James K. Polk

Background

James Knox Polk was an American politician known for several good deeds. He was born on November 2, 1795, and his birthplace was Pineville, North Carolina. His parents were farmers, and he was the first of 10 children. Polk was a Scorpio and of Scottish and Irish descent. Life in a frontier society influenced Polk’s health as a child. He had urinary stones removed by Dr. Ephraim McDowell, who may have left him impotent or sterile. Polk enrolled in a Presbyterian academy in 1813. He also went to Bradley Academy in Tennessee, and was a promising student. Polk was admitted to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1816. Here, he was the debate team president and learned the art of public speaking. He graduated with honors in 1818. Polk mentored under Felix Grundy after graduation and was elected a Tennessee State Senate clerk in 1819.

Polk studied law under Grundy and was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1820. In 1824, he declared his candidacy for 1825’s House of Representatives Election. Despite being called ‘too young’ for the seat, Polk won the election with 3,669 votes and assumed his seat in Congress. He was re-elected in 1827. After five consecutive terms, Polk became the chairman of Ways and Means in the House of Representatives in 1833. The following year, he ran for Speaker of the House of Representatives and assumed the role despite losing the election. As a speaker, Polk enforced the ‘gag rule,’ which prohibited the House of Representatives from accepting or debating citizen petitions regarding slavery. This enraged John Quincy Adams, who was an abolitionist by then. Polk was re-elected as a speaker in 1837, after which he ran for Tennessee state governor in 1839. In the elections, Polk defeated Newton Cannon and won back Tennessee for the Democrats in August 1839.

As Tennessee state governor, Polk moved to regulate state banks and implement state internal improvements and education improvements. However, all three projects failed to win legislative approval. He lost re-election in August 1841 and sought to become Vice President, as the office would position him to take the presidency. He was nominated for the presidency in 1844 when no presidential candidate could secure the two-thirds majority. He won the election by 49.5%, defeating Henry Clay. Polk served as POTUS for a single term and left the office in 1849. He died three months after leaving office. He was baptized into the Methodist Church on his sickbed, and his final resting place is the Tennessee State Capitol. He was survived by his wife, Sarah Childress, whom he married in 1824. The couple had no children.