The federal government of the United States is born from and
maintained by the people. The people created a governmental system
designed to represent their interests and safeguard their political power and security. They created a government capable of lapses and
mistakes. The decision to enter the Mexican -American War and the
passage of the Social Security Act are characteristic of fed gov. actions with implications, both positive and negative, beyond their original
intent.
The decision to engage Mexico in the Mexican -American War
during the mid nineteenth century was born from the expansionistic fever of the age. Americans acted to extend their borders and acquire new lands for agriculture and commercial development. The term,
“manifest destiny,” has come to embody this idea of an American,
divine mission to overtake the American continent and reach the
Pacific. The Mexican -American War was waged for this reason; President Polk, an avid expansionist, and congressional representatives from the South and West were determined to acquire new territories. Polk used a border dispute as an opportunity to provoke war with a much weaker neighbor. These political officials saw Mexico’s vulnerable North American territories, including California and New Mexico, as a means to pursue the vision of Manifest destiny.
Although the United States was victorious in the Mexican American War, securing vast swaths of land by the Mexican Cession of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the decision to wage the Mexican – American War came to haunt the fledgling nation. Indeed, the Mexican -American War paved the way for increased sectional conflict as the North and South debated the future of slavery in the Mexican Cession. The defeat of Wilmot’s Proviso, an attempt by a Democratic Congressman to resolve the issue of slavery in the newly acquired territories, led to Henry Clay’s final and most controversial compromise. The Compromise of 1850 ultimately inflamed sectional tension by strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act and ending the balance between slave and free states in the Senate. Thus the grand vision of Manifest Destiny would eventually help create a bloody Civil War. However, despite the negative implications of the federal government’s decision to engage in the Mexican -American War, the American people did gain access to new territory for agricultural development, mineral resources, and commercial use. California’s fertile land provided the nation with a wealth of agricultural products sold across the nation. The discovery of gold pulled a rush of people into California from all over the world. And Pacific ports allowed the nation to open trade routes with distant and exotic Asian nations. Despite increased sectional tension, the Mexican Cession opened up new acreage for American settlement and fulfilled many of the dreams of those who believed in the ideals of manifest destiny.
The Social Security Act was passed in the midst of the Great Depression as widespread employment and financial crisis allowed President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to engage in the New Deal, comprised of Social and legislative experimentation. The Social Security Act was originally passed to aid America’s aged citizens who had been especially hurt by bank failures and lost savings. The act was also born from FDR’s desire to rob partison support from his left- leaning opponents. The popularity of Huey Long’s “Share the Wealth” proposal and Francis Townsend’s radical pension program prompted FDR to call for action. Born from the uncertainty of an age of fiscal insecurity, Social Security has become one of the federal government’s most lasting, and debated, legacies. Social Security created a safety net for the nation’s most vulnerable citizens, certainly a positive development. Indeed, Social Security has even stimulated the American economy by providing the unemployed,
infirm, and elderly with the purchasing power to remain participating consumers. Social security reformed the nation’s economy and is part of the reason the United States has not experienced another “great” depression. However, the Social Security Act has reached the realm of unsustainability; FDR and his congressional allies did not foresee America’s population explosion with the post World War II Baby Boom, a generation overtaxing social security and poised to destroy it. Indeed, Social Security programs may run out of funding as the Federal government works desperately to allocate and find money to ensure its survival. Some conservatives have called for privatization or increasing the age of eligibility but Congress has been reluctant to alienate such a large voting bloc. The present situation has only served to compound the nation’s debt and steepen the federal deficit.
The course of history has shown that no government, or people, can completely forsee the consequences of its actions. Policy makers can only hope to resolve the nation’s immediate woes and put in place steps and actions for the future. Ultimately, both the decision to enter the Mexican -American War and the passage of the Social Security Act are examples of Federal government actions leaving positive and negative implications beyond the action’s original intent.