Read the passage from President James Polk’s 1844 inaugural address. In the earlier stages of our national existence the opinion prevailed with some that our system of confederated States could not operate successfully over an extended territory, and serious objections have at different times been made to the enlargement of our boundaries. These objections were earnestly urged when we acquired Louisiana. Experience has shown that they were not well founded. . . . [N]ew States have been admitted into the Union; new Territories have been created and our jurisdiction and laws extended over them. As our population has expanded, the Union has been cemented and strengthened. As our boundaries have been enlarged and our agricultural population has been spread over a large surface, our federative system has acquired additional strength and security. According to Polk, how did the United States change as a result of acquiring Louisiana?It became more divided. It became more powerful. It became too big to manage. It became a country of farmers.