11. JAMES POLK (California, here I take)
Born: November 2, 1795, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
Died: June 15, 1849, Nashville, Tennessee
Term: March 4, 1845- March 4, 1849
Political Party: Democrat
Vice President: George Dallas
First Lady: Sarah Childress Polk
Before the Presidency: James Polk was born in the wilderness of North Carolina, but the family followed his Grandfather to Tennessee when he was ten. His father would prosper there with a thousand acres of land and more then fifty slaves. Samuel Polk also got involved in politics and was an ardent supporter of Andrew Jackson.
James was a sickly child. That and his strict religious upbringing, via his mother, gave the young Polk something of a hard work ethic. He was bright and articulate though he was mostly home taught. He did finally get a formal education when he entered the University of North Carolina in 1816, graduating in 1818.
Polk studied law under the tutelage of future Senator Felix Grundy in Nashville. Grundy would also become Martin Van Buren’s Attorney General. In 1820, he passed the bar and secured a job in the Tennessee State Senate. This was the beginning of his political career, and he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1823. Two years later, he would be elected to the US House of Representatives and became one of Andrew Jackson’s biggest supporters. This paid off for him as, with Jackson’s influence, he would become the Speaker of the House in 1835.
As a Representative, and then Speaker, he proved to be President Jackson’s biggest supporter. He supported Jackson’s war against the National Bank and supported his stance during the South Carolina nullification crisis. In 1839, he left the House to become Governor of Tennessee. There, he lobbied for bank reform, but the Whigs, buoyed from a political standpoint over the financial crisis Jackson precipitated, were able to link Polk with the Jacksonian policies and he would lose re-election, losing again in 1843.
So, he went back to his plantation with his supportive wife while the Whigs weren’t exactly doing themselves any favors either. The political atmosphere in 1844 made it ripe for a James Polk comeback.
Summary of offices held:
1823-1825: Tennessee House of Representatives
1825-1839: US House of Representatives
1835-1839: Speaker of the US House of Representatives
1839-1841: Governor of Tennessee
What was going on: Mexican- American war, Annexation of Texas, slavery issue, Irish potato famine
Scandals within the administration: none that we know of unless you count invading a sovereign country
Why he was a good President: The Continental United States that we know of today is due mainly to Polk’s Manifest Destiny policy. His expansionist policies would add most of the Southwest, including California, to the United States. Yes, it came at a moral price (we’ll get into that later), but, like it or not, there might not have been a Hollywood were it not for James K. Polk.
Why he was a bad President: While obsessed with gaining new territories, he tended to ignore more domestic matters. Yes, he did arrange for an independent treasury and honored his pledge for lower tariffs.
But he totally ignored the elephant in the room, the slavery issue. Polk himself was a slave owner, but it likely wasn’t a factor in his expansionist activities. As such , he was oblivious to the raucous divide between North and South even at this early stage. It would be something that would become a front burner issue in the Taylor- Fillmore years.
What could have saved his Presidency: More attention to the slavery issue. Polk did own slaves, but he had it in his will that his slaves would be freed upon the death of his wife, so he clearly wasn’t unsympathetic to their plight. Maybe a stand against slavery would have made him less of a forgotten President.
What could have destroyed his Presidency: This is an easy one. If we had lost the Mexican- American war (and don’t think the Mexicans weren’t a formidable foe), Polk almost certainly would have gone down as one of the worst Presidents in history. This very easily could have been Polk’s Vietnam and history would not have been kind to him.
Election of 1844: When the Democratic Party met in Baltimore, no one had Polk on their radar. Indeed, the early betting was that former President Van Buren had the inside track.
But Van Buren didn’t enjoy the same support he had in 1836 or even 1840 within his own party. Some Democrats thought he didn’t have a chance in the general election, others felt he was part of the old dynasty if you will. In a sense, Jacksonian politics was becoming a bit, well, passe in some minds.
But the clincher was probably Van Buren’s curious stand against the annexation of Texas. He did it for political reasons as he didn’t want to lose the North (plus President Tyler was supporting it). But, of course, he lost the South as a result and that was pretty much the Democratic base.
So, the delegation spent five ballots deciding between Van Buren and Lewis Cass, who was very strong in the North. Obviously, there were some other candidates as well as neither were able to muster a majority. Finally, angry that Cass had ruined his chances of regaining the Presidency, Van Buren shocked everybody and threw his support behind Polk. Polk, to this point, was nothing more than a dark horse candidate. Now he was a compromise candidate and he ended up getting the nomination on the sixth ballot.
The Whigs, down but not out, nominated Henry Clay, who finally got the chance he had wanted for years. They wanted to distance themselves from Tyler.
The platforms for the two parties could not have been more different. The Democrats campaigned on a stricter interpretation of the Constitution, lower tariffs, more federal funds for infrastructure and roads, the annexation of Texas and the reoccupation of Oregon, and, most importantly, states’ rights, or to be blunt, the right to slavery.
The Whigs, on the other hand, opposed Texas annexation, supported a national bank, restrictions on the Presidential veto, and a one term Presidency. On top of that, they nominated Theodore Frelinghuysen for Vice President, an evangelical who vehemently opposed slavery. On this issue especially the lines were drawn between the Whig north and the Democrat south.
This would be a close election as the Whigs not only had to contend with the relatively unknown Polk, but also had a third party threat, the anti-slavery Liberty party. Now, they didn’t have much of a chance to win the election, but the Whigs feared they could siphon just enough votes to put Polk into the White House. Thus, Clay found himself waffling on the Texas issue going from opposing annexation of Texas to supporting it, much like Polk had been all along.
And it was likely Andrew Jackson’s endorsement of Polk that put him over the top. Jackson remained a popular ex- President and his distaste of Clay was enough to convince President Tyler to withdraw from the race as an independent and endorse Polk.
So, Polk won the popular vote with a 49.5% plurality but won the electoral vote a little more handily in an election that was closer than the electoral vote indicated.
And James Birney also got his pound of flesh. He likely cost Clay New York which would have been enough for Clay to win the election.
And maybe keep California in Mexico.
First term: It’s safe to say Polk was something of an activist President. He was certainly pro-slavery, but more importantly, he was hungry for more land. He adopted the term coined by Democrat James O’Sullivan known as Manifest Destiny. The idea of Manifest Destiny being that all of North America should belong to the United States.
He started slow at first, going after Britain in a border dispute with Western Canada. The term, 54’40 or fight, was coined and there was no doubt Polk would have sent in the artillery to get just that. Meanwhile, Texas became a state at the end of 1845, a slave state, which would also cause some tensions in the Government.
The Oregon dispute was peacefully settled with the 49th parallel compromise. This enabled the US to gain what is now Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington state while the British retained British Columbia and all points east north of said parallel.
Polk engineered the compromise because he had even bigger fish to fry. For after annexing Texas, he had his eyes set on all points west and even south. Thus, the seeds for the Mexican American War was underway.
It started with a fairly flimsy excuse. General Zachary Taylor was engaged at the Rio Grande River, and it was enough for President Polk to ask for a declaration of war. He even had a strategy. Taylor would fight the Mexicans in the Northern regions, another general, Stephen Kearny, would take what is now New Mexico and California, and a third force under Winfield Scott would drive the Mexicans all the way to Mexico City.
As it turned out, Kearny would have the easiest road as he found New Mexico all but abandoned. He subsequently would take both the New Mexico territory and California by early 1847. Taylor, despite a depleted force, was able to take northern Mexican towns, including the important city of Monterrey. He then was sent to bolster Scott’s forces at Vera Cruz, probably the most famous battle of the war and the battle that gave both Taylor and Scott national fame.
By late 1847, after Scott took Mexico City, it was clear that Mexico was losing the war and Polk seized on the opportunity to expand the nation’s borders. In 1848, through envoy Nicholas Trist, he negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Basically, under the agreement, the US would buy New Mexico and California for $15 million and assume the outstanding debts incurred from the war. Probably not the best deal for Mexico, but it could have been worse. Polk could have just taken the territory and not paid a dime.
Of course, popular as the war was at home (everybody likes a war as long as they don’t have to fight in it), there was some vociferous opposition from the Whigs including one relatively unknown congressman from Illinois.
His name happened to be Abraham Lincoln.
As for his domestic policy, Polk kept his promise and lowered tariffs and also signed a bill to create an independent treasury.
There were a couple things going on independent of Polk, or even Congress. First, there was the Gold Rush in California that would garner the attention of some politicians during the Taylor administration.
Then there was the Seneca Falls convention led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, It was here where the long campaign for women’s suffrage in the US would begin.
But, for President Polk, his work was pretty much done. He would fulfill another promise by not running for a second term. He was likely satisfied as he was responsible for pretty much the Western third of the Continental US and he was ready to retire to his home in Tennessee.
Post Presidency: The post retirement period started off well enough as Polk embarked on a tour of the South. Not surprisingly, the popular Polk was received warmly, and he seemed genuinely touched. Unfortunately, it would be short lived as Polk became sick in New Orleans, likely with cholera, and he died just three months after leaving office.
Odd notes: Polk had surgery to remove bladder stones at age 16
Polk was said to be remarkably boring
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/550281/james-k-polk-facts
Final Summary: From a domestic standpoint, Polk isn’t remembered for doing very much as he was much more interested in foreign affairs. He carried a big stick when it came to the Northwest United States, and it paid off with a peaceful treaty thet established the US on the Pacific Ocean once and for all.
But it wasn’t so peaceful on the Southwest side, as we waged a Napoleonic two year war with Mexico. It certainly paid off as we now have New Mexico, most of Arizona (there would be the Gadsden Purchase a few years later) and, of course, California. Yes, we paid Mexico for it and it’s hard to imagine Los Angeles or San Francisco not as part of the United States.
But I wonder if it was worth losing our souls.
Overall rating: C
https://millercenter.org/president/polk