James Knox Polk

Some consider President James Polk to be a forgotten president. His name is hardly spoken of when considering the "great" presidents. He, in fact however helped to increase the United States by one-forth of its size. By doing this he shaped the country into what we now know it looks like. A simple man in nature he went on to do many a great things.

Personal Life

James Knox Polk was born on November 2, 1795, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina to Samuel and Jane Knox Polk. James' Grandparents had been among the first people to settle in that region. His great-uncle grew to be a strong leader in the community and his grandfather was a regarded soldier of the American Revolutionary War. In 1806, Polk moved with his family to land that had once belonged to his great-uncle in what would later become the state of Tennessee. At the age of sixteen Polk underwent a gallstone operation. The operation was successful and with his new health intact he enrolled at a Presbyterian school near where he lived. After he had completed two years of schooling he went to University of North Carolina. He graduated here with honors and at the top of his class. He became a lawyer and served in the Tennessee legislature. Here he became a friend of Andrew Jackson, who would help him greatly in his political career.

Political Background

Polk returned to Tennessee during the economic boom after the War of 1812. During the Panic of 1819 a man named Felix Grundy, who was also a criminal lawyer, rose to political by trying to help those in trouble. From him Polk learned the secrets of politics and law. In 1819 he secured the clerkship of the state Senate with the help of Grundy. From 1820 to 1823 Polk practiced law in Columbia, which he left to become part of the lower house of the legislature. In 1824 he married Sarah Childress. The two had met while taking lessons from a tutor in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She was a very social person and often threw parties to help with her husband's political campaign. This was much to the dismay of James Polk who gravely disliked talking to the many guest he had. While part of the legislature he began to break ties with the Tennessee politicians that his family had once been close too. In 1825 Polk was elected to become part of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was reelected six more times. With help from his friend Andrew Jackson, who had now become president, he was elected to be speaker of the House. He held this position from 1835 until 1839. During this time he became the strongest supported Jackson had in the House. He supported Jackson in his Bank Wars and everything else that Jackson supported. This partnership grew and the trust between the two rose. With his continual support for Jackson his colleagues began to call him "Young Hickory." When he left the House he was elected to be the governor of Tennessee. Here he began to try to introduce banking reforms much like Jackson had done. With economic hardships that began to face the nation the Democratic Party was coming under a lot of heat from the Whig Party. This continual assault caused Polk to lose reelection in 1841 and in 1843.

Election Campaign

Even though he suffered two losses to be reelected he was still thought to be a contender for Democratic vice presidential nomination in 1844. Polk was like by both those in favor of President Van Buren and those that were against him. When Van Buren said that he did not want the annexation of Texas he lost much of his support. As Van Buren began to loose in the ballots he threw his support too Polk. This made Polk the first "dark-horse" candidate to be nominated by a major political party. The following mourning the Democrats put George M. Dallas as the vice president for Polk. The Democrats platform was an opposition to a national bank, high tariffs, internal improvements, and federal interference with slavery in states. They also supported the reoccupation of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas. The Whig party on the other hand supported high tariffs, restrictions on the presidential veto, and a one-term presidency. The Whigs put Henry Clay as their nomination for president and Theodore Frelinghuysen as their vice-president. Relying on Clay's popularity to get him into the White House the Whigs paid little attention to the Liberty Party who had nominated James G. Birney and supported antislavery. Since Clay was against the annexation of Texas and Polk was, it made for a clear cut debate between the two major parties. Soon Clay and the Whigs realized that the Liberty Party could take away votes from their party. Clay began too say that he was against slavery because he did not want to annex Texas. The Liberty Party found Clay to be a liar because he in fact owned slaves. Polk on the other hand stayed by what he had said before and also said that he we get the Northwest between latitude 54' north and 40' south. Polk's campaign slogan became "Fifty-four Forty or Fight" which meant that either he would get Britain to give up the land peacefully or that America would fight them for it. Polk planned

to balance out the new slave state of Texas with the introduction of the free state of Oregon. The two major parties began to do verbal attacks against each other. The Whigs said "Who is James K. Polk" because he was much less popular than Clay. Democrats came back saying that Clay had broken everyone of the Ten Commandments. Polk won the election by the closest numbers in history. Polk received 1,338,464 popular votes to Clay's 1,300,097 votes. Polk also received 170 Electoral College votes and Clay received 105. The Liberty Party members who opposed Clay joined Polk and allowed him to win.

Policies

As president he became one of the most successful presidents of the 19th century. He got Congress to do many of the things that the Democratic Party wanted. That is, restoring the independent treasury system, sharply checking federal appropriations for internal improvements, and reducing tariffs substantially. Oregon was an important topic that Polk had to deal with. Britain and America controlled these parts. Polk was ready to negotiate but he realized that Britain had failed to take an assertive stance on the matter. Polk's move made Britain give up its stance that the Colombian River be the boundary and agreed that the 49th parallel should be it; the American government had long been willing to accept this line.

The Walker Tariff of 1846 lowered tariffs and even mad a few commodities were duty-free. He had done this even though he promised Democrats that he would not. The Walker Tariff found favor in the South and West where there were a lot of consumers. The Independent Treasury