American President
James K. Polk (1795–1849)
Facts at a Glance
- Term
- 11th President of the United States (1845–1849)
- Born
- November 2, 1795, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
- Nickname
- “Young Hickory”
- Full Name
- James Knox Polk
- Education
- University of North Carolina (graduated 1818)
- Religion
- Presbyterian
- Marriage
- January 1, 1824, to Sarah Childress (1803–1891)
- Children
- None
- Career
- Lawyer
- Political Party
- Democrat
- Writings
- The Diary of James K. Polk (4 vols., 1910), ed. by Milo M. Quaife; Correspondence of James K. Polk, 10 vols. (1969– )
- Died
- June 15, 1849, Nashville, Tennessee
- Buried
- State Capitol Grounds, Nashville, Tennessee
- A Life in Brief
- Under James Knox Polk, the United States grew by more than a million square miles, adding territory that now composes the states of Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, much of New Mexico, and portions of Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado. More »
Essays on James K. Polk and His Administration
- James Knox Polk
- A Life in Brief
- Life Before the Presidency
- Campaigns and Elections
- Domestic Affairs
- Foreign Affairs
- Life After the Presidency
- Family Life
- The American Franchise
- Impact and Legacy
- Key Events
- First Lady
- Sarah Polk
- Vice President
- George M. Dallas (1845–1849)
- Secretary of State
- James Buchanan (1845–1849)
- Secretary of War
- William L. Marcy (1845–1849)
- Postmaster General
- Cave Johnson (1845–1849)
- Secretary of the Treasury
- Robert J. Walker (1845–1849)
- Attorney General
- John Y. Mason (1845–1846)
- Nathan Clifford (1846–1848)
- Isaac Toucey (1848–1849)
- Secretary of the Navy
- George Bancroft (1845–1846)
- John Y. Mason (1846–1849)
Consulting Editor: John C. Pinheiro
Professor Pinheiro is an associate professor of history and director of Catholic Studies at Aquinas College. He formerly served as a research assistant on the Correspondence of James K. Polk project at the University of Tennessee and as an assistant editor of The Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia. His writings include:
Manifest Ambition: James K. Polk and Civil-Military Relations during the Mexican War (Praeger Security International, 2007)
The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, Vol. 12 (Co-Editor, University of Virginia Press, 2005.)
Presidential Speeches
Below are selections from the Miller Center’s James K. Polk speech collection.
Scholarship and Speakers
The Miller Center of Public Affairs is a national nonpartisan center to research, reflect, and report on American government, with special attention to the central role and history of the presidency. Below is a selection of Miller Center resources on James K. Polk.
Listen to Historians Merrill Peterson, Robert Rutland, William
Harbaugh, and Norman Graebner’s 1980 presentation at the Miller Center on Presidents Jefferson, Madison, Polk, and
Theodore Roosevelt.
President James Polk led the country as Commander in Chief during the Mexican War. Learn more about the Miller Center’s National War Powers Commission.
Learn more about the Center’s National Commission on Presidential Transitions and Foreign Policy and its relationship to Polk.
Scripps Library Reference Resources
Below are links to reference resources prepared by the Miller Center’s Scripps Library, designed to help students and scholars conduct their research quickly.
Information on James K. Polk’s Private and Public Papers
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