US history is marred with controversial episodes that raise a lot of debate. One of these events occurred in the 1800s during the American-Mexican war. The background of this war is that Texas had gained independence from Mexico and was a slave state, making the US hesitant to admit it into the union. Mexico still considered Texas part of its territory; it is no secret that President Polk was an ambitious expansionist whose goal was to expand the US from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He had campaigned on this very promise and even offered to buy the territory. This is why he sent many troops to the disputed area with Mexico in a veiled act of provocation. The Mexicans, of course, would fall for this bait and ended up attacking the US troops after which Polk declared war.
Firstly, President Polk had not hidden his motives since he had campaigned on expanding the US territory. The Americans knew who Polk was and what his intentions were when they elected him. It does not get more American than engaging in imperialism with the excuse of honor. In this case, America was waiting for Mexico to give them an excuse to invade. This is not any different from the weapons of mass destruction pretext used to invade Iraq and Afghanistan. American intelligence must have known that the pilots who blew up the towers were Saudi, but it is not Saudi oil they wanted. Polk had talked about “manifest destiny.” It would seem that American sloganeering to justify imperialism did not start with Bush’s “war on terror.” Interestingly, both Polk and Bush had overwhelming support from Americans to engage in the wars; hegemony is as American as turkey on Thanksgiving.