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James K. Polk

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   James Knox Polk
   James K. Polk
     __________________________________________________________________

   11th President of the United States
   In office
   March 4, 1845 –  March 4, 1849
   Vice President(s)   George M. Dallas
   Preceded by John Tyler
   Succeeded by Zachary Taylor
     __________________________________________________________________

   Born November 3, 1795
   Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
   Died June 15, 1849
   Nashville Tennessee
   Political party Democratic
   Spouse Sarah Childress Polk
   Religion Presbyterian, Methodist
   Signature

   James Knox Polk ( November 2, 1795– June 15, 1849) was the eleventh
   President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1845 to March 4,
   1849. Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina but mostly
   lived in and represented the state of Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk
   served as Speaker of the House (1835–1839) and governor of Tennessee
   (1839–1841) prior to becoming president. Polk was the first president
   who retired after one term and did not seek reelection. He is noted for
   his success in winning a war with Mexico and adding vast new
   territories. He lowered the tariff and established a treasury system
   that lasted until 1913. A " dark horse" in 1844, he fulfilled his
   promise to serve only one term, and died three months after his term
   ended.

   His single term in office is most notable for the largest expansion (in
   area) of the nation's boundaries (exceeding even the Louisiana
   Purchase), through the negotiated establishment of the Oregon Territory
   and the purchase of 1.2 million square miles through the Treaty of
   Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican–American War. The
   expansionism, however, opened a furious debate over slavery in the new
   territories that was resolved by the Compromise of 1850. He signed the
   Walker Tariff that brought an era of near free trade to the country
   until 1861. He oversaw the opening of the U.S. Naval Academy, the
   Smithsonian, the Washington Monument, and the issuance of the first
   postage stamps in the United States. He was the first President of the
   United States ever to be photographed. Scholars have ranked him #10 to
   #12 on the list of greatest presidents for his ability to set an agenda
   and achieve all of it.

Early life

   Portrait of Polk before his presidency.
   Enlarge
   Portrait of Polk before his presidency.

   Polk, the first of ten children, was born in what is now Pineville,
   North Carolina in Mecklenburg County in 1795. His father, Samuel Polk,
   was a slaveholder, farmer and surveyor of Scots-Irish descent, and
   related to Scottish nobility. His mother, Jane Polk (née Knox) was a
   descendant of the Scottish religious reformer John Knox. In 1806, the
   Polk family moved to Tennessee, settling near Duck River in what is now
   Maury County. The family grew prosperous, with Samuel Polk becoming one
   of the leading planters of the area. Polk later moved to Nashville,
   Tenn. at age 11.

   During his childhood, Polk suffered from poor health. In 1812, his
   father took him to Kentucky, where the famous surgeon Dr. Ephraim
   McDowell conducted an operation to remove urinary stones. The operation
   may have left him sterile. Polk did enjoy comparatively better health
   during the rest of his life.

   Polk was home schooled; his formal education began at the age of 18,
   when he studied at Zion Church near his home. He later attended a
   school in Murfreesboro, where he met his future wife, Sarah Childress.
   After less than three years of attending the school, Polk left
   Tennessee to enroll in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
   While there, he practiced his oratorical skills as a member of the
   Dialectic Society. He graduated in 1818 and returned to Nashville to
   study law under Felix Grundy. Polk was admitted to the bar in 1820, and
   established his own practice in Columbia, Tennessee. He worked with
   Aaron V. Brown who in the future would to be a Governor of Tennessee as
   well as Postmaster General.

Career as slaveholder

   Polk was a slaveholder for almost his entire adult life. His father
   Samuel left title to over 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) of land and about 53
   slaves to his widow and his children; James inherited control over nine
   of his father's slaves, either directly or from deceased brothers. In
   1831, he became an absentee cotton planter, sending slaves to clear
   plantation land that his father had left him near Somerville,
   Tennessee. Three years later he sold his Sommerville plantation and
   bought 920 acres (370 ha) of land, together with his brother-in-law,
   for a cotton plantation near Coffeeville, Mississippi. He ran this
   plantation for the rest of his life, eventually taking it over
   completely from his brother-in-law. He infrequently bought more slaves
   and sold others, although once he became President and could better
   afford it, he bought more slaves. Polk's will stipulated that their
   slaves were to be manumitted after both he and his wife Sarah had died.
   The slaves, however, were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation before
   the death of his widow.

Political career

   Polk was brought up as a Jeffersonian Democrat, for his father and
   grandfather were strong supporters of Thomas Jefferson. The first
   public office he held was that of chief clerk of the Senate of
   Tennessee (1821–1823); he resigned the position in order to run his
   successful campaign for the state legislature. Polk's oratory became
   popular, earning him the nickname "Napoleon of the Stump." He courted
   Sarah Childress, and they married on January 1, 1824.

   Polk became a supporter of Andrew Jackson, then the leading politician
   of Tennessee. In 1824, Jackson ran for President, while Polk campaigned
   for the House of Representatives. Polk succeeded, but Jackson was
   defeated. Though Jackson had won the popular vote, neither he nor any
   of the other candidates ( John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William H.
   Crawford) had obtained a majority of the electoral vote, allowing the
   House of Representatives to select the victor. In his first speech,
   Polk expressed his belief that the House's decision to choose Adams was
   a violation of the will of the people; he even proposed
   (unsuccessfully) that the Electoral College be abolished.

   In Congress, Polk was a firm supporter of Jacksonian democracy; he
   opposed the Second Bank of the United States, favored gold and silver
   over paper money; distrusted banks; and preferred agricultural
   interests over industrial ones. This behaviour earned him the nickname
   "Young Hickory," an allusion to Andrew Jackson's sobriquet, "Old
   Hickory." After Jackson defeated Adams in the presidential election of
   1828, Polk rose in prominence, becoming the leader of the
   pro-Administration faction in Congress. As chairman of the powerful
   Ways and Means Committee, he lent his support to the President in the
   conflict over the National Bank. Later after Polk became speaker in
   1835, Jackson left office, to be succeeded by fellow Democrat Martin
   Van Buren. Van Buren's term was a period of heated political rivalry
   between the Democrats and the Whigs, with the latter often subjecting
   Polk to insults, invectives, and challenges to duels.

   In 1838, the political situation in Tennessee—where, in 1835, Democrats
   had lost the governorship for the first time in their party's
   history—convinced Polk to return to help the party at home. Leaving
   Congress in 1839, Polk became a candidate in the Tennessee
   gubernatorial election, defeating fellow Democrat Newton Cannon by
   about 2,500 votes. Though he revitalized Democrats in Tennessee, his
   victory could not put a stop to the political decline of the Democratic
   Party elsewhere in the nation. In the presidential election of 1840,
   Van Buren was overwhelmingly defeated by a popular Whig, William Henry
   Harrison. Polk lost his own gubernatorial re-election bid to a Whig,
   James C. Jones, in 1841. He challenged Jones in 1843 but was defeated
   once again.

Election of 1844

   Presidential electoral votes by state.
   Enlarge
   Presidential electoral votes by state.

   Polk initially hoped to be nominated for vice-president at the
   Democratic convention, which began on May 27, 1844. The leading
   contender for the presidential nomination was former President Martin
   Van Buren, who wanted to stop the expansion of slavery. Other
   candidates included General Lewis Cass (an expansionist) and James
   Buchanan (a moderate). The primary point of political contention
   involved the Republic of Texas, which, after declaring independence
   from Mexico in 1836, had asked to join the United States. Van Buren
   opposed the annexation but in doing so lost the support of many
   Democrats, including former President Andrew Jackson, who still had
   much influence. Van Buren won a simple majority on the convention's
   first ballot but did not attain the two-thirds supermajority required
   for nomination. After six more ballots, when it became clear that Van
   Buren would not win the required majority, Polk was put forth as a
   "dark horse" candidate. The eighth ballot was also indecisive, but on
   the ninth, the convention unanimously nominated Polk, who had Jackson's
   support. Despite having served as speaker of the House of
   Representatives, he was relatively unknown, leading many Whigs to
   snipe, "Who is James K. Polk?"

   When advised of his nomination, Polk replied: "It has been well
   observed that the office of President of the United States should
   neither be sought nor declined. I have never sought it, nor should I
   feel at liberty to decline it, if conferred upon me by the voluntary
   suffrages of my fellow citizens." Because the Democratic Party was
   splintered into bitter factions, Polk promised to serve only one term
   if elected, hoping that his disappointed rival Democrats would unite
   behind him with the knowledge that another candidate would be chosen in
   four years.
   1844 campaign banner
   Enlarge
   1844 campaign banner

   Polk's Whig opponent in the 1844 presidential election was Henry Clay
   of Kentucky. (Incumbent Whig President John Tyler—a former Democrat—had
   become estranged from the Whigs and was not nominated for a second
   term.) The question of the annexation of Texas, which was at the
   forefront during the Democratic Convention, once again dominated the
   campaign. Polk was a strong proponent of immediate annexation, while
   Clay seemed more equivocal and vacillating.

   Another campaign issue, also relating to westward expansion, involved
   the Oregon Country, then under the joint occupation of the United
   States and Great Britain. The Democrats had championed the cause of
   expansion, informally linking the controversial Texas annexation issue
   with a claim to the entire Oregon Country, thus appealing to both
   Northern and Southern expansionists. (The slogan "Fifty-Four Forty or
   Fight", often incorrectly attributed to the 1844 election, did not
   appear until later; see Oregon boundary dispute.) Polk's consistent
   support for westward expansion—what Democrats would later call
   "Manifest Destiny"—likely played an important role in his victory, as
   opponent Henry Clay hedged his position.

   In the election, Polk won in the South and West, while Clay drew
   support in the Northeast. Polk lost his home state of Tennessee as well
   as North Carolina, his alma mater. However, Polk won the crucial state
   of New York, where Clay blamed supporters to the third-party candidate
   James G. Birney. Polk won the popular vote by a margin of about 38,000
   out of 2.6 million, and took the Electoral College with 170 votes to
   Clay's 105.

   Polk is still the only Speaker of the House of Representatives ever to
   be elected President.

Presidency

   When he took office on March 4, 1845, Polk, at 48, became the youngest
   man to assume the presidency up to his time. According to a story told
   decades later by George Bancroft, Polk set four clearly defined goals
   for his administration: the re-establishment of the Independent
   Treasury System, the reduction of tariffs, acquisition of some or all
   the Oregon boundary dispute, and the purchase of California from
   Mexico. Resolved to serve only one term, he accomplished all these
   objectives in just four years. By linking new lands in Oregon (with no
   slavery) and Texas (with slavery) he hoped to satisfy both North and
   South.

Fiscal policy

   In 1846, Congress approved the Walker Tariff (named after Robert J.
   Walker, the Secretary of the Treasury), which represented a substantial
   reduction of the high Whig-backed Tariff of 1842. The new law abandoned
   ad valorem tariffs; instead, rates were made independent of the
   monetary value of the product. Polk's actions were popular in the South
   and West; however, they earned him the contempt of many protectionists
   in Pennsylvania.

   In 1846, Polk approved a law restoring the Independent Treasury System,
   under which government funds were held in the Treasury, rather than in
   banks or other financial institutions.

Slavery

   Polk's views on slavery made his presidency bitterly controversial
   between proponents of slavery, opponents of slavery, and advocates of
   compromise, and the effect of his own career as a plantation
   slaveholder on his policymaking has been argued. During his presidency,
   many abolitionists harshly criticized him as an instrument of the "
   Slave Power," and claimed that the expansion of slavery lay behind his
   support for the annexation of Texas and later war with Mexico. Polk
   stated in his diary that he believed slavery could not exist in the
   territories won from Mexico, but refused to endorse the Wilmot Proviso
   that would forbid it there. Polk argued instead for extending the
   Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Ocean, which would prohibit the
   expansion of slavery above 36° 30' west of Missouri, but allow it below
   that line if approved by eligible voters in the territory.

Foreign policy

   Polk was committed to expansion—Democrats believed that opening up more
   farms for yeoman farmers was critical for the success of republican
   virtue. (See Manifest Destiny.) To balance the interests of North and
   South he sought the Oregon territory (comprising present-day Oregon,
   Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia), as well as Texas. He sought
   to purchase California, which Mexico had neglected.

Texas

   President Tyler had interpreted Polk's victory as a mandate for the
   annexation of Texas. Acting quickly because he feared British designs
   on Texas, Tyler urged Congress to pass a joint resolution admitting
   Texas to the Union; Congress complied on February 28, 1845. Texas
   promptly accepted the offer and officially became a state on December
   29, 1845. The annexation angered Mexico, however, which had succumbed
   to heavy British pressure and had offered Texas its semi-independence
   on the condition that it should not attach itself to any other nation.
   Mexican politicians had repeatedly warned that annexation meant war.

Oregon territory

   The Oregon Territory, established by the Oregon Treaty.
   The Oregon Territory, established by the Oregon Treaty.

   Polk put heavy pressure on Britain to resolve the Oregon boundary
   dispute. Since 1818, the territory had been under the joint occupation
   and control of Great Britain and the United States. Previous U.S.
   administrations had offered to divide the region along the 49th
   parallel, which was not acceptable to the British, who had commercial
   interests along the Columbia River. Although the Democratic platform
   had asserted a claim to the entire region, Polk was prepared to quietly
   compromise. When the British again refused to accept the 49th parallel
   boundary proposal, Polk broke off negotiations and returned to the "All
   Oregon" position of the Democratic platform, which escalated tensions
   along the border.

   Expansionists after the 1844 election shouted "Fifty-Four Forty or
   Fight!" This slogan, often associated with Polk, was in fact the
   position of his rivals in the Democratic Party, who wanted Polk to be
   as uncompromising in acquiring the Oregon territory as he had been in
   annexing Texas. Polk wanted territory, not war, and compromised with
   the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Aberdeen. The Oregon Treaty of 1846
   divided the Oregon Country along the 49th parallel, the original
   American proposal. Although there were many who still clamored for the
   whole of the territory, the treaty was approved by the Senate. The
   portion of Oregon territory acquired by the United States would later
   form the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and parts of the
   states of Montana and Wyoming.

War with Mexico

   After the Texas annexation, Polk turned his attention to California,
   hoping to acquire the territory from Mexico before any European nation
   did so. The main interest was San Francisco Bay as an access point for
   trade with Asia. In 1845, he sent diplomat John Slidell to Mexico to
   purchase California and New Mexico for $30 million. Slidell's arrival
   caused political turmoil in Mexico after word leaked out that he was
   there to purchase additional territory and not to offer compensation
   for the loss of Texas. The Mexicans refused to receive Slidell, citing
   a technical problem with his credentials. Meanwhile, to increase
   pressure on Mexico to negotiate, in January 1846 Polk sent troops under
   General Zachary Taylor into the area between the Nueces River and the
   Rio Grande—territory that was claimed by both the U.S. and Mexico.

   Slidell returned to Washington in May 1846, having been rebuffed by the
   Mexican government. Polk regarded this treatment of his diplomat as an
   insult and an "ample cause of war", and he prepared to ask Congress for
   a declaration of war. Serendipitously, mere days before he intended to
   make his request to Congress, Polk received word that Mexican forces
   had crossed the Rio Grande area and killed eleven American troops. Polk
   now made this the casus belli, and in a message to Congress on May 11,
   1846, he stated that Mexico had "invaded our territory and shed
   American blood upon the American soil." He did not point out that the
   territory in question was disputed and did not unequivocally belong to
   the United States. Several congressmen, including a young Abraham
   Lincoln, expressed doubts about Polk's version of events, but Congress
   overwhelmingly approved the declaration of war, with many Whigs fearing
   that opposition would cost them politically. In the House, anti-slavery
   Whigs led by John Quincy Adams voted against the war; among Democrats,
   Senator John C. Calhoun was the most notable opponent of the
   declaration.
   The Mexican Cession (in red), acquired through the Treaty of Guadalupe
   Hidalgo. The Gadsden Purchase (in yellow) acquired through purchase.
   The Mexican Cession (in red), acquired through the Treaty of Guadalupe
   Hidalgo. The Gadsden Purchase (in yellow) acquired through purchase.

   By the summer of 1846, New Mexico had been conquered by American forces
   under General Stephen W. Kearny. Meanwhile, Army captain John C.
   Frémont led settlers in northern California to overthrow the small
   Mexican garrison in Sonoma. General Zachary Taylor, at the same time,
   was having success on the Rio Grande. The United States also negotiated
   a secret arrangement with Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican
   general and dictator who had been overthrown in 1844. Santa Anna agreed
   that, if given safe passage into Mexico, he would attempt to persuade
   those in power to sell California and New Mexico to the United States.
   Once he reached Mexico, however, he reneged on his agreement, declared
   himself President, and tried to drive the American invaders back. Santa
   Anna's efforts, however, were in vain, as generals Zachary Taylor and
   Winfield Scott destroyed all resistance.

   Polk sent diplomat Nicholas Trist to negotiate with the Mexicans. Lack
   of progress prompted the President to order Trist to return to the
   United States, but the diplomat ignored the instructions and stayed in
   Mexico to continue bargaining. Trist successfully negotiated the Treaty
   of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which Polk agreed to ratify, ignoring
   calls from Democrats who demanded the annexation of the whole of
   Mexico. The treaty added 1.2 million square miles (3.1 million square
   kilometers) of territory to the United States; Mexico's size was
   halved, whilst that of the United States increased by a third.
   California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado
   and Wyoming were all included in the Mexican Cession. The treaty also
   recognized the annexation of Texas (and so the Mexican Cession includes
   the land annexed) and acknowledged American control over the disputed
   territory between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande. Mexico, in turn,
   received the sum of $15 million. The war involved less than 20,000
   American casualties but over 50,000 Mexican casualties. It had cost the
   United States nearly $100 million.

   Congressman Abraham Lincoln challenged the factual claims made by
   President Polk about the boundary, claiming it was indeterminant and
   should not have been a cause of war. In January 1848, the Whigs won a
   House vote attacking Polk in an amendment to a resolution praising
   Major General Taylor for his service in a "war unnecessarily and
   unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States". . The
   resolution, however, died in committee. The Whigs who had been so
   opposed to Polk's policy in January 1848 suddenly changed position in
   the summer. Two-thirds of the Whigs in the Senate voted for Polk's
   treaty that ended the war and acquired vast new lands (most of New
   Mexico, Arizona and California). Later in 1848, the Whigs nominated
   Zachary Taylor, the hero of the war, for president. Taylor said there
   would be no future wars, but he refused to criticize Polk, who kept his
   promise not to run for reelection. The Whigs therefore dropped their
   criticism of the war and won the election. Meanwhile the Wilmot Proviso
   injected the issue of slavery in the new territories, which Polk
   insisted during the war both to other congressmen and in his diary had
   never been a war goal.

Cuba

   In the summer of 1848, President Polk authorized his ambassador to
   Spain, Romulus Mitchell Saunders, to negotiate the purchase of Cuba and
   offer Spain up to $100 million. Cuba was close to the United States and
   had slavery, so the idea appealed to Southerners but was unwelcome in
   the North. The Spanish government rejected Saunders' overtures.

Administration and Cabinet

   Official White House portrait of James K. Polk
   Enlarge
   Official White House portrait of James K. Polk
   OFFICE                    NAME             TERM
   President                 James K. Polk    1845–1849
   Vice President            George M. Dallas 1845–1849
   Secretary of State        James Buchanan   1845–1849
   Secretary of the Treasury Robert J. Walker 1845–1849
   Secretary of War          William L. Marcy 1845–1849
   Attorney General          John Y. Mason    1845–1846
                             Nathan Clifford  1846–1848
                             Isaac Toucey     1848–1849
   Postmaster General        Cave Johnson     1845–1849
   Secretary of the Navy     George Bancroft  1845–1846
                             John Y. Mason    1846–1849

Supreme Court appointments

   Polk appointed the following Justices to the U.S. Supreme Court:
     * Levi Woodbury – 1845
     * Robert Cooper Grier – 1846

Congress

   29th Congress ( March 4, 1845– March 4, 1847)
   Senate: 31 Democrats, 31 Whigs, 1 Other
   House: 143 Democrats, 77 Whigs, 6 Others

   30th Congress ( March 4, 1847– March 4, 1849)
   Senate: 36 Democrats, 21 Whigs, 1 Other
   House: 115 Whigs, 108 Democrats, 4 Others

States admitted to the Union

     * Texas – December 29, 1845
     * Iowa – December 28, 1846
     * Wisconsin – May 29, 1848

Post-presidency

   James K. Polk's tomb lies on the grounds of the state capitol in
   Nashville, Tennessee.
   Enlarge
   James K. Polk's tomb lies on the grounds of the state capitol in
   Nashville, Tennessee.

   Polk's considerable political accomplishments took their toll on his
   health. Full of enthusiasm and vigor when he entered office, Polk left
   the White House on March 4, 1849, exhausted by his years of public
   service. He lost weight and had deep lines and dark circles on his
   face. He is believed to have contracted cholera in New Orleans,
   Louisiana on a goodwill tour of the South. He died at his new home,
   Polk Place, in Nashville, Tennessee, at 3:15 p.m. on June 15, 1849.
   Polk's devotion to his wife is illustrated by his last words: "I love
   you, Sarah. For all eternity, I love you." She lived at Polk Place for
   over forty years after his passing, a retirement longer than that of
   any other First Lady of the United States. She died on August 14, 1891.

   Polk had the shortest retirement of all Presidents who did not die in
   office, at 103 days. He was also the youngest former president to die
   in retirement at the age of 53.

   He and his wife are buried in a tomb on the grounds of the Tennessee
   State Capitol Building, in Nashville.

Legacy

   Polk's primary legacy is the huge amount of territory acquired by the
   United States during his administration. His name is also associated
   with Manifest Destiny—the idea that it was the United States' mission
   to expand westward. Polk was the first president after James Monroe to
   significantly apply the Monroe Doctrine, which asserted that the
   Americas should be free from European colonization or other
   interference. Polk is sometimes regarded as the first effective wartime
   president, conducting the Mexican War more capably than James Madison
   had done in the War of 1812. Political partisanship was intense during
   Polk's administration, however, and he was not liked by Whigs.

   He has fared better with historical hindsight, and in surveys many
   historians rate Polk as a near-great president. In these surveys, Polk
   is usually the highest ranked president who served only one full term,
   and the highest ranked in the era between Andrew Jackson and Abraham
   Lincoln. Polk's role in the outbreak of the Mexican-American War has
   been the subject of both support and criticism. Many historians argue
   that Mexico was wrong in going to war with the United States for no
   real reason and against the strong advice of its only allies, Britain
   and France. Other historians say Polk deliberately provoked a needless
   war; others suggest that he pursued a policy of brinkmanship which
   worked regarding Britain but spiraled out of control regarding Mexico.
   The issue of Texas annexation was decided by the election, but
   abolitionist arguments that it was a slaveocracy plot fueled the
   growing mistrust between North and South.

   Several United States counties are named after Polk. These include Polk
   County, Arkansas, 1844; Polk County, Iowa; Polk County, Oregon, 1845;
   Polk County, Georgia, 1851; Polk County, Florida, 1861; Polk County,
   Nebraska, 1870; and Polk County, Missouri, 1835, which was originally
   named in honour of Polk's grandfather, Revolutionary War hero Ezekiel
   Polk. When the Missouri legislature acted to create the county, they
   chose to honour James K. Polk, then Speaker of the House. Polk County,
   North Carolina is not named after James K. Polk.

Polk in Pop-Culture

   They Might Be Giants' song "James K. Polk" chronicles his political
   career from the 1844 nomination to his retirement.

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