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Definition: Polk, James Knox from Philip's Encyclopedia

11th US president (1845-49). During his administration, California and New Mexico were acquired as a result of the US victory in the Mexican War (1846-48), which Polk's aggressive policy had largely provoked. He also gained Oregon through the Oregon Treaty (1846). Other policy goals that he achieved included reduction of the tariff and restoration of an independent treasury.

Polk, James Knox

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(pōk), 1795–1849, 11th President of the United States (1845–49), b. Mecklenburg co., N.C. His family moved (1806) to the Duck River valley in Tennessee and there, after graduating from the Univ. of North Carolina (1818) and studying law under Felix Grundy, he began (1820) to practice law in Columbia. Polk served in the state legislature (1823–25) and in the U.S. House of Representatives (1825–39), where he was speaker for the years 1835–39. He was a leading Jacksonian Democrat. In 1839 he was elected governor of Tennessee, but he was defeated for reelection by the Whig candidate in 1841 and 1843. Polk had vice presidential ambitions, but Andrew Jackson, convinced that Martin Van Buren had committed political suicide by announcing his opposition to the annexation of Texas, urged Polk to consider the presidency. With the Van Buren and Lewis Cass factions deadlocked at the Democratic convention at Baltimore in 1844, George Bancroft advanced Polk as a candidate behind whom both sections…
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Full text Article POLK, JAMES (1795-1849)

From Encyclopedia of Free Blacks and People of Color in the Americas
eleventh president of the United States (1845-1849 ) President of the United States from 1845 to 1849, James Polk was responsible for greatly enlarging the territory of the United States, in ways that ultimately would lead to the American Civil War . He was a large planter and slave owner and lived…
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Full text Article Polk, James Knox (1795–1849),

From The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History
eleventh president of the United States (1845–1849). Born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, on 2 November 1795, Polk moved to Tennessee with his family in 1806 and graduated from the University of North Carolina. Admitted to the bar in 1820, Polk became an active Jacksonian Democrat, serving in…
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Full text Article Polk, James K. (1795–1849)

From Encyclopedia of Cuban-United States Relations
U.S. congressman from and governor of the state of Tennessee prior to serving as President of the United States, from 1845 to 1849. Polk agreed with the long-standing U.S. policy that Cuba controlled by a weak Spain better served U.S. interests rather than being independent or controlled by a major…
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Full text Article Charlotte

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
City in southern North Carolina, USA, on the border with South Carolina; seat of Mecklenburg County; population (2000 est) 540,800. Industries include printing, microelectronics, data processing, textiles, chemicals, machinery, and food products. Settled around 1750, it was the gold-mining centre of…
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Full text Article Manifest Destiny

From American Governance
John Louis O'sullivan (1813–1895), a well-known American writer and editor, coined the term manifest destiny during a time of popular support for territorial expansion in the 1840s. The overarching aim was for a nation that stretched “from sea to shining sea.” To advance America's manifest destiny, …
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United States president James Knox Polk,
Overview James Knox Polk–congressional representative, governor of Tennessee, and eleventh president of the United States–was born in 1795 in North Carolina. During his youth, he suffered from poor health, so his formal education did not begin until he was well into his teenage years. Nevertheless, …
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Full text Article POLK, JAMES K.

From The Reader's Companion to American History
(1795-1849), eleventh president of the United States. Polk was the son of a prosperous Tennessee farmer. His mother, a devout Presbyterian, made an indelible impression on his character, instilling Calvinistic virtues of hard work, self-discipline, individualism, and a belief in the imperfection of…
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Full text Article Polk, James K(nox)

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
James K. Polk, daguerreotype by Mathew Brady,...
(born Nov. 2, 1795, Mecklenburg county, N.C., U.S.—died June 15, 1849, Nashville, Tenn.) 11th president of the U.S. (1845–49). He was a friend and supporter of Andrew Jackson , who helped Polk win election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1825. He left the House in 1839 to become governor of…
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Full text Article Polk, James K.

From Encyclopedia of the American Presidency
James Knox Polk, the only Speaker of the U.S....
(b. 1795–d. 1849) 11th U.S. president President from 1845 to 1849, during which occurred a war with Mexico (which he may have provoked), Polk expanded the nation's borders and extended the country across the continent to the West Coast. Born on November 2, 1795, in Near Pineville, Mecklenburg…
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Full text Article Polk, James K.

From American Biographies: American Political Leaders
James Knox Polk, the only Speaker of the U.S....
(b. 1795–d. 1849) 11th U.S. president James Knox Polk was the only Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to be elected president, the only president to fulfill all his campaign promises in a single term, the first president to decline to run for reelection, and the president who acquired…
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