war upon the treaty with Santa Anna recognizing the independence
of Texas. Adams suggested that at the time of its execution Santa
Anna was a prisoner incapable of making a treaty. Douglas insisted
that, even though a captive, he was a de facto government whose
acts were binding upon the country, and to establish his proposition
cited the case of Cromwell who, during his successful usurpation,
bound England by many important treaties. The niceties of international
law were not very punctiliously observed. His arguments were warmly
received by men already resolved on a career of conquest.

The war was a romantic military excursion through the heart of
Mexico. There were battles between the triumphant invaders and
the demoralized natives, which were believed entitled to rank among
the supreme achievements of genius and courage. Americans had not
yet acquired that deep knowledge of carnage, those stern conceptions
of war, which they were destined soon to gain. Military glory and
imperial conquest have rarely been so cheaply won. The war gave
enduring fame to the commanding generals and shed a real luster
over the lives of thousands of men.

The material results were stupendous. We acquired nearly twelve
hundred thousand square miles of territory--a region one-third larger
than the area of the United States at the close of the Revolution.
The extravagant dream of making the Pacific the western boundary
of the Republic was realized and no one seriously doubted that this
vast domain was surrendered to slavery.