After narrowly triumphing in the disputed election of 1824, John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) selected Speaker of the House Henry Clay (1777–1852) to serve as his secretary of state. Andrew Jackson and his followers condemned that choice as a “corrupt bargain” that stole the presidency from Jackson. (When the 1824 presidential election went to the House of Representatives because no candidate received the required number of electoral votes, Adams and Clay met; Clay afterward threw his support in the House to Adams, although Jackson had received more electoral votes in the election.) Clay had been critical of Adams’ restrained approach to independence movements around the globe, but the two men shared an abiding interest in acquiring the disputed region of Texas for the United States.

John Quincy Adams appointed Joel Poinsett, an American diplomat and occasional secret operative, as the American ambassador to Mexico in 1825. Poinsett was well equipped for such a mission, having been involved in the affairs of various Latin American countries since the early days of the Madison administration. In 1810 Poinsett had been officially charged with establishing favorable commercial and political arrangements for the United States, but clandestinely he worked to encourage revolution against the tottering Spanish colonial regimes south of America’s border. Poinsett’s activities extended into remote corners of Latin America, including Chile, Argentina, Peru, and eventually Mexico, where his reputation as an “apostle of liberty in South America” was put to its greatest test.

Both John Quincy Adams and Secretary of State Clay were concerned about alleged British intervention in Mexico designed to counter U.S. efforts to acquire Texas. Poinsett’s arrival in Mexico City coincided with the announcement of a commercial treaty between Mexico and Britain, which confirmed his worst fears regarding British intentions. “The British government has anticipated us. …

Their commercial treaty is made, and no doubt appears to be entertained of the result.” Poinsett concluded that an opposition party with a pro-American platform should be formed to counter British influence in Mexican politics. Poinsett had noted that Masonic lodges in Cuba, Colombia, and Mexico had been at the center of independence movements during the 1820s and opted to use this existing network to build the political party. Mexico quickly became a battleground with American and British surrogates vying for influence over the nation’s government.
In these brief excerpts, originally written in code, Poinsett discussed his plans to foster a pro-American political party in Mexico that, once in power, would check British influence and cede Texas to the United States. Some of the correspondence between the State Department and Poinsett went missing from official American records, although copies of some of these records were found in British archives.