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| WINTER'S BURDEN... |
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...SNOW-LADEN BLACK WILLOWS |
The massive branches of the old black willows along the road in the woods on South Ninth Street are heavy laden with the winter's snow, fitting objects to put one's mind in a serious mode on a mid-winter's morning.
I have just finish reading A Country of Vast Designs, by Robert W. Merry (Simon and Schuster, 2009), a biography of President James K Polk's years as president. An excellent if lengthy read, it chronicles the amazing history of the annexation of Texas into the United States and the subsequent Mexican American War, the resulting acquisition by the US of New Mexico and California, and the virtually simultaneous acquiring of Oregon Territory from Great Britain by the United States.
This incredible, short period of western expansion and the precursive concept of Manifest Destiny is usually hurriedly glossed over in the history books because it is confusing in its enormity and questionable in its morality (Mexico usually being depicted as a weak and unworthy adversary taken advantage of by the expanding American empire...an overly simplistic analysis). This history gives full credit, or places full blame, take your choice, on the stubborn patriotism of an overlooked and mostly misunderstood American president. I for one had never before really appreciated how assiduously Polk carried out the policies and designs of his mentor Andrew Jackson, whose expansionist philosophies were almost as directly descended from Thomas Jefferson.
Along with a much greater appreciation for the history of America's amazing growth during the years leading up to the Civil War, I derived a much clearer sense of the reluctance of the American character to engage in offensive war, and the political costs of such wars. Presidents who, justified or not, involve the nation in what may be considered less-than-necessary war do not fare well historically. In fact, I think it hard to find much historical enthusiasm for any of the nation's wars except for the Revolution itself and World War II.
What one does come to realize is that most of our wars, even if unpopular and unjustified, seem to be historical imperatives; they were bound to happen, sooner or later. Such was the Civil War; the very expansionism of Manifest Destiny made the clash between the slave and free states manifestly inevitable.
But, here we are, a colossal nation, a free and democratic republic spanning a continent and dominating the world, the end result of inexorable forces put in play hundreds of years past which are still propelling us into a largely unknown future. The genius of Jefferson, Polk, Jackson...continuing on to Lincoln and beyond.. is that these rare leaders could not only glimpse the future, they understood their role in fostering it. They did not "lead from behind."
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