could be repressed nor suppressed. While the Israelites had to do battle with the Hittites, Amorites Moab, Midianites, and dozens of Kings from smaller villages, the Americans had to militarily and diplomatically deal with isolated, roving Indians bands, Mexicans in the Southwest and California, along with, the English and the Russians in the Northwest. In both these Ancient and Modern events God always was available to intervene to fulfill His Will to promote the Moral Order and His gift of freedom.
Biblically, in the book of Joshua God said:
Now that my servant Moses is dead, you must lead my people across the JordanRiver into the land I’m giving them—from the Negev desert in the South to the Lebanon Mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River to the east of the Mediterranean Sea on the west ad all the land of the Hittites.
No one will be able to stand their ground against you as long as you live. For I will be with you, as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.
In America, it was President James Polk, a deeply religious Christian, who led God’s manifest destiny in the middle of the 19th century AD. It was he who politically transformed and doubled the landscape of America. James Polk and his wife, Sarah, were staunch bible-reading Presbyterians who honored the Sabbath above politics. Polk was raised on the frontier in Columbus, Tennessee just south of Nashville. As a young boy he suffered a serious urinary, aliment and remained childless. Polk frequently referred to God when making difficult political decisions. One of his closest friends was Andrew Jackson who helped him spark the manifest destiny theme that became Polk’s signature accomplishment. James Polk died a month after …show more content…
his
one-term Presidential tenure ended.
Sarah, his wife, lived as a widow on their Hermitage plantation in Nashville TN for 42 more years. As a ardent “manifest destiny” proponent, President Polk, who occupied the White House for only one term from 1845-1849, added Texas to the Union, diplomatically outfoxed the British and Russians out of the Oregon territory, and gained California as well as most of the Southwest during the Mexican War. These annexations of the West awakened the travel urge for thousands of settlers to relocate by way of the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails, extending from Independence, Missouri to the Columbia River in Oregon, and south toward New Mexico. To this day, it remains an historic enigma that President Polk is considered one of the most underrated Presidents in American
history.
On May 13th, 1846, Polk assured by a national zeal and a joint resolution by Congress pretextually declared war on Mexico. He knew that it was a widely held belief among Texans, Southerners, and Westerners that it was America’s future to govern this part of the New World. Polk’s declaration of war produced a full-scale aggression that quickly broke-out between Mexicans and American forces. Initially, four thousand troops under General Zachary Taylor were ordered by President Polk to move immediately to the Rio Grande River. Although outmanned by 6000 to 2200 General Taylor tactically surprised the Mexicans and gained a victory. A cavalry charge by American forces routed the Mexican infantry to panic and
stampede in retreat . On Christmas Day, 1846, the conquest of New Mexico at Las Cruces came shortly thereafter under Colonel Doniphan with 800 American infantrymen and cavalry. In early 1847, the Northern Mexican campaign began. Santa Ana, the Mexican commander with 15,000 troops surrounded 5000 Americans who were then rescued by the famed General William Tecumseh Sherman’s artillery barrage. This American victory marked the end of the war in Northern Mexico. On January 13th, 1847, Captain John Fremont ended a quarter of a century of Mexican reign in California by accepting their honorable surrender, further abating the hostilities in the West. In Los Angles, Mexican Captain Jose Flores with 450 troops refused to surrender, but was repelled by an American force of 400 dragoons, sailors, and marines. California now became a territory of the USA.