
William Wilberforce
English politician and abolitionist (1759-1833)
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
James K. Polk was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He is known for expanding the country’s territory through the Mexican-American War, annexing Texas, Oregon, and the Mexican Cession. Despite being relatively obscure today, Polk is praised for his ability to achieve his presidential agenda, though he has also been criticized for exacerbating sectional divides.
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James Knox Polkwas the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He also served as the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives from 1835 to 1839 and the ninth governor of Tennessee from 1839 to 1841. A protege of Andrew Jackson, he was a member of the Democratic Party and an advocate of Jacksonian democracy. Polk is known for extending the territory of the United States through the Mexican-American War during his presidency, annexing the Republic of Texas, the Oregon Territory, and the Mexican Cession after winning the Mexican-American War.
After building a successful law practice in Tennessee, Polk was elected to its state legislature in 1823 and then to the United States House of Representatives in 1825, becoming a strong supporter of Jackson. After serving as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he became Speaker of the House in 1835, the only person to serve both as Speaker and U.S. president. Polk left Congress to run for governor of Tennessee, winning in 1839 but losing in 1841 and 1843. He was a dark-horse candidate in the 1844 presidential election as the Democratic Party nominee; he entered his party’s convention as a potential nominee for vice president but emerged as a compromise to head the ticket when no presidential candidate could gain the necessary two-thirds majority. In the general election, Polk defeated Henry Clay of the Whig Party.
After a negotiation fraught with the risk of war, Polk reached a settlement with Great Britain over the disputed Oregon Country, with the territory for the most part divided along the 49th parallel. He oversaw victory in the Mexican-American War, resulting in Mexico’s cession of the entire American Southwest. He secured a substantial reduction of tariff rates with the Walker tariff of 1846. The same year, he achieved his other major goal, reestablishment of the Independent Treasury system. True to his campaign pledge to serve only one term (one of the few U.S. presidents to make and keep such a pledge), Polk left office in 1849 and returned to Tennessee, where he died of cholera soon afterward.
Though he is relatively obscure today, scholars have ranked Polk favorably for his ability to promote and achieve the major items on his presidential agenda. He has also been criticized for leading the country into a war with Mexico that exacerbated sectional divides. A property owner who used slave labor, he kept a plantation in Mississippi and increased his slave ownership during his presidency. Polk’s policy of territorial expansion saw the nation reach the Pacific coast and almost all its contiguous borders. He helped make the U.S. a nation poised to become a world power, but with divisions between free and slave states gravely exacerbated, setting the stage for the Civil War.
James K. Polk was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He also served as the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives and the 9th governor of Tennessee.
During his presidency, Polk oversaw the annexation of the Republic of Texas, the Oregon Territory, and the Mexican Cession, significantly expanding the territory of the United States. He also secured a reduction in tariff rates and reestablished the Independent Treasury system.
Polk’s policy of territorial expansion helped make the United States a nation poised to become a world power, but it also exacerbated the divisions between free and slave states, setting the stage for the Civil War.
James K. Polk was a member of the Democratic Party and an advocate of Jacksonian democracy. He was a protégé of Andrew Jackson and had previously served as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Polk was a dark-horse candidate in the 1844 presidential election, becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee after emerging as a compromise candidate when no other candidate could gain the necessary two-thirds majority.
With me it is exceptionally true that the Presidency is no bed of roses.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
Under the benignant providence of Almighty God the representatives of the States and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the public good.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
I am heartily rejoiced that my term is so near its close. I will soon cease to be a servant and will become a sovereign.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
Although… the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a party only, but of the whole people of the United States.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
Peace, plenty, and contentment reign throughout our borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our country’s peace and prosperity, and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human family.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
The passion for office among members of Congress is very great, if not absolutely disreputable, and greatly embarrasses the operations of the Government. They create offices by their own votes and then seek to fill them themselves.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
It becomes us in humility to make our devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for the inestimable civil and religious blessings with which we are favored.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849
Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our government.
president of the United States from 1845 to 1849