A Country of Vast Designs by Robert Merry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I started this book assuming I would find confirmation of my dislike of James Polk for “getting us into” war with Mexico. It had the opposite effect. While I differ with Polk on what would have been a vision for the American people, and the reasons one should go to war, it is pretty obvious that Polk was in office precisely because the American people wanted that vision. Polk’s faults seem to lie in the faults of the American people of the time.
Polk promised to serve only one term and he kept his promise willingly. He accomplished all his objectives (amazingly) and got very little to no appreciation for doing so. And he got to see how his vision was going to be pulled apart by the slavery/anti-slavery divide.
He ended well. His term in office seems to have killed him and he died very soon after leaving office. But Polk did have time to decide to follow Christ, get baptized, and “die in the Lord.” Look forward to meeting him.
By the way, if you have some vision of America once being led by “statemen” instead of politicians, that vision will die in this book.
Come back soon. But not sooner than you need to.