JAMES KNOX

“PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

POLK.

ELEVENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

@IKE many Presidents, Polk was a
= of great ability. He was
born in North Carolina on the

2d of November, 1795.
of Scotch-Irish descent.

His parents were

They came to
this country when an unexplored wilder-
ness and settled down upon the farm. Un-
like many of his predecessors his boyhood

was not one of wealth, but of toil. In the

 

JAMES K. POLK.
1795-1849. One Term, 1845-1849.

common schools he rapidly became master
of all the branches.

on, and stop just long enough to say that

But we must hurry

he was first, clerk, then lawyer, legislator, |

Congressman, Governor and finally Pres-
ident.

great orator, in fact he was called the

During all these years he was a

Napoleon of America. He was a man of

unblemished morals, genial and with a
sympathetic nature that won the love of all
with whom he came in contact. He was
full of smiles as well as sympathy. This
no doubt gave him the strong influence
which followed him through life

He married Miss Sarah Childress, of
Tennessee. She, too, was a favorite in
society. Many anecdotes are told of her
wit and how her smiles always brought
good feeling and friendship to their
home at the White House.

March 4, 1845, Mr. Polk became Pres-
ident of the United States.

ing his admistration that Texas was added

It was dur-
to the Union. Like many Presidents who
had preceded him, his work was not one
The
bloody war with Mexico proved that be-

of entire sunshine, but of trials.

fore victory there must be a battle. In
1849, Mr. Polk retired from the presi-
He
He

possessed a good fortune, a choice library,

dental chair, having served one term.

was then fifty-four years of age.

a cultivated mind, and having a happy
domestic life, it seemed as though long
years of happiness might be his, but as
fate would have it, while he was ona trip
up the Mississippi, that dreadful disease,
cholera, took possession of his system.