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In 1846, after ordering troops into a disputed area between Mexico and Texas, President James K. Polk asked Congress to declare war against Mexico to avenge the wounding of Americans “on American soil.” Representative Abraham Lincoln, wary of Polk’s motives, questioned the war’s legitimacy and called for an investigation of the “spot” where U.S. and Mexican forces first clashed.
Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, National Archives and Records Administration
…this House desires to obtain a full knowledge of all the facts which go to establish whether the particular spot of soil on which the blood of our citizens was so shed, was, or was not, our own soil, at that time….