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Polk, James Knox (1795–1849) Quick reference
A Dictionary of World History (3 ed.)
..., James Knox ( 1795–1849 ) US Democratic statesman, 11th President of the USA ( 1845–49 ) . His term of office resulted in major territorial additions to the USA: Texas was admitted to the Union in 1845 , and the successful outcome of the conflict with Mexico resulted in the annexation of California and the south-west two years later....
Polk, James Knox (1795–1849) Quick reference
World Encyclopedia
..., James Knox ( 1795–1849 ) 11th US president ( 1845–49 ). During his administration, California and New Mexico were acquired as a result of the US victory in the Mexican War ( 1846–48 ), which Polk's aggressive policy had largely provoked. He also gained Oregon through the Oregon Treaty ( 1846 ). Other policy goals that he achieved included reduction of the tariff and restoration of an independent...
Polk, James Knox (1795–1849) Reference library
John H. Schroeder and Dani Holtz
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History
..., James Knox ( 1795–1849 ), eleventh president of the United States ( 1845–1849 ). Born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, on 2 November 1795 , Polk moved to Tennessee with his family in 1806 and graduated from the University of North Carolina. Admitted to the bar in 1820 , Polk became an active Jacksonian Democrat, serving in Congress from 1825 to 1839 , as Speaker of the House from 1835 to 1839 , and as governor of Tennessee from 1839 to 1841 . During the 1844 presidential contest, the first election centered around foreign policy, Polk...
Polk, James Knox Reference library
Wayne Cutler
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History
..., James Knox ( 1795 – 1849 ), eleventh president of the United States . A Jacksonian Democrat and devotee of Thomas Jefferson ’s agrarian political ideology, Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina , and reared in Maury County, Tennessee. Graduating with honors from the University of North Carolina in 1818 , he first practiced law and in 1823 won election to the Tennessee legislature. He married Sarah Childress in 1824 . Elected to Congress in 1825 , he opposed President John Quincy Adams ’s domestic program of economic development...
Polk, James Knox (1795–1849) Reference library
The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military
..., James Knox ( 1795–1849 ) 11th president of the United States , born in North Carolinia . Polk, who moved to Tennessee as a child, was admitted to the bar in 1820 and quickly became active in politics, entering the state legislature in 1823 . In 1825 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he viewed slavery as an evil to be borne. He opposed high tariffs and supported only limited spending for internal improvements. Polk served as House Speaker for two terms ( 1835–39 ). To signal his opposition to the new Whig party, headed by ...
Polk, James Knox Reference library
Wayne Cutler
The Oxford Companion to United States History
...Polk, James Knox ( 1795–1849 ), eleventh president of the United States. A Jacksonian Democrat and devotee of Thomas Jefferson 's agrarian political ideology, Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and reared in Maury County, Tennessee. Graduating with honors from the University of North Carolina in 1818 , he first practiced law and in 1823 won election to the Tennessee legislature. He married Sarah Childress in 1824 . Elected to Congress in 1825 , he opposed President John Quincy Adams 's domestic program of economic development and...
Polk, James K (b. 2 November 1795) Reference library
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619–1895: From the Colonial Period to the Age of Frederick Douglass
..., James K ( b. 2 November 1795 ; d. 15 June 1849 ), eleventh president of the United States. James Knox Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. His father, Samuel Polk, was a prosperous farmer who owned thousands of acres of land and about fifty slaves in Tennessee. His mother, Jane Knox Polk, was a devout Presbyterian who instilled Calvinist virtues of hard work and self-discipline in her son. The eldest of ten children, Polk was a sickly child. At the age of seventeen he underwent a very dangerous and painful operation in order to have...
Buchanan, James (1791–1868) Reference library
Joel H. Silbey
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History
...Era, U.S. Military and Diplomatic Affairs during the ; Civil War (1861–1865) , subentry on Causes ; Democratic Party ; Jackson, Andrew ; Lincoln, Abraham ; Polk, James Knox ; and State, U.S. Secretaries of .] Bibliography Klein, Philip S. President James Buchanan: A Biography . University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962. Smith, Elbert B. The Presidency of James Buchanan . Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1975. Joel H....
Monroe Doctrine Reference library
Howard Jones
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History
...and boasted that he had already secured a noninterventionist pledge from France. As American power grew, however, American presidents increasingly asserted the doctrine to justify U.S. commercial and territorial expansion. In the 1840s, President James Knox Polk articulated what later became known as the Polk Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine in opposing British claims in the Pacific Northwest. The following decade, Americans for the first time referred to the doctrine by name in arguing against British claims in Central America. During the Civil War,...
Taylor, Zachary Reference library
Elbert B. Smith
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History
...Indian treaties; prevented white settlement of Indian lands; and during the Seminole wars in Florida , refused to return to their own-ers escaped slaves living with the Seminoles. Although opposed to Texas annexation, Taylor in January 1846 was ordered by President James Knox Polk to advance to the Rio Grande River. A Mexican attack on a unit of his army in April led to the Mexican War. Winning battles against numerical odds, he became a national hero, nicknamed “Old Rough and Ready.” As the Whig Party’s presidential candidate in 1848 , he defeated...
Tyler, John Reference library
Eric D. Daniels
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History
...and the brewing conflict over slavery, Tyler saw it as an opportunity to defend both the South and states’ rights. He negotiated an annexation treaty and waited for southern Jacksonians to assist in its ratification. The Democrats heeded the call in 1844 by nominating James Knox Polk , an ardent annexationist. Bypassing the ratification process that would have required a two-thirds majority for Tyler ’s treaty, Congress simply admitted Texas by resolution in February 1845 , just days before Tyler left office. In 1860 , Tyler served on a futile...
Mexican War (1846–1848) Reference library
Robert E. May
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History
...instability and anti-American sentiment in Mexico may have contributed to hostilities, American expansionism, expressed in the popular slogan “Manifest Destiny,” coined in 1845 , provided the precipitating conditions for the Mexican War. In 1844 , Americans elected James Knox Polk , who followed his vocal commitment to territorial expansion in his campaign (his slogan “54-40 or fight!” threatened Great Britain over the disputed Oregon territory) with a promise in his inaugural address to annex the Republic of Texas. Calling annexation a decision...
Wilmot Proviso Reference library
Michael A. Morrison
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History
...divide the American people in the North and South in the coming decade, lead to the formation of the Republican Party, secure Lincoln ’s election, and be the rationale for secession of the South. [ See also Antislavery Movement ; Civil Liberties ; Civil Rights ; and Polk, James Knox . ] Bibliography Foner, Eric. “ The Wilmot Proviso Revisited. ” Journal of American History 56 (1969): 262–279. Morrison, Chaplain W. Democratic Politics and Sectionalism: The Wilmot Proviso Controversy . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1967. Morrison,...
Buchanan, James Reference library
Joel H. Silbey
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History
...James ( 1791 – 1868 ), fifteenth president of the United States . Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania , the son of a storekeeper and farmer, Buchanan was a successful lawyer who soon turned to politics. Originally a Federalist, he became a Jacksonian Democrat , serving successively as a state legislator, congressman, minister to Russia ( 1832 – 1834 ), U.S. senator ( 1834 – 1845 ), secretary of state under James Knox Polk ( 1845 – 1849 ), and ambassador to Great Britain ( 1853 – 1856 ). Like other antebellum Democrats, Buchanan ...
Buchanan, James Reference library
Joel H. Silbey
The Oxford Companion to United States History
...Buchanan, James ( 1791–1868 ), fifteenth president of the United States. Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the son of a storekeeper and farmer, Buchanan was a successful lawyer who soon turned to politics. Originally a Federalist, he became a Jacksonian Democrat, serving successively as a state legislator, congressman, minister to Russia ( 1832–1834 ), U.S. Senator ( 1834–1845 ), secretary of state under James Knox Polk ( 1845–1849 ), and ambassador to Great Britain ( 1853–1856 ). Like other antebellum Democrats, Buchanan distrusted federal power,...
Texas Annexation Reference library
Michael A. Morrison
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History
...Polk, riding this new, powerful issue of expansion, defeated the Whig party nominee Henry Clay . Believing that the election was a referendum on Texas annexation, President Tyler urged Congress again to take up the measure. Bypassing the treaty ratification process (which requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate), Congress annexed Texas as a state by a joint resolution, with simple and fairly slim majorities in both Houses. Tyler signed the bill on 1 March 1845 . [ See also Antislavery Movement ; Jackson, Andrew ; Polk, James Knox ; ...
Oregon Trail Reference library
David E. Conrad
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History
...often assisted the migrants as well.) By 1844 , with more than five thousand Americans in the Willamette valley, the Oregon question dominated U.S. politics. In that year’s presidential election, voters in effect risked war with Great Britain by selecting the Democrat James Knox Polk on a platform committed to acquiring Oregon . Supporters spread the slogan “Fifty-four forty or fight”: latitude 54°40′ north was the northern boundary of the territory, so the slogan conveyed a willingness to fight Great Britain to secure all of the jointly administered ...
Liberty Party Reference library
Joel H Silbey
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History
...1 percent of the national vote in the 1840 presidential election and just over 2 percent in 1844 . Some historians suggest that its New York State vote in the latter year denied the state to the Whig candidate, Henry Clay , and insured the election of the slaveholder James Knox Polk , but this involves the unlikely assumption that in the Liberty Party’s absence, its voters would have cast their ballots for Clay . It is more useful to see the Liberty Party as an early manifestation of a gathering movement that would culminate in the crusades of the Free...
Liberty Party. Reference library
Joel H. Silbey
The Oxford Companion to United States History
...1 percent of the national vote in the 1840 presidential election, and just over 2 percent in 1844 . Some historians suggest that its New York State vote in the latter year denied the state to the Whig candidate, Henry Clay , and insured the election of the slaveholder James Knox Polk , but this involves the unlikely assumption that in the Liberty party's absence, its voters would have cast their ballots for Clay. It is more useful to see the Liberty party as an early manifestation a gathering movement that would culminate in the crusades of the Free...
Oregon Trail. Reference library
David E. Conrad
The Oxford Companion to United States History
...often assisted the migrants as well.) By 1844 , with more than five thousand Americans in the Willamette valley, the “Oregon question” dominated U.S. politics. In that year's presidential election, voters in effect risked war with Great Britain by selecting the Democrat James Knox Polk on a platform committed to acquiring Oregon and the slogan “Fifty-four forty or Fight.” The slogan referred to a willingness to fight Great Britain to secure all of the jointly administered Oregon territory. Fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north latitude was the...
