The Diplomacy of Annexation

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Historian David M. Pletcher presents a comprehensive account of a significant chapter in America's westward expansion, focusing on the policies and events leading to the annexation of Texas, the Oregon compromise, the Mexican War, and the occupation of California and the Southwest. This analysis interrelates the three principal territorial questions of the 1840s, revealing how the United States acquired approximately the western third of its continental domain, often at the expense of Mexico and Great Britain. Rather than debating the legal and moral validity of these actions, Pletcher emphasizes the gains and losses from the chosen policies and questions why more peaceful alternatives were not pursued. He explores whether the U.S. could have obtained Texas without disregarding Mexican claims, Oregon without threats of war with Britain, and California and the Southwest without conflict with Mexico. The book posits that the Mexican War and the territorial questions were not merely regional disputes but rather significant international issues involving the U.S., Mexico, Britain, France, and Spain, each playing vital political and economic roles. Pletcher's approach provides a broader context for understanding these events, which are often considered in isolation.