In 1846 , President James Polk , driven by a belief in Manifest Destiny , waged a warfare to attach land from Mexico and elaborate the nation ’s boundary from Texas to California . But events could have plausibly gone very differently , resulting in a map of the U.S. that would be significantly unlike the one we have today .
When the war terminate , the U.S. had acquire over 500,000 sq . miles of young land , including Texas and the Mexican territories that would eventually become the land of California , Arizona , New Mexico — and contain important parts of Colorado , Utah , Wyoming and Nevada .
But the difference with Mexico had been controversial , as not everyone in the U.S. share Polk ’s vision . The notable geographer and historian Donald Meinig — who , between 1986 and 2004 , pubished a four - volume opus , The Shaping of America — contemplated how the U.S. would have looked if the war never occurred , producing a map ( above ) that he titled , “ A Lesser United States . ”
As the accolade - winning historian Susan Schultenobserveson her web log , Mapping the land :
Such a geographical reality is not difficult to envisage . In the 1830s , there was not yet a dominant sense of Manifest Destiny . The independence of Texas in 1836 was achieved by a fragile confederation of Anglo and Mexican Tejanos , and came without assist from the United States . In fact , after independence , overtures by the Texas Republic to be annexed by the U.S. were rejected by Presidents Jackson , van Buren , Harrison , and ab initio by Tyler . The prospect of adding new territory in the west , which would return under the Missouri Compromise Line and therefore be open to slavery , would upset the delicate Libra between free and slave State Department .
By the 1840s , expansionist thought had grow considerably , and was directed not just Texas but also the northwest . President Tyler had avoided the way out of annexation , but in the election of 1844 , popular candidate James Polk ran on an ardently expansionist platform , and insisted that the west was crucial to the nation ’s growth . His Whig opponent , Henry Clay , opposed appropriation , in part because Mexico had made clear this would be considered an act of state of war . Clay did poorly in the Confederate States , where expansion to Texas was popular , while in the Second Earl of Guilford he was narrowly defeated by a Democratic party that inscribe urban ethnic voters on issues unrelated to Texas .
Clay lost to Polk by only 30,000 votes , which suggests that there was limited supporting for annexation ( in fact it was primarily root in the S ) . Yet President Tyler construe Polk ’s victory as a authorization for expansion , which cue him to push through annexation as one of his last acts , with help from expansionists in Congress . If Clay had won the election , Tyler would not have annexed Texas , and the United States would not have entered into war with Mexico – at least not in 1845 . Had Clay won , we might wear that the nation would have avoid annexation , and by elongation war with Mexico .
History
Daily Newsletter
Get the best technical school , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
tidings from the hereafter , delivered to your nowadays .
Please take your desired newssheet and submit your email to upgrade your inbox .
You May Also Like
