Reviews for James K. Polk

The average rating for James K. Polk based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-11-11 00:00:00 Michael Woodruff The western coast of North America, between the latitudes that correspond (roughly) to the east coast of the United States, has a peculiar geographical feature: a lack of large natural harbors. Cliffs and rocks make the coastline uninviting to ships in search of shelter, and sandbars block the entrance to the largest navigable river, the Columbia. Only three exceptions exist between Baja California and Alaska: San Diego, San Francisco (with its superb Bay), and the waters of Puget Sound. These exceptions, according to Norman Graebner’s classic 1955 monograph, exerted a huge influence on the foreign policy of President James Polk, arguably the United States’ most successful expansionist. Two of Polk’s goals were the acquisition of Alta California and the annexation of as much of the Oregon Country (which extended to Alaska) as possible. The eleventh president wanted the three harbors, which would protect and sustain American shipping on the Pacific Ocean. Thus, in his negotiations with Britain over division of the Oregon Country, Polk insisted he wanted the whole district, but gladly settled for a boundary at 49 degrees because this gave the United States access to Puget Sound. (Britain had wanted to draw the border along the Columbia.) Polk also pressed Mexico to sell California to the United States, and when that Republic’s government refused he provoked a war to achieve the same end. An American naval expedition seized Monterey and the Bay Area early in the war, and the 1848 peace treaty drew the international border ten miles south of San Diego, the third of the harbors Polk sought. The United States’ growth into a Pacific power had begun. Two caveats here: according to Tom Chaffin, President Polk had almost no interest in California at the beginning of his presidency, and was willing to let it remain a Mexican state as long as it stayed out of Britain’s hands. His presidential concerns, like Irish famine relief and trade with Europe, oriented themselves more toward the Atlantic than the Pacific. Also, Nicholas Trist, not Polk, negotiated the border between the United States and Mexico, and (if I recall correctly) the president became rather angry upon learning that his plenipotentiary had not obtained more Mexican territory. For several years, American negotiators would try to persuade Mexico to sell Baja California and Sonora as well, suggesting that their government hadn’t just wanted ports - it also wanted continental territory.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-09-26 00:00:00 Rebecca Blabolil I'm up to Benjamin Franklin and frankly Ben, I've had enough of you and this book. I usually like Bryson's writing style, but the fruity self-congratulatory tone of this is irritating. Also, I think if you are an American you might be a great deal more interested in the entire of history of America as experienced by European settlers than I am. No 'might' about it, of course you are, its your country. Me, sorry, but I couldn't care less. Does that sound almost sacrilegious to you? Ask yourself this, what interest do you have in Caribbean history (somewhat, but not entirely, boring) or worse, much worse, Welsh history, since its not exactly a history of a get-up-and-go people who Did Great Things (they liked to sing a lot and annoy the English essentially). Now I like history, I do, especially books by people like Liza Picard and Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, but they tend to keep politicians out of it. Nothing bores like reading political squabbles, at least to me. Also, the Indians, in whom I have a major interest as all I know about them is war, ceremonies and their problems with alcohol and success with gambling, are dismissed by Bryson with just a little about their linguistic contribution to American English. I'm not saying its not a good book, I've never read a bad Bryson one, but its just plain boring to me and life is too short and books too many to bother finishing it.