1. Quotes
  2. Authors
  3. James K. Polk

James K. Polk Quotes

James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States . He previously was Speaker of the House of Representatives and Governor of Tennessee . A protégé of Andrew Jackson, he was a member of the Democratic Party and an advocate of Jacksonian democracy. During Polk's presidency, the United States expanded significantly with the annexation of the Republic of Texas, the Oregon Territory, and the Mexican Cession following the American victory in the Mexican–American War.

After building a successful law practice in Tennessee, Polk was elected to the state legislature and then to the United States House of Representatives in 1825, becoming a strong supporter of Jackson. After serving as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he became Speaker in 1835, the only president to have been Speaker. Polk left Congress to run for governor; he won in 1839, but lost in 1841 and 1843. He was a dark horse candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 1844; he 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 secure the necessary two-thirds majority. In the general election, Polk defeated Henry Clay of the rival Whig Party.

Polk is considered by many the most effective president of the pre–Civil War era, having met during his four-year term every major domestic and foreign policy goal he had set. After a negotiation fraught with risk of war, he reached a settlement with the United Kingdom over the disputed Oregon Country, the territory for the most part being divided along the 49th parallel. Polk achieved a sweeping victory in the Mexican–American War, which resulted in the cession by Mexico of nearly all the American Southwest. He secured a substantial reduction of tariff rates with the Walker tariff of 1846. The same year, he achieved his other major goal, re-establishment of the Independent Treasury system. True to his campaign pledge to serve only one term, Polk left office in 1849 and returned to Tennessee; he died in Nashville, most likely of cholera, three months after leaving the White House.

Scholars have ranked Polk favorably for his ability to promote and achieve the major items on his presidential agenda, but he has been criticized for leading the country into war against Mexico and for exacerbating sectional divides. A slaveholder for most of his adult life, he owned a plantation in Mississippi and bought slaves while President. A major legacy of Polk's presidency is territorial expansion, as the United States reached the Pacific coast and became poised to be a world power.

✵ 2. November 1795 – 15. June 1849
James K. Polk photo
James K. Polk: 15   quotes 0   likes

Famous James K. Polk Quotes

“It becomes us, in humility, to make our devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, for the inestimable civil and religious blessings with which we are favored.”

James K. Polk

First Annual Message to Congress (2 December 1845) http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(sj0374)):.

“There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress, as well as others, than I had any conception [of], before I became President of the U. S.”

James K. Polk

Diary entry (16 December 1846).

“Under the benignant providence of Almighty God the representatives of the States and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the public good. The gratitude of the nation to the sovereign arbiter of all human events should be commensurate with the boundless blessings which we enjoy.
Peace, plenty, and contentment reign throughout our borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world.”

James K. Polk

Fourth Annual Message to Congress (5 December 1848) http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(sj0404)).

“Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our Government.”

James K. Polk

Inaugural Address (4 March 1845).

“I love you Sarah. For all eternity, I love you.”

James K. Polk

Last words, spoken to his wife (15 June 1849); as quoted in Famous Last Words: The Ultimate Collection of Finales and Farewells (2004) by Laura Ward.

“No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure.”

James K. Polk

Diary entry (29 December 1848).
Context: No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure. If he entrusts the details and smaller matters to subordinates constant errors will occur. I prefer to supervise the whole operations of the government myself rather than entrust the public business to subordinates, and this makes my duties very great.

James K. Polk Quotes

“I prefer to supervise the whole operations of the government myself rather than entrust the public business to subordinates, and this makes my duties very great.”

James K. Polk

Diary entry (29 December 1848).
Context: No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure. If he entrusts the details and smaller matters to subordinates constant errors will occur. I prefer to supervise the whole operations of the government myself rather than entrust the public business to subordinates, and this makes my duties very great.

Business

“Although in our country the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a part only, but of the whole people of the United States.”

James K. Polk

Inaugural Address (4 March 1845).
Context: Although in our country the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a part only, but of the whole people of the United States. While he executes the laws with an impartial hand, shrinks from no proper responsibility, and faithfully carries out in the executive department of the Government the principles and policy of those who have chosen him, he should not be unmindful that our fellow-citizens who have differed with him in opinion are entitled to the full and free exercise of their opinions and judgments, and that the rights of all are entitled to respect and regard.

People , Parting , Country

“By the theory of our Government majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights.”

James K. Polk

Inaugural Address (4 March 1845)
Context: By the theory of our Government majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression.

Exercises

“I am heartily rejoiced that my term is so near its close. I will soon cease to be a servant and will become a sovereign.”

James K. Polk

Diary entry (13 February 1849).

“With me it is emphatically true that the presidency is "no bed of roses."”

James K. Polk

Diary entry (4 September 1847).

“The passion for office among members of Congress is very great, if not absolutely disreputable, and greatly embarrasses the operations of the government. They create offices by their own votes and then seek to fill them themselves.”

James K. Polk

Diary entry (22 June 1846).

Passion

“Thank God, under our Constitution there was no connection between church and state.”

James K. Polk

Diary entry (14 October 1846).

God

“Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity, and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human family.”

James K. Polk

Inaugural Address (4 March 1845) http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/polk.htm.

Fear , Family , Peace , Hope

Similar authors

Theodore Roosevelt photo
Theodore Roosevelt 445
American politician, 26th president of the United States
Abraham Lincoln photo
Abraham Lincoln 618
16th President of the United States
Edgar Allan Poe photo
Edgar Allan Poe 126
American author, poet, editor and literary critic
William James photo
William James 246
American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist
Josh Billings photo
Josh Billings 91
American humorist
Mikhail Bakunin photo
Mikhail Bakunin 63
Russian revolutionary, philosopher, and theorist of collect…
Simón Bolívar photo
Simón Bolívar 17
Venezuelan military and political leader, South American li…
Andrew Carnegie photo
Andrew Carnegie 34
American businessman and philanthropist
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky photo
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky 69
occult writer
John Henry Newman photo
John Henry Newman 37
English cleric and cardinal