Comparison of John Tyler and James Polk

According to the United States of America presidency, John Tyler was the tenth president while James Polk was the eleventh president. John Tyler became the president after the death of his predecessor the late William Henry Harrison who died a month after his entry in the White House[1]. James Polk became the president after winning the election as a democrats’ nominee against the United States Senator Henry Clay, the founder of the Whig party. Polk was a one-term president though he was younger than his predecessors at the white house and he never asked for a re-election[2].

Assumption of Tyler

            John Tyler became the tenth United States president after the death of William Henry Harrison. He was the vice president before assuming the presidency role as the acting president when William passed. He became the first American president to succeed office without being elected to it. He later moved into the white house and assumed full presidential powers, a president that would govern the future extraordinary successions and eventually became codified.

Tyler on Texas

             President Tyler wanted to make Texas a state since he supported slave trade and wanted it made legal in Texas. The political reason for wanting Texas to join the United States is, he thought by doing so, he would increase the power and the size of the United States[3]. By doing so, he also thought that the Texas state would help him acquire the presidency for the second term. Through John Calhoun, the secretary of states, Tyler was able to negotiate the annexation of Texas where the Texas officials agreed to join the union with an agreement that if Texas would join the union slave trade would still continue, which Britain was fighting. Three days before he left office, President Tyler, singed Texas annexation bill into law after both the House of Representatives and the Senate resolved giving it statehood.

Polk on Texas

            President James Polk wanted to make Texas a state. During his campaign, Polk wanted the United States union to take Texas in a peaceful manner. It was a very big deal that helped him win against his rivals, Martin Van Buren the democratic candidates and Henry Clay the Whig candidate. The two candidates claimed that annexation of Texas would lead to a war between the United States and Mexico due to the issue of slavery[4].  From this invitation of Texas to the union, Texas was given a right to split to as many as four states as the population increased.

            President James Polk was able to annex Texas, hence making the United States spread from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Texas was annexed so that it could be independent of the Mexican republic. Due to the war with the Mexican against Texas, President Polk ordered the United States troops which lay between Nueces and the Rio Grande rivers the land they disputed about[5]. They fought for two years and after peace was established. From this war, President Polk ruling is remembered.

            After the war ended, there was a peace treaty formed in 1848 called Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In the treaty, the United States got the following territories; Texas, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado[6]. The Mexican would also benefit in return by the United States agreeing to pay $15,000,000 and to also withdraw its army from the Mexican soil. Also, due to the presence of American citizen in Mexico, America was also required to pay $3,500,000 to the Mexican government. In total, the United States paid $18,500,000 to the Mexican government.

Conclusion

            During the reign of President John Tyler, the annexation of Texas was started. Tyler thought that if he would win Texas, it would help to increase the power and the size of the United States which would help him to be re-elected for the second term as the president. Though President Tyler failed he was able to pass the annexation issues into a law by being able to bring together the House of Representatives and the Senate[7]. To President James Polk he was able to annex Texas which led to a war for two years between the United States and the Mexico government.  After the war, a Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was formed and the United States got some territories. The Mexican government also received $18,500,000 from the United States.

Works cited

Crapol, Edward P. “President John Tyler, Henry Clay, and the Whig Party.” A Companion to the

Antebellum Presidents 1837–1861

(2014).

Sellers, Charles Grier. James K. Polk, Volume II: Continent. Vol. 2. Princeton University Press,

2015.

DiLorenzo, Matthew, Becca McBride, and James Lee Ray. “Presidential political ambition and

US foreign conflict behavior, 1816–2010.” Conflict Management and Peace Science (2016)

Texas statehood is the main issue in 1844 campaign

http://www.google.com/amp/s/learningenglish.voanews.com/amp/1904143.html.  Accessed on 6/Dec/2018.  

[1]

Crapol, Edward P. “President John Tyler, Henry Clay, and the Whig Party.” A Companion to the Antebellum Presidents 1837–1861 (2014).

[2]

Sellers, Charles Grier. James K. Polk, Volume II: Continent. Vol. 2. Princeton University Press, 2015.

[3]

Crapol, “A

Companion”.

[4]

Sellers, ”Continent”.

[5]

DiLorenzo, Matthew, Becca McBride, and James Lee Ray. ”Presidential political ambition and US foreign conflict behavior, 1816–2010.“ Conflict Management and Peace Science (2016)

[6]

Sellers, ”Continent”.

[7]

Texas statehood is the main issue in 1844 campaign http://www.google.com/amp/s/learningenglish.voanews.com/amp/1904143.html.  Accessed on 6/Dec/2018.