Derek Thompson

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?

So after he leaves the presidency, James Polk goes on a speaking tour through the South. Unfortunately, he essentially travels directly into the hurricane of a cholera outbreak. And for a man with a long history of stomach issues, this is courting disaster. He dies soon after leaving the presidency. I believe he has the shortest post-presidency lifespan of any president, even to date.

So after he leaves the presidency, James Polk goes on a speaking tour through the South. Unfortunately, he essentially travels directly into the hurricane of a cholera outbreak. And for a man with a long history of stomach issues, this is courting disaster. He dies soon after leaving the presidency. I believe he has the shortest post-presidency lifespan of any president, even to date.

So after he leaves the presidency, James Polk goes on a speaking tour through the South. Unfortunately, he essentially travels directly into the hurricane of a cholera outbreak. And for a man with a long history of stomach issues, this is courting disaster. He dies soon after leaving the presidency. I believe he has the shortest post-presidency lifespan of any president, even to date.

And on his tombstone, A.O.P. Nicholson supplies the following lines, quote, "'By his public policy, he defined, established, and extended the boundaries of his country. He planted the laws of the American Union on the shores of the Pacific.'" Bob, if you're writing Polk's Tombstone Epitaph, what would you write? What would you remember about this man?

And on his tombstone, A.O.P. Nicholson supplies the following lines, quote, "'By his public policy, he defined, established, and extended the boundaries of his country. He planted the laws of the American Union on the shores of the Pacific.'" Bob, if you're writing Polk's Tombstone Epitaph, what would you write? What would you remember about this man?

And on his tombstone, A.O.P. Nicholson supplies the following lines, quote, "'By his public policy, he defined, established, and extended the boundaries of his country. He planted the laws of the American Union on the shores of the Pacific.'" Bob, if you're writing Polk's Tombstone Epitaph, what would you write? What would you remember about this man?

We've talked a lot about Polk's expansion, welcoming Texas into the Union, bluffing the British out of half of Oregon, going to war with Mexico to grab California and the Southwest. We haven't talked as much about how he expanded the executive power of the presidency. But in fact, Arthur Schlesinger in his classic book, The Imperial Presidency, he gives a lot of room to Polk.

We've talked a lot about Polk's expansion, welcoming Texas into the Union, bluffing the British out of half of Oregon, going to war with Mexico to grab California and the Southwest. We haven't talked as much about how he expanded the executive power of the presidency. But in fact, Arthur Schlesinger in his classic book, The Imperial Presidency, he gives a lot of room to Polk.

We've talked a lot about Polk's expansion, welcoming Texas into the Union, bluffing the British out of half of Oregon, going to war with Mexico to grab California and the Southwest. We haven't talked as much about how he expanded the executive power of the presidency. But in fact, Arthur Schlesinger in his classic book, The Imperial Presidency, he gives a lot of room to Polk.

He describes him as a micromanager who totally redefined the presidency in his brief four years. How would you say Polk expanded and redefined the executive power of the presidency in his time?

He describes him as a micromanager who totally redefined the presidency in his brief four years. How would you say Polk expanded and redefined the executive power of the presidency in his time?

He describes him as a micromanager who totally redefined the presidency in his brief four years. How would you say Polk expanded and redefined the executive power of the presidency in his time?

I want to close by asking what both of you think American history would look like without James K. Polk. What if Henry Clay had won the election of 1844? Is California part of America today? Does Clay find a way to avoid or somehow minimize the Civil War by paying off Southern slave owners, as he said he wanted to do in several occasions?

I want to close by asking what both of you think American history would look like without James K. Polk. What if Henry Clay had won the election of 1844? Is California part of America today? Does Clay find a way to avoid or somehow minimize the Civil War by paying off Southern slave owners, as he said he wanted to do in several occasions?

I want to close by asking what both of you think American history would look like without James K. Polk. What if Henry Clay had won the election of 1844? Is California part of America today? Does Clay find a way to avoid or somehow minimize the Civil War by paying off Southern slave owners, as he said he wanted to do in several occasions?

I know that counter histories are a little bit difficult, or maybe the problem with them is that they're too easy. You can always make something up and it's unfalsifiable. But I'd love to get your brains on it. So Bob, we'll start with you. What is American history like without James K. Polk?

I know that counter histories are a little bit difficult, or maybe the problem with them is that they're too easy. You can always make something up and it's unfalsifiable. But I'd love to get your brains on it. So Bob, we'll start with you. What is American history like without James K. Polk?

I know that counter histories are a little bit difficult, or maybe the problem with them is that they're too easy. You can always make something up and it's unfalsifiable. But I'd love to get your brains on it. So Bob, we'll start with you. What is American history like without James K. Polk?

It's interesting because there are two ideas there that I think are are in tension. The idea on the one hand that the discovery of gold in California in the 1840s immediately changed the fate of and the value of California to any empire that wanted to acquire it. And on the other hand, the idea that maybe the U.S.