REVISED:In going to war against Mexico, President Polk was..........

In the two centuries since the ratification of the Constitution, the size of the Unites States has more that quadrupled. Our first four presidents gave voice to an expansionist imluse: Washington called the new nation a "rising empire" and Adams remarked the United States was "destined to occupy all of the northern part of this quarter of the globe and that when accomplished, would be a significant achievement for mankind". Jefferson reffered to a "vast territory that would provide room enough for the descendants to the thousandth and ten thousandths generation" and Madison urged that the United States "extend the sphere, extend the republic as one great respectable and flourishing empire". One historian has phrased it,"Empire as a way of life". Territorial expansion was an objective of the U.S. government from its inception, as witnessed by the removal of Native Americans and by the Mexican-American War. In going to war against Mexico, President Polk was taking into account the best intrests of the United States. President Polk was taking into account the best intrests of the United States in going to war with Mexico because it was advocating a basis of America, "territorial expansion", it allowed the expansion of the nation by aquiring California and New Mexico, and it would benefit the U.S. economically.

President Polk was taking into account the best intrests of the United States in going to war with Mexico because it was advocating a basis of America, "territorial expansion". When James K. Polk was inaugurated president in March 1845 he had several foreign policy objectives in mind: the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute with Britain, which had almost led to military hostilities in the 1839 Aroostook War; the acquisition of California; and the incorporation of Texas into the Union. He achieved all of these goals. John Tyler paved the road for Texas statehood and despite oposition from antislavery forces, Texas was admitted on December 29,1845.

After the failure of the Slidell mission, an attempt to purchase the territory from Mexico, Pole resorted to a decidedly more aggressive and controversial posture; he sent troops into the disputed area near the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Polk claimed that Mexican forces had crossed the border to attack Americans. U.S. forces had taken control of the entire southwest by 1847. The new U.S. commander Gen.Winfield Scott, captured Vera Cruz followed a short time later with a voctory in the Battle of Cerro Gordo. Once U.S. launched his lat attack on Mexico, Santa Anna fled and the U.S. won.

Polk's war with Mexico allowed the expansion of the nation by aquiring California and New Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo(1848) included benifits for the U.S. Mexico recognized the American claims to the area north of the Rio Grande. Mexico ceded California and New Mexico to the United States in return for 15 milion. and the United States agreed to assume approximately 3 million in debts Mexico owed to American citizens. The land brought by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hildalgo increased the size of the United States and extreme amount and easily fed into "territorial expansion".

Aquiring Texas into the Union became a benift towards the United States. Texas was focused on becoming independent from Mexico and was left independent for years, just to become under the Union. Texas was annexed in 1845. Unfortunatley for the antislavery believers, and fortunately for the Union Texas became a slave state. It allowed more crops to be cultivated and brought a more prosperous results to the United States.

In Conclusion,in the two centuries since the ratification of the Constitution, the size of the Unites States has more that quadrupled. Territorial expansion was an objective of the U.S. government from its inception, as witnessed by the removal of Native Americans and by the Mexican-American War. In going to war against Mexico, President Polk was taking into account the best intrests of the United States.Polk took account the best intrests of the United States in going it allowed to war with Mexico because it was advocated "territorial expansion", the expansion of the nation and it benefited the U.S. economically.