Premium Essay

James Knox Polk's Influence On American History

Submitted By
Words 839
Pages 4
James Knox Polk was born in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina on November 2nd, 1795. He had 5 brothers and 4 sisters and out of all them he was the oldest. His mother was a descendant of John Knox and his father was a farmer and slaveholder.His family moved to tennessee to work on a farm when he was 11 years old.Although he had to battle constantly with health issues as a child, he was still able to get an education by being homeschooled. This help allowed him to pass the entrance requirements for North Carolina at the age of 20. After graduating in 1818 he came back to Tennessee to study the law under Felix Gundry in Nashville, and in 1820 he passed his state bar exam. He married his wife Sarah Childress in 1824, they met each other during …show more content…
Polk presidency changed the course of our history by a lot,the reason for do saying so is because he was able to expand the us territory greatly. He had been able to complete the annexation of Texas, worked up a treaty for both Great Britain and Mexico and more importantly he had obtained what was left of the western territory giving us land from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. This is a pretty big deal because without this expansion, the United States would’ve steadily began to change from what we know it as today. If we hadn’t annexed Texas when we did other southern states would’ve started to think why couldn’t they become independent as well, and we would have had numerous wars battling over which states would become their own country. Also If we hadn’t took the western land as time would’ve passed by conflicts with other countries would’ve arose about whether one or the other should have to give up their land so that the other would be able to be more successful. If Henry Clay would’ve been elected during the Democratic Convention of 1844 then a majority of greatest accomplishments would’ve been different. We might’ve never gone to war with Mexico and Texas would still be it’s own independent country, and Clay would’ve never made the Oregon treaty leaving that land to Great Britain. Polk was able to accomplish these great feats and by doing so allowed us more land to explore and further our education of the land. On the other hand it didn’t just have good effects on us. It had shed light upon on serious discussion at the; whether new founder states would become slave states or free ones. This topic had started to be discussed about more frequently and was one of the main reasons why the civil war had began, off the sole purpose of whether states should have slaves or not and if so how would that system

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

James Knox Polk

...Presidential Impact Report James Knox Polk America has had countless presidents throughout the centuries. Many of them have had a lasting impact on American culture and its government. Over the years, as or society grew and had more cultural influences, our government has changed as well. James Knox Polk, one of the few “pre-modern” presidents, influenced the American government by creating new forms of executive authority through his presidency. President John Polk was a democrat who demonstrated the use of authority not explicitly granted to him, executive power, and that sometime its plays an essential role in government. Executive power is almost giving the president complete authority at times until a limit is met. His view-point on executive power could be described as a privilege by the president to be used by certain means necessary. He exhibits the use of his executive privilege to show that the power has a meaningful role in government in that there are certain circumstances that require the use of such power. Over the course of Polk’s presidency, he experienced many complications, but they are almost insignificant when compared to his achievements. For starters, his election was one of the closest in American history. The desire for additional territory in the United States was high, even after the most recent annexation of the Texas territory. Soon, America had acquired the Oregon territory known as the 49th parallel. The next action was to gain ownership...

Words: 690 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

James K. Polk

...America has had countless presidents throughout the centuries. Many of them have had a lasting impact on American culture and its government. Over the years, as or society grew and had more cultural influences, our government has changed as well. James Knox Polk, one of the few “pre-modern” presidents, influenced the American government by creating new forms of executive authority through his presidency. President John Polk was a democrat who demonstrated the use of authority not explicitly granted to him, executive power, and that sometime its plays an essential role in government. Executive power is almost giving the president complete authority at times until a limit is met. His view-point on executive power could be described as a privilege by the president to be used by certain means necessary. He exhibits the use of his executive privilege to show that the power has a meaningful role in government in that there are certain circumstances that require the use of such power. Over the course of Polk’s presidency, he experienced many complications, but they are almost insignificant when compared to his achievements. For starters, his election was one of the closest in American history. The desire for additional territory in the United States was high, even after the most recent annexation of the Texas territory. Soon, America had acquired the Oregon territory known as the 49th parallel. The next action was to gain ownership of California, Mexican territory. By May 13, 1846...

Words: 684 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

California an Interpretive History - Rawls, James

... CALIFORNIA An Interpretive History TENTH EDITION James J. Rawls Instructor of History Diablo Valley College Walton Bean Late Professor of History University of California, Berkeley TM TM CALIFORNIA: AN INTERPRETIVE HISTORY, TENTH EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Previous editions © 2008, 2003, and 1998. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States. This book is printed on acid-free paper. 1234567890 QFR/QFR 10987654321 ISBN: 978-0-07-340696-1 MHID: 0-07-340696-1 Vice President & Editor-in-Chief: Michael Ryan Vice President EDP/Central Publishing Services: Kimberly Meriwether David Publisher: Christopher Freitag Sponsoring Editor: Matthew Busbridge Executive Marketing Manager: Pamela S. Cooper Editorial Coordinator: Nikki Weissman Project Manager: Erin Melloy Design Coordinator: Margarite Reynolds Cover Designer: Carole Lawson Cover Image: Albert Bierstadt, American (born in Germany), 1830–1902...

Words: 248535 - Pages: 995

Free Essay

Bush

...FAMILY OF SECRETS The Bush Dynasty, America’s Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years RUSS BAKER Contents Foreword by James Moore 1. How Did Bush Happen? 2. Poppy’s Secret 3. Viva Zapata 4. Where Was Poppy? 5. Oswald’s Friend 6. The Hit 7. After Camelot 8. Wings for W. 9. The Nixonian Bushes 10. Downing Nixon, Part I: The Setup 11. Downing Nixon, Part II: The Execution 12. In from the Cold 13. Poppy’s Proxy and the Saudis 14. Poppy’s Web 15. The Handoff 16. The Quacking Duck 17. Playing Hardball 18. Meet the Help 19. The Conversion 20. The Skeleton in W.’s Closet 21. Shock and . . . Oil? 22. Deflection for Reelection 23. Domestic Disturbance 24. Conclusion Afterword Author’s Note Acknowledgments Notes Foreword When a governor or any state official seeks elective national office, his (or her) reputation and what the country knows about the candidate’s background is initially determined by the work of local and regional media. Generally, those journalists do a competent job of reporting on the prospect’s record. In the case of Governor George W. Bush, Texas reporters had written numerous stories about his failed businesses in the oil patch, the dubious land grab and questionable funding behind a new stadium for Bush’s baseball team, the Texas Rangers, and his various political contradictions and hypocrisies while serving in Austin. I was one of those Texas journalists. I spent about a decade...

Words: 249168 - Pages: 997