A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent by Robert W. Merry

Mar 25, 2012 brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

politicians with an eye on posterity have gotta seriously dig that old saw about 'politicians, buildings, and whores all getting respectable if they last long enough'... had iraq worked out, all the enmity and dissent, all the death and torture and mismanagement, all the bluster and hubris would've largely been forgotten. shit, if, a few decades down the line iraq emerges as a functioning democracy, you can bet your ass history will blurb it all as 'a rocky road to a lasting peace.'

polk present...more politicians with an eye on posterity have gotta seriously dig that old saw about 'politicians, buildings, and whores all getting respectable if they last long enough'... had iraq worked out, all the enmity and dissent, all the death and torture and mismanagement, all the bluster and hubris would've largely been forgotten. shit, if, a few decades down the line iraq emerges as a functioning democracy, you can bet your ass history will blurb it all as 'a rocky road to a lasting peace.'

polk presents an interesting case, particularly a few years removed from bush and the iraq debacle. surely one of our most industrious presidents, polk's heart (and crosshairs) was set on the acquisition of land -- texas and oregon, specifically. when it was clear mexico wasn't gonna play ball with us in regards to texas (and, if we're honest, the mexicans really kinda acted like shifty mexicans), polk - in an effort to induce war - allowed american troops to line up along the rio grande. mexico, understandably, fired the first shot. war ensued and quickly grew unpopular (a lanky young congressman by the name of abraham lincoln stood up in the house to denounce both war and president) and the polk administration responded by odiously suggesting that anyone who criticized the president was providing 'aid and comfort to the enemy.' sound familiar? yeah, it's a touch more complex than all that, but i'm writing a dumb book report, i'm not a journalist or historian -- i suggest you read up on it and learn your own history, you ignorant american piece of shit. the point is: everything worked out and america is unimaginable without texas, new mexico, and california.

history, time, and laziness have a way of compressing a panorama of events into a single idea. polk's singularity? no fuckin' beaners in texas and california. well, of course texas and california are crawling with 'em, but, you know what i mean. polk (who is mostly forgotten by all but academics and history buffs) is nearly always in the top 15 of those geeky 'best presidents of all time' lists and frequently cracks the top 10. is that a good thing? i don't know. it's a tough question. at the risk of making a slightly inaccurate analogy, one can't help but go back to ford pardoning nixon or obama deciding not to pursue any of the various war crime charges against the bush people. was it 'better for the country' to move past our 'long national nightmare' or would it, in fact, have been better for the country to see that, as per zimmy, 'even the president of the United States, sometimes must have to stand naked'? at the risk of coming off like some kinda self-righteous naive bleeding-heart asshole, it's only become an ethically complicated question because we allow it to be. (less)

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Sep 26, 2012 Regina Lindsey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Polk came into office seeking to increase the territory of the United States, stabilize the country's currency through an independent treasury, and deal with tariff issues all in a self avowed one term. He accomplished it. Seems easy, right? Not quite. Through fatal flaws in leadership abilities, Polk couldn't manage his cabinet, his generals, or his diplomats. It was only through steely determination and a work ethic that led to his early demise that success was in reach.

Merry does an excelll...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Mitchell rated it 4 of 5 stars

By the time you are done reading this book you will have to feel sorry for James Know Polk. Here was a president who in just one term took America to the Pacific coast and almost doubled its territory, he put an end to the uncertainty hanging over American currency, expanded free trade, and put the country on a sound economic footing. He did his utmost to avoid war, but found it to be impossible. He completely destroyed his health and died at the age of 53 just a few months after leaving office....more

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Aug 31, 2012 Booknblues rated it 4 of 5 stars

Robert W. Merry, in his book, A Country of Vast Designs, describes the intriguing presidency of James K. Polk. As the United States eleventh president, Polk entered his term as a lame duck, vowing to serve only one term but with grandiose plans of coming to terms with Great Britain over claims on Oregon, acquiring California from Mexico, reducing the tariff and changing it from a protectionist one to a revenue producing one and establishing an independent treasury to protect federal monies. If h...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Gene rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a biography of Polk's Presidency.

We meet the major players of the day including Old Hickory, Martin Van Buren, Lewis Cass, James Buchanan, Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Thomas Hart Benton and the leading Generals of the Mexican War, Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor.

The wheeling and dealing of politics is unchanged from antiquity to today. This book presents a fine picture of an era which will probably not be too familiar to many readers. Polk was a prodigious worker and persistent in what...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Jill rated it 3 of 5 stars

James K. Polk, the eleventh president of the United States, is one of the most successful yet least known “consequential” occupant of that office. Polk’s presidency lasted only one term (he voluntarily chose not to seek an additional term); yet he added huge territories to the United States. In addition, he put government finances on a dependable basis by establishing an independent treasury and helping to pass an important tariff bill.

Robert Merry brings the enigmatic Polk to life with his deta...more James K. Polk, the eleventh president of the United States, is one of the most successful yet least known “consequential” occupant of that office. Polk’s presidency lasted only one term (he voluntarily chose not to seek an additional term); yet he added huge territories to the United States. In addition, he put government finances on a dependable basis by establishing an independent treasury and helping to pass an important tariff bill.

Robert Merry brings the enigmatic Polk to life with his detailed biography, A Country of Vast Designs. In it, we meet other colorful politicians like the great spokesman for the institution of slavery, South Carolina’s John C. Calhoun; the great compromiser, Kentucky’s Henry Clay; former president Martin Van Buren; and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. In addition, we learn that Polk’s scheming, ambitious, inconsistent, and somewhat disloyal secretary of state, James Buchanan, often worked to thwart Polk’s policies in order to foster his own presidential aspirations. And in the background, exercising a significant influence on political discourse and Democratic Party politics even a decade after his own presidency, was Polk’s mentor Andrew Jackson.

Polk’s first major accomplishment after his presidential victory over Henry Clay was the settlement of the dispute over the Oregon Territory with Great Britain, with whom the United States had jointly administered the area since 1818. Through tough negotiation and the threat to go to war over the issue, Polk was able to settle on a boundary of 49 degrees north, ceding to Britain what is now British Columbia, but getting for the U.S. all of what is now Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming.

Polk also spearheaded the annexation of Texas, which greatly angered Mexico and triggered the Mexican War in 1846. The war continued until 1848, and became very unpopular. Nevertheless, it resulted in the conquest and incorporation into the U.S. of California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and New Mexico. One of the military heroes of the war, Zachary Taylor, went on to become president.

A key issue complicating the annexation of western land was the expansion of Negro slavery into the new territories. Polk’s position appears to have been much like Lincoln’s early opinion: he wanted first to preserve the Union at all cost.

Evaluation: Merry paints a sympathetic portrait of a remarkable president. Although well written, the book contains a great amount of detail on the maneuverings of politicians and cabinet members, which makes for thorough history but somewhat sluggish reading or listening. It is a comprehensive work for serious students of history, but may be a bit much for the casual reader.

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Jan 13, 2012 James Thane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

While historians have generally ranked James K. Polk on the list of America's greatest presidents, he remains largely unknown and unappreciated by the vast majority of American citizens, dwarfed in reputation by Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, the two Roosevelts et al., who also populate the list. Robert W. Merry speculates that this is due in part to the fact that Polk lacked personal magnetism and was, even in his own day, largely unable "to pull large numbers of fond acolytes to his side....U...more While historians have generally ranked James K. Polk on the list of America's greatest presidents, he remains largely unknown and unappreciated by the vast majority of American citizens, dwarfed in reputation by Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, the two Roosevelts et al., who also populate the list. Robert W. Merry speculates that this is due in part to the fact that Polk lacked personal magnetism and was, even in his own day, largely unable "to pull large numbers of fond acolytes to his side....Unlike other successful presidents, he had no appreciable personal following to breathe life into his story and promote his standing in history."

Despite the fact that he is not better known these days, Polk had, by almost any standard, one of the most successful of American presidential administrations. A protege of Andrew Jackson, Polk entered office with several major objectives: to complete the annexation of Texas to the Union, to annex Oregon to the U.S. and to acquire from Mexico California and the vast Southwest between Texas and California. On the domestic side, he was determined to lower tariff rates and to re-establish the independent treasury system originally put in place by Martin Van Buren.

On taking office, Polk promised that he would limit himself to one term as president and by the end of that four years, he had achieved all of his stated objectives. The U.S. had grown in size by more than one-third and now stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. More amazing, perhaps, is that he accomplished all of this against considerable opposition from the Whig minority and with a badly divided Democratic party that often frustrated the president even more than the Whigs.

In part, Polk established this record by working harder than any other president before or since. He devoted long hours to the job day in and day out and was absent from Washington D.C. for only a handful of days during his entire presidency. He once explained his rare devotion to duty by confiding to his diary, "No President who performs his duty faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure. If he entrusts the details and smaller matters to subordinates constant errors will occur. I prefer to supervise the whole operations of the Government myself...and this makes my duties very great."

So great, in fact, that Polk wore himself out at the job and died only three months after leaving office at the (even then) relatively young age of fifty-three. Polk quickly proved also to be one of the most stubborn and determined presidents we have ever had. Once he set his mind on an objective, he worked relentlessly and often very skillfully to accomplish it. A prime example was his determination to win most of the Oregon country for the U.S. Merry describes how Polk effectively outmaneuvered the British to win a settlement of the Oregon controversy that was very advantageous to the U.S.

Polk's most controversial actions, both in his own time and down to the present day, were those he took in his determination to place the border between Texas and Mexico on the Rio Grande River, rather than on the Nueces, which was this historic border between Texas and the neighboring Mexican province, and to secure from Mexico California and the Southwest. Polk's opponents in the 1840s, including a young congressman named Abraham Lincoln, and others since have accused Polk of ginning up a war with Mexico to secure the territory when other means failed.

Merry defends Polk against the charge, although not all that convincingly, by arguing that Mexico was also at fault for the events that led to the war and by arguing further that, in effect, might makes right. Logic dictated that the United States and not Mexico would be the nation to dominate California and the Southwest, and that by his actions that led to the war, Polk was simply acknowledging and promoting the nation's destiny.

This is not an argument likely to mollify all of Polk's critics, but one need not agree with all of Merry's conclusions to note that he has written as full and complete an examination of the Polk administration as we are likely to get or to need. Whatever one may think of him, Polk accomplished a phenomenal record.

People will continue to debate that record for a good many years, and, of course, the acquisition of all of that new territory would open a bitter debate over the question of the expansion of slavery. That, in turn, would propel the United States into a cataclysmic civil war, as some of Polk's opponents feared at the time. In the end, perhaps the fairest and most lasting judgment on the Polk administration was rendered by the venerable diplomatic historian Thomas A. Bailey, who once wrote that, "one can fairly criticize Polk's methods, but one can hardly fail to be impressed by the results."(less)

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Jan 13, 2011 Jeff rated it 5 of 5 stars

Why isn't Seattle in Canada? Why is San Francisco not a major Mexican city? Turns out, James K Polk had a lot to do with the answers to these questions. For me, this book was a page turner as the events of the 1840's, a long neglected period in my knowledge of US history was unveiled.

The book hits just the right balance between too much detail and too much generality as it explores the life and times of our eleventh president, an unrepentant expansionist and devotee of his mentor and hero, Andr...more

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Jan 02, 2011 Chris Henn rated it 4 of 5 stars

In the pantheon of American Presidents, most people give little or no thought to the one term Presidency of James K. Polk. In 1844, he was a political unknown outside of his home state of Tennessee. In spite of that, Polk managed to secure the Democratic nomination and won the general election against Henry Clay. The first true Dark Horse candidate, Polk's platform was simple. He wanted to reestablish the Independent Treasury System, reduce tariffs, acquire some or all the Oregon Country, and ac...more

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Feb 21, 2010 rmn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction-history

James Polk is the most important president of whom you have probably never heard. Ok, maybe you have heard of him, but you likely have no idea of his influence on the United States. He followed his mentor Andrew Jackson's political philosophy and seized new territory for the US while trying to keep the federal government out of domestic issues. This book is about the most important event of his tenure and his lasting legacy, the Mexican War, which Polk both started and finished.

While this is a p...more James Polk is the most important president of whom you have probably never heard. Ok, maybe you have heard of him, but you likely have no idea of his influence on the United States. He followed his mentor Andrew Jackson's political philosophy and seized new territory for the US while trying to keep the federal government out of domestic issues. This book is about the most important event of his tenure and his lasting legacy, the Mexican War, which Polk both started and finished.

While this is a phenomenally interesting subject and time period, this book is written as if the author were testing cures for insomnia. It is clear he has done his research, but his writing oscillates between sleep inducing and coma inducing. Plus the author takes a very pro-Polk tone, or at least quickly shakes off criticism of the president despite his deceitful ways. A much much better read on Polk can be found in Daniel Walker Howe's What Hath God Wrought, but that is not the focus of Howe's book, just a section.

One day someone is going to write a great book comparing Polk to George W. Bush since they both fomented a war, lied to the American people/congress about it, labeled those dissenters as Un-American to keep up public support (Polk said those against the war were giving "aid and comfort" to the enemy and branded them as traitors and treasoners), depended on secrecy, refused to release information to the public (even when ordered to do so by Congress), and then not only lost the support of Congress when the truth came out, but had congress rally against them (Congress passed an amendment in 1848 declaring the war had been "unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the US").

The key difference between the Iraq war and "Mr. Polk's War" is that the Mexican War had a finite ending and it brought this country Texas, California, and New Mexico. So in the long run, Polk's machinations can be viewed as having been successful, even though he achieved them in nefarious ways. That is one reason Polk is such an interesting and important president to analyze. Did his means justify the ends (like Jackson's removal of Indians from their lands)?

In short, Polk is a vastly underrated and overlooked president as he successfully schemed to expand the borders of the US. The unintended second derivative effect of this was helping expedite the mounting tension between slave states and non-slave states and thus eventually bringing about Civil War. History has kind of forgotten Polk because he served only one term (by choice), died shortly after his term ended (not by choice), and was soon eclipsed by the Civil War. That said, his lasting influence on the US is probably as big as just about any other president. This book contains most, if not all, of the relevant facts, it just fails in presenting the material in a lively or engaging way. (less)

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Feb 13, 2010 Lars Guthrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

'A Country of Vast Designs' is the second entry in a project I have laid out for myself inspired by two well-received history books from 2009: Merry’s biography of James K. Polk and T.J. Stiles’s biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 'The First Tycoon.' Reading about them prompted a desire to go deeper into Nineteenth Century America.

I put together a short list including these two works, starting with 'What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848' by Daniel Walker Howe, then mov...more

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Jan 17, 2010 Jay Connor rated it 5 of 5 stars

In the Epilogue, author Robert W. Merry perhaps best presents the paradox which is the Presidency of James Polk: "probably no other president presents such a chasm between actual accomplishment and popular recognition."

The four years of Polk's presidency -- 1844 to 1848 -- are as significant to our America as any others, beyond the presidencies of Washington, Lincoln and FDR. During this time, Texas, Oregon, California, New Mexico and Arizona together with land comprising Washington State, part...more In the Epilogue, author Robert W. Merry perhaps best presents the paradox which is the Presidency of James Polk: "probably no other president presents such a chasm between actual accomplishment and popular recognition."

The four years of Polk's presidency -- 1844 to 1848 -- are as significant to our America as any others, beyond the presidencies of Washington, Lincoln and FDR. During this time, Texas, Oregon, California, New Mexico and Arizona together with land comprising Washington State, parts of Colorado, Utah, Oklahoma and Nebraska became states or territories. He also established an economic structure between tariff and banking reforms, which furthered the explosive growth of the country through the end of the century.

Polk, perhaps the most receding of personalities in a epoch of Clay, Calhoun, Jackson, Van Buren, Scott and Benton, succeeded through clarity of goals and then numbing persistence. The author shows us the idiosyncrasies of the other personalities of the age by way of showing Polk's strength in relief. For Polk the outcome was the thing; for almost all the others who shared this stage of destiny they, themselves were the end. Scott v.Trist; Fremont v. Kearny; Calhoun v. Benton; Buchanan v. everyone. What great fun and how true the mirror is to our political leaders of today.

The only genuine moment of Polk pique, which the author identifies, is in his third annual message to Congress when, frustrated over what he sees as the ongoing politicalization of his War with Mexico, he accuses his distractors as "aiding and abetting" the enemy. Sound familiar?

Through Polk, there is also some understanding of the American political mind-set as it came to the perpetuation of slavery. Once our founders failed, in the 1780's, to address this "peculiar institution" and simply kicked it down the road for future generations, there was a growing understanding that for us to address slavery was for us to be prepared to address our dissolution as a Union. Valor in many ways was seen as how do we, as a country, move forward, without ripping ourselves apart. Much of the opposition (represented by the Wilmot Proviso and other incendiary legislative faints) to Polk's expansionist worldview was that we would have to revisit slavery for each new territory claimed. Thus, in each of the four congresses of his presidency, Polk desperately tried to frame the discussions in non-sectarian ways so as to not frame an issue on a North / South divide. He would prefer a Whig and Democrat balance to a sectarian one. The irony at the center of Polk's Manifest Destiny is perhaps that without these new territories and the question of how they were to be governed, the country might have taken much longer to push past the "pact with the devil" aspects of the 1820's Missouri Compromise. The War with Mexico, the annexation of Texas and the Treaty with England for all land below the 49 parallel (Oregon) in fact forced us to ask what in its full capacity is this "Destiny?" And the answer to that implicit question of Polk's actions came less than 15 years later as we became a country "without conscience for slavery." (less)

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Jun 05, 2012 Paul Lunger rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When asked about the administration of James K. Polk or even the Mexican War a lot of people really don't know all that much & I for one knew parts of things. Robert Merry in his latest book takes an in depth look at our nation's 11th president & goes into great detail about the life & presidency in ways we've not seen in a while. The early chapters follow Polk's early life & his rise to a job he never originally intended to seek out & also show us just how complicated politi...more

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Mar 31, 2010 Kendra rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you want to read about a president who succeeded in achieving his four primary goals in one term, pick up this biography of James Polk. In four years Polk added California and Oregon to the United States, revised the Tariff law of 1842 so that the rationale behind it was to raise government revenue rather than to function as trade protectionism, and revived Van Buren's independent treasury. In addition, he completed the inclusion of Texas within the U.S. that began under the former president...more

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Feb 04, 2012 James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, amer-history, study-group, presidents

Robert Merry's biography of President Polk provides a good introduction to the era of "Manifest Destiny" and the controversies he faced including those surrounding the Mexican-American War. While the book provides a narrative of Polk's political life from Congress through the Presidency I was impressed with several specific aspects it presented and historical moments that were revelatory.
Merry is excellent in providing portraits of the important political figures in Polk's life, his mentor And...more

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Oct 26, 2012 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

The crowning achievements of James K. Polk's Presidency are like historical sausage. Everybody appreciates the end result of a country which emerged after 1848 in the aftermath of our Mexican War; a country which for the first time spanned from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, foreshadowing a world superpower based on a great contiguous amount of territory unencumbered, for the first time in its history, with the need to defend against the land claims of foreign governments. As with sausage ma...more The crowning achievements of James K. Polk's Presidency are like historical sausage. Everybody appreciates the end result of a country which emerged after 1848 in the aftermath of our Mexican War; a country which for the first time spanned from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, foreshadowing a world superpower based on a great contiguous amount of territory unencumbered, for the first time in its history, with the need to defend against the land claims of foreign governments. As with sausage making, however, the political, diplomatic and military processes of getting to this point were not pretty. This is why Polk is described as one of the most effective presidents of all time, accomplishing in four years an ambitious plan to overhaul the nation's economic system, obtaining America's claims on the Oregon territory in dispute with Great Britain, and adding Texas and California (and the territory comprising contiguous Western states) to the national domain; and as one of the most despicable presidents, for starting a war to get vast tracts of land which would be made into slave states.

One of the greatest accomplishments of Merry's book is its debunking of simplistic historical finger-pointing. "A Country of Vast Designs" contains one of the best descriptions of the turbulent American political scene of the 1840's, a time which the casual observer may gloss over as just one of the intervening decades between our nation-defining two wars with Great Britain and our Civil War. One of the factors propelling events along was the subject of Texas. Since its independence from Mexico and establishment of a Republic ten years earlier, the question of its annexation as a State was continuously debated. Opinion was divided, inside and outside Washington D.C. The Southern, slave-owning constituency of the Democratic Party would most benefit from a new, vast slave state but even some powerful Democrats opposed the idea, including the former and presumed future Presidential contender, Martin Van Buren. His opposition to annexation was based on the quite rational ground that incorporating this Republic into the Union would lead to irreparable relations with Mexico. This represented one of the first great rifts within the prevalent political parties, and was likely a key reason why he couldn't secure enough votes to win the nomination at the Democratic Party Convention. This is how the former Tennessee governor, Polk, rose from a possible Van Buren Vice-Presidential candidate to the head of the Democratic ticket.

The opposition Whigs opposed annexation of Texas until, at least, this goal could be achieved through diplomacy. Their party's ideology became more muddled by the announcement of its incumbent, John Tyler, that he favored immediate annexation. And so the established order of politics in the country began to take on new forms. Polk was elected and wrangled the acceptance of Texas into the Union. In this and subsequent political battles and deals, as Merry shows, Polk followed his vision of a grand design for the country rather than a parochial need to extend slavery or any other special interest. He was an introverted, workaholic individual who worked tenaciously to get what he wanted; when he adopted a position, he never allowed any thought of possible negative outcomes to stall his plan of action. His goal was to see the United States enlarged and its territories consolidated into a transcontinental nation. He believed the accomplishment of this goal would be a source of national pride and not of divisiveness. His political theology was firmly grounded on the spreading concept of Manifest Destiny, (reviewer's note: originally named by a journalist named John O'Sullivan, as a refinement of his earlier "Divine Destiny"; it was a romanticized justification of national expansionism based on a claimed concept of a divinely favored America).

Polk was able to wrangle New Mexico and California from the clutches of Mexico in relatively bloodless fashion, using, in the latter case, a pair of military officers, John C. Fremont and Robert Stockton, who were guided by the White House's secret dispatches and their own overblown ego's into fomenting intrigue on the ground in a far-off Mexican territory that the mother country couldn't effectively police. This constituted dubious legal possession, however. What was needed was something more definitive to force the Mexican government to cede the territories to the United States. Polk, the master manipulator, delivered the vainglorious but disfunctional Mexicans into his hands by ordering General Zachary Taylor and his army units to occupy the ground between the Rio Grande and Neuces Rivers, an area that had been claimed by the Texas Republic and Mexico and never formally resolved. A Mexican armed force sent to the area fired the first shots at the alleged American interlopers and a Mr. Polk had his war.

Polk also got what he did not want from this development: A new round of tensions centered on the introduction of slavery into newly acquired territories. The issue now was California. David Wilmot of Pennsylvania opened the scab of contention in the House with the introduction of a proviso recommending that no slaves be allowed in any states formed from any territories won from Mexico. It became the rallying cry for the Congressional abolutionists, and tangible proof to the Southern House members that their way of life was under siege.

Merry does not provide a blow-by-blow description of the two years of war which ensued, since this is not a battle-field history. He does show, however, that even though the President, and many Americans got what they wanted in the remarkable series of victories which defeated Mexico, the war and the political infighting taking place in the country took a serious toll on Polk. The peace treaty ending the war ceded enough land to enlarge the domain of the United States by over one-third, including, based on my internet search, much or all of the present states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming. Polk could be proud of his part in adding 600,000 square miles to the national domain, counting Oregon, Texas and the success of the Mexican struggle, resulting in dominance of the Pacific coastline in North America with its great harbors (p. 449).

So why isn't Polk on Mount Rushmore? Merry goes on to explain how Polk's legacy has always had to carry burdens first placed on it by the opposition Whigs, that he manufactured an unnecessary war, that he lied publicly about the initial nature of the initial conflict with the Mexican army, that he engaged in theft of territory from a weaker nation, that he caused the United States to become an international aggressor (p 474). In Polk's defense, Merry reminds us of the hypocrisy and presidential deceit surrounding every American war; Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush cannot escape these charges (Ibid.). He also raises the fact that Texas was an independent country prior to 1846, legally able to define and argue for its own boundaries; and that Mexico's decision to cut off diplomatic relations with the United States after nine years of remaining passive to the Texas Republic's claims to the same lands was highly provocative.

Merry goes on a little more shaky ground, I think, when he describes a "fundamental reality of history" as a rationale behind the engaging of war by the United States at this time. As he explains it, history proceeds with a "crushing force" much stronger than moral guidelines. It is true, as Merry writes, that Mexico's government was highly unstable and weak, and the country didn't contain a population sufficient to populate the Texas/New Mexico/California Mexican states sufficient to dispel the force of a nation poised to span the entire continent, ready to dominate the commerce of everything between the two oceans. (p. 476). These facts are true historically, but Merry seems to use them as justifications for the actions of Polk and the American Congress which led to war. One man's Manifest Destiny is another man's Imperialism.

The book's essential point, however, is that Polk shouldn't be blamed for what was going to happen in one form or another anyway. Merry describes him as a product of his times, ready and willing to fulfill prevailing public opinion (p. 476). His contribution to the process was to provide the grand vision needed to focus the country's efforts on what was needed, to articulate concrete plans for its execution, and to supply the political sweat and muscle, as well as the dwindling supply of his own physical strength, to the geopolitical cause. The physical and mental strains on this president who spent himself through an inability to delegate the minutae of governing through effective managerial teamwork, and a refusal to take the time to relax between major legislative struggles, were real. Polk steadfastly refused to run for a second term and died three months after leaving office, at the age of 53. He may continue to have his detractors, but Merry emphasizes that what matters is that America, the country of "vast designs", has been united in its embrace of his "heady vision of national destiny "(p. 476) which is tangibly evident in the physical outline of the United States, his greatest legacy.

The detritus left on the shop floor after this nation-building was ugly. As Merry notes, the country's treasury was depleted and many young American men, and Mexicans, had lost their lives. Much more lasting, it let loose civic-destroying forces which had not been foreseen (p. 477). The United States would celebrate the election of one of the war's most illustrious generals, Zachary Taylor, ironically a Whig, in 1848 but in less than the expanse of his term of office, the sectional conflicts exacerbated by the Mexican War and its aftermath would take on a head of steam. Over the next decade or so, the country would experience such depressing sights as the Dred Scott decision, Fugitive Slave Laws, widespread bloodshed in Kansas, John Brown's murderous theocratic militancy, open animosity accompanied at times by violence in the halls of Congress among individuals representing different parts of the country, and the secession of states. While James K. Polk cannot be blamed for these developments, it is accurate to describe his term of office as occurring during a hinge-point when the momentum of political forces leading to the future Civil War became unstoppable.

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Aug 26, 2012 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Extremely thorough book. In fact, the politicians of this era were such prolific letter-writers, I think authors like Merry end up over-including. Some of the correspondence – say, between Polk and his mentor Jackson – is extraordinary. But to quote from too many back-and-forth exchanges can become a soap opera at times. What’s fascinating about the book is not so much Polk – a quietly ambitious, devious and hard-nosed pol – but the cast of characters that shaped his four years in office. They i...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: presidents, us-history, biography

How many heads of state are responsible for adding over 500,000 square miles to their countries? Polk accomplished this in three different initiatives (Texas, Oregon and California + from the Mexican War.) The expansion is only one of his four main accomplishments in only one term.

Merry describes the difficulties. Polk was beset with people problems. Prominent in his administration were those who aspired to his job. He had friends like Giddeon Pillow who caused him embarrassment. It was a time o...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Who knews...James Polk? Apparently anyone who knows history. One-term President Polk (by his design) was instrumental in fixing the border for the Northwest Territories (Oregon, now Washington) with Great Britain. He instigated the Mexican War, annexed Texas, and got New Mexico and California in the bargain. We should thank him for helping create America "from sea to shining sea."

The politics of pre-Civil War Washington are just as convoluted as ours are now. I'm not sure it's comforting to kno...more

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Mar 04, 2010 Rod White rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked the simplicity of style that made this a quick read for me. I appreciated the meditation it allowed on leadership. It was also revealing about the present situation in which I live. The philosophical choices the "democracy" made have continued to make an impact. We are an aquisitive, arrogant, ambitious, godless people. We mastered the art of efficiency and applied it to conquest very early in our history. James Polk died to give us that character. The development of our brtual effective...more

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Oct 28, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: book

In-depth analysis of Polk's single term. Polk set out to accomplish concrete goals: make Texas a state, get lands from Mexico so the US would span the continent, resolve the border dispute with England over Oregon, revise the tariff and establish some kind of national banking system. He did all of these even though he was neither visionary nor a great politician. And he did it all in one term (and died 4 months after leaving office). His actions, while important, reopened the long simmering slav...more

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Mar 12, 2011 Phil Fox rated it 4 of 5 stars

It was a simple read (though at times tedious). The author probably spent more time talking about President Jackson's life than anything outside Polk's one-term. I wish I had a little more background to help frame my reference to those four years. Perhaps Jackson was that important to Polk's presidency.

The author highlights the flaws and triumphs of Polk's time in office but it came across a bit sterile and repetitive.

Spoiler alert.

This will be repeated 100x over in the book... "Polk has no bac...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Frank Roberts rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

I highly recommend this well-written, highly readable, excellent account of a key moment in US history.

The political machinations that placed Polk, America's first "dark horse", in office; the adroit diplomacy that secured the Oregon country for the US, and avoided war with Britain; the conflicting schemes, ambitions, and challenges that nearly kept Texas out of the Union; the underlying causes of the Mexican War (it wasn't just US imperialism), and the difficulties faced in bringing it to a suc...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Clay rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well written book but somewhat diluted rhetorically by bias toward Andrew Jackson and the Whig. Rather inadequate in its coverage of the Mexican war but refreshing in the way critics of that war are given credit. The machinations of England in negotiations for the claims on the Oregon territory are not fully developed, nor is the political effect of England's support of and behind the scenes designs on the Texas Republic. But still, in the end, the best book I have read on the matters it covers....more

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Jan 14, 2011 Josh rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is an incredibly dry book about an incredibly influential though largely unknown president. While this work may be called a biography, the text is dominated by a virtual retelling of all of the major policy debates of the 1840s. Often line by line, the author proceeds to quote the speeches, letters, and diplomatic cables of the time period in exhaustive fashion. It is ironic that our most underrated president should be represented by a book so void of any personality or fun, creating yet an...more

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May 30, 2010 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-us

A very pleasant, solid effort - definitely better than Meacham on Jackson. Still, it seems these modern deckled-edged popular histories are very thin in original scholarship. Both Meacham and, to a lesser extent, Merry, rely heavily on other secondary sources. The book clarified the chronological course of the Mex-Am War and the political undercurrents in DC during the war. Also helpful was the analysis of Calhoun, Van Buren and Buchanan as the Democrats splintered under the strain of slavery, a...more

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May 07, 2013 Ken Angle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-history

Mr. Merry describes an amazing time in U.S. history. Where almost more land was acquired than at any other presidential term. Texas, Oregon, California. The man James Polk was not like his mentor, Andrew Jackson, full of dash and passion. Never the less, he turned out to be the right man for the times. Merry describes a , schewd, driven calculating patriot. The politics of the times were much like today; spiteful, petty, and vicious. Sadly! Academically this book filled in gaps in my historic un...more

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Jan 11, 2013 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars

While I enjoyed this it was a brute as reflected in the amount of time it took me to finish. I learned almost as much about Andrew Jackson as I did James Polk. Some tidbits that piqued my interest 1] a quote from Jackson that is still relevant today "The people have a right to expect a "prudent system of expenditure" that will allow to government to "pay the debts of the union and authorize the reduction of every tax to as low a point as . . . our national safety and independence will allow." To...more

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May 12, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union, was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north and west of Texas -- what would become California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado -- belonged to Mexico. When Polk relinquished office four years...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Bob rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, history, political

James Polk, the 11th president of the United States won that position through a series of political missteps and accidents by others. Most notable was Martin Van Buren, who was trying for another run after not being reelected earlier.

Polk entered office with a specific political agenda, and a promise that he would only serve one term. Over time, he has been ranked as one of the least successful and among the most successful Presidents. Robert Merry makes the case for Polk's strength in this boo...more James Polk, the 11th president of the United States won that position through a series of political missteps and accidents by others. Most notable was Martin Van Buren, who was trying for another run after not being reelected earlier.

Polk entered office with a specific political agenda, and a promise that he would only serve one term. Over time, he has been ranked as one of the least successful and among the most successful Presidents. Robert Merry makes the case for Polk's strength in this book.

Looking at his set of accomplishments, it is hard not to agree. The times were politically volatile. His term in office (1839-1843) was a period of tremendous hostility between north and south on the issue of slavery. It was not clear through this book what Polk's stance was, but history paints him as supportive (or at least tolerant).

During his term of office, the United States expanded to the approximate area of the 48 states today. He acquired the Oregon territory, giving the US the current land that includes the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and parts of Montana and South Dakota. This was managed without bloodshed, through negotiations with Great Britain.

Much more controversial was his acquisition of Texas west through California. Negotiations with the newly formed country of Texas led to an agreement to have Texas join the United States. This actually began with Polk's predecessor who signed the original agreement with Sam Houston. Mexico, which had previously passively allowed Texas to become a separate country, did not agree with it joining the US. Polk pressed congress to declare war after our negotiator was not accepted by Mexico.

At the time, Mexico was an extremely poor country whose military had lost its edge. The superior forces of the United States marched all of the way to and captured Mexico City before hostilities ceased. Although Polk wanted to continue, his negotiator (who was recently recalled) negotiated a treaty without approval. Signed by the Mexican government, it was passed along to Congress who, after much debate, passed it with few minor changes. Aside from the later Gadsten Purchase, this allowed the United States to have a country with access to two major oceans, with all of the commerce that would bring.

His second big agenda item involved fiscal policy. In 1846, Polk approved a law restoring the Independent Treasury System, under which government funds were held in the Treasury and not in banks or other financial institutions. This established independent treasury deposit offices, separate from private or state banks, to receive all government funds. One of Polk's last acts as President was to sign the bill creating the Department of the Interior (March 3, 1849).

Three months after leaving office, he died at age 53. Polk was not a healthy man for much of his life.

The book itself was extremely detailed in its coverage of the years immediately preceding the Polk presidency through his death. As such, it was tedious at times to read. It took quite a long time to get through the book (although I read a couple of others when I took breaks from this). Before reading A Country of Vast Designs, I knew very little about James Polk. I would say he is not one of the more well known Presidents. Although, after truly understanding what he was able to accomplish, perhaps history should rethink its position.(less)

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