.Answer
  2. B
    To protest federal tariff policies that favored Northern merchants over Southern agrarian interests.
  3. C
    To enforce the Monroe Doctrine by blocking European nations from forming military alliances with Mexico.
  4. D
    To establish popular sovereignty as a permanent federal policy to determine slavery's status in all current states.

Answer

To challenge the territorial justification for a war they feared would expand slavery and intensify sectional division.
The correct answer is correct because Lincoln and other Whigs used the Spot Resolutions to challenge the Polk administration's claim that American blood had been shed on American soil. Their underlying goal was to question the war's legitimacy to prevent the acquisition of new territory, which they anticipated would reignite sectional disputes over the expansion of slavery.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus context and perspective.
The stimulus consists of Abraham Lincoln's 'Spot Resolutions' (1847), which questioned President Polk's claim that Mexico had shed American blood on American soil to start the war.
Understanding the source helps identify the political perspective (Whig opposition to the Democratic President's war policies).
2
Connect the Whig opposition to the broader context of the late 1840s.
Whigs opposed the war primarily because they feared the acquisition of new territory (the Mexican Cession) would disrupt the sectional balance by allowing the expansion of slavery.
This links the specific political move (Spot Resolutions) to the primary sectional debate over slavery.
3
Evaluate the choices to identify the correct objective.
The option advocating the challenge of the territorial justification to prevent the expansion of slavery is the correct objective, while others misidentify the issues (tariffs, Monroe Doctrine) or misapply popular sovereignty.
Matches the historical motivation of Lincoln and congressional Whigs during the Mexican-American War.

Key Concept

Sectional tensions inflamed by the Mexican-American War and debate over the expansion of slavery.
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Topics

Mexican-American War and Sectional Tension

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