Going back a little earlier President Jefferson did a pretty good job sending Lewis and Clark out west, the Louisiana Purchase was also pretty sweet, he did some great stuff but looking back there was plenty of opportunity for a man with vision.
My G.G.G. Grandfather was Lt. Governor of the Territory of New Mexico and a personal friend of Kit Carson. He was a military man but not in favor with war with Mexico, considering it an outright act of aggression and major land grab. He had fought in the Blackhawk Indian Wars, its rumored that he fought along with Lincoln and travelled to the Mexican war from Pike County, Illinois with his regiment to fight in the war. He kept a correspondence with the local paper, it is a treasure of what common life was like. He lost more men due to disease and illness than during the war itself. He later died at Chicamauga, shot off his horse rallying his men to charge up Snodgrass Hill.