He granted statehood to Texas when he became president.įact 9 James Polk kept his campaign promise and did not seek reelection. House of Representatives in 1825.He left the House in 1839 to become governor of Tennessee. (184549).He was a friend and supporter of Andrew Jackson, who helped Polk win election to the U.S. He died at a young age of 53, at Polk Place, in Nashville, Tennessee, on Jjust after three months of retirement from the presidency. 2, 1795, Mecklenburg county, N.C., U.S.died June 15, 1849, Nashville, Tenn.), 11th president of the U.S. Polk was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1849.He was a Democrat, and assumed office after defeating Whig Henry Clay in the 1844 presidential election. At the time of marriage she was 20 years old and Polk was 28. Polk began on March 4, 1845, when James K. Originally released in 1990 as a B-side to the single 'Istanbul (Not Constantinople)', its first appearance on a studio album was 1996s Factory Showroom. He is considered as the ‘best one-term president’.įact 8 He was very involved in the Mexican War which lasted from 1846 to 1848. He married Sarah Childress, who was a well-educated woman from Tennessee. Polk' is a song by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, about the United States president of the same name. From A Guided Tour Of Factory Showroom: This song was written with childhood friend Mr. During his tenure, America’s territory grew by more than one-third and extended across the continent for the first time. Abolitionists considered it a war being waged for the purposes of expanding slavery into new territories (at the time, not many people knew that Arizona and New Mexico werent exactly suitable for plantation labor. James Polk (1795-1849) served as the 11th U.S. Polk entered the University of North Caroline in 1816 and graduated with honors in 1818.įact 3 In 1825 Polk was elected to the U.S House of Representatives, where he became a staunch supporter of Andrew Jackson, who was seeking the presidency.įact 4 He remained the Speaker of the House from 1835 to 1839 when he became governor of Tennessee.įact 5 In 1844 James Polk won the presidential election as the dark horse candidate.įact 6 As the president, he reduced tariffs, reformed the national banking system and settled a boundary dispute with the British that secured the Oregon Territory for the United States.įact 7 James Polk’s presidency was considered one of the most successful in history among “forgotten” presidents. The Mexican-American War (when Polk, as TMBG put it, 'seized the whole southwest from Mexico') was fairly controversial at the time. Fact 1 James Polk was born in 1795 in North Carolina.įact 2 He was a sickly youth and did not begin his formal education until 1813.