James Knox Polk

James Knox Polk was the last of the Jacksonians to be President and was the last strong president until the Civil War. He was born in North Carolina in 1795. He graduated from the [Universityof North Carolina] with [honors] in 1818.

Polk ran for President in 1844. He originally wanted to run for Vice-President but Andrew Jackson, a close friend of his, sensed Americans favored expansion and encouraged Polk to run for President as a man who was committed to the concept of Manifest Destiny. Polk did so and won the Presidency with a platform supporting the annexation of Texas, the "re-occuping" of Oregon and the annexation of California.

Before Polk took office, Congress passed a resolution offering annexation to Texas and thus started a war with Mexico. This wasn't the last conflict the United States had with Mexico under Polk, however. There was quite a little skirmish with the Mexicans when the United States tried to take over California. Polk offered Mexico $20 million plus settlement of damage claims for California but Mexico refused (it's pretty hard to keep being a well-liked leader if you give away half your country!). The United States and Mexico went to war over this and the U.S. wound up winning California and only had to pay $15 million.

Polk almost had to fight Great Britain during his presidency, as well. His platform for Presidency claimed the entire Oregon area, from the California boundary northward to a latitude of 54'40', the southern boundary of Alaska. Extreme sentiments of the time proclaimed "Fifty-four forty or fight," but Polk, aware of diplomatic realities, knew that no course short of war was likely to get all of Oregon. He didn't want another war and, luckily enough, neither did Great Britain (they'd had enough of us!). President Polk offered to settle the dispute by extending the Canadian boundary, along the 49th parallel, from the Rockies to the Pacific. When the British minister declined, Polk reasserted the American claim to the entire area. This helped change Britain's attitude and the British settled for the 49th parallel. A treaty was drawn up to resolve the issue formally and was signed in 1846.

Polk was a great supporter of Manifest Destiny. He was a strong President that added a vast amount of land to the United States. James Knox Polk left office when his health started to fail, due to his hard work as President and he died in June 1849.

He is also the subject of an awesome song by the band They Might Be Giants. 

Information found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jp11.html