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Portrait of James K. Polk

US Presidents · 19th century

James K. Polk

1795–1849 · American

Democratic

In office: 1845–1849

James K. Polk, the 11th president, was a Tennessee protégé of Andrew Jackson and the first "dark horse" presidential nominee. In a single term he fulfilled an expansionist agenda: settling the Oregon boundary with Britain and winning the Mexican–American War, which added California and the Southwest. He kept his pledge to serve only one term and died three months after leaving office.

How to spot them

  • ▸'Young Hickory'; the first 'dark horse' nominee (1844)
  • ▸Manifest Destiny; 'Fifty-four forty or fight!'
  • ▸The only Speaker of the House to become president
  • ▸Died of cholera in June 1849, the shortest retirement of any president

In office

The Mexican–American War (1846–1848)

Began after a clash on disputed land north of the Rio Grande

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

Mexico ceded California and most of the present-day Southwest

The Oregon Treaty dividing the Oregon Country at the 49th parallel (1846)

Compromise with Britain despite the slogan 'Fifty-four forty or fight!'

The Walker Tariff (1846)

Substantially lowered tariff rates

Confirmation of the California gold discovery in his annual message (1848)

His December message to Congress helped trigger the Gold Rush of 1849

The Wilmot Proviso controversy (1846)

Failed attempt to ban slavery in territory gained from Mexico, bitterly dividing Congress

Quick-fire facts

  • •Born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina; career in Tennessee
  • •Speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and Governor of Tennessee
  • •Texas was admitted as a state in December 1845, early in his presidency
  • •The US Naval Academy at Annapolis was founded (1845) and the Smithsonian Institution established (1846) during his term
  • •Journalist John L. O'Sullivan coined the phrase 'Manifest Destiny' in 1845
  • •He and his wife Sarah are buried on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville

Drill it — 6 cards

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Sources