American forces won repeated victories and occupied Mexico City. To Mexican troops this was aggression, and they attacked Taylor’s forces.Ĭongress declared war and, despite much Northern opposition, supported the military operations. Zachary Taylor to the disputed area on the Rio Grande. Since no Mexican leader could cede half his country and still stay in power, Polk’s envoy was not received. Polk sent an envoy to offer Mexico up to $20,000,000, plus settlement of damage claims owed to Americans, in return for California and the New Mexico country. The treaty was signed in 1846.Īcquisition of California proved far more difficult. Finally, the British settled for the 49th parallel, except for the southern tip of Vancouver Island. When the British minister declined, Polk reasserted the American claim to the entire area. He offered to settle by extending the Canadian boundary, along the 49th parallel, from the Rockies to the Pacific. Happily, neither he nor the British wanted a war. Extremists proclaimed “Fifty-four forty or fight,” but Polk, aware of diplomatic realities, knew that no course short of war was likely to get all of Oregon. The 1844 Democratic platform claimed the entire Oregon area, from the California boundary northward to a latitude of 54’40’, the southern boundary of Russian Alaska. In his stand on Oregon, the President seemed to be risking war with Great Britain also. In so doing they bequeathed Polk the possibility of war with Mexico, which soon severed diplomatic relations. Polk also favored acquiring California.Įven before he could take office, Congress passed a joint resolution offering annexation to Texas. He linked the Texas issue, popular in the South, with the Oregon question, attractive to the North. Democrats replied Polk was the candidate who stood for expansion. The aged Jackson, correctly sensing that the people favored expansion, urged the choice of a candidate committed to the Nation’s “Manifest Destiny.” This view prevailed at the Democratic Convention, where Polk was nominated on the ninth ballot. ![]() Polk, however, publicly asserted that Texas should be “re-annexed” and all of Oregon “re-occupied.” Both Martin Van Buren, who had been expected to win the Democratic nomination for President, and Henry Clay, who was to be the Whig nominee, tried to take the expansionist issue out of the campaign by declaring themselves opposed to the annexation of Texas. Until circumstances raised Polk’s ambitions, he was a leading contender for the Democratic nomination for Vice President in 1844. He served as Speaker between 18, leaving to become Governor of Tennessee. In the House of Representatives, Polk was a chief lieutenant of Jackson in his Bank war. As a young lawyer he entered politics, served in the Tennessee legislature, and became a friend of Andrew Jackson. Studious and industrious, Polk was graduated with honors in 1818 from the University of North Carolina. He was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 1795.
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