another person i talk about is john j. hardin, who some of you may be familiar with.e was part of a very, very important family in jacksonville, and for a period of time he was the leading way politician in the state of illinois. not abraham lincoln. and it's only harden who gets in the u.s.-mexico war that some people have argued makes lincoln's path forward and is wrote to the presidency possible because he is really under the shadow of john hardin before that happen. hardens them is fascinating and they are deeply, deeply affected by the u.s.-mexico war. let me tell you about the war, i'm assuming like most people you probably don't know a whole lot about it. the north american invasion as it's known in mexico begin with president james k. polk sent troops into disputed area between the rio grande rivers, with the intention of starting a war. poker wanted war. he was set on declaring war if the mexican army didn't want a debate. the day he found out that mexicans had crossed the rio grande and killed 14 soldiers in the disputed area, polk went to the cabinet and he