James Knox Polk (pronounced /ˈpoʊk/ POKE) (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th President of the United States (1845–1849). Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina[1], but mostly lived in and represented the state of Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as Speaker of the House (1835–1839) and Governor of Tennessee (1839–1841) before becoming president. A firm supporter of Andrew Jackson, Polk was the last strong pre-Civil War president. Polk is noted for his foreign policy successes. He threatened war with Britain then backed away and split the ownership of the Northwest with Britain. He is even more famous for leading the successful Mexican–American War. He lowered the tariff and established a treasury system that lasted until 1913. A little-known candidate in 1844, he was the first president to retire after a single term without seeking reelection. He died of cholera three months after his term ended. As a Democrat committed to geographic expansion (or Manifest Destiny), he overrode Whig objections and was responsible for the second-largest expansion of the nation's territory. Polk secured the Oregon Territory (including Washington, Oregon and Idaho), amounting to about 285,000 square miles (738,000 km²), then purchased 525,000 square miles (1,360,000 km²) through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican–American War. The expansion reopened a furious debate over allowing slavery in the new territories. The controversy was inadequately arbitrated by the Compromise of 1850, and finally found its ultimate resolution on the battlefields of the U.S. Civil War. Polk signed the Walker Tariff that brought an era of near free trade to the country until 1861. He oversaw the opening of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Smithsonian, the groundbreaking for the Washington Monument, and the issuance of the first postage stamps in the United States, introduced by his Postmaster General Cave Johnson. He was the first President of the United States to be photographed frequently while in office. Scholars have ranked him eighth to twelfth on the list of greatest presidents for his ability to set an agenda and achieve all of it. Polk, the first of ten children, was born in a farmhouse (possibly a "log" cabin)[2] in what is now Pineville, North Carolina in Mecklenburg County on November 2, 1795, just outside of Charlotte.[3] His father, Samuel Polk, was a slaveholder, successful farmer and surveyor of Scots-Irish descent. His mother, Jane Polk (née Knox), was a descendant of a brother of the Scottish religious reformer John Knox and named her firstborn after her father James Knox.[3] Like most early settlers in the North Carolina mountains, the Knox and Polk families were traditionally Presbyterian. While Jane remained a devout Presbyterian her entire life, Samuel (whose father, Ezekial Polk, was a deist) rejected dogmatic Presbyterianism, so when James was taken to be baptized, Samuel refused to declare his belief in Christianity, and the minister refused to baptize the child.[3][4] In 1803, the majority of Polk's relatives moved to the Duck River area in what is now Maury County, Middle Tennessee; however, Polk's family waited until 1806 to follow.[5] The family grew prosperous, with Samuel Polk turning to land speculation and becoming a county judge.[5] During his childhood, James suffered from poor health, which negatively affected his early schooling.[5] In 1812, just before he turned 17, his father tried to take him to Philadelphia in the back of a covered wagon to see Dr. Philip Syng Physick. However, his pain became so unbearable that he was taken instead to the nearer Dr. Ephraim McDowell of Danville, Kentucky, who conducted an operation to remove urinary stones.[6] The operation was conducted while Polk was awake, having been given some brandy, but it was successful. However, it may have left Polk sterile, as he never had children.[7] When Polk recovered, his father offered to bring him into the mercantile business but Polk refused.[6] In July 1813, Polk enrolled at the Zion Church near his home. A year later attended an academy in Murfreesboro, where he potentially could have met his future wife, Sarah Childress; however, this has not been convincingly proven.[8] At Murfreesboro Polk was regarded as a promising student, thus in January 1816 Polk was admitted into the University of North Carolina as a second-semester sophomore.[6] The Polks had connections with the university, then a small school of about eighty students: Sam Polk was their land agent for Tennessee, and his cousin, William Polk, was a trustee.[9] While there, Polk joined the Dialectic Society, in which he regularly took part in debates and learned the art of oration.[6] He also became the first person to be reelected president of the society. Among the people Polk met at the university was his roommate William Dunn Moseley, who later became the first governor of Florida.[10] Polk graduated with honors in May 1818.[10] After graduation, Polk traveled to Nashville to study law under renowned Nashville trial attorney Felix Grundy.[11] Grundy became Polk's first mentor. On September 20, 1819, Polk was elected to be the clerk for the Tennessee State Senate with Grundy's endorsement.[12] Polk was reelected as clerk in 1821 without opposition, and would continue to serve until 1822. Polk was admitted to the bar in June 1820 and his first case was to defend his father against a public fighting charge, a case which he was able to get his father's release for a fine of one dollar.[12] Polk's practice was successful as there were many cases regarding the settlement of debts following the Panic of 1819.[13] In 1822 Polk resigned his position as clerk to run his successful campaign for the Tennessee state legislature in 1823, in which he defeated incumbent William Yancey, becoming the new representative of Maury County.[14][15] In 1821 Polk joined the local militia with the rank of Captain, and was soon promoted to Colonel.[15] Polk's oratory became popular, earning him the nickname "Napoleon of the Stump." In October 1823 Polk voted for Andrew Jackson to become the next United States Senator from Tennessee.[16] Jackson won and from then on Polk was a firm supporter of Jackson.[17] Polk courted Sarah Childress, and they married on January 1, 1824.[14] Polk was then 28, and Sarah was 20 years old. Through their marriage they had no children. They were married until his death in 1849. During Polk's political career, Sarah was said to assist her husband with his speeches, give him advice on policy matters and was always active in his campaigns. An old story told that Andrew Jackson had encouraged their romance when they began to court.[18] In 1824, Jackson ran for President but was defeated.[19] Though Jackson had won the popular vote, neither he nor any of the other candidates (John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William H. Crawford) had obtained a majority of the electoral vote. The House of Representatives then had to select the verdict; Clay, who had received the least amount of electoral votes and therefore was dropped from the ballot, supported Adams.[19] Clay's support proved to be the deciding factor in the House and Adams was elected President.[19] Adams then offered Clay a position in the Cabinet as Secretary of State.[19] In 1825, Polk ran for the United States House of Representatives for the Tennessee's 6th congressional district.[20] Polk rigorously campaigned in the district. Polk was so active that Sarah began to worry about his health.[20] During the campaign, Polk's opponents said that at the age of 29 Polk was too young for a spot in the House. However, Polk won the election and took his seat in Congress.[20] When Polk arrived in Washington D.C he roomed in a boarding house with some other Tennessee representatives, including Benjamin Burch. Polk made his first major speech on March 13, 1826, in which he said that the Electoral College should be abolished and that the President should be elected by the popular vote.[21] After Congress went into recess in the summer of 1826, Polk returned to Tennessee to see Sarah, and when Congress met again in the autumn, Polk returned to Washington with Sarah. In 1827 Polk was reelected to Congress.[22] In 1828, Jackson ran for President again and during the campaign Polk and Jackson corresponded, with Polk giving Jackson advice on his campaign. With Jackson's victory in the election Polk began to support the administration's position in Congress.[23] During this time, Polk continued to be reelected in the House. In August 1833, after being elected to this fifth term, Polk became the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.[24] In June 1834, Speaker of the House Andrew Stevenson resigned, leaving the spot for speaker open.[25] Polk ran against fellow Tennessean John Bell for Speaker, and after ten ballots, Bell won. However, in 1835 Polk ran against Bell for Speaker again and this time Polk won.[26] Polk worked for Jackson's policies as speaker, and Van Buren's when he succeeded Jackson in 1837; he appointed committees with Democratic chairs and majorities, including the New York radical C. C. Cambreleng as Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, although he maintained the facade of traditional bipartisanship.[27] The two major issues during Polk's speakership were slavery and the economy, following the Panic of 1837. Van Buren and Polk faced pressure to rescind the Specie Circular, an act that had been passed by Jackson, in an attempt to help the economy. The act required that payment for government lands be in gold and silver. However, with support from Polk and his cabinet, Van Buren chose to stick with the Specie Circular.[28] Polk attempted to make a more orderly house. He never challenged anyone to a duel no matter how much they insulted his honor as was customary at the time.[29] Polk also issued the gag rule on petitions from abolitionists.[29] In 1838, the political situation in Tennessee—where, in 1835, Democrats had lost the governorship for the first time in their party's history—persuaded Polk to return to help the party at home.[30] Leaving Congress in 1839, Polk became a candidate in the Tennessee gubernatorial election, defeating the incumbent Whig, Newton Cannon by about 2,500 votes, out of about 105,000.[31]