James K. Polk

beliefs. In Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Polk was raised in a household filled with Jacksonian supporters, amongst them his father, a farmer, and his mother, a well-to-do Presbyterian. From the day he could distinguish between political parties, Polk declared himself as a Jacksonian Democrat. According to William Shade, a reputable author for The Pennsylvania

James K. Polk was the eleventh President, from 1845 to 1849. James K. Polk had said in his inaugural address on March 4, 1845, “ The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our government. “ He basically is saying that we as citizens and people in the world should not have any fear in military ambition from our government. Polk’s presidency reflected this statement by achieving his four main goals he set out to achieve during his presidency. The four main goals were to cut tariffs, reestablishing an independent U.S Treasury, securing the Oregon Territory, gaining the territories of California and New Mexico from Mexico. In ways that didn’t reflect the statement was that he caused war with Mexico for three years.

Consequently, Polk conceded on demands for expansion deep into Canada and set about instead to negotiated a more reasonable American-Canadian border. The Oregon Treaty, signed with Great Britain in 1846, allowed the U.S. to acquire peacefully what is now Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Reasonably certain that war in the Northwest could be avoided, Polk concentrated on efforts to claim the Southwest from Mexico… He tried to buy the territory, and when that failed, he

The first reason the United States was justified in going to war with Mexico is because we had rights. “Polk was a strong supporter of manifest destiny.” This shows that Polk would have agreed to what people had to say about gaining land. “When word arrived

Polk became President as the trouble with Mexico was happening. In 1846 under Polk's orders the troops of General Zachary Taylor were sent to the Rio Grande. The US considered the Rio Grande to be the new border between Mexico and the US but the Mexicans believed the border was farther north at the Nueces River. The Mexican government automatically thought the movement of the U.S. army was an attack on Mexico. (Doc C). The Mexicans knew they had to defend the border of the Rio Grande so that’s what they did. They set up troops along the Rio Grande to protect its border (Doc C). In document C it states "The American government acted like a bandit who came upon a traveler". The Mexicans described us as thieves and a threat to the peace (Doc C). Polk sent a known spy, William Parrott, back to Mexico on a diplomatic mission after Mexico made it clear that Parrott was Mexico's enemy trying to give the Congress a reason to go to war (Online book). Polk is trying to give Congress a reason to go to war with Mexico (Online book).All this time Polk looked like the "good guy" to the voters back home, defending the land and the people. The people are agreed to go to war with Mexico (Doc B), So in 1846 Congress votes to go to war (Doc B). The United States was ready to take action because we thought that we are superior to the Mexicans (Doc

A final reason why the Mexican War was justified was that President Polk sent a message to the Senate to explain about going to war with Mexico. “I had ordered an efficient military force to take a position between the Nueces and Del Norte.” (Polk 325) This quote shows that the U.S. army marched and stayed between the Nueces and Del Norte to fight the Mexican soldiers. “Polk was a strong supporter of Manifest Destiny.” (Roden 317) This quote shows that Polk was in agreement in accepting and accomplishing the plan of God. Paraphrased information: Polk was elected in late 1844 and did not want just Texas, he also wants California, too. (Roden 317) This information shows that Texas isn’t the only state America should own. The United States had

James K. Polk was born on November 2, 1795 in North Carolina, but quickly moved to Tennessee soon after. This is where Polk entered the world of politics by being elected into the Tennessee House of Representatives as a democrat, in 1823. Polk also became Governor of Tennessee in 1839, but that only lasted for one term, even though he ran for reelection in both 1841 and 1843. Suddenly, in 1844 Polk became the “compromise candidate” (History.com Staff) for the Democratic Party during the 1845 election. This was due to Polk seeming to appear at the top of the nominee list out if nowhere and since he was not well known in the states to begin with, he became known as “The Dark Horse Candidate” (History.com Staff)1. During the election Polk ended

James K. Polk was the 11th presidents of the United states of America. His name is perhaps most closely associated with Manifest Destiny, because a year before he became the president, the Manifest destiny started the embody the governing philosophy of the Polk administration and its ardently expansionist aims. Polk’s campaigning methods is the leading cause to his victory of becoming the president of America. He campaigned on an expansionist platform, and vowed to not agree with the British on the dispute over the Oregon Territory's northern border. After Polk took office, the tension with Mexico over the annex of Texas continued to grow. In May 1846, Polk got his cabinet to approve of him to send a message of war against Mexico to Congress. In May 1847, president Polk had Nicholas P. Trist, the chief clerk in the state department, to Mexico with Gen. In spite of Polk's wish, Trist signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in early February 1848. This was the Treaty that ended the Mexican American War. Polk still was unhappy with the land he had just ceased- but polk had to settle with what the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had got him: California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona, and the disputed

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

James K. Polk was elected as president of the United States in 1848 and with him he brought a determination to expand territory more than any other president had before. In his one term administration he expanded the country by two-thirds. Polks hunger for more land resulted in a war with Mexico over Texas which evoked lots of opposition from the Whig party. The idea of Manifest Destiny was germinating throughout Democrats everywhere, countering the Whig ideology of “true republicanism”. They believed “A nation cannot simultaneously devote its energies to the absorption of others’ territories and the improvement of its own,” (pg, 49). Polk ignored this belief and soon John C. Fremont was declaring California independent and Stephen Watts Kearny was leading his army to several victories south of the Rio Grande. Nicholas Trist was able to get Mexico to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, recognizing the Rio Grande boundary of Texas and ceding New Mexico and upper Californian to the US.

The United States portion of this region would soon form the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and part of Montana. Polk and his expansionist ambitions increased the size of the United States and supported America's political, moral, and strategic interests.

President Polk wanted to bring in California and New Mexico into the Union. Polk wanted to go to war, but did not want to be the start of the war so decided to anger Mexico into starting a war so that he would not be blamed. During the Mexico and American war, Mexican troops attacked Taylor's troops killing nine Americans. The United States forces were far more superior than the Mexican forces, they could easily take areas such as what is known as New Mexico today. Mexico refused to surrender in the United States had to invade

President Andrew Jackson is known as Old Hickory, was born in 1776. At age 13 he joined the South Carolina Militia to fight the British during the American Revolution. He was captured by the British and became a prisoner-of-war. As a young man, he worked as a lawyer in Tennessee. In the war of 1812, Jackson served as a Major General, leading the fight against the British in New Orleans. In 1828, he was elected President, and in an earlier address to congress he suggested eliminating the electoral

Polk was strongly in favor of expanding the United States to the Pacific. This opinion won him the election of 1844. That year Henry Clay, a well known and loved figure in American politics, ran and was expected to blow, little known, Polk of the charts. The only problem was Clay was nervous about territorial expansion. He did not want was with Mexico and was unsure of the constitutionality of expanding. Polk won because the majority of the public believed in Manifest Destiny.

With Sarah by his side he had many campaign victories. Being a supporter of Andrew Jackson’s democratic policies at age twenty-nine he was elected to the U.S. Congress. From 1825-39 James was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and was serving as its speaker (Evisum Inc). After serving as speaker he became Governor of Tennessee in 1839-1841. In 1844 Democrats were having a difficult time getting 2/3 of the vote to nominate a presidential candidate, Polk who was running for the position of vice president, became nominated for the presidential candidate (Kelly). The focus on the campaign was to annex Texas which Polk was for the idea versus Clay who opposed the idea. Clay opposing the idea led Polk to victory.