South Carolinians were among those who most strongly supported the Mexican War, for it promised westward expansion of the nation in territory south of the Missouri Compromise Line of 1820, and thus opportunity to add more slave-holding states to the union. With the annexation of Texas in 1845, and the declaration of war against Mexico by President Polk and Congress on May 11, 1846, the Palmetto Regiment of South Carolina was one of the first to volunteer for service in the war. Its men achieved lasting recognition for their heroism in battles far from home. Former Governor Pierce Mason Butler of Edgefield (see Pierce Butler), the leader of the regiment, was killed in August 1847, at the Battle of Cherubusco, in an engagement that helped open the way to conquest of Mexico City.
Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
Standards
- 4.3.CE Analyze the effects of government policies in promoting United States territorial expansion into the west.
- This indicator was designed to encourage inquiry into the continuities and changes of the experiences of marginalized groups such as African Americans, Native Americans and women, as the U.S. expanded westward and grappled with the development of new states.
