JAMES KNOX POLK was born in Mecklenburg County, N.C., November 2, 1795.
He was a son of Samuel Polk, a farmer, whose father, Ezekiel, and his
brother, Colonel Thomas Polk, one of the signers of the Mecklenburg
Declaration of Independence, were sons of Robert Polk (or Pollock), who
was born in Ireland and emigrated to America. His mother was Jane,
daughter of James Knox, a resident of Iredell County, N.C., and a
captain in the War of the Revolution. His father removed to Tennessee in
the autumn of 1806, and settled in the valley of Duck River, a tributary
of the Tennessee, in a section that was erected the following year into
the county of Maury; he died in 1827. James was brought up on the farm;
was inclined to study, and was fond of reading. He was sent to school,
and had succeeded in mastering the English branches when ill health
compelled his removal. Was then placed with a merchant, but, having a
strong dislike to commercial pursuits, soon returned home, and in July,
1813, was given in charge of a private tutor. In 1815 entered the
sophomore class at the University of North Carolina. As a student he was
correct, punctual, and industrious. At his graduation in 1818 he was
officially acknowledged to be the best scholar in both the classics and
mathematics, and delivered the Latin salutatory. In 1847 the university
conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. In 1819 he entered the law office
of Felix Grundy, then at the head of the Tennessee bar. While pursuing
his legal studies he attracted the attention of Andrew Jackson, and an
intimacy was thus begun between the two men. In 1820 Mr. Polk was
admitted to the bar, and established himself at Columbia, the county
seat of Maury County. He attained immediate success, his career at the
bar only ending with his election to the governorship of Tennessee in
1839. Brought up as a Jeffersonian and early taking an interest in
politics, he was frequently heard in public as an exponent of the views
of his party. His style of oratory was so popular that his services soon
came to be in great demand, and he was not long in earning the title of
the "Napoleon of the Stump." His first public employment was that of
principal clerk of the senate of the State of Tennessee. In 1823 was
elected a member of that body. In January, 1824, he married Sarah,
daughter of Joel Childress, a merchant of Rutherford County, Tenn. In
August, 1825, he was elected to Congress from the Duck River district,
and reelected at every succeeding election till 1839, when he withdrew
from the contest to become a candidate for governor. With one or two
exceptions, he was the youngest member of the Nineteenth Congress. He
was prominently connected with every leading question, and upon all he
struck what proved to be the keynote for the action of his party. His
maiden speech was in defense of the proposed amendment to the
Constitution giving the choice of the President and Vice-President
directly to the people. It at once placed him in the front rank of
Congressional debaters. He opposed the appropriation for the Panama
mission, asked for by President Adams, contending that such action would
tend to involve the United States in a war with Spain and establish an
unfortunate precedent. In December, 1827, he was placed on the Committee
on Foreign Affairs, and afterwards was also appointed chairman of the
select committee to which was referred that portion of President Adams's
message calling attention to the probable accumulation of a surplus in
the Treasury after the anticipated extinguishment of the national debt.
As the head of the latter committee he made a report denying the
constitutional power of Congress to collect from the people for
distribution a surplus beyond the wants of the Government, and
maintaining that the revenue should be reduced to the requirements of
the public service. During the whole period of President Jackson's
Administration he was one of its leading supporters, and at times its
chief reliance. Early in 1833, as a member of the Ways and Means
Committee, he made a minority report unfavorable to the Bank of the
United States. During the entire contest between the bank and President
Jackson, caused by the removal of the deposits in October, 1833, Mr.
Polk, as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, supported the
Executive. He was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in
December, 1835, and held that office till 1839. It was his fortune to
preside over the House at a period when party feelings were excited to
an unusual degree, and notwithstanding the fact that during the first
session more appeals were taken from his decisions than were ever known
before, he was uniformly sustained by the House, and frequently by
leading members of the Whig party. He gave to the Administration of
Martin Van Buren the same unhesitating support he had accorded to that
of President Jackson. On leaving Congress he became the candidate of the
Democrats of Tennessee for governor, and was elected by over 2,500
majority. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor again in 1841
and 1843. In 1839 he was nominated by the legislatures of Tennessee and
other States for Vice-President of the United States, but Richard M.
Johnson, of Kentucky, was the choice of the great body of the Democratic
party, and was accordingly nominated. On May 27, 1844, Mr. Polk was
nominated for President of the United States by the national Democratic
convention at Baltimore, and on November 12 was elected, receiving about
40,000 majority on the popular vote, and 170 electoral votes to 105 that
were cast for Henry Clay. He was inaugurated March 4, 1845. Among the
important events of his Administration were the establishment of the
United States Naval Academy; the consummation of the annexation of
Texas; the admission of Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin as States; the war
with Mexico, resulting in a treaty of peace, by which the United States
acquired New Mexico and Upper California; the treaty with Great Britain
settling the Oregon boundary; the establishment of the "warehouse
system;" the reenactment of the independent-treasury system; the passage
of the act establishing the Smithsonian Institution; the treaty with New
Granada, the thirty-fifth article of which secured for citizens of the
United States the right of way across the Isthmus of Panama; and the
creation of the Department of the Interior. He declined to become a
candidate for reelection, and at the conclusion of his term retired to
his home in Nashville. He died June 15, 1849, and was buried at Polk
Place, in Nashville. September 19, 1893, the remains were removed by the
State to Capitol Square.