The eleventh president was another that I did not know what
to expect from. The subtitle of Walter Borneman’s book, “The Man Who
Transformed the Presidency and America,” set lofty expectations.
Polk was born in current-day North Carolina and moved to
Tennessee as a child. His childhood wasn’t easy. Life on the American frontier
was difficult enough, but various illnesses made it even more challenging. By
the age of 17, Polk’s parents resolved to send him to Philadelphia to seek the
care of Dr. Philip Syng Physick, “the father of American surgery.” Polk could
go no farther than Danville, Kentucky. A
Kentucky surgeon removed urinary stones in what must have been an excruciating
and terrifying experience. Fortunately, Polk’s health was finally improved, but
the primitive surgery is likely the reason he never had children.
Polk hitched his political wagon to the giant of Tennessee Democratic
politics, Andrew Jackson, as a young man. Polk served seven terms in the US
House of Representatives, making it to the Speakership, before running for
governor of Tennessee. While Polk won his first campaign for governor, he lost
the next two elections to James “Lean Jimmy” Chamberlain Jones. Lean Jimmy was
a Whig showman of little substance and Polk’s losses to him were huge political
disappointments and may have ended a less ambitious politician’s career.
The revival of Polk’s career came in the form of a political
misstep from Jackson’s protégé, and a master politician in his own right, Martin
Van Buren. Polk’s aim was to run as Van Buren’s vice president. However, Van
Buren’s equivocation over Texas annexation was a betrayal that Jackson couldn’t
forgive; Jackson threw his considerable weight behind Polk for President in
1844. To ensure support from all factions of the splintered Democratic Party,
Polk promised to serve only one term. Polk got the Democratic nomination and
thanks to an antislavery third party candidate splitting the vote in New York,
he squeaked out a win in the general election over perpetual Whig candidate
Henry Clay.
Polk would indeed transform the presidency, as the title
suggested. He fundamentally strengthening the office into the strong executive
we know today. Polk showed evidence of his iron will early when he laid down
the ground rules for his cabinet members. Cabinet members would have to a) sign
a pledge to support the Democratic platform, b) resign if they decided to run
for president, and c) not vacation outside of Washington. Polk would be the
first president to reaffirm the Monroe Doctrine by declaring “people of this
continent’s right alone” to control the Oregon territory which was jointly held
with England.
Where Polk truly transformed the presidency was over the
United States’ claim to the Southwest. Polk wanted to force Mexico to accept
the United States’ right to Texas and gain control over New Mexico and
California. Mexico’s refusal to negotiate was making it seem that they would be
convinced only by force. Polk prepared to demand that Congress declare war,
ostensibly over Mexico’s refusal to deal with an American envoy. What Polk
didn’t know was that Zachary Taylor’s troops had already been engaged by
Mexican soldiers in contested West-Texas territory. Polk received a gift prior
to approaching Congress. A memo from General Zachary Taylor reached Washington
stating that “hostilities may now be considered as commenced.” With that
information, Polk went to Congress and told them the war had already begun,
they had better accept it. Between the House and the Senate, the total debate
time was less than a day and a half. From that point forward the Executive has
assumed war making powers from congress, fundamentally strengthening the office
of the president.
Polk’s four years in office were dominated by western
expansion and the Mexican American War. By the time he left office, the United
States had added modern day Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington,
Idaho, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Montana. There is no
question that Polk transformed the nation. Acquiring the land was one thing,
but adding new states was another. Mid-nineteenth century American politics was
completely dominated by slavery and the addition of new “free states” was
unacceptable to Southern politicians who were increasingly feeling marginalized
and unwilling to upset the balance between free and slave states in congress. The
“peculiar institution” dominated national issues, it was becoming evident to
prescient politicians that secession was a matter of time.
Polk upheld his pledge not to run for a second term. Lewis
Cass ran on the Democratic ticket and in an ironic twist, a third party
candidate split the New York vote again, but this time gave the election to the
Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor. Despite the fact that Taylor had served as a
general under Polk, he did not think highly of him. Polk wrote that Taylor seemed,
“a well-meaning old man… uneducated, exceedingly ignorant of public affairs,
and of very ordinary capacity.” Polk turned the reigns over to Taylor fearing
that Taylor would unwind the land gains Polk’s administration had achieved. The fear
proved unfounded, however Polk would not live to be proved wrong. Just 103 days
after leaving office, Polk died of cholera. A long tour of the South on his way
home to likely did not help.
The America and the office of the presidency that Polk left
behind were much different than what he had inherited from John Tyler.
Politically, however, slavery remained a ticking time-bomb that would explode
in a mere twelve years.