Who was
the First U.S. President? There were actually four first
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James Polk, 21st President of the United States, 11th under the US
Constitution
James Polk
21st President of the United States
11th under the US Constitution
Message
of President James Polk nominating his cabinet, including James Buchanan
as Secretary of State, Robert J. Walker as Secretary of the Treasury, William
L. Marcy as Secretary of War, George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy, Cave
Johnson as Post Master General, and John Y. Mason as Attorney General.
(NWL-46-MCCOOK-2(4)) - Courtesy
of: National
Archives and Records Administration
James Polk was the eleventh President of the United States under the US
Constitution. Under Polk's leadership, the boundaries of the Nation were
extended to the Pacific Ocean as a result of the Oregon Treaty and the
victorious Mexican War. This expansion also encompassed the acquisition of Texas
and all lands west of the Rocky Mountains. Referred to as the first "dark
horse" President, Polk was the last strong President until the Civil
War. Through his efforts as a hardworking administrator and his success in
returning prestige to the office of the President, Polk is remembered as a 'near
great' president.
Born on November 2, 1795, in Mecklenburg County, North Caroline to an
influential, somewhat wealthy family, Polk was the son of Samuel and Jane Knox
Polk. His mother was a descendant of Scottish religious reformer John Knox. When
he was 11 years old his family moved to what is now Maury County, Tennessee. As
a student, Polk was extremely studious and industrious. In 1818, he graduated
from the University of North Carolina with honors. For two years, he studied law
in Nashville, Tennessee and was admitted to the bar in 1820. He developed a
lucrative law practice in the Columbia, Tennessee and entered politics. Polk
rose steadily within the ranks of the Democratic Party in Tennessee. He served
in the Tennessee legislature and was an avid supporter of President Andrew
Jackson. His marriage to socially prominent Sarah Childress on January 1, 1824
provided his career with a strong boost. James and Sarah had no children.
From 1825 to 1839, Polk served in the United States House of
Representatives. He became Speaker of the House during the last four years of
his congressional term and presided over many turbulent sessions and was the
object of a great deal of harassment from personal enemies. He left the House to
become Governor of Tennessee in 1839. Due to the increasing strength of the Whig
Party within the state, his political career was frustrated for the next several
years. He suffered defeat in 1841 and again in 1843 in his quest for
re-election.
Democrats, however, still regarded him as a likely candidate for the vice
presidency in 1844 on a ticket expected to be headed by former president Martin
Van Buren. Due to changing circumstances, however, Polk's ambitions rose and
on the ninth ballot at the Democratic Convention, Polk was nominated for
President, thereby becoming the first "dark horse" candidate. So
unknown was Polk outside Tennessee and the Nation's capital, the Whigs, in an
effort to further their cause during the campaign, would ask, "Who is
James K. Polk?" Running on a platform that called for the re-occupation
of Oregon and the re-annexation of Texas, Polk secured a narrow victory in the
general election. He received 38,000 votes more than his Whig opponent, Henry
Clay, and received 170 electoral votes to Clay's 105. Polk became the first
president to commit himself to a single term and was resolved to govern
independently. His goals were to secure a lower duty on imports, to separate the
federal government and the US Treasury from the banking industry, and to acquire
Texas, California, and Oregon for the United States. Prior to his inauguration
in March of 1845, one of his objectives was attained. President John Tyler had
signed the bill providing for the annexation of Texas.
If the greatness of a presidency is judged by the magnitude by which they
fulfill their goals, the presidential administration of James Polk was great
indeed. While winning congressional support for the measures he favored, he
effectively used his power of the veto to block those to which he opposed. The
wisdom and morality of his major policies were questioned by many. Receiving
much dissension from within his own Party, Polk nevertheless enacted his
domestic program. The Walker Tariff of 1846, which was named for Secretary of
the Treasury Robert J. Walker, provided for a substantial reduction of import
duties. While this pleased the southern Democrats, it met bitter resistance from
the Pennsylvania protectionists.Polk's foreign policy created much
controversy. The Independent Treasury Act of the same year displeased the
pro-banking element of the party. The expansive territorial acquisitions of his
administration were achieved at great cost. The political bitterness that
resulted helped pave the way to the American Civil War.
President Polk informed Europe that he would enforce the Monroe Doctrine
and that he would not permit intervention in the Western Hemisphere by
non-American powers. As a result of his stand on Oregon during the election
campaign, Polk knew that he was risking war with Great Britain. However, neither
Polk nor Great Britain wanted war. After lengthy negotiations, a treaty was
signed in 1846 securing the American claim to the area along the 49th parallel
except for the southern tip of Vancouver Island.
Intent on also acquiring California, which belonged to Mexico, Polk was
prepared in early May 1846 to make war on Mexico. Polk sent an envoy, John
Slidell, to offer Mexico up to $20,000,000, plus settlement of damage claims
owed to Americans, in return for California and the New Mexico country. Mexican
leaders knew that they could not cede half their country and still stay in
power. Thus Slidell was not received. To strengthen his position, Polk sent
General Zachary Taylor to the disputed area on the Rio Grande. The Mexican
troops fired on the American soldiers. In May 1846, Congress declared war and
supported the military operations, despite northern opposition. Alexander H.
Stephens and some southerners joined with Abraham
Lincoln and northern Whigs, to condemn what they believed were dishonest
methods used by Polk inprovoking the hostilities. Relations between
President Polk and his leading generals, Zachary
Taylor and Winfield Scott were affected by bickering and political intrigue.
Repeated victories were won by American forces and finally they occupied Mexico
City. In 1848, Mexico ceded New Mexico and California in return for $15,000,000
and American assumption of the damage claims. President Polk had succeeded in
adding a vast area to the United States with this military victory, but
questions were raised about the nation's honor. The country was divided over the
issue of the expansion of slavery. While the Mexican War was popular in the
southern states, opponents of slavery viewed it as a way of bringing additional
slave states to the Union. Efforts to bar slavery as a result of the Mexican
cession once again brought forth controversy and lead to the Civil War. It also
brought about division within the Democratic Party. Whig candidate Zachary
Taylor defeated the Democratic Party candidate Lewis Cass in the presidential
election of 1848.
James Polk had fulfilled all of his campaign pledges. All this hard work
took a great toll and undermined his health. Polk died on June 15, 1849 in
Nashville, Tennessee, three months after leaving office.
POLK, James Knox, eleventh
president of the United States, born in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, 2
November, 1795; died in Nashville, Tennessee, 15 June, 1849. He was a son of
Samuel Polk, whose father, Ezekiel, was a brother of Colonel Thomas (q. v.),
grandson of Robert Polk, or Pollock, who was born in Ireland and emigrated to
the United States. His mother was Jane, daughter of James Knox, a resident of
Iredell county, North Carolina, and a captain in the war of the Revolution. His
father, Samuel, a farmer, removed in the autumn of 1806 to the rich valley of
Duck river, a tributary of the Tennessee, and made a new home in a section that
was erected the following year into the county of Maury. Besides cultivating the
tract of land he had put-chased, Samuel at intervals followed the occupation of
a surveyor, acquired a fortune equal to his wants, and lived until 1827.
His son James was brought up on the farm, and not only assisted in its
management, but frequently accompanied his father in his surveying expeditions,
during which they were often absent for weeks. He was inclined to study, often
busied himself with his father's mathematical circulations, and was fond of
reading. He was sent to school, and had succeeded in mastering the English
branches when ill health compelled his removal. He was then placed with a
merchant, but having a strong dislike to commercial pursuits, he obtained
permission to return home after a few weeks' trial, and in July, 1813, was given
in charge of a private tutor. In 1815 he entered the sophomore class at the
University of North Carolina, of which institution his cousin, William (q. v.),
was a trustee. As a student young Polk was correct, punctual, and industrious.
At his graduation in 1818 he was officially acknowledged to be the best scholar
in both the classics and mathematics, and delivered the Latin salutatory. In
1847 the university conferred upon him the degree of LL.D.
In 1819 he entered the law-office of Felix Grundy, who was then at the
head of the Tennessee bar. While pursuing his legal studies he attracted the
attention of Andrew Jackson, who soon afterward
was appointed governor of the territory of Florida. An intimacy was thus begun
between the two men that in after-years greatly influenced the course of at
least one of them. In 1820 Mr. Polk was admitted to the bar, and established
himself at Columbia, the county-seat of Maury county. Here he attained such
immediate success as falls to the lot of few, his career at the bar only ending
with his election to the governorship in 1839. At times he practiced alone,
while at others he was associated successively with several of the leading
practitioners of the state. Among the latter may be mentioned Aaron V. Brown and
Gideon J. Millow.
Brought up as a Jeffersonian, and early
taking an interest in politics, Mr. Polk was frequently heard in public as an
exponent of the views of his party. So popular was his style of oratory that his
services soon came to be in great demand, and he was not, long in earning the
title of the "Napoleon of the Stump." He was, however, an
argumentative rather than a rhetorical speaker, and convinced his hearers by
plainness of statement and aptness of illustration, ignoring the ad-captandum
effects usually resorted to in political harangues.
His first public employment was that of chief clerk to the Tennessee house
of representatives, and in 1823 he canvassed the district to secure his own
election to that body. During his two years in the legislature he was regarded
as one of its most promising members. His ability and shrewdness in debate, his
business tact, combined with his firmness and industry, secured for him a high
reputation. While a member of the general assembly he obtained the passage of a
law to prevent the then common practice of duelling, and, although he resided in
a community where that mode of settling disputes was generally approved, he was
never concerned in an " affair of honor," either as principal
or as second.
In August, 1825, he was elected to congress from the Duck river district,
in which he resided, by a flattering majority, and re-elected at every
succeeding election until 1839, when he withdrew from the contest to become a
candidate for governor. On taking his seat as a member of the 19th congress, he
found himself, with one or two exceptions, the youngest member of that body. The
same habits of laborious application that had previously characterized him were
now displayed on the floor of the house and in the committee-room. He was
prominently connected with every leading question, and upon all he struck what
proved to be the keynote for the action of his party. During the whole period of
President Jackson's administration he was one of its leading supporters, and at
times, on certain issues of paramount importance, its chief reliance. His maiden
speech was made in defense of the proposed amendment to the constitution, giving
the choice of president and vice-president directly to the people. It was
distinguished by clearness and force, copiousness of research, wealth of
illustration, and cogency of argument, and at once placed its author in the
front rank of congressional debaters.
During the same session Mr. Polk attracted attention by his vigorous
opposition to the appropriation for the Panama mission. President
Adams had appointed commissioners to attend a congress proposed to be held
at Panama by delegates appointed by different Spanish-American states, which,
although they had virtually achieved their independence, were still at war with
the mother-country. Mr. Polk, and those who thought with him, contended that
such action on the part of this government would tend to involve us m a war with
Spain, and establish an unfortunate precedent for the future. In December, 1827,
he was placed on the committee on foreign affairs, and some time afterward was
also appointed chairman of the select committee to which was referred that
portion of the message of President Adams calling the attention of congress to
the probable accumulation of a surplus in the treasury after the anticipated extinguishments
of the national debt. As the head of the latter committee, he made a report
denying the constitutional power of congress to collect from the people for
distribution a surplus beyond the wants of the government, and maintaining that
the revenue should be reduced to the requirements of the public service.
Early in 1833, as a member of the ways and means committee, he made a
minority report unfavorable to the Bank of the United States, which aroused a
storm of opposition, a meeting of the friends of the bank being held at
Nashville. During the entire contest between the bank and President Jackson,
caused by the removal of the deposits in October, 1833, Mr. Polk, now chairman
of the committee, supported the executive. His speech in opening the debate
summarized the material facts and arguments on the Democratic side of the
question. George McDuffle, leader of the opposition, bore testimony in his
concluding remarks to the boldness and manliness with which Mr. Polk had assumed
the only position that could be judiciously taken. Mr. Polk was elected speaker
of the house of representatives in December, 1835, and held that office till
1839. He gave to the administration of Martin Van
Buren the same unhesitating support he had accorded to that of President
Jackson, and, though taking no part in the discussions, he approved of the
leading measures recommended by the former, including the cession of the public
lands to the states, the preemption law, and the proposal to establish an
independent treasury, and exerted his influence to secure their adoption. He was
the speaker during five sessions, and it was his fortune to preside over the
house at a period when party feelings were excited to an unusual degree.
Notwithstanding the fact that during the first session more appeals were taken
from his decisions than were ever known before, he was uniformly sustained by
the house, and frequently by leading members of the Whig party.
Although he was opposed to the doctrines of the anti-slavery reformers, we
have the testimony of their leader in the house, John Quincy Adams, to the
effect that Speaker Polk uniformly extended to him "every kindness and
courtesy imaginable." On leaving congress, Mr. Polk became the
candidate of the Democrats of Tennessee for governor. They had become
disheartened by a series of disasters and defeats caused primarily by the
defection of John Bell and Judge Hugh L. White. Under these circumstances it was
evident that no one but the strongest man in the party could enter the canvass
with the slightest prospect of success, and it was doubtful whether even he
could carry off the prize. On being asked, Mr. Polk at once cheerfully consented
to allow his name to be used. He was nominated in the autumn of 1838, but, owing
to his congressional duties, was unable fairly to enter upon the canvass until
the spring of 1839. His opponent was Newton Cannon, also a Democrat, who then
held the office. The contest was spirited, and Mr. Polk was elected by over
2,500 majority.
On 14 October he took the oath of office. In his inaugural address he
touched upon the relations of the state and Federal governments, declared that
the latter had no constitutional power to incorporate a national bank, took
strong ground against the creation of a surplus Federal revenue by taxation,
asserted that "the agitation of the Abolitionists can by no possibility
produce good to any portion of the Union, but must, if persisted in, lead to
incalculable mischief," and discussed at length other topics,
especially bearing upon the internal policy of Tennessee. In 1841 Mr. Polk was
again a candidate for the governorship, although his defeat was a foregone
conclusion in view of the political whirlwind that had swept over the country in
1840 and resulted in the election of William
Henry Harrison to the presidency. In Tennessee the Harrison electoral ticket
had received more than 12,000 majority. Although to overcome this was
impossible, Mr. Polk entered upon the canvass with his usual energy and
earnestness. He could not secure the defeat of James C. Jones, the opposing Whig
candidate, one of the most popular members of his party in the state, but he did
succeed in cutting down the opposition majority to about 3,000. In 1843 Mr. Polk
was once more a candidate; but this time Governor Jones's majority was nearly
4,000.
In 1839 Mr. Polk had been nominated by the legislature of Tennessee as its
candidate for vice-president on the ticket with Martin Van Buren, and other
states had followed the example: but Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, seemed to
be the choice of the great body of the Democratic party, and he was accordingly
nominated. From the date of Van Buren's defeat in 1840 until within a few Weeks
of the meeting of the National Democratic convention at Baltimore in 1844,
public opinion in the party undoubtedly pointed to his re-nomination, but when
in April of the latter year President Tyler concluded a treaty between the
government of the United States and the republic of Texas, providing for the
annexation of the latter to the Union, a new issue was introduced into American
politics that was destined to change not only the platforms Of parties, but the
future history and topography of the country itself.
On the question whether Texas should be admitted; the greatest divergence
of opinion among public men prevailed. The Whig party at the north opposed
annexation, on the grounds that it would be an act of bad faith to Mexico, that
it would involve the necessity of assuming the debt of the young republic,
amounting to ten or twelve millions of dollars, and that it would further
increase the area of slave territory. At the south the Whigs were divided, one
section advocating the new policy, while the other concurred with their party
friends at the north on the first two grounds of objection. The Democrats
generally favored annexation, but a portion of the party at the north, and a few
of its members residing in the slave-states, opposed it. Mr. Van Buren and Mr.
Clay agreed very nearly in their opinions, being in favor of annexation if
the American people desired it, provided that the consent of Mexico could be
obtained, or at least, that efforts should be made to obtain it. In this crisis
Mr. Polk declared his views in no uncertain tones. It being understood that he
would be a candidate for vice-president, a letter was addressed to him by a
committee of the citizens of Cincinnati, asking for an expression of his
sentiments on the subject. In his reply, dated 22 April, 1844, he said:"
I have no hesitation in declaring that I am in favor of the immediate
re-annexation of Texas to the government and territory of the United States. The
proof is fair and satisfactory to my own mind that Texas once constituted a part
of the territory of the United States, the title to which I regard to have been
as indisputable as that to any portion of our territory." He also added
that "the country west of the Sabine, and now called Texas, was [in
1819] most unwisely ceded away"; that the people and government of the
republic were most anxious for annexation, and that, if their prayer was
rejected, there was danger that she might become "a dependency if not a
colony of Great Britain."
This letter, strongly in contrast with the hesitating phrases contained in
that of ex-President Van Buren of 20 April on the same subject, elevated its
author to the presidency. When the Baltimore convention met on 27 May, it was
found that, while Mr. Van Buren could not secure the necessary two-third vote,
his friends numbered more than one third of the delegates present, and were thus
in a position to dictate the name of the successful candidate. As it was also
found that they were inflexibly opposed to Messrs. Cass, Johnson, Buchanan, and
the others whose names had been presented, Mr. Polk was introduced as the
candidate of conciliation, and nominated with alacrity and unanimity. George M.
Dallas was nominated for vice-president. In his letter of acceptance, Mr. Polk
declared that, if elected, he should enter upon " the discharge of the
high and solemn duties of the office with the settled purpose of not being a
candidate for reelection." After an exciting canvass, Mr. Polk was
elected over his distinguished opponent, Henry Clay, by about 40,000 majority,
on the popular vote, exclusive of that of South Carolina, whose electors were
chosen by the legislature of the state" while in the electoral college he
received 175 votes to 165 that were cast for Mr. Clay.
On 4 March, 1845, Mr. Polk was inaugurated. In his inaugural address,
after recounting the blessings conferred upon the nation by the Federal Union.
he said " To perpetuate them, it is our sacred duty to preserve
it. Who shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds and free hands
under the protection of this glorious Union? No treason to mankind, since the
organization of society, would be equal in atrocity to that of him who would
lift his hand to destroy it. He would overthrow the noblest structure of human
wisdom which protects himself and his fellow-man. He would stop the progress of
free government and involve his country either in anarchy or in despotism."
In selecting his cabinet, the new president was singularly fortunate. It
comprised several of the most distinguished members of the Democratic party, and
all sections of the Union were represented. James
Buchanan, fresh from his long experience in the senate, was named secretary
of state; Robert J. Walker, also an ex-senator and one of the best authorities
on the national finances, was secretary of the treasury; to William L. Marcy,
ex-governor of New York, was confided the war portfolio; literature was honored
in the appointment of George Bancroft as secretary of the navy ; Cave Johnson,
an honored son of Tennessee, was made postmaster-general; and John Y. Mason, who
had been a member of President Tyler's cabinet, was first attorney-general and
afterward secretary of the navy.
When congress met in the following December there was a Democratic
majority in both branches. In his message the president condemned all
anti-slavery agitation, recommended a sub treasury and a tariff for revenue, and
declared that the annexation of Texas was a matter that concerned only the
latter and the United States, no foreign country having any right to interfere.
Congress was also informed that the American army under General
Zachary Taylor had been ordered to occupy, and had occupied, the western
bank of Nueces river, beyond which Texas had never hitherto exercised
jurisdiction. On 29 December, Texas was admitted into the Union, and two days
later an act was passed extending the United States revenue system over the
doubtful territory beyond the Nueces. Even these measures did not elicit a
declaration of war from the Mexican authorities, who still declared their
willingness to negotiate concerning the disputed territory between the Nueces
and the Rio Grande. These negotiations, however, came to nothing, and the
president, in accordance with General Taylor's suggestion, ordered a forward
movement, in obedience to which that officer advanced from his camp at Corpus
Christi toward the Rio Grande, and occupied the district in debate. Thus brought
face to face with Mexican troops, he was attacked early in May with 6,000 men by
General Arista, who was badly beaten at Palo Alto with less than half that
number. The next day Taylor attacked Arista at Resaca de la Palma, and drove him
across the Rio Grande.
On receipt of the news of these events in Washington, President Polk sent
a message to congress, in which he declared that Mexican troops had at last shed
the blood of American citizens on American soil, and asked for a formal
declaration of war. A bill was accordingly introduced and passed by both houses,
recognizing the fact that hostilities had been begun, and appropriating
$10,000,000 for its prosecution. Its preamble read as follows: "Whereas,
by the act of the republic of Mexico, a state of war exists between that
government and the United States."
The Whigs protested against this statement as untrue, alleging that the
president had provoked retaliatory action by ordering the army into Mexican
territory, and Abraham Lincoln introduced in
the house of representatives what became known as the" spot
resolutions," calling upon the president to designate the spot of
American territory whereon the outrage had been committed. Nevertheless, the
Whigs voted for the bill and generally supported the war until its conclusion.
On 8 August a second message was received from the president, asking for money
with which to purchase territory from Mexico, that the dispute might be settled
by negotiation. A bill appropriating $2,000,000 for this purpose at once brought
up the question of slavery extension into new territory, and David Wilmot, of
Pennsylvania, in behalf of many northern Democrats, offered an amendment
applying to any newly acquired territory the provision of the ordinance of 1781,
to the effect that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever
exist in any part of said territory except for crime, whereof the party shall
first be duly convicted." The Whigs and northern Democrats united
secured its passage, but it was sent to the senate too late to be acted upon.
During the same session war with England regarding the Oregon question
seemed imminent. By the treaties of 1803 with France, and of 1819 with Spain,
the United States had acquired the rights of those powers on the Pacific coast
north of California. The northern boundary of the ceded territory was unsettled.
The United States claimed that the line of 54º 40' north latitude was such
boundary, while Great Britain maintained that it followed the Columbia river. By
the convention of 1827 the disputed territory had been held jointly by both
countries, the arrangement being terminable by either country on twelve months'
notice. The Democratic convention of 1844 had demanded the reoccupation of the
whole of Oregon up to 54. 40', " with or without war with England,"
a demand popularly summarized in the campaign rallying-cry of "
Fifty-four-forty or fight!" The annexation of Texas having been
accomplished, the Whigs now began to urge the Democrats to carry out their
promise regarding Oregon, and, against the votes of the extreme southern
Democrats, the president was directed to give the requisite twelve months'
notice. Further negotiations ensued, which resulted in the offer by Great
Britain to yield her claim to the unoccupied territory between the 49th parallel
and Columbia river, and acknowledge that parallel as the northern boundary. As
the president had subscribed to the platform of the Baltimore convention, he
threw upon the senate the responsibility of deciding whether the claim of the
United States to the whole of Oregon should be insisted upon, or the compromise
proposed by her majesty's government accepted. The senate, by a vote of 41 to
14, decided in favor of the latter alternative, and on 15 June, 1846, the treaty
was signed.
Two other important questions were acted upon at the first session of the
39th congress, the tariff and internal improvements. The former had been a
leading issue in the presidential contest of 1844. The act of 1842 had violated
the principles of the compromise bill of 1833, and the opinions of the two
candidates for the presidency, on this issue, were supposed to be well defined
previous to the termination of their congressional career. Mr. Polk was
committed to the policy of a tariff for revenue, and Mr. Clay, when the
compromise act was under discussion, had pledged the party favorable to
protection to a reduction of the imports to a revenue standard. Previous to his
nomination, Mr. Clay made a speech at Raleigh, North Carolina, in which he
advocated discriminating duties for the protection of domestic industry. This
was followed by his letter in September, 1844, in which he gave in his adhesion
to the tariff of 1842. Probably alarmed at the prospect of losing votes at the
south through his opposition to the annexation of Texas, and seeing defeat
certain unless he could rally to his support the people of the north, Mr. Clay
made one concession after another, until he had virtually abandoned the ground
he occupied in 1833, and made himself amenable to his own rebuke uttered at that
time:" What man," he had then asked, " who is entitled
to deserve the character of an American statesman, would stand up in his place
in either house of congress and disturb the treaty of peace and amity?"
Mr. Polk, on the other hand, had courted criticism by his Kane letter,
dated 19 June, 1844, which was so ambiguously worded as to give ground for the
charge that his position was identical with that held by Henry Clay. In his
first annual message, however, he explained his views with precision and
ability. The principles that would govern his administration were proclaimed
with great boldness, and the objectionable features of the tariff of 1842 were
investigated and exposed, while congress was urged to substitute ad valorem for
specific and minimum duties. " The terms ' protection to American
industry, '" he went on to say, "are of popular import, but
they should apply under a just system to all the various branches of industry m
our country. The farmer, or planter, who toils yearly in his fields, is engaged
in ' domestic industry, ' and is as much entitled to have his labor 'protected'
as the manufacturer, the man of commerce, the navigator, or the mechanic, who
are engaged also in' domestic industry' in their different pursuits. The joint
labors of all these classes constitute the aggregate of the' domestic industry'
of the nation, and they are equally entitled to the nation's 'protection.' No
one of them call justly claim to be the exclusive recipients of ' protection, '
which can only be afforded by increasing burdens on the ' domestic industry' of
others."
In accordance with the president's views, a bill providing for a purely
revenue tariff, and based on a plan prepared by See. Walker, was introduced in
the house of representatives on 15 June. After an unusually able discussion, a
vote was reached on 3 July, when the measure was adopted by 114 ayes to 95 nays.
But it was nearly defeated in the senate, where the vote was tied, and only the
decision of Vice-President Dallas in its favor saved the bill. The occasion was
memorable, party spirit ran high, and a crowded senate-chamber hung on the lips
of that official as he announced the reasons for his course. In conclusion he
said : " If by thus acting it be my misfortune to offend any portion of
those who honored me with their suffrages, I have only to say to them, and to my
whole country, that I prefer the deepest obscurity of private life, with an
unwounded conscience, to the glare of official eminence spotted by a sense of
moral delinquency!"
Regarding the question of internal improvements, Mr. Polk's administration
was signalized by the struggle between the advocates of that policy and the
executive. A large majority in both houses of congress, including members of
both parties, were in favor of a lavish expenditure of the public money. On 24
July, 1846, the senate passed the bill known as the river-and-harbor improvement
bill precisely as it had passed the house the previous March, but it was vetoed
by the president in a message of unusual power. The authority of the general
government to make internal improvements within the states was thoroughly
examined, and reference was made to the corruptions of the system that expended
money in particular sections, leaving other parts of the country without
government assistance. Undaunted by the opposition of the executive, the house
of representatives, on 20 February, 1847, passed, by a vote of 89 to 72, a
second bill making appropriations amounting to $600,000 for the same purpose. It
was carried through the senate on the last day of the second session. Although
the president could have de-feared the objectionable measure by a "pocket
veto," in spite of the denunciations with which he was assailed by the
politicians and the press, he again boldly met the question, and sent in a
message that, for thoroughness of investigation, breadth of thought, clearness
and cogency of argument, far excels any of the state papers to which he has put
his name.
The conflict between the friends and opponents of slavery was also a
prominent feature of President Polk's administration, and was being constantly
waged on the floor of congress. During the second session of the 39th congress
the house attached the Wilmot proviso to a bill appropriating $3,000,000 for the
purchase of territory from Mexico, as it had been appended to one appropriating
$2,000,000 for the same purpose at the previous session. The senate passed the
bill without the amendment, and the house was compelled to concur. A bill to
organize the territory of Oregon, with the proviso attached, passed by the
latter body, was not acted upon by the senate. A motion made in the house of
representatives by a southern member to extend the Missouri compromise-line of
36~ 30' to the Pacific was lost by a sectional vote, north against south, 81 to
104. A treaty of peace having been signed with Mexico, 2 February, 1848, after a
series of victories, a bill was passed by the senate during the first session of
the 30th congress, establishing territorial governments in Oregon, New Mexico,
and California, with a provision that all questions concerning slavery in those
territories should be referred to the United States supreme court for decision.
It received the votes of the members from the slave-states, but was lost in the
house. A bill was finally passed organizing the territory of Oregon without
slavery. During the second session a bill to organize the territories of New
Mexico and California with the Wilmot proviso was passed by the house, but the
senate refused to consider it. Late in the session the latter body attached a
bill permitting such organization with slavery to the general appropriation bill
as a "rider." but, as the house objected, was compelled to
strike it off. In his message to congress approving the Oregon territorial bill
Mr. Polk said: "I have an abiding confidence that the sober reflection
and sound patriotism of all the states will bring them to the conclusion that
the dictate of wisdom is to follow the example of those who have gone before us,
and settle this dangerous question on the Missouri compromise or some other
equitable compromise which would respect the rights of all, and prove
satisfactory to the different portions of the Union."
President Polk was not a slavery propagandist, and consequently had no
pro-slavery policy. On the contrary, in the settlement of the Oregon question,
he did all in his power to secure the exclusion of slavery from that territory,
and, although the final vote was not taken until within a few days after his
retirement, the battle was fought and the decision virtually reached during his
administration.
Mr. Polk, in a letter dated 19 May, 1848, reiterated his decision not to
become a candidate again for the presidency, and retired at the close of
his term of office to his home in Nashville with the intention not to re-enter
public life. His health, never robust, had been seriously impaired by the
unavoidable cares of office and his habit of devoting too much time and strength
to the execution of details. Within a few weeks after his permanent return to
Tennessee he fell a prey to a disease that would probably have only slightly
affected a man in ordinary health, and a few hours sufficed to bring the attack
to a fatal termination. Thus ended the life of one of whose public career it may
still be too soon to judge with entire impartiality. Some of the questions on
which he was called upon to act are still, nearly forty years after his death,
party issues. Mr. Polk evidently believed with Mr. Clay that a Union all slave
or all free was an impossible Utopia, and that there was no good reason why the
north and the south should not continue to live for many years to come as they
had lived since the adoption of the constitution. He deprecated agitation of the
slavery question by the Abolitionists, and believed that the safety of the
commonwealth lay in respecting the compromises that had hitherto furnished a
modus vivendi between the slave and the free states.
As to the annexation of Texas and the war with Mexico, his policy was
undoubtedly the result of conviction, sincerity, and good faith. He believed,
with John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, that Texas had been unwisely ceded to
Spain in 1819, and that it was desirable, from a geographical point of view,
that it should be re-annexed, seeing that it formed a most valuable part of the
valley of the Mississippi. He was also of opinion that in a military point of
view its acquisition was desirable for the protection of New Orleans, the great
commercial mart of the southwestern section of the Union, which in time of war
would be endangered by the close proximity of a hostile power having control of
the upper waters of Red rivet'. Holding these views and having been elevated to
the presidency on a platform that expressly demanded that they should be
embodied in action, and Texas again made a part of the national domain, he would
have indeed been recreant to his trust had he attempted to carry out as
president any policy antagonistic to that he had advocated when a candidate for
that, office. The war in which he became involved in carrying out these views
was a detail that the nation was compelled to leave largely to his judgment. The
president believed that the representations and promises of the Mexican
authorities could not be trusted, and that the only argument to which they would
pay attention was that of force. Regarding his famous order to General Taylor to
march toward the Rio Orande, it was suggested by that officer himself, and for
his gallant action in the war the latter was elected the successor of President
Polk. The settlement of the Oregon boundary-line was made equally obligatory
upon the new president on taking office. He offered Great Britain the line that
was finally accepted; but when the British minister hastily rejected the offer,
the entire country applauded his suggestion to that power of what the boundary
might possibly be in ease of war.
But whatever the motives of the executive as to Texas and Oregon, the
results of the administration of James K. Polk were brilliant in the extreme. He
was loyally upheld by the votes of all parties in congress, abundantly supplied
with the sinews of war, and seconded by gallant and competent officers in the
field. For $15,000,000, in addition to the direct war expenses, the southwestern
boundary of the country was carried to the Rio Grande, while the provinces of
New Mexico and Upper California were added to the national domain. What that
cession meant in increased wealth it is perhaps even yet too soon to compute.
Among the less dazzling but still solid advantages conferred upon the nation
during Mr. Polk's term of office was the adoption by congress, on his
recommendation, of the public warehousing system that has since proved so
valuable an aid to the commerce of the country ; the negotiation of the 35th
article of the treaty with Grenada, ratified 10 June, 1848, which secured for
our citizens the right of way across the Isthmus of Panama; the postal treaty of
15 December, 1848, with Great Britain, and the negotiation of commercial
treaties with the secondary states of the Germanic confederation by which
reciprocal relations were established and growing markets reached upon favorable
terms.
Mr. Bancroft, the only surviving member of Polk's cabinet, who has revised
this article, in a communication to the senior editor of the "Cyclopaedia,"
dated Washington, 8 March, 1888, says: "One of the special qualities of
Mr. Polk's mind was his clear perception of the character and doctrines of the
two great parties that then divided the country. Of all our public men--I say,
distinctly, of all--Polk was the most thoroughly consistent representative of
his party. He had no equal. Time and again his enemies sought for grounds on
which to convict him of inconsistency, but so consistent had been his public
career that the charge was never even made. Never fanciful or extreme, he was
ever solid, firm, and consistent. His administration, viewed from the standpoint
of results, was perhaps the greatest in our national history, certainly one of
the greatest. He succeeded because he insisted on being its centre, and in
overruling and guiding all his secretaries to act so as to produce unity and
harmony. Those who study his administration will acknowledge how sincere and
successful were his efforts, as did those who were contemporary with him."
Mr. Polk, who was a patient student and a clear thinker, steadfast to
opinions once formed, and not easily moved by popular opinion, labored
faithfully, from his entrance into public life until the day when he left the
White House, to disseminate the political opinions in which he had been
educated, and which commended themselves to his judgment. His private life was
upright and blameless. Simple in his habits to abstemiousness, he found his
greatest happiness in the pleasures of the home circle rather than in the gay
round of public amusements. A frank and sincere friend, courteous and affable in
his demeanor with strangers, generous and benevolent, the esteem in which he was
held as a man and a citizen was quite as high as his official reputation. In the
words of his friend and associate in office, Vice-President Dallas, he was "temperate
but not unsocial, industrious but accessible, punctual but patient, moral
without austerity, and devotional though not bigoted." See "Eulogy on
the Life and Character of the Late James K. Polk," by George M. Dallas
(Philadelphia, 1849) ; "Eulogy on the Life and Character of James Knox
Polk," by A. O. P. Nicholson (Nashville, 1849); "James Knox
Polk," by John S. Jenkins (Buffalo, 1850) ; and "History of the
Administration of James K. Polk," by Lucien B. Chase (New York, 1850).
His wife, Sarah Childress Polk, born near Nurfreesboro, Rutherford County,
Tennessee, 4 September, 1803, is the daughter of Joel and Elizabeth Childress.
Her father, a farmer in easy circumstances, sent her to the Moravian institute
at Salem, North Carolina, where she was educated. On returning home she married
Mr. Polk, who was then a member of the legislature of Tennessee. The following
year he was elected to congress, and during his fourteen sessions in Washington
Mrs. Polk's courteous manners, sound judgment, and many attainments gave her a
high place in society. On her return as the wife of the president, Having no
children, Mrs. Polk devoted herself entirely to her duties as mistress of the
White House. She held weekly receptions, and abolished the custom of giving
refreshments to the guests. She also forbade dancing, as out of keeping with the
character of these entertainments. In spite of her reforms, Mrs. Polk was
extremely popular. " Madam," said a prominent South Carolinian,
at one of her receptions, "there is a woe pronounced against you in the
Bible."
On her inquiring his meaning, he added: "The Bible says, ' Woe
unto you when all men shall speak well of you.'" An English lady
visiting Washington thus described the president's wife: "Mrs. Polk is a
very handsome woman. Her hair is very black, and her dark eyes and complexion
remind one of the Spanish donnas. She is well read, has much talent for
conversation, and is highly popular. Her excellent taste in dress preserves the
subdued though elegant costume that characterizes the lady." Mrs. Polk
became a communicant of the Presbyterian church in 1834, and has main-rained her
connection with that denomination until the present time (1888). Since the death
of her husband she has resided at Nashville, in the house seen in the
illustration and known as "Polk Place." In the foreground is seen the
tomb of her husband.
--President Polk's brother, William Hawkins Polk, lawyer, born in Maury
county, Tennessee, 24 May, 1815; died in Nashville, Tennessee, 16 December,
1862, was graduated at the University of Tennessee, admitted to the bar in 1839,
and began to practise at Columbia, Maury County, Tennessee He was elected to the
legislature in 1841 and again in 1843. In 1845 he was appointed minister to
Naples, holding the office from 13 March of that year till 31 August, 1847, when
he was commissioned major of the 3
Presidents of the Continental
Congress
United Colonies of The United States
Peyton
Randolph September
5, 1774 to October 22, 1774
and May 20 to May 24, 1775
Henry Middleton October 22, 1774 to October 26, 1774
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