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James Knox Polk: The First Imperial President?
- Texas A&M University Press
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James Knox Polk: The First Imperial President? karlynkohrscampbell “Who is James Polk?” sneered Whigs in the 1844 presidential campaign. A Whig circular declared, “He is destitute of the commanding talent—the stern integrity—the high moral fitness—the Union should possess at this crisis, and has twice been rejected for the Office of Governor in his own State—having no hold upon the confidence or affections of his countrymen at home, and no talent to command respect for us abroad he is not the man for the times or for the Union.” Still another Whig described him as “A blighted burr that has fallen from the mane of the warhorse of the Hermitage.”1 When Senator William Cabell Rives of Virginia heard of Polk’s nomination , he wrote to his wife: “[T]he polk-a dance [which was newly popular in Washington] will now be the order of the day, which I understand is two steps backward for one in advance.”2 When he defeated Henry Clay, an angry Virginian exclaimed, “[I]t is a disgrace . . . to have elected . . . that infernal poke of all pokes James K. Polk.”3 To many, “dark horse” Democratic nominee James Polk was a pig in a poke, and little was expected of him. Strangely enough, the Whigs’ sneering question endures. The teasing issues raised by contemporary challenges to authorship and postmodern assaults on independent subjectivity find an almost ideal subject in the rhetoric of James Polk. Clearly, he swam in the discourses of his time, a voice for Jeffersonian principles and the yearnings of Manifest Destiny. As a member karlynkohrscampbell of Congress and Speaker of the House, he was Andrew Jackson’s right hand man, and he adopted, expanded, and justified Jackson’s conception of the presidency. Like many others, he maintained the conventional view of the constitutional compromise that slavery was entirely a state matter. At the same time, he was an unusually able mouthpiece for these views, stating many of them more clearly and cogently than their originators. A nominee whose friends told a different story to each of the Democratic Party factions in order to elect him, he alienated each in turn by rejecting their patronage demands. Although Speaker of the House during the intense conflict over the gag rule, and although warned by southerners and northerners alike that annexation of the New Mexico and upper California territories would be fatal to the Union, he started a war in his determined pursuit of them, thereby taking the actions that would make civil war inevitable. The question, then, is to what extent was he a creature of his time who expressed widely held views, and to what extent was he an agent responsible at least in part for the terrible events that he set in motion? Briefly, James Knox Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, but his family soon moved west into the territory that became Tennessee. He received an excellent classical education at the University of North Carolina, which included active membership in a debating society. Subsequently, he read for the law and became a lawyer. After his nomination as a presidential candidate, he promised not to run for reelection, a promise that probably was a political necessity in the face of the anxieties of the many aspirants who hoped to succeed him. Inaugurated at age forty-nine, he was the youngest president to date, but he had considerable political experience. He had served in the Tennessee state legislature (1823–25), was elected to seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1825–39), including two terms as Speaker starting in 1835. He was governor of Tennessee from 1839 to 1841, although he was twice defeated for reelection by “Lean Jimmy” Jones, who taught him that clear argument and speaking to the issues do not always win elections. His nickname, “Young Hickory,” reflected his close relationship to his mentor and friend, fellow Tennessean “Old Hickory” Andrew Jackson. A considerable body of Polk’s rhetoric is extant from his years in Congress , his campaigns for the Tennessee governorship, and his presidency. In all of the available sources, certain comments recur, in particular, about his great skill in argument. Biographer Eugene McCormac, for example, writes of his report on the national bank while in the House that “Polk displayed those qualities that ever distinguished him in debate. . . . His preparation [18.213.110.162] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:58 GMT) firstimperialpresident?jamesk...