A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Robert W. Merry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 2009

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 later, the country had grown by more than a third as all these lands were added. The continental United States, as we know it today, was established -- facing two oceans and positioned to dominate both.

In a one-term presidency, Polk completed the story of America's Manifest Destiny -- extending its territory across the continent, from sea to sea, by threatening England and manufacturing a controversial and unpopular two-year war with Mexico that Abraham Lincoln, in Congress at the time, opposed as preemptive.

Robert Merry tells this story through powerful debates and towering figures -- the outgoing President John Tyler and Polk's great mentor, Andrew Jackson; his defeated Whig opponent, Henry Clay; two famous generals, Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott; Secretary of State James Buchanan (who would precede Lincoln as president); Senate giants Thomas Hart Benton and Lewis Cass; Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun; and ex-president Martin Van Buren, like Polk a Jackson protégé but now a Polk rival.

This was a time of tremendous clashing forces. A surging antislavery sentiment was at the center of the territorial fight. The struggle between a slave-owning South and an opposing North was leading inexorably to Civil War. In a gripping narrative, Robert Merry illuminates a crucial epoch in U.S. history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Merry, president and editor-in-chief of Congressional Quarterly Inc., offers a wide-ranging, provocative analysis of the controversial presidency of James K. Polk. Using a broad spectrum of published and archival sources, Merry depicts Polk as an unabashed expansionist. His political career was devoted to extending American power across the continent. Polk saw the fulfillment of manifest destiny as transcending even the festering issue of slavery. Elected president in 1844, he pursued confrontational diplomacy with Britain, structured a war with Mexico and enlarged the U.S. by over a third, essentially to its present boundaries, in a single term of office. Polk's achievements were correspondingly controversial across the political spectrum. Merry uses congressional debates and newspaper quotations to depict the genesis of a fundamental, enduring debate on America's nature and role. Conceding Polk's personal lapses and his least impressive traits. Merry makes a strong case that Polk's America embraced a sweeping vision of national destiny that he fulfilled. Merry's conclusion that history turns not on morality but on power, energy and will may be uncomfortable, but he successfully illustrates it. 16 pages of b&w photos; 1 map. (Nov.)
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Review

“Robert Merry’s authoritative biography of James K. Polk. . . provides a compelling, perceptive portrait. . . Merry joins his skill at portraiture to thorough scholarship and a shrewd grasp of human nature.”

–The Wall Street Journal

“Filled with intricate stories of personal conflict, psychological gamesmanship, and unintended consequences. . . one of the most astute and informative historical accounts yet written about national politics, and especially Washington politics, during the decisive 1840s.”

--The New York Times Book Review

“Polk was our most underrated President. He made the United States into a continental nation. Bob Merry captures the controversial and the visionary aspects of his presidency in a colorful narrative tale populated by great characters such as Jackson, Clay, and Can Buren.”

–Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe

“[Merry] brings a historian's perspective, a journalist's nose for the story and a novelist's eye to one of our country's most dramatic and defining moments. In strong, precise and elegant prose, Mr. Merry brings the key players of the day to life in terms of both personal characteristics and the causes they personified.”

--Washingtonian

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 592 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (November 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743297431
• ISBN-13: 978-0743297431
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up in the little fishing town of Gig Harbor, Washington, but my passion for history emerged during my third grade year in Charlottesville, Virginia, where my father pursued a Ph.D. at Mr. Jefferson's University. There I encountered history in abundance, not least the university itself, so much of it designed by Jefferson. Also there was Jefferson's Monticello, nearby Civil War battlefields, numerous statues of famous Americans going back 200 years. I knew from that time that history would be an important part of my life.

My dad eventually became a newspaperman in Tacoma, Washington, and I followed him into that trade. I was editor of my junior high school newspaper, my high school paper, and the University of Washington Daily. Following a stint in the army, most of it as a counterespionage agent in West Germany, I got a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. But it was always my dream to cover big events of historical sweep. Thus, after two years at the Denver Post, I arrived in Washington, D.C., to become a national political correspondent for a Dow Jones weekly newspaper called The National Observer. It was a wonderful editorial product but a business failure, and in 1977 the parent company killed it off. I was pleased to be invited to join the Washington bureau of Dow Jones' other newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, where I spent nearly 10 years covering Congress, the White House, economic policy, and national political campaigns. It was a great experience.

But around 1987 I concluded I was finished with the political chase and wished to become a publishing executive. Thus I became managing editor at Congressional Quarterly Inc., the Washington-based publishing enterprise specializing in news and information on Congress, politics, and public policy. Later I became executive editor and then CEO, a position I held for a dozen years.

So I had two wonderful career segments -- covering Washington for one of the country's leading newspapers; and leading a fine news organization with the hallowed mission of lubricating the wheels of American democracy with ongoing flows of highly valuable civic information.

Along the way I produced three books. First came TAKING ON THE WORLD (Viking, 1996), a biography of prominent postwar columnists Joseph and Stewart Alsop. I sought to use these two journalistic giants -- blood relatives of the Roosevelts; close friends of the Kennedys -- as a kind of window on 40 years of American political, diplomatic, and social history. Next came SANDS OF EMPIRE (Simon & Schuster, 2005), a polemical work that explored the philsophical underpinnings of the ideas driving American foreign policy in the post-Cold War era -- and driving policy, as I believed, in the wrong direction.

And now comes A COUNTRY OF VAST DESIGNS, a biography of President James K. Polk and an exploration of the powerful wave of expansionist sentiment that washed over America in the 1840s. In just four years America expanded its territory by a third and accumulated the vast expanse of Texas (annexed at the risk of war with Mexico), the American Southwest (acquired as a result of that war with Mexico), and the Pacific Northwest (brought into the union after a harrowing round of negotiations that almost caused a war with Great Britain). I portray James Polk, the mastermind and driving force behind this expansionist wave, as a smaller-than-life figure with larger-than-life ambitions. He achieved all his goals, but the efforts of this relentless politician sapped his strength and health, and within four months of his leaving office he died in his sleep at age 53.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

117 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rediscovering Polk, November 6, 2009

By 

reviewer25 "reviewer25" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent (Hardcover)

"A Country of Vast Designs" is an excellent reminder of how a well researched and well written book can illuminate what was an otherwise dark and often forgotten piece of the American landscape. Merry's detailed and colorful story telling add depth, perspective and entertainment. For example, his account of the Democratic nomination of 1844 reminds us how crafty our nineteenth century politician were - orchestrating power plays in whispers and back rooms - and how luck played a major role in one's nomination. Particularly gripping is the brief description of the removal of Polk's bladder stone under the anesthetic of the day - bourbon, an episode which more than likely left him impotent.

What most impresses me about this book is how faithful Merry is to Polk's character - for better or for worse. He manages to take a less-than-appealing historical figure and neither lionize nor villainize him. Instead we come to know a man who had a bigger impact on our nation's history than he is popularly given credit for. And whether or not the gains to our boarders were ill gotten does not change the fact that we are fundamentally a different place for all his work.

The book is a fascinating read for those looking to understand the generation of presidents that was born after the founding fathers - that second group of leaders who had the difficult job of stewarding the US through its early adolescence, and making manifest the aspirations of the founding generation. We all should understand more about Polk. Merry's book is an appealing and sophisticated way in.

63 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Country of Vast Designs is an excellent portrait of James K. Polk's one term as our 11th president in the Manifest Destiny age, November 16, 2009

By 

C. M Mills "Michael Mills" (Knoxville Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent (Hardcover)

Quick! How many books have you read on James Knox Polk (1795-1849) our eleventh President of the United States? Most honest readers would admit to perusing none and knowing little about this important president! Robert Merry's excellent biography of Polk and his tumultous times hopes to rectify the paucity of knowledge most citizens have of Polk and his age.
James Knox Polk was born in North Carolina in 1795. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he became a lawyer coming under the influence of the formidable 7th President Andrew Jackson. Wheras Jackson, the hero of New Orleans and Democratic president for two terms was called "Old Hickory" Polk became known as "Little Hickory." He was a strong advocate of Jackson serving in the wild and wooly politics of frontier America.
Polk emerged as the first dark horse to emerge from a Democratic Convention with their nomination for President of the United States. Polk defeated Henry Clay the Whig standarbearer in the 1844 election. He was supported by his wonderful wife Sarah Childress Polk whom he had married following the advice of Andrew Jackson. Sarah was vivacious and social whereas Polk was self-righteous, stern and a workaholic. The couple were childless.
Polk told reporters that he would only serve one term as chief executive and kept that promise. He had four major goals as president all of which were achieved. Those goals were:
1. To lower the tariffs
2. To institute an independent and working banking system
3. To obtain California.
4. To win the Oregon Territory for the United States which was in dispute with Great Britain when Polk obtained office.
Polk was a wartime president. The war dragged on from 1846-48 and was very unpopular with the Whigs and Americans who viewed it as a blatant power play to win lands from Mexico. Two Whig Generals Winfield Scott and the 12th US President Zachary Taylor won victory over Santa Anna. Mexico City was conquered. Over 13,000 American soldiers were killed in the fierce fighting.
During Polk's administration the United States added overe 500,000 miles to its territory as the nation for the first time spread from Maine to California. The vast Oregon land was won and New Mexico, Arizona become undisputed US territory. The Manifest Destiny of the nation was a success. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the man who said the United States was a "country of vast designs". Polk made this poetic dream a political reality. He is ranked as high as 11th in many presidential polls.
Polk was never physically strong and died soon after leaving office. His adversary Whig Zachary Taylor became president with Millard Fillmore serving as Vice-President.
Polk wanted the major problem of slavery to go away but it refused to do so. During his term the Wilmont Proviso which would have prohibited slavery in the newly acquired lands was hotly debated in Congress. Senate giants such as Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun debated the issue in great senatorial speeches. Polk, meanwhile, was having trouble dealing with the difficult Secretary of State and future president James Buchanan and keeping the money flowing in necessary to fight the Mexican War.
Robert Merry has crafted an excellent book on the Polk administration. The pages are filled with detailed accounts of congressional debates over such hot button issues as slavery, the Mexican War, tariff and money issues. Some readers will find this boring but many will also find it fascinating. Many of the issues ring a familiar bell for today: a first term president, an unpopular war and economic woes.
This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in the Manifest Destiny era. Ecellent and recommended!

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, gripping and extremely informative, November 30, 2009

By 

R. Pinna "Rob Pinna" (http://www.coparentsonline.com) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent (Hardcover)

Must read for history nerds.

Extremely well written, moves like a novel and hard to put down.

Outlines the key premises of Jacksonian democracy and the impact they had on our country. Explains the events and execution of the Mexican-American war, the annexation of Texas and Oregon and the expansionism that led to the California and New Mexico territories.

Presents the key philosophical differences on trade (free vs. protectionist), banking, expansionism, America's role in the world and the sectional tensions surrounding slavery that would lead to the civil war.

Fascinating also to see how partisan the politics of this period were. If anything, more cutthroat and divisive than today, with bickering, posturing and positioning for personal advantage in both congress and the cabinet.

Demonstrates the incredible impact one person in the position of American president can have on the world.