Trump has a portrait of Andrew Jackson but another model for Trump foreign policy would be James Polk, our eleventh President. While very few Americans even know of President Polk, but he served only one term and fulfilled most of his promise, annexation of Texas, along with much of the southwest plus California. He ran on a platform “re-annexation” of Texas and the “re-occupation” of Oregon and a populist disciple of Andrew Jackson, he stood for Manifest Destiny.
Under his Presidency, he added more than 1 million square miles extended all the way to the Pacific. While he is not the pantheon of great Presidents, he was successful in his goal. Texas was a province of Mexico but settled by Anglos who rebelled against Santa Anna and Texas succeeded to become an independent nation, but they wanted to be part of the United States Annexation by United States would have caused war.
Polk decided to annex Texas and Mexican threaten war Mexico insisted the border between the two countries was Nueces River and United States stated it was Rio Grande. Mexican ambushed American troops between the two rivers, thus the war. Polk wanted a fight but to say this was United States was too simplistic. United States had the rights to deal with independent Texas and Mexico was also in grips of war fever. Historian Robert Merry noted, “Mexico was a dysfunctional, unstable, weak nation whose population was insufficient to control all the lands within its domain. United States… was a vibrant, expanding, exuberant experiment in democracy whose burgeoning population thrilled to the notion that it was engaging in something big and historically momentous. The drive “toward expansion into largely unpopulated lands that seemed to beckon with irresistible enticement.”
However, Polk also wanted Oregon territory and there was dispute over this with Great Britain. Polk made maximal demands before settling on the 49th parallel as he chose to negotiate with the British, since two wars simultaneously would not have been wise, but Polk showed that he understood diplomacy would get what he wanted, United States at the Pacific and portion of the Oregon territory.
Polk proved adoptable in obtaining his goal and that also included buying up what is now New Mexico and Arizona plus obtaining California. It took a war to garner the southwest and California along with Texas, but it took diplomacy to garner Oregon territory.
Trump made his maximum demand for Greenland got what he wanted but Trump policies is still be sorted out but for Polk, he simply had one term but accomplished so much. He established his goals and fulfilled them. Many historian ignore Polk since they view Manifest Destiny as massive land grab as result of Mexican American war but as we have seen, it is not so simple.
Trump had ambitious goals for his Presidency and so far, he is moving on those goals, but much remains and Trump might want to brush up on Polk, an underrated President.
The Donelson Files 