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Lot #94
James Buchanan Autograph Letter Signed as Secretary of State: "I still doubt whether Mexico will declare war against us"

"I am confident that the country might rely both on your courage & your conduct in the hour of danger"

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Description

"I am confident that the country might rely both on your courage & your conduct in the hour of danger"

ALS, one page, 4.5 x 7, August 20, 1845. Handwritten letter to "Colonel Watmough," in full: "I have this moment received yours of the 16th Instant & hasten to give you an answer. The feelings which it expresses are honorable to yourself both as a soldier & a patriot. I am confident that the country might rely both on your courage & your conduct in the hour of danger. Should an additional military force be authorized by Congress, it will afford me pleasure to exert any influence I may possess to place you in a proper position. I still doubt whether Mexico will declare war against us." In fine condition.

Buchanan writes shortly before the annexation of Texas on December 29, 1845, which preceded the Mexican–American War. After a skirmish between Mexican and American forces in a disputed territory around the Rio Grande on April 25, 1846, President Polk convinced Congress to declare war on Mexico.

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