A Country Of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, The Mexican War And The Conquest Of The American Continent
by Robert W. Merry /
2009 / English / EPUB
2.6 MB Download
When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States
was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the
rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now
Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union,
was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north
and west of Texas -- what would become California, Nevada, Utah,
Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado -- belonged to Mexico.
When Polk relinquished office four years later, the country had
grown by more than a third as all these lands were added. The
continental United States, as we know it today, was established --
facing two oceans and positioned to dominate both.
When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States
was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the
rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now
Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union,
was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north
and west of Texas -- what would become California, Nevada, Utah,
Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado -- belonged to Mexico.
When Polk relinquished office four years later, the country had
grown by more than a third as all these lands were added. The
continental United States, as we know it today, was established --
facing two oceans and positioned to dominate both.
In a one-term presidency, Polk completed the story of America's
Manifest Destiny -- extending its territory across the continent,
from sea to sea, by threatening England and manufacturing a
controversial and unpopular two-year war with Mexico that Abraham
Lincoln, in Congress at the time, opposed as preemptive.
In a one-term presidency, Polk completed the story of America's
Manifest Destiny -- extending its territory across the continent,
from sea to sea, by threatening England and manufacturing a
controversial and unpopular two-year war with Mexico that Abraham
Lincoln, in Congress at the time, opposed as preemptive.
Robert Merry tells this story through powerful debates and towering
figures -- the outgoing President John Tyler and Polk's great
mentor, Andrew Jackson; his defeated Whig opponent, Henry Clay; two
famous generals, Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott; Secretary of
State James Buchanan (who would precede Lincoln as president);
Senate giants Thomas Hart Benton and Lewis Cass; Daniel Webster and
John C. Calhoun; and ex-president Martin Van Buren, like Polk a
Jackson protégé but now a Polk rival.
Robert Merry tells this story through powerful debates and towering
figures -- the outgoing President John Tyler and Polk's great
mentor, Andrew Jackson; his defeated Whig opponent, Henry Clay; two
famous generals, Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott; Secretary of
State James Buchanan (who would precede Lincoln as president);
Senate giants Thomas Hart Benton and Lewis Cass; Daniel Webster and
John C. Calhoun; and ex-president Martin Van Buren, like Polk a
Jackson protégé but now a Polk rival.
This was a time of tremendous clashing forces. A surging
antislavery sentiment was at the center of the territorial fight.
The struggle between a slave-owning South and an opposing North was
leading inexorably to Civil War. In a gripping narrative, Robert
Merry illuminates a crucial epoch in U.S. history.
This was a time of tremendous clashing forces. A surging
antislavery sentiment was at the center of the territorial fight.
The struggle between a slave-owning South and an opposing North was
leading inexorably to Civil War. In a gripping narrative, Robert
Merry illuminates a crucial epoch in U.S. history.