Chapter 47: The War ends when General Scott captures Mexico City.

On August 30, 1847, General Winfield Scott captures the capital of Mexico City, ending the fourteen month conflict. Polk sends Nicholas Trist to negotiate surrender terms, a move which goes on for five contentious months.

In the House, freshman Abraham Lincoln criticizes the war as a southern land grab, and challenges the “spot” where Polk’s claims that Mexico began the fight as a “sheer deception.”