In 1846 relations between the two countries had deteriorated considerably and on April 23 1846 the president of Mexico issued a proclamation declaring Mexico's intent to fight a "defensive war" against the encroachment of the United States. On April 25 1846 two thousand Mexican cavalry crossed into the disputed territory and routed a small detachment of American soldiers sparking the "Thornton Affair". Polk received word of the Thornton Affair which added to the Mexican government's rejection of Slidell Polk believed constituted a casus belli. His message to Congress on May 11 1846 claimed that "Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil.", Further information: Massachusetts Circular Letter Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party, Benjamin Harrison Virginia 2 Yes Yes Johannes Adam Simon Oertel Pulling Down the Statue of King George III N.Y.C ca 1859. . .
; To help regulate the relationship between slave and owner including legal support for keeping the slave as property states established slave codes most based on laws existing since the colonial era the code for the District of Columbia defined a slave as "a human being who is by law deprived of his or her liberty for life and is the property of another", Origins of the war During the War of 1812 British Royal Navy commanders of the blockading fleet based at the Bermuda dockyard were instructed to offer freedom to defecting American slaves as the Crown had during the Revolutionary War Thousands of escaped slaves went over to the Crown with their families Men were recruited into the Corps of Colonial Marines on occupied Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. .
La Salle Medical Associates