James K. Polk Analysis

James K. Polk was the eleventh president of the United States. He was known to have a strong belief in Manifest Destiny, which is the belief that Americans were destined by God to overpower the continent to the Pacific Ocean. His belief soon embodied the governing philosophy of his administration. After taking office the relations between Mexico and the United States were strained over the American annexation of Texas, which Mexico did not recognize. None of the Presidents before would touch this issue because it would upset the slave state/free state balance between North and South and risked war with Mexico. But shortly before leaving office President Tyler managed to get the joint resolution passed on March 1, 1845. Texas was admitted to …show more content…
For President Polk the boundary issue with Texas and Mexico was more an excuse than a real cause to start a war with Mexico. President Polk was a strong believer in “Manifest Destiny” which in his mind is that America was destined to reach from the Atlantic to Pacific. This all started when the United States annexed Texas. President Polk promised to protect the Texans from Mexico and sent troops under General Taylor to Corpus Christi Texas. He did this to aggregate the Mexicans and then when Slidell went to Mexico, Taylor moved to the Rio Grande and built a temporary fort. The Texan boundary dispute was a subject for negotiation with Mexico, but Polk made it point for a strong stand with the Mexican government. When Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande River and killed eleven U.S. solders, Zachary Taylor, the commander of the forces on the Rio Grande, said “I presume this means the beginning of war." After the attack, Polk and his cabinet prepared a declaration of war to present to congress. Congress was badly divided between war and peace, they voted to support American soldiers under attack and to send supplies and reinforcements to troops in Texas, where Polk’s Democratic supporters convinced them that they might as well declare war altogether because of the acts of aggression from Mexico. The President agreed and pressed for war. This is what he wanted all along so he could complete what he thought was the destiny of the United States. He used this war to take the northern territories all the way to the pacific coast including present day California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. President Polk never wanted a peaceful resolution with Mexico and was ready to send the United States into war to complete his