James K. Polk

Also known as James Knox Polk, James Polk, J. K. Polk, J. Polk, President Polk

President of the United States from 1845 to 1849 (1795–1849)

OverviewAI-generated

James K. Polk, also known by the pseudonym "Young Hickory," was born in 1795 and died in 1849. He had no children. His height was recorded as 173. He is recognized in the Us Presidents collection and is referenced by 2,551 other encyclopedia articles.

Polk authored works including *Speech of Mr. John M. Clayton...*, *Life and public services of the Hon. James Knox Polk with a compendium of his speeches on various public measures*, *Message from the president of the United States to the two houses of Congress*, *One thousand dollars reward!*, and *James K. Polk's opinion of the protective tariff policy*. He also wrote *Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our Government.* and *The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government.*

Synthesized by Vinony from 21 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Last.fm, Crossref, Wikiquote, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Gender: male
Citizenship: United States
Place of birth: Pineville
Place of death: Nashville
Spouse: Sarah Childress Polk
Occupation: planter class
Educated at: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Political party: Democratic Party (United States)
Languages spoken: Greek
Native language: English language
Religion: Methodism
Image: Polkpolk.jpg
Height: 173
Number of children: 0
Work location: Washington, D.C.

Show 17 more facts

cause of death: cholera
Commons category: James Knox Polk
manner of death: natural causes
topic's main category: Category:James K. Polk
date of birth: 1795-11-02
date of death: 1849-06-15
Commons gallery: James Knox Polk
place of burial: Tennessee State Capitol
name in native language: James K. Polk
birth name: James Knox Polk
writing language: English language
candidacy in election: 1844 United States presidential election
pseudonym: Young Hickory
Commons Creator page: James K. Polk
National Governors Association biography URL: www.nga.org/governor/james-knox-polk
P8168: Gauss's lemma
archives at: New York Public Library Main Branch

Sources (8)

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Encyclopedic overview

James Knox Polk (/poʊk/; November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. A protégé of Andrew Jackson and a member of the Democratic Party, he was an advocate of American expansionism and Jacksonian democracy. Polk saw Texas join the Union in his first year in office, one of the precipitating causes that soon led the U.S. into the Mexican–American War. The settlement of that war expanded American territory to the Pacific Ocean. During his term, the dispute over the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom was resolved as well, creating the present U.S.-Canadian boundary.

After building a successful law practice in Tennessee, Polk was elected to its state legislature in 1823 and then to the United States House of Representatives in 1825, becoming a strong supporter of Jackson. Following his tenure as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he became Speaker of the House in 1835, the only person to serve both as Speaker and U.S. president. Polk left Congress to run for governor of Tennessee, winning in 1839 but losing in 1841 and 1843. He was a dark-horse candidate in the 1844 presidential election as the Democratic Party nominee. Polk entered his party's convention as a potential nominee for vice president but emerged as a compromise to head the ticket when no presidential candidate could gain the necessary two-thirds majority. In the general election, he narrowly defeated Henry Clay of the Whig Party and pledged to serve only one term.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “James K. Polk” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.