Polk was, of course, a loathsome imperialist
One can also argue that Polk was simply responding to the fact that Mexico owed a great deal of money to the United States and even though the lands of the west could easily have been used as payment for Mexican debts to the United States the Americans were willing to pay for the lands. The Mexican government of Herrera actually wanted to speak with John Slidell about peaceful land grants, but the anti-American Mexican military refused to follow through with these peaceful notions and placed Gabriel Valencia in power. During his trip across Mexico in 1846, Marine officer Archibald Gillespie reported back to Polk that anti-Americanism was rampant across Mexico and that war was imminent. Thus, while Polk did fight a war that some consider immoral, the Mexicans had many chances to avoid the war and chose otherwise. I surmise that you are a fan of the Whig Party, though.
Polk also did some great things in terms of upholding gold based currency, reestablishing the Independent Treasury System and repealing the Tariff of 1843, replacing it with the Walker Tariff which helped ease tensions with Great Britain and led to the uneasy treaty which awarded a parcel of disputed territory in Oregon to the United States. Polk is not one of my favorite presidents but he was effective and helped the economy in many ways.
Poll
