"The significance of the year 1846 to the Pacific Coast was that in this year: the Oregon question was settled… California was held by conquest and it was clear that this province of Mexico, with as long a coast line as procurable, would become a permanent possession of the United States when the Treaty of peace between the United States and Mexico should be made... the beginning of United States' plans in the Caribbean countries; Polk's re-statement of the Monroe Doctrine warned all European nations not to interfere with the coast, as well as any other part of the American continent."
