"Kearney's March" by Winston Groom
Above: " Kearney's March - The Epic Creation of the American West, 1846 - 1847" - 277 pages.
Polk is one of the five US most successful American presidents in advancing American exceptionalism (the others, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump). ***
***Second Five: Nixon, FDR, Truman, Jackson, TR.
I completed reading this book today.
I love James K. Polk.
Polk is one of the five US most successful American presidents in advancing American exceptionalism (the others, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump). ***
Polk made four major campaign promises. At the outset of his presidency, in 1844, Polk said he would (1) make a tariff lowering trade settlement with Great Britain. He promised to (2) create an independent treasury system, in lieu of establishing a central bank.
Polk had a vision, popularly named "manifest destiny," of an American nation stretching from sea to shining sea. Polk said he would (3) get the British out of the Oregon Territory, which comprised what are presently the states of Oregon, Washington, and parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Polk said he (4) would acquire the California province from Mexico.
Polk kept all his campaign promises. In addition to securing Oregon Territory and California, Texas was annexed into the United States under Polk. Texas annexation led to war with Mexico and, with American victory in that war, provided the war's spoils...land, now making up the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Utah.
From 4 million population in 1790 to 10 million in 1820, to nearly 20 million by the time of Polk's presidency, the American population was expanding, people were moving westward, and they needed room. Polk was the American agent who set the tone for, and actualized, America's westward expansion.
Polk reminds of Donald Trump, another president with unquestionable political integrity, and, like Trump, overwhelmingly successful in accomplishing his stated goals. LIke Trump, Polk outlined a vision for America, and then set out deliberately, methodically, to achieve it.
Not all, at the time, agreed with Polk. Ulysses S. Grant, who fought under Commander in Chief Polk in the Mexican War, said, to the effect, that the Mexican War was the most immoral of all American wars.
Polk's "make America great" accomplishments negated his weaknesses. He was a Democrat slaveholder, and he wanted to abolish the Electoral College in favor of straight democratic popular vote. You can't get 'em all right!
"Kearney's March" is about the personalities and events giving rise to Polk's successful presidency.
Reading "Kearney's March," we learn about...
John C. Fremont, the great American explorer of the American west, and his band of rough and tumble, mountain man cohorts, including Kit Carson. We find out how Fremont's explorations gave impetus to westward migration, for the Mormons, the Oregon pioneers, and the California Forty Niners. Fremont was the most popular American of his time. Fremont's patron was powerful Missouri senator, Thomas Hart Benton. Fremont married Benton's daughter Jessie. Fremont's sense of self importance led to his court martial for rejecting the order of General Stephen Kearney to stand down as self appointed governor of the newly acquired territory of California.
We learn about...
Brigadier General Stephen Watts Kearney, who at the order of James K. Polk, rode out of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with two thousand soldiers, bound for California. Congress had just voted, in defiance of the Mexican government, to annex Texas. After Mexico declared war on the United States, Kearny's Army of the West was sent out, carrying orders to occupy Mexican Territory.
We learn about...
Lt. General Zachary Taylor, who earned the nickname "Old Rough and Ready," due to his openness to sharing the hardships of field duty with his troops. He gained national hero status during the Mexican War when he won significant battles at Monterrey and Buena Vista. He succeeded James K. Polk as America's 12th president.
We learn about...
Colonel Alexander William Doniphan. Doniphan was an attorney, soldier and politician from Missouri who is best known today as the man who prevented the summary execution of Joseph Smith, founder the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at the close of the 1838 Mormon War in that state. Doniphan led a group of one thousand Missouri volunteers deep into Mexico during Mexican-American War. He was the author of a legal code that still forms the basis of New Mexico's Bill of Rights.
We learn about...
The Donner Party. The travails of the Donner Party are well known. As an aside, former Missouri Governor, Lilburn Boggs, was a member of the ill fated Donner wagon train, before he and his family split off from the main group to head to Oregon Territory before reaching the Sierra. Boggs, as governor, had issued the famous extermination order against the Mormons, in 1838. He had since been victim of more than one putatively Mormon based assassination attempt, which likely gave rise to his desire to move west.
We learn about...
The Mormon Battalion, which was the only religion-based unit in United States military history. The battalion was a volunteer unit of 530 LDS men, led by Mormon officers commanded by regular U.S. Army officers. During its service during the War with Mexico, from July 1846 to July 1847, the battalion made a grueling march of nearly 2000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego, California. Mormon prophet Brigham Young was able to finance the first wave Mormon migration to the Great Salt Lake valley with the proceeds of salary payments, $70K in total, to Mormon Batallion participants. A full discussion of manifest destiny cannot be undertaken without taking into account Brigham Young and the Mormon Pioneers.
We learn about...
The Wilmot Proviso. This congressional action stipulated no US funds could be dispensed to fight the war with Mexico lest all territorial acquisitions be slavery free.
In a fast paced, readable narrative, Groom weaves together the fascinating stories of America's westward expansion to form a colorful tapestry of a key period in America's evolution. There are stories of leadership, hardship, courage, cowardice, and deceit. James K. Polk's vision of manifest destiny was realized by outsized characters in a magnificent paroxysm of American hope, war, geographical expansion and cultural progress.
I was born and raised in Utah, of Mormon heritage. The story of Polk's vision hits directly home, since its likely that without his vision of American expansion today, I'd be speaking Spanish as a first language.... uh.... err... not that there's anything wrong with that!
***Second Five: Nixon, FDR, Truman, Jackson, TR.