President James K. Polk, a dauntless promoter of 'national expansion,' added millions of square miles to the nation's territorial claims in the four years of his presidency.
Polk, an ardent
expansionist, sends General Zachary Taylor to disputed territory
between the Nueces and the Rio Grand rivers in southern Texas, in
order to provoke a war that will support Texans' desire for
independence from Mexico.
Though the war is illegal
in any sense (an unprovoked war, like the 2003 war in Iraq, is
a violation of national sovereignty under international law
protocols agreed to by the United States) Polk's ploy
succeeded, and during his four-year tenure he increases the public
domain by 522 million acres.
(for
more on Polk, click here)
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