Most of the momentous questions springing out of the war with Mexico were left by Polk as legacies to his successor, when the former went out of office, after an administration that Benton criticised with extreme sharpness, although he tried to shield the president by casting the blame for his actions upon his cabinet advisers; Characterizing the Mexican War as one of "speculation and intrigue," and as the "great blot" of his four years' term of office, and ridiculing the theory that we were acting in self-defense, or that our soil had been invaded.
"Thomas Hart Benton"
Theodore Roosevelt
The egret, the night heron, the vampire-here were three types of organisms, Characterizing the actions and reactions in nature.
"Edge of the Jungle"
William Beebe
In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs, as a matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for Characterizing parties by geographical discriminations-northern and southern-atlantic and western-whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views.
"Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution"
L. Carroll Judson