Biography of James K. Polk, 1795-1849. TNGenNet Inc. TNGenWeb Project, Autobiographies, Biographies, and Diaries of Our Ancestors.

JAMES KNOX POLK was born November 2, 1795 near Little Sugar Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina; son of Samuel and Jane (Knox) Polk and eldest of ten children. Came with parents to Maury County Tennessee in 1806. After attending common and private schools, studied at Bradley Academy, Murfreesboro, Rutherford County Tennessee; entered sophomore class, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1815. Studious and industrious, he graduated in 1818; awarded first honors in mathematics and the classics; studied law in the office of Felix Grundy in Nashville, Davidson County; admitted to bar and began practice of law at Columbia, Maury County, in 1820.

Married January 1, 1824, to Sarah Childress, of Rutherford County, daughter of Joel and Elizabeth (Whitsett) Childress; no children; after husband's death in 1849, Mrs. Polk lived on at Polk Place, Nashville, until her death, August 14, 1891.

As a young lawyer he entered politics, served in the Tennessee legislature, and became a friend of Andrew Jackson.

Polk was made chief clerk of the Tennessee Senate, 14th General Assembly, 1821; following term in legislature, 15th General Assembly, 1823-25; representing elected Maury County.

He was elected to the United States House of Representatives of the 19th and the six succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1825, to March 3, 1839; a staunch supporter of President Andrew Jackson, be became a leader in the Democratic Party; chairman, Committee on Ways and Means 23rd Congress; Speaker of the during the 24th and 25th Congresses, December 7, 1835, to December 16, 1839. In the House , Polk was a chief lieutenant of Jackson in his Bank war. He left the House to become Governor of Tennessee where he served 1839-41. He was defeated for reelection in 1841 by James C. Jones, who defeated him again for the same office in 1843.

Until circumstances raised Polk’s ambitions, he was a leading contender for the Democratic nomination for Vice President in 1844. Both Martin Van Buren, who had been expected to win the Democratic nomination for President, and Henry Clay, who was to be the Whig nominee, tried to take the expansionist issue out of the campaign by declaring themselves opposed to the annexation of Texas. Polk, however, publicly asserted that Texas should be “re-annexed” and all of Oregon “re-occupied.”

The aged Jackson, correctly sensing that the people favored expansion, urged the choice of a candidate committed to the Nation’s “Manifest Destiny.” This view prevailed at the Democratic Convention, where Polk was nominated on the ninth ballot.

“Who is James K. Polk?” Whigs jeered. Democrats replied Polk was the candidate who stood for expansion. He linked the Texas issue, popular in the South, with the Oregon question, attractive to the North. Polk also favored acquiring California

He was elected President of the United States in 1844 on the Democratic ticket with George M. Dallas; served from March 4, 1845, to March 3, 1849. Even before he could take office, Congress passed a joint resolution offering annexation to Texas. In so doing they bequeathed Polk the possibility of war with Mexico, which soon severed diplomatic relations.

Often referred to as the first “dark horse” President, James K. Polk was the last of the Jacksonians to sit in the White House, and the last strong President until the Civil War.

In his stand on Oregon, the President seemed to be risking war with Great Britain also. The 1844 Democratic platform claimed the entire Oregon area, from the California boundary northward to a latitude of 54° 40', the southern boundary of Russian Alaska. Extremists proclaimed “Fifty-four forty or fight,” but Polk, aware of diplomatic realities, knew that no course short of war was likely to get all of Oregon. Happily, neither he nor the British wanted a war.

He offered to settle by extending the Canadian boundary, along the 49th parallel, from the Rockies to the Pacific. When the British minister declined, Polk reasserted the American claim to the entire area. Finally, the British settled for the 49th parallel, except for the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The treaty was signed in 1846

Acquisition of California proved far more difficult. Polk sent an envoy to offer Mexico up to $20,000,000, plus settlement of damage claims owed to Americans, in return for California and the New Mexico country. Since no Mexican leader could cede half his country and still stay in power, Polk’s envoy was not received. To bring pressure, Polk sent Gen. Zachary Taylor to the disputed area on the Rio Grande.

To Mexican troops this was aggression, and they attacked Taylor’s forces.

Congress declared war and, despite much Northern opposition, supported the military operations. American forces won repeated victories and occupied Mexico City. Finally, in 1848, Mexico ceded New Mexico and California in return for $15,000,000 and American assumption of the damage claims.

President Polk added a vast area to the United States, but its acquisition precipitated a bitter quarrel between the North and the South over expansion of slavery.

He declined to be candidate for reelection. Became member of Methodist Episcopal Church late in life. Died at his home, Polk Place, in Nashville July 15, 1849; buried in lawn of Polk Place, but in 1893 his remains, with those of Mrs. Polk, were moved to the grounds of the State Capitol. Brother of William Hawkins Polk; uncle of Samuel Polk Walker; kinsman of Lucius Junius Polk, Lucius Eugene Polk, Rufus King Polk, Van Leer Polk, and William Polk, sometime members of Tennessee General Assembly.