Please help me. It's for my exam After Texas was annexed by the United States, it started to argue with Mexico about where its official boundaries were. President Polk moved troops into the disputed territory just north of the Rio Grande and sent a special ambassador to Mexico. Before the ambassador reached an agreement with the Mexican government, in late April 1846, Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and killed eleven U. S. soldiers. In response, Polk requested a declaration of war from Congress, arguing that Mexicans had "shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil." By May 13, 1846, both nations officially were at war.

The treaty that ended the war in 1848 set a border between Texas and Mexico and ceded California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming to the United States. Their transfer to the United States’ control also cut the territorial size of Mexico in half. It helped the cause of Manifest Destiny, but it also forced the country to debate whether slavery could expand with these new territories, eventually leading to the Civil War.

While most of the nation supported President James K. Polk’s prosecution of the Mexican-American War, there was at least one congressman who voiced opposition. This congressman claimed that the Mexican-American War was immoral, proslavery, and a threat to the nation’s Republican values. He also accused President Polk of justifying war with exaggerations and half-truths.

Fill in the blank space as if you were President Polk speaking, and support your answer with details from the text above and your knowledge of the Mexican-American War and Manifest Destiny.

Congressman: President Polk, that you for taking the opportunity to speak with me.

President Polk: You’re welcome, Congressman. What’s on your mind?

Congressman: If I may be honest, President Polk, I am concerned our role in the war against Mexico. I find it to be an example of one country stealing the land of another. This war is referred to as Mr. Polk’s War in the North. Can you explain?

President Polk: