“But they say, ‘Sir, we must have territory.’ ... Why must we have territory? ... You have a territory now, in which you may place thirty millions of men... is it not enough? ... Look at the lesson of history. What has ruined all the republics that have gone before us? The very same lust of empire... We want room! ... Sir, look at the map of Europe. There is Germany... and there is the British Empire. Does either of these complain of want of room? ... What is the consequence of this thirst for land? It leads to war, to conquest, and to the destruction of the very institutions we cherish.”
— Senator Thomas Corwin, Speech on the Mexican-American War, 1847
Which of the following debates in the 1840s is most directly reflected in the arguments presented in the excerpt?
- The tension between the preservation of republican institutions and the geopolitical drive for territorial acquisitionAnswer
- BThe belief that immediate tariff reductions, rather than the expansion of cotton cultivation, was the primary interest of Southern states
- CThe advocacy for an absolute isolationist foreign policy that rejected any economic or diplomatic ties with European empires
- DThe consensus that the executive branch had the sole constitutional authority to determine popular sovereignty in the territories