JAMES K. POLK (D) - 1845-1849
The United States saw more land expansion under the 11th President than it had since Thomas Jefferson secured the Louisiana Purchase. He'd pledged to serve only one term, and within that term, he got just about everything he wanted.
As a slave-owning Southerner, he supported the annexation of Texas, but he wanted to add the Oregon Territory to balance it out. He worked a compromise with Great Britain to grant the US the land below the 49th parallel, which became Washington, Idaho and Oregon. Once he got that, he wanted to buy California from Mexico. The Mexican government rebuffed his diplomat, which he used as an excuse for war, but before he even made his official request to Congress, some Mexican soldiers crossed the Rio Grande and killed eleven Americans. Polk now really had his excuse, since they had "shed American blood on American soil."
The Mexican-American War lasted two years and ended in Mexico's defeat. In the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico ceded the land to the US that would become California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona and New Mexico.
Even if Polk hadn't committed to only serving one term, his health greatly decreased in his final months. Polk actually died three months after leaving office.
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