Derek Thompson

It's like if every president elected between 1992 and 2024 all fought in the Gulf War. Truly a very, very different time. But I want to make sure that we go deeper on the issue of slavery. Bob, first you. How does the acquisition of all of this new territory affect the economics of the slave trade and the debate around slavery?

It's like if every president elected between 1992 and 2024 all fought in the Gulf War. Truly a very, very different time. But I want to make sure that we go deeper on the issue of slavery. Bob, first you. How does the acquisition of all of this new territory affect the economics of the slave trade and the debate around slavery?

It's like if every president elected between 1992 and 2024 all fought in the Gulf War. Truly a very, very different time. But I want to make sure that we go deeper on the issue of slavery. Bob, first you. How does the acquisition of all of this new territory affect the economics of the slave trade and the debate around slavery?

Absolutely seminal. Quoting the historian Daniel Walker Howe here, the consequences of the election of 1844 went far beyond Texas annexation, important as that was. If Henry Clay had won the White House, almost surely there would have been no Mexican War, no Wilmot Proviso, and therefore less reason for the status of slavery in the territories to have inflamed sectional passions, end quote.

Absolutely seminal. Quoting the historian Daniel Walker Howe here, the consequences of the election of 1844 went far beyond Texas annexation, important as that was. If Henry Clay had won the White House, almost surely there would have been no Mexican War, no Wilmot Proviso, and therefore less reason for the status of slavery in the territories to have inflamed sectional passions, end quote.

Absolutely seminal. Quoting the historian Daniel Walker Howe here, the consequences of the election of 1844 went far beyond Texas annexation, important as that was. If Henry Clay had won the White House, almost surely there would have been no Mexican War, no Wilmot Proviso, and therefore less reason for the status of slavery in the territories to have inflamed sectional passions, end quote.

Walt, as the North and the South are falling to quarreling over the spoils of war in the West, something else is happening. In 1848, gold is discovered in California. How does the discovery of gold and the gold rush play into Polk's legacy?

Walt, as the North and the South are falling to quarreling over the spoils of war in the West, something else is happening. In 1848, gold is discovered in California. How does the discovery of gold and the gold rush play into Polk's legacy?

Walt, as the North and the South are falling to quarreling over the spoils of war in the West, something else is happening. In 1848, gold is discovered in California. How does the discovery of gold and the gold rush play into Polk's legacy?

What if it had been discovered 40 years ago? Britain probably would have tried to wage war against Mexico and might have extended the Oregon Territory, and British Columbia might be a kind of long column from Baja, California, all the way up to Alaska, if Britain could have sent its navy against the Mexicans in, say, the 1820s, 1830s. It really is unbelievable that the discovery of gold happens...

What if it had been discovered 40 years ago? Britain probably would have tried to wage war against Mexico and might have extended the Oregon Territory, and British Columbia might be a kind of long column from Baja, California, all the way up to Alaska, if Britain could have sent its navy against the Mexicans in, say, the 1820s, 1830s. It really is unbelievable that the discovery of gold happens...

What if it had been discovered 40 years ago? Britain probably would have tried to wage war against Mexico and might have extended the Oregon Territory, and British Columbia might be a kind of long column from Baja, California, all the way up to Alaska, if Britain could have sent its navy against the Mexicans in, say, the 1820s, 1830s. It really is unbelievable that the discovery of gold happens...

12, 24 months after the end of the Mexican-American War. It's just, it's ludicrous, ludicrous providence.

12, 24 months after the end of the Mexican-American War. It's just, it's ludicrous, ludicrous providence.

12, 24 months after the end of the Mexican-American War. It's just, it's ludicrous, ludicrous providence.

You know, one question, before we get to Polk and his death and legacy, one question I'm not sure I have clarity on, I'm not sure the best way to ask it, but it seems very important to me that the people who lived in Texas, you know, certainly at the time, 1840s, the white men who lived in Texas, who had political power, wanted to be annexed by the U.S., that there was a self-determination case for Texas to belong with the U.S.,

You know, one question, before we get to Polk and his death and legacy, one question I'm not sure I have clarity on, I'm not sure the best way to ask it, but it seems very important to me that the people who lived in Texas, you know, certainly at the time, 1840s, the white men who lived in Texas, who had political power, wanted to be annexed by the U.S., that there was a self-determination case for Texas to belong with the U.S.,

You know, one question, before we get to Polk and his death and legacy, one question I'm not sure I have clarity on, I'm not sure the best way to ask it, but it seems very important to me that the people who lived in Texas, you know, certainly at the time, 1840s, the white men who lived in Texas, who had political power, wanted to be annexed by the U.S., that there was a self-determination case for Texas to belong with the U.S.,

With the rest of the Mexican territory, from modern New Mexico up through Utah, Nevada, into Northern California, do modern historians have any sense of that area's self-determination in the 1840s Or was it such a motley group of settlers and Mexicans and Native Americans that it's hard for us to say that there was any self-identifying nationality?

With the rest of the Mexican territory, from modern New Mexico up through Utah, Nevada, into Northern California, do modern historians have any sense of that area's self-determination in the 1840s Or was it such a motley group of settlers and Mexicans and Native Americans that it's hard for us to say that there was any self-identifying nationality?