James K. Polk And Manifest Destiny

Southern territorial tensions linked to slavery in the mid 1800's. (Doc D) Opposition to annexation of Texas occurred because of avoidance to the problem of Texas being a free or slave state. The Wilmot Proviso provoked huge controversy about the status of the land gained after the Mexican War, the bill would be called upon and debated on furiously for decades to come. Popular sovereignty began to appear in some alternate plans for deciding slavery in the Louisiana Territory. Polk's plan, which proposed to extend the slavery line in the Missouri Compromise to the pacific, aroused further debates for the North and the South. California and New Mexico raised even more questions about the implementation of

Polk had said that Mexico were planning on an invasion and declared war on Mexico. This didn’t show that we show not be afraid or fear military ambition. It showed how selfish man can be just to gain more territory because they believed that it was their right to expand the country. Mexico only wanted what was theirs after claiming independence from Spain, and not have it taken away. Texas was under Mexico law, and Mexico banned slavery. Many Americans settlers did live in Texas at the time and knew it was against Mexico’s law but still had slaves anyways. The war lasted for three years, but soon Mexico decided to sign a peace treaty that gave territories to America. America paid Mexico 15 billion for lands that are known today as California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and

While Manifest Destiny and territorial expansion created conflict with foreign nations, including the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), and within the United States, it worked to unify the United States from 1830 to 1860 by strengthening the nation as a whole, creating economic opportunities for people from all different walks of life, and expanding the United States through the annexation of Texas and the acquisition of California from Mexico.

The Mexican-American War was driven by the idea of "Manifest Destiny" (Which is the belief that America had a God-given right to expand the country's borders from sea to sea) This belief would eventually cause a great deal of suffering for many Mexicans, Native Americans and United States citizens. Following the earlier Texas War of Independence from Mexico, tensions between the two largest independent nations on the North American continent grew as Texas eventually became a U.S. state. Disputes over the border lines sparked military confrontation, helped by the fact that President Polk eagerly sought a war in order to seize large tracts of land from Mexico.

The election of 1844 pitted James Polk, a Democrat expansionist, against Whig leader Henry Clay. One of Polk’s slogan was called, 54°40 or Flight, which supported pushing foreign troops past that latitude and out of the Oregon Territory. Fundamentally, that was jointly administered by the United States and British in Canada. Polk’s supporters also wanted the immediate annexation of Texas as well as expansion into the Mexican-claimed territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Clay, too, favored expansion, but at a slower rate. He also hoped to avoid war by negotiating with Mexico and Britain for the land America wanted. The election was close, but in the end Polk won. In the last days of his administration, President Tyler proposed the annexation of Texas, arguing that Polk’s victory amounted to a mandate for annexation. The annexation vote was passed, the United States annexed Texas, and Mexico broke off diplomatic relations. Under these circumstances, war with Mexico seemed likely.

In 1846 throughout 1848, a war to conquer land from Mexico were orders held by James K. Polk. An unjust war is about to occur, In 1846 Texas becomes Independent from Mexico and the United States. To begin with, Mexico approves for the Americans to settle onto Texas with one condition to not bring slaves along with them. During this time period, slavery was one of the most important political concerns and they opposed slavery. The Americans didn’t hold the values of anti-slavery, during this time they valued Manifest Density strongly. Accepting some restrictions from Mexico placed was nothing compared to its own destiny to occur from preventing America to stretch outward towards the Pacific Ocean. The main conflict started with the annexation of Texas, a dispute on the nation’s border, the Mexicans consider the Nueces river to be the border of Texas as for Americans that wasn’t enough land so they consider, Rio Grande the border. A way to aim to

During the 1800s the phrase “Manifest Destiny,” meaning obvious fate, was the belief that it was America’s right and duty to spread across the North American continent. This was a cause for Americans to start expanding their land ownership throughout the continent by settling in areas which they knew had many valuable resources. During the time that America had decided to annex Texas, many problems started to rise between Mexico and the United States. In the eyes of Mexico, the annexation of Texas was an act of war. Furthermore, both countries were having a hard time trying to agree on a border, because both wanted control of the Rio Grande, but it was unfortunate that only one of them would be able to claim the river. So, in 1846, Mexican soldiers started firing at American troops who were patrolling along the Rio Grande, which lead to sixteen Americans being killed and wounded. Polk used this as a cause for war, and stated that Mexico, “has invaded our territory and shed American blood on American soil.” All in all, the United states was clearly justified in going to war with Mexico, because Mexico had invaded American territory, shed American blood upon American soil, had come within American power, and the United states was able to offer them a position above any that they have previously occupied.

that President Polk had no right to do what he did. It is said that

In 1844, James Polk won the presidential election by campaigning on the idea of expanding the American border to the Pacific Ocean. David A. Clary, author of Eagles and Empires, asserts that Polk's "territorial

Polk would not have the same peaceful negotiations with Mexico over disputed land as he did with Great Britain. Though General Santa Anna signed a treaty recognizing Texas' independence in 1836, both parties would dispute ownership of the land between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande until 1848. When the United States annexed Texas and stood behind its claim over the disputed land, the Mexican government became infuriated with America and broke off all diplomatic relations and started to prepare for war. The Mexican-American War would ultimately start over disputed land in Texas. It would turn into so much more. Polk's final goal was to gain control of all the Mexican territories to the west of Texas. Polk continued to try to resolve this problem peacefully through a treaty with Mexico, but they refused to hold any diplomatic talks with Polk's representatives. This forced Polk to have his military occupy the disputed land all the way to the Rio Grande. General Taylor informed Polk that soon after arrival to the Rio Grande the Mexican army attacked him and

In addition to Polk’s scheme to pull Mexico into war with the United States, he was also hatching a plan in the west. With the help of John C. Freemont and a group of American frontiersmen, known as the “Bear Flaggers”, he organized a revolt against Mexican rule and liberated most of California before the U.S. invasion began. Likewise, Both California and New Mexico were occupied by American forces prior to the assault on northern Mexico. (Tindall & Shi 2010). Securing the territories of Texas, New Mexico, and California ignited widespread support for the war and re-established the national America’s sentiment of manifest destiny. (Tindall & Shi 2010).

Polk. James Polk was picked due to the fact that the Democrats could not agree on anyone else. On the issue of Texas, Henry Clay lost the election and James Polk won. As president, Polk laid out a four point plan and achieved all four points in four years. The points in this plan was to lower the tariff, restore an independent treasury, to settle the Oregon Dispute, and to acquire California. Polk wanted California but that was a problem due to strained U.S. and Mexican relations. Texas claimed its Southern boundary to be the Rio Grande and not the Nueces River like Mexico said. Polk had to defend Texas. The U.S then sent John Slidell to Mexico City as an envoy and instructed him to buy California for $25 million. Once John Slidell arrived, the Mexican government refused to see him. Now that Polk is frustrated, he forced a showdown. On January 13, 1846 Polk ordered 4000 men, under Zachary Taylor’s command, to march from the Nueces River to the Rio Grande thus irritating the Mexican troops. On April 25, 1846 the Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande killing and wounding 18,000–40,000 soldiers. Then on February 2, 1848 the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended Mexican-American War. Mexico decided to give up all claims to land from Texas to California for $15 million. Not all American citizens supported the war, there were many individuals who were against to it. Henry

By the time James Polk became president in 1845, an idea called Manifest Destiny had taken root among the American people. The belief that the U.S. had a God-given right to occupy and expand gained favor as more Americans settled to the west. Manifest Destiny was

Despite the fact that the Mexican War, happened more than a decade before the American Civil War, Mr. Polk’s war was vital in reigniting the debate on slavery and lead to more political action from Northerners on the issue. From the time he was sworn into office, Polk readied for Westward Expansion. He attempted to extend the United State 's borders by buying Mexico’s northern lands (Norton 356). In 1846, when Mexico refused to sell, Polk basically guided the two countries to war (356-357). Two years later, the war officially ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which basically stipulated that America gained all of Mexico’s territory north of the Rio Grande (358). But while the war, at least in the eyes of Polk, had been in success, it brought an issue which had been avoided and tabled for a very long time: slavery (359). On one

Along with influencing presidential elections, Manifest Destiny played a role in the slavery issue. Entering the mid eighteen hundreds slavery was a very sensitive subject, and some of the bad feelings that caused this sensitivity were caused by territorial expansion. With more lands being acquired the number of slave state and free state representatives in Congress became unbalanced. This caused great distress among the senators and representatives. For instance, free state members of Congress began accusing the slave state members of conspiracies. One such accusation was made by Charles Sumner. He proposed the idea that southerners wanted to acquire more land so they could implant slavery in the territories. With more slave oriented territories that would eventually became slave states, the South would have control of Congress. This is