Rash's Surname Index
Notes for James Knox POLK
POLK, James Knox, eleventh president of the United States, was born in Mecklenburg county, N.C., Nov. 2, 1795; son of Samuel and Jane (Knox) Polk; grandson of Ezekiel Polk and of Capt. James Knox, an officer in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war; grandnephew of Col. Thomas Polk (q.v.), and a descendant of Robert Polk (or Pollock), who came from Ross county, Donegal, Ireland, to Maryland about 1660. James Knox Polk removed with his father in 1806 to Maury county, Tennessee, and assisted his father on the farm and in land surveying. He attended school in Maury county, but ill health caused his removal and he obtained employment in a store. This occupation soon proved distasteful, and after continuing his studies under a private tutor he entered the sophomore class of the University of North Carolina, where he was graduated with the Latin salutatory and high standing in mathematics, A.B., 1818, A.M., 1822. He studied law with Felix Grundy at Nashville, Tenn., 1819-20, was admitted to the bar at Columbia, Tenn., in 1820, and began practice in Columbia, where he attained prominence. He entered politics as a stump-speaker and was chief clerk in the state senate. He was married in 1824 to Sarah Childress (q.v.). He was a Democratic representative in the state legislature, 1823-25, and secured the passage of a law prohibiting duelling in the state. He was a representative from the Duck River district in the 19th-25th congresses, 1825-39; and his maiden speech in the house was in support of the proposed amendment to the constitution providing for the election of President and Vice-President by popular vote. He opposed the appropriation for the Panama mission, as tending to invite the hostility of Spain, and was placed on the committee of foreign affairs in 1827. He was chairman of the committee to provide for the anticipated distribution of the surplus in the U.S. treasury after the payment of the national debt, and in his report denied the constitutional right of congress to use this surplus for internal improvements and proposed a reduction of the tariff so as merely to meet the public debt and current expenses. He was a member of the ways and means committee, and as chairman of the committee in 1833 opposed the continuance of the patronage of the government to the Bank of the United States and upon the removal of the national deposits by President Jackson in October, 1833, he supported the action of the administration. He was defeated for speaker of the house in 1834, but was elected in December, 1835, and served until March 4, 1839. He was nominated as the Democratic candidate for governor of the state of Tennessee in 1838, and upon the expiration of his term in congress, March 3, 1839, he entered upon the canvass. His opponent, Newton Cannon (q.v.), was then governor, and after a spirited contest, Polk was elected by 2500 majority, and was inaugurated, Oct. 14, 1839. He was again a candidate for governor in 1841 and in 1843, but was both times defeated by his Whig opponent, James C. Jones. He was proposed by the legislatures of Tennessee and several other states as a suitable candidate for Vice-President of the United States in 1840, and received one electoral vote from Tennessee in 1841. During the controversy in 1844, arising from the proposed admission of the Republic of Texas, formerly claimed as territory of the United States, into the Union as a state, he declared himself in favor of immediate admission, holding that there was danger of the republic becoming a dependency of Great Britain, and his course in this matter secured for him the nomination for President by the Democratic national convention at Baltimore, May 27, 1844, with George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania for Vice-President. After an exciting canvas the Democratic electoral ticket received 1,337,243 votes; that for Clay and Frelinghuysen receiving 1,299,068 votes, while the Liberty party ticket, Birney and Morris, received 62,300 popular votes. In the electoral college of 1845 Polk and Dallas received 170 votes to 105 votes for Clay and Frelinghuysen. He was inaugurated, March 4, 1845, and immediately named his cabinet, composed of James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, secretary of state; Robert J. Walker of Mississippi, secretary [p.349] of the treasury; William L. Marcy of New York, secretary of war; George Bancroft of Massachusetts secretary of the navy; Cave Johnson of Tennessee postmaster-general, and John Y. Mason of Virginia, attorney-general. The only changes in the cabinet during the administration were in the navy department, where Mr. Bancroft was succeeded in 1846 by John Y. Mason, and in the attorney-general's office, where Mr. Mason was succeeded in 1846 by Nathan Clifford of Maine, who was in turn succeeded in 1848 by Isaac Toucey of Connecticut. The president appointed as U.S. minister to Great Britain, Louis McLane of Maryland, who resigned, Aug. 18, 1846, and was succeeded by George Bancroft. John L. Martin of North Carolina was made U.S. chargé d'affaires at Paris, and was succeeded in 1847 by Richard Rush of Pennsylvania as U.S. minster. William H. Stiles of Georgia served as chargé d'affaires at Vienna, Austria; Ralph L. Ingersoll of Connecticut as U.S. minister to Russia, resigning in 1848 and being succeeded by Arthur P. Bagby of Alabama; Romulus M. Saunders of North Carolina as U.S. minister to Spain, and John Slidell of Louisiana, U.S. minister to Mexico. During President Polk's administration he appointed the following justices of the U.S. supreme court: Samuel Nelson of New York and Levi Woodbury of New Hampshire in 1845, and Robert C. Grier of Pennsylvania in 1846. In the President's first annual message to congress, Dec. 2, 1845, he declared that any attempt on the part of Mexico to interfere in the matter of the annexation of Texas to the United States would be resented by the government; recommended the speedy settlement of the Oregon boundary question; called the attention of congress to the importance of modifying and reducing the rates of duty imposed by the tariff laws, and recommended that a constitutional treasury be created for the safe keeping of the public money. On Dec. 20, 1845, John Slidell, U.S. minister to Mexico, was apprised that the Mexican government could not receive a minister from the United States, and on Jan. 13, 1846, an order was issued to Gen. Zachary Taylor, directing him to advance toward the Rio Grande and to be ready for an open act of hostility. Taylor reached Point Isabel, Jan. 24, 1846, where he was met by a deputation who protested against his advance into the country. This he ignored, however, and on March 28, 1846, he took position opposite Matamoras on the Rio Grande. On April 24, learning that the Mexicans were crossing the river above his camp, he sent Captain Thornton with a company of dragoons to reconnoiter. Thornton, however, fell into the hands of a large force of Mexicans, and his whole company was either killed or imprisoned. This was the first engagement of the war, and on May 11, 1846, the President issued his "Mexican war message," calling on twelve states and the District of Columbia for 23,000 volunteers, asking for a loan of $10,000,000 to carry on the war, and for an appropriation of $2,000,000 to be used in an amicable settlement of difficulties with Mexico by arbitration. Congress passed an act, May 13, 1846, declaring war with Mexico. General Taylor, meanwhile, was attacked at Palo Alto, and although greatly outnumbered, defeated the Mexicans under General Arista, and on May 9, followed this up by a victory at Resaca de la Palma, which drove Arista across the Rio Grande into Mexico. On Sept. 5 he moved toward Monterey; on the 21st the attack on the place began, and on the 24th the Mexicans capitulated, and Taylor took possession of the city. The conquest of California and New Mexico was begun in May, 1846, by the Army of the West under Gen. Stephen W. Kearny, and on Aug. 18, 1846, the army reached Santa Fé, which immediately capitulated without defence, and Kearny declared New Mexico a territory of the United States. In January, 1847, an insurrection took place in New Mexico, and Governor Bent and other officers of the government were murdered, Jan. 19, 1847, by Mexicans and Puebla Indians, but it was put down after a fight at Puebla de Saos by the army under Col. Sterling Price, who had the leaders of the insurrection convicted of treason. President Polk, however, ordered their liberation. In the President's second annual message, Dec. 8, 1846, he set forth clearly the causes and responsibility for the war with Mexico, and favored the further prosecution of the war, arguing that California, New Mexico, and a considerable territory west of the Rio Grande had been conquered, and that any [p.350] response to the Mexican proposition to treat, at this time, "involved the abandonment of all this territory." He also publicly proposed extending the Missouri compromise line across to the Pacific, but the adjustment did not pass congress. He favored the settlement of the slavery question in California by the people of that territory, and the annexation of Cuba by purchase from Spain. In June, 1846, a bill was passed in the house for the repeal of the obnoxious tariff of 1842, but it was tied in the senate and the vote of Mr. Dallas, the vice-president, became necessary for the decision. The bill finally passed, June 28, 1846, establishing a new tariff to produce a revenue necessary to meet the expenses of the government only. At the beginning of Polk's administration, a thorough system of internal improvements was favored by congress, but was not approved of by him, and he vetoed the bill for the improvement of harbors and rivers, Aug. 3, 1846, and again, Dec. 15, 1847. Congress having determined vigorously to prosecute the war with Mexico, General Scott with 10,000 men landed at Vera Cruz under cover of the fleet of Commodore David Conner, March 9, 1847, and the castle of San Juan de Ulloa was bombarded by the naval fleet, then under Commodore M.C. Perry, in cooperation with the army which had entrenched and laid siege to the city. The bombardment ended with the capitulation of the city, March 29, 1847. Scott's victorious army then took up the march to the city of Mexico, and after fighting several desperate battles en route, the Stars and Stripes were planted in the capital city, Sept. 13-14, 1847, and peace soon resulted with a treaty that defined the boundary between the two republics. Then followed the agitation of the question of slavery in the newly acquired territory, which was raised by David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, who on behalf of the Whigs and northern Democrats offered an amendment to the U.S. constitution, prohibiting slavery in any such territory. The passage of this bill was secured in the house, but it was sent to the senate too late to be acted upon. The Oregon boundary question now caused a dispute with England, and the Democratic national convention of 1844 demanded the occupation of Oregon up to the line of the 54°40´ north latitude, regardless of consequences. The President issued the required twelve months' notice to Great Britain, and negotiations followed, resulting in a compromise, Great Britain yielding her claim to the territory between the 49th parallel and the Columbia river. The treaty was signed, June 15, 1846, and Oregon became a free state. During President Polk's administration congress adopted, on his recommendation, the public warehousing system; the 35th article of the treaty with Grenada was ratified, June 10, 1848; the postal treaty with Great Britain was negotiated, Dec. 15, 1848, and commercial treaties were formed with the secondary states of Germany. At the close of his term of office he refused to become a candidate for renomination, his health, never rugged, having been undermined by his labors as President, and he retired to his home near Nashville. He was a trustee of the University of Nashville, ex-offico, 1887-41, and received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of North Carolina in 1845. He died in NashvilIe, Tenn., June 15, 1849.
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