James K. Polk

The Annexation of Texas was the process by which the Republic of Texas joined the United States. Although Texas had voted for annexation after gaining independence from Mexico in 1836, the U.S. delayed due to concerns about upsetting the balance between free and slave states. Despite this obstacle…

<p>The American system of choosing a President has not worked out badly, far as it may be from the Founding Fathers’ vision of a natural aristocracy </p>

<p>President Polk, a Democrat, needed a commander to win his war with Mexico, but all the good generals were Whigs. Now, could the winning general steal the Presidency from the party? As a matter of fact, he did.</p>

<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> A low comedy for high stakes:</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> Westward with the course of empire Colonel Jonathan Drake Stevenson took his way in 1846. With him went the denizens of New York’s Tammany wards, oyster cellars, and gin mills—the future leaders of California.</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck">This is not a test. It’s the real thing.</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">On the 150th anniversary of Texan independence, we trace the fierce negotiations that brought the republic into the union.</span></p>

<p>A junior Army officer, acting on secret orders from the president, bluffed a far stronger Mexican force into conceding North America's westernmost province to the United States.</p>

<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-619cd7a5-d1e7-3410-8328-514fc270be4e" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 8pt;">President James K. Polk expanded U.S. territory by a third by war-making and shrewd negotiating.</p>

<p>In a momentous couple of years, the young United States added more than a million square miles of territory, including Texas and California. </p>