JAMES KNOX POLK

11th President (1845-1849)

 We must ever maintain the principle that the people of this continent alone have the right to decide their own destiny.
- Message to Congress, 1845

Manifest destiny.

Many of us remember that catchy phrase from school history lessons, even though at the time we may not have quite totally understood what it really meant.

It's the concept of manifest destiny, though, which is taught in school (if at all), rather than which President championed it as a principle of freedom. As a result, President James K. Polk remains one of those six Presidents crowded into the period between 1840 and 1860 which tend to become a hazy blur, rather than attaining the place of greater prominence he actually deserves. In fact, a leading historian called Polk "the one bright spot in the dull void between Jackson and Lincoln." Despite this, Polk, who "came out of nowhere" to become President in 1844 and accomplished all he set out to do during his administration, managed to return to obscurity and remain there.

Born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina in 1795, Polk grew up to be such an avid supporter of Andrew Jackson and his expansionist point of view that he earned the nickname "Young Hickory" and, after moving to Tennessee, won Jackson's old Congressional seat eight times. When John Tyler withdrew from the 1844 presidential race, the political field became unstable. Tyler, a Whig, failed to get even get the re-nomination of his own party. The Democrats had no notion of selecting Polk when they began their convention in Baltimore, but he became a "dark horse" candidate and managed to secure the nomination. So little known was Polk as a national figure that the Whigs responded with the campaign slogan "Who Is Polk?" However, the energetic Polk, despite the fact of being regarded as sometimes aloof and cold, soundly defeated Whig candidate Henry Clay in his third bid to become President.

Polk's expansionist agenda led to disputes with Mexico over Southwest regions and the failure to resolve those disputes resulted in the Mexican War in 1846. When the United States proved to be victorious in 1848, the peace treaty added over a million square miles in the Southwest and Far West, including California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Washinton state. Under Polk, "manifest destiny" - the idea that acquiring western lands was proper and necessary in order to secure the noble purposes of the United States - resulted in the country now stretching from sea to sea, thereby locking out the possibility of foreign intervention in those areas which had become increasingly under the influence of the maturing United States. It also provided opportunities of unparalleled freedom for Americans to move West and still be under the protection of the United States government.

Polk remained focused on the ideals of "mainifest destiny", as opposed to merely acquiring land for its own sake, and rejected suggestions that the U.S. seize parts of Canada up to Alaska or the entire nation of Mexico. Polk properly reasoned that those acquisitions simply weren't needed to serve the legitimate purpose of securing the nation and its noble purposes from foreign intervention.

President Polk worked extremely hard during his term and at the end of it, suffering from exhaustion, decided to return to private life even though he remained popular and probably could have won a second term. He also felt he had achieved what he had set out to do, and simply didn't need to return to the office. At the age of only 53, he died at his Nashville home a mere three months after leaving office.

It's hard to imagine the United States without the vast expanses of the Southwest and Far West - particularly the State of California. The taming of these areas became an important part of the country's folklore and national identity. Yet all this might not have been, had President James Knox Polk not pursued his principles with such vigor. Therefore, it's strange indeed that there is so little national remembrance of this man and the critical role his presidency played.

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