James
Polk, the son of a farmer, was born in Mecklenburg, North Carolina,
on 2nd November, 1795. When Polk was a child the family moved to Tennessee.
Although he suffered from poor health, Polk managed to attend and
graduate from the University of North Carolina.
Polk was admitted to the bar in 1820 and practiced law in Nashville.
A member of the Democratic Party,
Polk was elected to Congress in 1825 and became house speaker ten
years later. In 1839 Polk was elected governor of Tennessee.
In 1843 Martin Van Buren was expected to
become the Democratic Party candidate
in the presidential election. However, Polk won the nomination and
beat Henry Clay (Whig
Party) and James Birney (Liberty
Party) in the election.
In December, 1845, Polk announced the annexation of Texas. This marked
the beginning of the Mexican War and
Zachary Taylor and a 4,000 man army,
was ordered into the Rio Grande. Taylor defeated the Mexicans at Palo
Alto on 8th May, 1846 and in September captured Monterrey. Taylor
upset Polk when he granted the Mexican Army an eight-week armistice.
Polk took away Taylor's best troops and ordered him to fight a defensive
war. Taylor disobeyed these orders and in February, 1847, marched
south and although outnumbered four to one, defeated the Mexican Army
at Buena Vista.
In 1848 the Whig Party selected Zachary
Taylor as its candidate for president. Polk decided not to stand
and the Democratic Party candidate,
Lewis Cass (1,220,544), was defeated by
Taylor. James Polk died soon afterwards in Nashville, Tennessee, on
15th June, 1849.
(1)
James Polk, speech in Congress (2nd December, 1845)
At the end of the year's notice, should Congress think it proper to
make provision for giving that notice, we shall have reached a period
when the national rights in Oregon must either be abandoned or firmly
maintained. That they cannot be abandoned without a sacrifice of both
national honor and interest is too clear to admit of doubt.
Oregon is a part of the
North American continent, to which, it is confidently affirmed, the
title of the United States is the
best now in existence. For the grounds on which that title rests I
refer you to the correspondence of the late and present secretary
of state with the British plenipotentiary during the negotiation.
The British proposition of compromise, which would make the Columbia
the line south of 49°, with a trifling addition of detached territory
to the United States north of that river, and would leave on the British
side two-thirds of the whole Oregon territory, including the free
navigation of the Columbia and all the valuable
harbors on the Pacific, can never for
a moment be entertained by the United States
without an abandonment of their just and
clear territorial rights, their own self-respect,
and the national honor. For the information
of Congress, I communicate herewith
the correspondence which took place between
the two governments during the late
negotiation.
The rapid extension of
our settlements over our territories heretofore unoccupied, the addition
of new states to our confederacy, the expansion of free principles,
and our rising greatness as a nation are attracting the attention
of the powers of Europe, and lately the doctrine has been broached
in some of them of a "balance of power" on this continent
to check our advancement. The United States, sincerely desirous of
preserving relations of good understanding with all nations, cannot
in silence permit any European interference on the North American
continent, and should any such interference be attempted will be ready
to resist it at any and all hazards.
It is well known to the
American people and to all nations that this government has never
interfered with the relations subsisting between other governments.
We have never made ourselves parties to their wars or their alliances;
we have not sought their territories by conquest; we have not mingled
with parties in their domestic struggles; and believing our own form
of government to be the best, we have never attempted to propagate
it by intrigues, by diplomacy, or by force. We may claim on this continent
a like exemption from European interference. The nations of America
are equally sovereign and independent with those of Europe. They possess
the same rights, independent of all foreign interposition, to make
war, to conclude peace, and to regulate their internal affairs. The
people of the United States cannot, therefore, view with indifference
at tempts of European powers to interfere with
the independent action of the nations on
this continent.
The American system of
government is entirely different from that of Europe. Jealousy among
the different sovereigns of Europe, lest any one of them might become
too powerful for the rest, has caused them anxiously to desire the
establishment of what they term the "balance of power."
It cannot be permitted
to have any application on the North American continent, and especially
to the United States. We must ever maintain the principle that the
people of this continent alone have the right to decide their
own destiny. Should any portion of them,
constituting an independent state, propose
to unite themselves with our confederacy,
this will be a question for them and
us to determine without any foreign interposition.
We can never consent that European
powers shall interfere to prevent such
a union because it might disturb the "balance
of power" which they may desire to
maintain upon this continent.
(2)
James Polk, speech in Congress (7th December, 1847)
The provinces of New Mexico and the Californias are contiguous to
the territories of the United States, and if brought under the government
of our laws their resources - mineral, agricultural, manufacturing,
and commercial - would soon be developed.
Upper California is bounded
on the north by our Oregon possessions, and if held by the United
States would soon be settled by a hardy, enterprising, and intelligent
portion of our population. The bay of San Francisco and other harbors
along the Californian coast would afford shelter for our Navy, for
our numerous whale ships, and other merchant vessels employed in the
Pacific Ocean, and would in a short period become the marts of an
extensive and profitable commerce with China and other countries of
the East.
These advantages, in which
the whole commercial world would participate, would at once be secured
to the United States by the cession of this territory; while it is
certain that as long as it remains a part of the Mexican dominions
they can be enjoyed neither by Mexico herself nor by any other nation.
In proposing to acquire
New Mexico and the Californias, it was known that but an inconsiderable
portion of the Mexican
people would be transferred with them, the country embraced within
these provinces being chiefly an uninhabited region.
These were the leading
considerations which induced me to authorize the terms of peace which
were proposed to Mexico. They were rejected, and negotiations being
at an end, hostilities were renewed. An assault was made by our gallant
Army upon the strongly fortified places near the gates of the city
of Mexico and upon the city itself, and after several days of severe
conflict the Mexican forces, vastly superior in number to our own,
were driven from the city, and it was occupied by our troops.
Immediately after information
was received of the unfavorable result of the negotiations, believing
that his continued presence with the Army could be productive of no
good, I determined to recall our commissioner. A dispatch to this
effect was transmitted to him on the 6th of October last. The Mexican
government will be informed of his recall, and that in the existing
state of things I shall not deem it proper to make any further overtures
of peace, but shall be at all times ready to receive and consider
any proposals which may be made by Mexico.
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