After the ladies retired at night, the gentlemen usually assembled in
the spacious parlor, opened a bottle of Sazerac, and discussed politics.

It was known to the senators that the American minister in Mexico had
been instructed to negotiate a new treaty with Mexico for the
acquisition of additional territory; not that there was a pressing
necessity for more land, but for reasons which will be briefly stated:

1st. By the treaty of 1848, usually called Guadaloupe Hidalgo,[A] the
government of the United States had undertaken to protect the Mexicans
from the incursions of Indians within the United States boundary, and as
this proved to be an impractical undertaking, the damages on account of
failure began to assume alarming proportions, and the government of the
United States was naturally anxious to be released from the obligation.

2. The Democratic party was in the plenitude of power, and the Southern
States were dominant in the Administration. It had been the dream of
this element for many years to construct a railroad from the Mississippi
River to the Pacific Ocean, and the additional territory was required
for "a pass". It was not known at that early day that railroads could be
constructed across the Rocky Mountains at a higher latitude, and it was
feared that snow and ice might interfere with traffic in the extremes of
winter.

The State of Texas had already given encouragement to the construction
of such a railroad, by a liberal grant of land reaching as far west as
the Rio Grande, and it devolved upon the United States to provide the
means of getting on to the Pacific Ocean. The intervening country
belonged at that time to Mexico, and for the purpose of acquiring this
land the treaty was authorized.