James K. Polk Dbq

James K. Polk was the 11th president of the United States of America; his term lasted from 1845 to 1849. During Polk’s term he was known for gaining new exciting territories by any means necessary. He expanded the United States to what we now know through the belief of manifest destiny: the right by the people of the United States to expand across the North American continent from sea to shining sea. During Polk president a war was also incited with Mexico. Everything that Polk did met the needs and wants of the people he presided over, making him truly a man of his people. James K Polk was born on November 2, 1795, in a log cabin in North Carolina; he was the oldest of ten children. While he was still a young boy his family moved to Columbia,

Texas did just that on December 29th 1845; this was finally good news for the Americans living in Texas but also lead to a tear in the relationship between the American and Mexican governments. War started after a board dispute over where Texas ended and Mexico began. America believed we started at the Rio Grande while the Mexicans believed it was a river north of the Rio Grande called the Nueces River (Mexican). After the war a treaty was made, The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which agreed the boarder of Texas was the Rio Grande and also sold Mexico’s territories of what is now Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and California for the price of 15 million dollars. Finally America stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, but that wasn’t enough for President Polk, the idea of manifest destiny was too strong. During his campaign the phrase 54”40” or fight was created; this references the 54th and 40th parallels that Polk wanted to gain. The one thing that was in his way was the British that laid claim to that area. Some time earlier the British had offered to let Americans stay there and the Americans now outnumbered them greatly (Ushistory). So as a compromise the British agreed to let Polk gain anything after the 49th parallel. Not wanting to start another conflict Polk agreed, gaining what is now Oregon. During Polk’s term as president

At the age of 17 he had surgery to remove urinary stones without any anesthesia. He served for 14 terms in the House of Representatives and he even won the presidency as a dark horse, or unknown, candidate. He was devoutly Christian during his time in the office, he did not even allowing dancing during the Inaugural ball until he and his wife left. During his presidency he expanded the United States of America by over 800,000 square miles (Thrillist). Finally and most interestingly, it is suspected that he died from cholera he came in contact with during a baptism he got soon after retiring from the