Annexation of Oregon (picture above)
The Annexation of Oregon occurred in 1845. Before this point in history the U.S. had never claimed land farther north than the 49 degree latitude line. James Polk knew the importance of land, and he wanted to expand the borders. He annexed from the 49 degree line all the way to the 54 degree latitude line (present-day Oregon to the present-day southern tip of Alaska). There was a problem though, Great Britain had claimed the land all the way up to the Columbia River. Great Britain had occupied this land since 1818 and did not want to give up their land. This caused disputes about the border. Not all Americans wanted to acquire this land, some, mainly northerners and expansionists, liked the idea of getting more land for them. Others though, southerners for the most part, did not want to risk going to war with Great Britain. A compromise to split the land was agreed upon and it granted the U.S. all the land up to the 54-40 line and it gave Great Britain all of the land north of that.
The Annexation of Texas (picture below)
The Annexation of Texas also occurred in 1845, but it occurred before Polk took office. It was during John Tyler's presidency that this happened even though a lot of the credit goes to Polk as well because of his big contributions in this event. John Tyler and James K. Polk tag-teamed on this to try to get the approval of the Senate. They knew that it would be a huge deal if they could acquire this land. There was a risk to annexing this land though, the Mexicans said that they did not want us to annex Texas or they would go to war with us. On March 1, 1845, Tyler and Polk got the senates approval and annexed the land. There were good and bad things that happened after this. The good things were that Mexico did not declare war on us and that we gained thousands of miles of land. The bad things were that tensions with Mexico reached an all time high and that disputes over the border started happening soon after the annexation. The disputes started getting worse and worse until eventually the Mexican-American war broke.
The Annexation of Texas (picture below)
The Annexation of Texas also occurred in 1845, but it occurred before Polk took office. It was during John Tyler's presidency that this happened even though a lot of the credit goes to Polk as well because of his big contributions in this event. John Tyler and James K. Polk tag-teamed on this to try to get the approval of the Senate. They knew that it would be a huge deal if they could acquire this land. There was a risk to annexing this land though, the Mexicans said that they did not want us to annex Texas or they would go to war with us. On March 1, 1845, Tyler and Polk got the senates approval and annexed the land. There were good and bad things that happened after this. The good things were that Mexico did not declare war on us and that we gained thousands of miles of land. The bad things were that tensions with Mexico reached an all time high and that disputes over the border started happening soon after the annexation. The disputes started getting worse and worse until eventually the Mexican-American war broke.