James K. Polk

I have to admit, there are quite a few of the Presidents from the 1800s that I know nothing about. One of those is the 11th President of the United States, James K. Polk. I learned more about Polk in the first two pages than I knew about him before starting the book.

Polk's nickname was "Young Hickory" . This is due to the fact that fellow Tennessean Andrew Jackson was called "Old Hickory" and served as Polk's mentor. Jackson was frequently consulted on decisions Polk made during his political career.

1795 Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

1803 Polk family moved to Tennessee

1818 Graduated first in his class from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

1823 Elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives

1824 Married Sarah Childress - would have no children due to Polk's medical condition in 1812 to remove urinary stones

1825 Elected to the US House of Representatives

• Would serve in House till 1839 to run for Governor of Tennessee
• Chaired the powerful Ways and Means Committee
• Speaker of the House from 1835 to 1839
• Only President to also be Speaker of the House

1839 Elected Governor of Tennessee

1841 and 1843 loses Governor race

1844 Democratic Nomination

• Promised he would only serve one term
• Polk was in favor of the annexation of Texas
• Polk was a clear dark horse to secure the nomination as he secured no votes on the first ballot
• He ultimately secured the nomination over former President Martin van Buren, Secretary of State John C. Calhoun, Senator James Buchanan and former Vice President Richard M. Johnson
• Polk choose George M. Dallas as his running mate 

1844 Presidential Election

• Defeated Whig candidate Henry Clay
• Similar to his nomination, his position on the annexation of Texas was key
• Polk was in favor of Texas joining the union
• Texas was admitted to the union after the election and prior to Polk becoming President
• Learned in the book that Sam Houston was Governor of Tennessee prior to moving to Texas

Hard to imagine a candidate losing an election twice for Governor and then winning an election to become President of the United States.

Polk had four major agenda items to accomplish as President

1. He would lower the tariff
2. He would re-create Van Buren's independent treasury
1. This would bring an end to the nation's funds being controlled by private banks and would last until 1913 when the Federal Reserve system was created
3. He would acquire Oregon from the British
1. This would include all of Oregon, Washington, parts of Wyoming & Idaho
4. He would acquire California from Mexico
1. Almost 13,000 men died in the war with Mexico (11,000 of those from diseases)
2. Unlike future administrations during the Vietnam War, Polk decided to end the war and reached an agreement with Mexico
1. The US paid $20 Million to Mexico for California and established the Rio Grande river as Mexico's northern border
2. The war included disputed land in Texas near the Rio Grande river

Polk was a workaholic and was able to accomplish all of his agenda. By the time Polk left office in 1849, America was truly a country from coast to coast. He paid a terrible price for his hard work and died three months after leaving office.

It is hard to judge Presidential greatness. An argument can be made that James K. Polk is one of the most underrated Presidents in US history and accomplished great things. A 2017 survey by Presidential historians ranks Polk 14th out of 43 former Presidents.

17 down (9,005 pages), 27 to go. 

Up next is Warren Harding, who some historians claim is the worst President of all time.