James K. Polk

James K. Polk was born on November 2, 1795, in Pineville, Mecklenburg County, North CarolinaNorth CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state in the South Atlantic region of the United States; its capital is Raleigh and its largest city is Charlotte. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on November 21, 1789, becoming the 12th state, and its population in the 2020 census was 10,439,388.Open the full entry. His Scots-Irish ancestors had settled in America in the 1720s, and both of his grandfathers fought in the Revolutionary War. His father, Samuel Polk, a farmer and planter, owned thousands of acres and more than fifty slaves at his death in 1827 and supported Andrew JacksonAndrew JacksonAndrew Jackson (1767–1845) was an American soldier and politician who served as President of the United States from 1829 to 1837, after leading U.S. forces to victory at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.Open the full entry’s presidential campaign in 1824; his mother, Jane Knox Polk, raised her children by a strict Presbyterian “gospel of duty.” The eldest of ten children, he suffered many illnesses as a youth, especially gallstones.⁠[1][2]

In 1806 Polk’s family moved some 500 miles by wagon to frontier Tennessee.⁠[1][2]

Polk was taught at home by his mother and hired teachers before enrolling at a Presbyterian school outside Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He entered the University of North Carolina as a sophomore in 1816 and graduated with honors in 1818. He then studied law under Felix Grundy in Nashville, working meanwhile as clerk of the state senate, and passed the state bar examination in 1820.⁠[2][1]

From his graduation from the University of North Carolina until his marriage, Polk lived in a Federal-style brick townhouse in Columbia, Tennessee, built in 1816.⁠[3]

In 1823 Polk won a seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives, where for two years he served as the chief legislative lieutenant of Governor William Carroll and became a firm supporter of Andrew Jackson.⁠[2][1]

In 1824 Polk married Sarah Childress, then twenty. Educated at the Moravian Female Academy in Salem, North Carolina, she brought substantial family wealth to the marriage and furthered his career by hosting social events.⁠[2][4]

In 1825 Polk won the U.S. House seat for Tennessee’s Sixth District, a victory he repeated six more times. He was Andrew Jackson’s strongest supporter in the House, backing Jackson’s fight against the Second Bank of the United States, the transfer of federal deposits to “pet banks,” opposition to federally funded internal improvements and a firm stand in the nullification crisis. Jackson treated him almost as a son, and colleagues jokingly called him “Young Hickory.”⁠[2][4]

Polk was elected Speaker of the House in 1835 and served until 1839, when he resigned from the House.⁠[5][2]

Polk became governor of Tennessee in 1839 and sought banking reforms. The economic downturn of the late 1830s, which the Whigs blamed on Jackson’s party, hurt his standing; he lost his bid for reelection in 1841 and another campaign for governor in 1843, and then turned to his plantations.⁠[2][4]

In May 1844 the Democrats met in Baltimore, MarylandMarylandMaryland is a Middle Atlantic state of the United States, deeply indented by Chesapeake Bay and bordered by Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, the District of Columbia and West Virginia; its capital is Annapolis and its largest city is Baltimore. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on April 28, 1788, as the seventh state to do so, and had a population of 6,177,224 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry. The front-runner, Martin Van BurenMartin Van BurenMartin Van Buren (1782–1862) was an American politician who served as governor of New York, secretary of state and vice president before becoming President of the United States from 1837 to 1841; in 1848 he ran for president again as the Free Soil Party candidate.Open the full entry, had lost Southern support by opposing the annexation of Texas, and his opponents insisted on a two-thirds majority for nomination; Van Buren peaked on the first ballot and was overtaken by Lewis Cass on the fifth. Prompted by Jackson, Van Buren then backed Polk, who had been a leading candidate for the vice-presidential nomination. At 2 p.m. on May 30 Polk was nominated on the ninth ballot, the first “dark horse” candidate in American history; the next morning the convention nominated George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania for vice president.⁠[6][4][5]

The Democratic platform opposed a national bank, high protective tariffs and federally funded internal improvements, and called for the “reoccupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas, at the earliest practicable period,” claiming Oregon up to 54°40′. Polk pledged to serve only one term.⁠[6][5]

During the campaign the Whigs mocked Polk with “Who is James K. Polk?” and the Democrats answered with expansion, pairing Texas, popular in the South, with Oregon, which appealed to the North; supporters chanted “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight.” The antislavery Liberty Party nominated James G. Birney, whose vote in New York exceeded the margin the Whig nominee, Henry Clay, needed to carry the state, handing New York and the presidency to Polk.⁠[5][4][6]

Polk and Dallas won 170 electoral votes to 105 for Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen; Polk received 1,339,494 popular votes (49.5 percent) to Clay’s 1,300,004 (48.1 percent), a plurality rather than a majority. Polk lost his home state of Tennessee.⁠[7][6][4]

On March 4, 1845, Polk took the presidential oath from Chief Justice Roger B. Taney on the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol. At 49, he was the youngest man to that time to assume the presidency. Thunderstorms at dawn gave way to rain during the day, with an estimated noon temperature of 42°F. It was the first inauguration covered by telegraph and the first known to be featured in a newspaper illustration.⁠[8][9]

John TylerJohn TylerJohn Tyler (1790–1862) was an American politician who served as governor of Virginia and U.S. senator. Elected vice president in 1840, he succeeded William Henry Harrison on Harrison’s death in April 1841 and served as the tenth president of the United States (1841–1845), the first vice president to succeed to the presidency on the death of his predecessor.Open the full entry read Polk’s election as a mandate for annexation, and before Polk took office Congress had passed a joint resolution on March 1, 1845, offering Texas immediate statehood, which Texas accepted. Polk signed the Texas statehood bill in July 1845, and on December 29, 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state. Mexico, which had never recognized Texan independence, regarded the annexation as aggression and broke diplomatic relations.⁠[9][10][1][5]

Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its southern and western border, while Mexico held that the boundary was the Nueces River. In July 1845 Polk ordered Gen. Zachary TaylorZachary TaylorZachary Taylor (1784–1850) was an American army general and politician who rose to fame through his victories in the Mexican-American War. He became the 12th president of the United States in March 1849 and died in office in July 1850, after about sixteen months.Open the full entry to move U.S. forces into the disputed land between the two rivers, and in November he sent John Slidell to Mexico with an offer of up to $20 million, plus payment of American damage claims, for the disputed border areas and the territory that is now New MexicoNew MexicoNew Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States. Its capital is Santa Fe and its largest city is Albuquerque. It was admitted to the Union on January 6, 1912, as the 47th state, and had a population of 2,117,522 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry and CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a U.S. state on the Pacific coast; its capital is Sacramento and its largest city is Los Angeles. California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 39,538,223, the largest of any state.Open the full entry. Mexico refused to receive Slidell, and the mission failed in May 1846.⁠[10][5][1]

Taylor’s army reached the Rio Grande in March 1846; after a clash in late April, the armies fought in May at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. At Polk’s request, the United States declared war on Mexico on May 13, 1846, despite strong opposition in the North. The Miller Center’s essay notes that opposition came mainly from New England Whigs, Christian pacifists and antislavery Americans, many of whom saw the war as an effort to extend slavery into new territories.⁠[1][4][10][5][11]

Polk proposed to Britain extending the boundary along the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific; when the British minister rejected the offer, Polk restated the full American claim. Secretary of State James BuchananJames BuchananJames Buchanan (1791–1868) was an American Democratic politician and diplomat who served as secretary of state (1845–1849) and as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861.Open the full entry and the British minister in Washington, Richard Pakenham, eventually worked out a compromise under which Britain accepted the 49th parallel and Vancouver Island was reserved to Canada. On June 18, 1846, the Senate ratified the treaty by a vote of 41 to 14.⁠[5][12]

Soon after his inauguration Polk asked Treasury Secretary Robert J. Walker to study tariff levels; Walker recommended a much larger reduction than Polk had signaled to northeastern Democrats. The bill, the Tariff of 1846, passed along largely sectional lines, with Vice President George M. Dallas casting the tie-breaking vote in the Senate, and Polk signed it. The law moved rates toward revenue-only levels, replaced ad valorem rates with fixed rates per item and made a few commodities duty-free.⁠[11]

Polk then revived the Independent Treasury system, which Martin Van Buren had signed into law in 1840 and a Whig-dominated Congress had repealed a year later. The Independent Treasury Act of 1846 created treasury deposit offices separate from private and state banks, with the federal government managing its funds exclusively and disbursements made in specie or in paper backed by specie.⁠[11]

On August 8, 1846, Representative David Wilmot, a Pennsylvania Democrat, offered an amendment to an army appropriations bill to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico. It passed the House repeatedly but never cleared the Senate; nearly all northern Democrats and Whigs supported it, while southern members of both parties opposed it. Southern Democrats rallied behind John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, who introduced Senate resolutions affirming slaveholders’ right to take slaves into all U.S. territories, while Polk favored extending the Missouri Compromise line of 36°30′ to the Pacific.⁠[11][4]

Taylor went on to win battles at Monterrey and Buena Vista. When Mexico still refused to negotiate, Polk sent Gen. Winfield Scott, who landed at Veracruz, advanced inland and captured Mexico City in September 1847. Nicholas Trist, chief clerk of the State Department, served as Polk’s peace emissary and began negotiations after the fall of Mexico City; Polk recalled him in October 1847, but Trist ignored the order.⁠[1][10]

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848, setting the Rio Grande as the border of Texas. Mexico ceded about 525,000 square miles, roughly 55 percent of its prewar territory, including what is now California and New Mexico; the United States paid $15 million and assumed up to $3.25 million in debts that Mexico owed to American citizens. On March 10, 1848, the Senate approved the treaty by a vote of 38 to 14.⁠[10][4]

During Polk’s presidency the United States grew by more than a million square miles, gaining land that now makes up ArizonaArizonaArizona is a state in the southwestern United States; its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1912, as the 48th state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 7,151,502.Open the full entry, UtahUtahUtah is a U.S. state bordered by Idaho to the north, Wyoming to the northeast, Colorado to the east, Arizona to the south and Nevada to the west, with its capital at Salt Lake City. It was admitted to the Union on January 4, 1896, as the 45th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 3,271,616 residents.Open the full entry, NevadaNevadaNevada is a state in the western United States bordered by Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and California; its capital is Carson City. It was admitted to the Union on October 31, 1864, as the 36th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 3,104,614.Open the full entry, California, Oregon, IdahoIdahoIdaho is a state in the northwestern United States, often classed as a Mountain state and also considered part of the Pacific Northwest; its capital and largest city is Boise. It was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 1,839,106.Open the full entry, Washington, much of New Mexico and parts of WyomingWyomingWyoming is a U.S. state, the ninth largest by area, with its capital at Cheyenne. Wyoming was admitted to the Union on July 10, 1890, as the 44th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 576,851 residents.Open the full entry, MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the northwestern United States, with the Rocky Mountains in the west and the Great Plains in the east; its capital is Helena and its largest city is Billings. Montana became the 41st U.S. state on November 8, 1889, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 1,084,225 residents.Open the full entry and ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state classified as one of the Mountain states, with Denver as its capital. It was admitted to the Union on August 1, 1876, as the 38th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 5,773,714.Open the full entry.⁠[4]

Polk kept his pledge to serve a single term and did not seek reelection. In the 1848 election he supported the Democratic nominee, Lewis Cass; the presidency went instead to the Whig Zachary Taylor, a man Polk disliked. When he left office in 1849, the question of slavery in the territories remained unresolved.⁠[4][9][11]

In early 1849 Polk and Sarah toured the South, planning to end in Nashville, where he had bought a home later known as Polk Place. He fell ill on the trip and feared cholera; the couple reached Nashville in April. He fell ill again in June, most likely of cholera, and died in Nashville on June 15, 1849, less than three months after leaving office, at the age of 53.⁠[1][4][13]

Because a Nashville ordinance required cholera victims to be buried in the municipal cemetery, Polk was buried quickly there. In 1850 Sarah Polk had his remains moved to Polk Place, as his will specified. After Sarah died in 1891, heirs successfully contested the trust Polk’s will had created for the estate; Polk Place was sold and later torn down, and in 1893 the couple’s remains were moved to the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol, where they share a small white tomb.⁠[13][14][1]

In March 2017 the Tennessee Senate approved moving Polk’s remains to the President James K. Polk Home and Museum in Columbia; the museum’s curator, Thomas Price, supported the move, while Teresa Elam, who describes herself as a distant relative of Polk, opposed it. The Tennessee House later voted on Senate Joint Resolution 141, which received 49 of the 50 votes it needed, so the remains stayed in Nashville.⁠[14][13]

Polk and Sarah Childress Polk had no children. After his death Sarah lived at Polk Place for 42 more years. Polk asked that his wife free their slaves upon her death.⁠[1][4]

The President James K. Polk Home and Museum in Columbia, Tennessee, is a state-owned historic site administered by the Tennessee Historical Commission; apart from the White House, it is the only surviving residence of Polk. The James K. Polk Project at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, publishes Polk’s correspondence, with recent volumes covering subjects such as Cuba, the German Customs Union, the Kingdom of Hawaii, relief for the Irish potato famine and Yucatán.⁠[3][9]

The White House biography describes Polk as the last of the Jacksonians in the White House and the last strong president before the Civil War, and judges that the new territory intensified a bitter North-South dispute over the spread of slavery. The National Park Service judges that this debate led to the Civil War 13 years later. The Miller Center’s essay notes that many historians see Polk as a president who “missed opportunities,” chiefly by failing to grasp the strength of feeling over the expansion of slavery into the West, and judges that he left a country “both larger and weaker.”⁠[5][1][4]

The National Portrait Gallery exhibits a whole-plate daguerreotype of Polk taken by Mathew Brady in 1849, held by the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. Its label judges that although Polk was a Jacksonian Democrat who preferred states’ rights, he took office facing two issues that required national action: the Pacific Northwest boundary and Texas in the Southwest.⁠[15]

President James K. Polk Home and Museum: Official website: https://www.tn.gov/historicalcommission/state-programs/state-historic-sites/polk-home.html (opens in a new window).⁠[3]