Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/79

Rh point of view its acquisition was desirable for the protection of New Orleans, the great commercial mart of the southwestern section of the Union, which in time of war would be endangered by the close proximity of a hostile power having control of the upper waters of Red river. Holding these views and having been elevated to the presidency on a platform that expressly demanded that they should be embodied in action, and Texas again made apart of the national domain, he would have indeed been recreant to his trust had he attempted to carry out as president any policy antagonistic to that he had advocated when a candidate for that ullieo. The war in which he became involved in carrying out these views was a detail that the nation was compelled to leave largely to his judg- ment. The president believed that the representa- tions and promises of the Mexican authorities could not be trusted, and that the only argument to which they would pay attention was that of force. Regarding his famous order to Gen. Taylor to march toward the Rio Grande, it was suggested by that officer himself, and for his gallant action in the war the latter was elected the successor of President Polk. The settlement of the Oregon boundary-line was made equally obligatory upon the new" president on taking office. He offered Great Britain the line that was finally accepted; but when the British minister hastily rejected the offer, the entire country applauded his suggestion to that power of what the boundary might pos- sibly be in case of war.

But whatever the motives of the executive as to Texas and Oregon, the results of the admini-tivi- tion of James K. Polk were brilliant in the extreme. He was loyally upheld by the votes of all parties in congress, abundantly supplied with the sinews of war, and seconded by gallant and competent offi- cer- in the field. For $15,000,000, in addition to the direct war expenses, the southwestern boundary of the country was carried to the Rio Grande, while the provinces of New Mexico and Upper California were added to the national domain. What that cession meant in increased wealth it is perhaps even yet too soon to compute. Among the less dazzling but still solid advantages conferred upon the nation during Mr. Folk's term of office was the adoption by congress, on his recommendation, of the public" warehousing system that has since proved so valuable an aid to the commerce of the country ; the negotiation of the 35th article of the treaty with Grenada, ratified 10 June, 1848, which secured for our citizens the right of way across the Isthmus of Panama; the postal treaty of 15 Dec., 1848, with Great Britain, and the negotiation of commercial treaties with the secondary states of the Germanic confederation by which reciprocal relations were established and growing markets reached upon favorable terms.

Mr. Bancroft, the only surviving member of Folk's cabinet, who has revised this article, in a communication to the senior editor of the " Cyclo- paedia," dated Washington, 8 March, 1888, says: " One of the special qualities of Mr. Folk's mind was his clear perception of the character and doc- trines of the two great parties that then divided the country. Of all our public men I say, dis- tinctly, of all Folk was the must thoroughly con- sistent representative of his party. He had no equal. Time and again his enemies sought for grounds on which to convict him of inconsistency, but so consistent had been his public career that the charge was never even made. Never fanciful or extreme, he was ever solid, firm, and consistent. His administration, viewed from the standpoint of results, was perhaps the greatest in our national history, certainly one of the greatest. He succeeded because he insisted on being its centre, and in over- ruling and guiding all his secretaries to act so as to produce unity and harmony. Those who study his administration will acknowledge how sincere and successful were his efforts, as did those who were contemporary with him."

Mr. Polk, who was a patient student and a clear thinker, steadfast to opinions once formed, and not easily moved by popular opinion, labored faithfully, from his entrance into public life until the day when he left the White House, to disseminate the political opinions in which he had been educated, and which commended themselves to his judgment. His pri- vate life was upright and blameless. Simple in his habits to abstemiousness, he found his greatest happiness in the pleasures of the home circle rather than in the gay round of public amusements. A frank and sincere friend, courteous and affable in his demeanor with strangers, generous and benevo- lent, the esteem in which he was held as a man and a citizen was quite as high as his official reputation. In the words of his friend and associate in office, Vice-President Dallas, he was " temperate but not unsocial, industrious but accessible, punctual but patient, moral without austerity, and devotional though not bigoted." See " Eulogy on the Life and Character of the Late James K. Polk," by George M. Dallas (Philadelphia, 1849) ; " Eulogy on the Life and Character of James Knox Polk," by A. 0. P. Nicholson (Nashville, 1849); "James Knox Polk," by John S. Jenkins (Buffalo, 1850); and "History of the Administration of James K. Polk," by Lucien B. Chase (New York. 1850). His wife, Sarah Childress, b. near Murfreesboro. Rutherford county. Term., 4 Sept., isoy : d. in Nashville. Tenn., 14 Aug., 1891. Her father, a farmer in easy circumstances, sent her to the Moravian institute at Salem, N. C., where she was educated. On ret liming home she married Mr. Folk, who was then a member of the legis- lature of Tennessee. The following year he was elected to congress, and dur- ing his fourteen ses- sions in Washing- ton Mrs. Folk's courteous manners, sound judgment, and many attain- ments gave her a high place in society. On her return as the wife of the president, having no children, Mrs. Polk devoted herself entirely to her duties as mistress of the White House. She held weekly receptions, and abolished the custom of giving refreshments to the guests. She also forbade dancing, as out of keeping with the character of these entertain- ments. In spite of her reforms, Mrs. Polk was extremely popular. " Madam," said a prominent South Carolinian, at one of her receptions, " there is a woe pronounced against you in the Bible." On her inquiring his meaning, he added : " The Bible says. ' Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.'" An English lady visiting Washington thus described the president's wife: "Mrs. Polk is a very handsome woman. Her hair is very black, and her dark eyes and complexion remind