Presidency of James K. Polk

Not yet 50 years of age, Polk was the youngest successful presidential candidate up to that time. He entered the presidency full of eagerness and with an expressed zeal to put his aims into effect. He left it four years later exhausted and enfeebled by his efforts. In office he demonstrated remarkable skill in the selection and control of his official advisers, and, in his formal relations with Congress, his legislative experience served him well. When his party was firmly united behind a policy he himself opposed, he yielded to the wishes of Congress. When he disagreed strongly with congressional policy and decided to make an issue of it, he fortified his position with recognized executive precedent and practice. His formal disapprovals (in the form of two veto messages and one pocket veto, by which legislation is killed by the failure of the president to sign a bill before the adjournment of Congress) were questioned, but the two returned measures failed to command the two-thirds majority necessary to override his vetoes. The Polk administration was marked by large territorial gains. The annexation of Texas as a state was concluded and resulted in a two-year war with Mexico—a war that Ulysses S. Grant, who served in it as an army captain, would later call the most unjust war in history. As a consequence of that struggle, the Southwest and far West (California), partly by conquest and partly by purchase, became part of the United States’ domain. During this period the northwestern boundary became fixed by treaty, and the continental United States emerged a recognized reality. Polk’s accomplishments brought him immense satisfaction. He had in his way compensated for the fact that he once was, as he wrote, “the meager boy, with pallid cheeks, oppressed and worn with disease.”

Additional achievements included a treaty with New Granada (Colombia) resolving the problem of right-of-way for U.S. citizens across the Isthmus of Panama; establishment of a warehouse system that provided for the temporary retention of undistributed imports; and the passage of the Walker Tariff Act of 1846, which lowered import duties and did much to pacify British public opinion that had been inflamed over the Oregon compromise of 1846. As these measures helped foreign trade, so the reenactment of the independent treasury system in 1846 helped in the solution of domestic financial problems.

The expansion of the country westward led to the creation of a new agency, the Department of the Interior. The Polk administration should also be credited with the establishment of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and the authorization of the Smithsonian Institution, a national foundation for all areas of science.

Legacy

Polk’s influence over Congress may be gauged from the results of the recommendations of his four annual messages and 10 significant special messages to one or both houses. His control of legislative policy in bitterly partisan Congresses must be judged in terms of results, not oratory or parliamentary delay. He recommended with a high degree of success settlement of a trade dispute with Great Britain, an increase in U.S. armed forces, war with Mexico, peace with Great Britain over Oregon, provision of finances to expedite peace conclusions, organization of the Oregon Territory, peace with Mexico, and revision of the treasury system. He occasionally refused to provide information requested by Congress (on the ground that the requests were incompatible with the public interest), recognized a new French revolutionary government, and proclaimed the validity of the Monroe Doctrine. Succeeding presidents recognized these pronouncements.

A diary kept by Polk during his term of office stressed the presidential burden. Day after day, week after week, he recounted in his diary his experiences with the hosts of office seekers who infested Washington and who occupied so much of his public time. Again and again, there is evident in his writings a note of despair. He knew from experience what an evil an unlimited executive patronage can become, but he felt powerless to change its obligations and too conscientious to avoid its duties. At the close of his term, March 4, 1849, Polk retired to his Nashville home, where he died three months later.

The office of chief executive under Polk was well filled—maintained with dignity, integrity, and an extraordinary sense of duty. His great influence over Congress was due to the widespread popularity of his policies and his persistence in having the members see questions not as interests of district or section but as matters of national welfare. History may not rate him as one of the greatest U.S. presidents, but his successes in office made his influence considerable, and, as a relative unknown who reached the highest office in the land and by integrity and will won the plaudits of the people, he has been compared to Harry Truman.

Cabinet of Pres. James K. Polk

The table provides a list of cabinet members in the administration of Pres. James K. Polk.