James K. Polk Totally Explained

Everything about James K Polk totally explained

Supreme Court appointments

Polk appointed the following Justices to the U.S. Supreme Court:

Levi Woodbury – 1845 (from New Hampshire) (Note: Was a recess appointment; later confirmed by the Senate).

Robert Cooper Grier – 1846 (from Pennsylvania) (Also nominated George W. Woodward in 1846 (of PA), but was rejected by the Senate).

Congress

29th Congress (March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1847)

Senate: 31 Democrats, 31 Whigs, 1 Other (President Pro Tempore- Willie P. Mangum (Whig-NC), Ambrose H. Servier (D-AR), and David R. Atchison (D-MO))

House: 143 Democrats, 77 Whigs, 6 Others (Speaker- John W. Davis of Indiana) 30th Congress (March 4, 1847 – March 4, 1849)

Senate: 36 Democrats, 21 Whigs, 1 Other (President Pro Tempore- David R. Atchison (D-MO))

House: 115 Whigs, 108 Democrats, 4 Others (Speaker- Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts)

States admitted to the Union

Texas – December 29, 1845

Iowa – December 28, 1846

Wisconsin – May 29, 1848

Post-presidency

Polk's time in the White House took its toll on his health. Full of enthusiasm and vigor when he entered office, Polk left on March 4, 1849, exhausted by his years of public service. He lost weight and had deep lines on his face and dark circles under his eyes. He is believed to have contracted cholera in New Orleans, Louisiana, on a goodwill tour of the South. He died at his new home, Polk Place, in Nashville, Tennessee, at 3:15 p.m. on June 15, 1849. He was buried on the grounds of Polk Place. Polk's devotion to his wife is illustrated by his last words: "I love you, Sarah. For all eternity, I love you." She lived at Polk Place for over forty years after his death. She died on August 14, 1891. Polk was also survived by his mother, Jane Knox Polk; Presidents Garfield and Kennedy were also survived by their mothers. Polk had the shortest retirement of all Presidents at 103 days. He was the youngest former president to die in retirement at the age of 53. He and his wife are buried in a tomb on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol Building in Nashville, Tennessee. The tomb was moved to this location in 1893 after his home at Polk Place was demolished.
Polk's relatives include Scotty McLennan, (through his mother, Alice Polk Warner) who has served as the Dean for Religious Life at Stanford University since January 1, 2001, where he also teaches undergraduate and Graduate School of Business courses.

Reputation

Polk's historic reputation was largely formed by the attacks made on him in his own time; the Whigs claimed that he was drawn from a well-deserved obscurity; Senator Tom Corwin of Ohio remarked "James K. Polk, of Tennessee? After that, who is safe?"; the Republican historians of the nineteenth century inherited this view. Polk was a compromise between the radical Democrats of the North, like David Wilmot and Silas Wright, and the plantation owners who were led by John C. Calhoun; the radicals thought that when they didn't get their way, it was because he was the tool of the slaveholders, and the conservatives of the North insisted that he was the tool of the radicals. These views were long reflected in the historical literature, until Arthur M. Schesinger, Jr and Bernard De Voto argued that Polk was nobody's tool, but set his own goals and achieved them.

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