President James K. Polk Prepares His Response to a House Resolution Demanding by What Authority He Was Unilaterally Levying Taxes in Mexico to Support the U.S. Treasury

Polk responded saying it was a military measure and he could do what he wanted under claim of military necessity, thus showing clearly his feeling of independence from Congressional oversight and any applicable international practice

On May 11, 1846, President James Polk reported to Congress that Mexico had invaded U.S. territory and that American blood had been shed on American soil. Two days later Congress declared war. Though most Whigs in Congress were intimidated and did not vote no, they and their constituents were largely opposed to the war because they believed it was an immoral land grab, and that there would be a push at war’s end for the lands obtained from Mexico to be open to slavery. Soon they insisted that Polk, a Democrat, provide evidence to support his claims about an invasion of U.S. territory. On December 22, 1847, Representative Abraham Lincoln introduced what has come to be known as the “Spot Resolutions,” requesting President Polk to submit evidence to Congress that the land on which the initial battle occurred was indeed American property. None was provided. Even though the war was won, the concerns of Northern Whigs were far from assuaged. On January 3, 1848, the House of Representatives passed an amendment stating that the Mexican War had been “unnecessarily and unconstitutionally” begun. Lincoln voted for this censure language.
The war cost money, and the Polk administration had the idea of making Mexico pay for a portion of American expenses. Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott both received instructions from Secretary of War William Marcy to the effect that “the Army is to support itself by forced contributions levied upon the country, if at all possible.” Marcy further stated, “The men of means who have willingly contributed aid to support the Mexican army should be forced to contribute to the support of ours.” Taylor and Scott rejected this harsh option and continued to pay fair prices for goods they obtained from Mexicans. But Scott had his officers investigate Mexican Treasury records and then imposed a commensurate tax on each Mexican state. Even more importantly, the Americans imposed a tariff on all goods coming into Mexico, with the tariff funds being paid into the U.S. Treasury. The defeated Mexicans were thus made to pay for the American occupation.

In his State of the Union message on December 4, 1848, President Polk reported: “It is estimated that the receipts into the Treasury for the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June, 1849, including the balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July last, will amount to the sum of $57,048,969.90, of which $32,000,000, it is estimated, will be derived from customs, $3,000,000 from the sales of the public lands, and $1,200,000 from miscellaneous and incidental sources, including the premium upon the loan, and the amount paid and to be paid into the Treasury on account of military contributions in Mexico…” The phrase “military contributions in Mexico” brought the fact that Mexicans were being forced to pay taxes and tariff duties into U.S. Treasury to the floor of Congress, and the Whigs were in the mood to denounce the practice.

The Niles National Register reported that on December 18, 1848, a Resolution passed the Whig-controlled House of Representatives to the effect that: “The President of the United States was requested to communicate…by what authority a tariff of duties was established in the ports of the Mexican republic, during the late war, and by what authority the revenue thus derived was appropriated to the support of the Army in Mexico.” They were asking what right the President of the U.S. had to unilaterally levy taxes in another nation.

President Polk was not backing down, and wanted to respond to the House Resolution with a justification. Autograph letter signed, Washington, December 27, 1848, to Secretary of War William Marcy, asking for information to help him in his response. “If you are not otherwise engaged, I desire that you will call between 7 & 8 o’clock this evening. I desire to finish my message in answer to the Resolution of the House of Representations, in relation to the buy of military contributions in Mexico, and cannot do so until I receive the information which you are to furnish.”

In January 1949, Polk responded, somewhat disingenuously, and not giving an inch, saying it was a military measure and he could do what he wanted under claim of military necessity: “In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 18th of December 1848 requesting information under what law or provision of the Constitution or by what other authority the Secretary of the Treasury with the sanction and approval of the President established a tariff of duties in the ports of the Mexican Republic during the war with Mexico and by what legal constitutional or other authority the revenue thus derived was appropriated to the support of the Army in Mexico, I refer the House to my annual message of the 7th of December 1847, to my message to the Senate of the 10th of February 1848, responding to a call of that body, a copy of which is herewith communicated, and to my message to the House of Representatives of the 24th of July 1848 responding to a call of that House. The resolution assumes that the Secretary of the Treasury established a tariff of duties in the ports of the Mexican Republic. The contributions collected in this mode were not established by the Secretary of the Treasury but by a military order issued by the President through the War and Navy Departments. For his information the President directed the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare and report to him a scale of duties. That report was made and the President’s military order of the 31st of March 1847 was based upon it…The authority under which military contributions were exacted and collected from the enemy and applied to the support of our Army during the war with Mexico was stated in the several messages referred to. In the first of these messages I informed Congress that on the 31st of March last I caused an order to be issued to our military and naval commanders to levy and collect a military contribution upon all vessels and merchandise which might enter any of the ports of Mexico in our military occupation and to apply such contributions toward defraying the expenses of the war. By virtue of the right of conquest and the laws of war the conqueror consulting his own safety or convenience may either exclude foreign commerce altogether from all such ports or permit it upon such terms and conditions as he may prescribe…Measures have recently been adopted by which the internal as well as the external revenues of Mexico in all places in our military occupation will be seized and appropriated to the use of our Army and Navy. The policy of levying upon the enemy contributions in every form consistently with the laws of nations which it may be practicable for our military commanders to adopt should in my judgment be rigidly enforced and orders to this effect have accordingly been given…”

This was an extraordinary position for President Polk to take, and shows clearly his feeling of independence from Congressional oversight and any applicable international practice. We have never seen another document relating to this American taxation of Mexico, an important incident seemingly lost to history.