The Most Underrated American President

Here's the story of James K. Polk, the most underrated President in American history. He did more in four years as President than most Presidents do in eight. #jamespolk #apush #americanpresidents

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Sources:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/...
Matuz, Roger. The Presidents Fact Book.
https://millercenter.org/president/po...
http://www.dmwv.org/mexwar/docs/polk.htm
https://college.unc.edu/2012/02/polks...

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ProhibitOnions
Matthew Trump
Kimberly Vardeman
Tom Murphy VII
Tilden76
Golbez
Sealy j
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Kballen

Sound credits:
thecheeseman

When I think of American Presidents who kept their promises, the first one that always pops in my head is James K. Polk. Even though Polk had such a huge impact on the United States, hardly any Americans know about him. James Polk is underrated. So in this video, I’m going to give him some much needed recognition.

Polk was born literally in a log cabin near Pineville, North Carolina on November 2, 1795, the oldest of ten kids. When he was ten, his family picked up everything and moved west to the Tennessee frontier. They took the 500-mile journey by wagon, and it sucked. However, James’ dad did well in Tennessee, living the American Dream, eventually owning thousands of acres of farmland and lots and lots of slaves.

Polk was sickly growing up. At 17, he had horrible gallstones and had to have them surgically removed. This was before anesthesia, ok. They cut open his body and removed the gallstones while he was completely conscious, strapped to a table and holding his dad’s hand. But the good news is his overall health recovered quite a bit after this. At 18, he barely knew how to read or write, but he really kicked it into gear at that age, studying his butt off and becoming proficient in English, Greek, and Latin. He ended up graduating from the University of North Carolina with first honors in both mathematics and classics. Next, Polk studied law and found himself becoming more and more interested in politics. He was always a fan of Thomas Jefferson, but he was quickly becoming inspired by a family friend named Andrew Jackson. By the time Polk was in his twenties, Jackson was a war hero who was looking to become President.

After being a lawyer for a bit, Polk aligned himself with Jackson when he ran for the Tennessee legislature in 1823. He won that election and became popular in Tennessee, becoming a Representative in Congress for Tennessee’s Sixth District two years later. While in Congress, Polk was one of Andrew Jackson’s biggest supporters, earning him the nickname “Young Hickory,” you know...since Jackson was “Old Hickory?” So clever, I know. After Jackson became President in 1829, Polk was right with Jackson on every major decision, including the decision not to renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States. His support made Polk one of the early leaders of the newly formed Democratic Party. Polk’s colleagues elected him to Speaker of the House in 1835, and he greatly expanded that role. In 1839, Tennessee residents elected him governor. However, he lost his re-election bids the next two times as many blamed the Democratic Party for the economic depression of the late 1830s and early 1840s.

In 1844, Polk became the first dark-horse Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, meaning at the beginning of the Democratic Party national convention no one thought he had a chance but by the end of it he was their guy, mostly because Polk wanted to annex the country of Texas, adding it to the United States.

So in 1844, it ended up being Polk versus Henry Clay, the Whig Party candidate who had a history of losing presidential elections. During his campaign, Polk made no effort to hide his ambitions. He was very clear. He was a firm believer in manifest destiny, or the belief that the United States expanding across the entire continent was the right thing to do and destined to happen. Polk wanted to expand the country’s border whenever and wherever possible, and most Americans seemed to agree with him.

Polk promised he was only running for one term, but if elected, during those four years he would 1) cut tariffs
2) re-create an independent U.S. Treasury
3) add some or all of Oregon Territory to the United States
And 4) somehow get California and New Mexico from Mexico and add it to the United States