Show AS SHE IS SPOKE teacher 1 I am very disappointed in the way your son jimmy talks only today he said bald 1 I aint never went vent nowhere father ile he did why the young whelp has done traveled twice as far as most kids his age successful farming third grotto found at a comparatively small distance from the famous blue grotto of 0 capri and the recently discovered creen grotto near amalfa a third grotto now has been found this chamber Is feet ion feet high and filled with a silver light putting on the looks look why do aou ou always look so BO gloomy A gloomy man avoids many a hard luck tale timely warning would be wilter what aliat do you consider the most important qualification fi Il for a beginner in literature old hand A small appetite SEEM flo ik 1 4 P 0 0 U 0 i I 1 1616 kary A za F 4 LAST RE 0 C av OL 7 1 4 I 1 A P 0 d 0 0 L iab low dam d K W k 0 0 r M I 1 X t C 0 a e s by ELMO SCOTT WAT WATSON SON CK in 1814 when tile democrats at their national convention in balta mole nominated james K knox dox polk of 0 tennessee renn essee for the presidency their opponents tile the whigs ask asked somewhat i hat scorn scornfully runy who Is polk they soon had their answer tor for as it out he was tile the next president of the united states slates mention of him today would probably result in a 1 similar question for polk Is one of 0 our presidents who is little more thana than a name to the average american yet the historians who in recent years have been rescuing him from the obscurity into which ills name had lapsed assure us that he was more important in the history of the nation than many another chief executive who Is much better known here are some of the elements in his bis career which make him film outstanding lie was the first dark horse in american political history ile he was the first and thus far the only speaker of tile the national house of representatives who went on to the white house ue ile was one of two presidents who made and kept a promise not to seek a second term ue ile was the only president who accomplished virtually everything he set out to accomplish vi hen he took office lie he was nas truly an empire builder for during his one administration he added more territory to the united states than did any other president with the exception of 0 thomas jefferson under polk we acquired square miles in the mexican cession and square miles in oregon by treaty with england a total of square miles as compared to the square melesin miles in jeffersons louisiana purchase how bow ever it if the square miles acquired by the annexation of texas which was formally completed during folks administration Is counted in it brings his total up to square miles although tennessee essee claims polk as one of the throe three men whom nhom it has sent to the white house he was ivas like the other two tuo jackson and johnson John a Tenness eean from north carolina lie he was born in mecklenburg county just nears ears ago on november 2 1795 the original ual family name vas nas pollock but among the frontiersmen this was slurred into and eventually became polk when james K polk was eleven vears old the farally family moved moed to tennessee and settled in the town of columbia after his first schooling there he entered tile the murfreesboro academy front from which lie he mas as graduated in 1815 and immediately enrolled in the university of north carolina as a sophomore graduated from the university with the highest hig liest honors in the class of 1818 polk began tending leading law with fill felix grundy of nashville and from this attorneys office the next step into politics was a natural one in 1823 polk folk was elected to the general as of the state or of tennessee and began the career of public service which during tile the next quarter of a century would take tahe him to the highest office in the land in 1825 he was elected to congress and during the next nest 14 years first as one of the leaders in the jackson adMill administration istra and from 1835 to 1839 as speaker ake r of the house he be was an important factor in the party batties of that stormy period from 1839 to he was goNer governor flor of tennessee and three bears cars later lie became president for an understanding of the forces which resi ted in election to tile the presidency a lef review of political history preceding lils when andrew jackson was ready to li la down the reigns of power which he had find held fur for eight years he be decided that martin van laren of new york who nho had helped manage his second campaign and who was later ills secretary ut of state should be his successor although the ilias under the leadership of gen william henry harrison larr lson had put up a valiant fight in the campaign of van buten was elected and the liu democracy was destined to rule tor four 3 vears ears more in the white house but lue campaign of ISIO 1810 was a different matter with their shouts of tippecanoe and tyler tuo too the whigs swung into their famous log cabin and hard cider campaign with an enthusiasm thusia sm that had rarely before been displayed anti and the hie popular appeal of this military hero something of the same sort of appeal that had helped elect jackson enabled harrison to defeat the little magician van buren and put the whigs in power for the first time in history then theia harrison died soon after taking office and john tyler tile the vice nice president had been elected as a whig but who soon proved that he was riot not a dyed ln in the wool ool whig in principle became president defit As the campaign of asit IS 11 oppi lippi pio cached ached it was apparent that tyler would mould not be tile the whig candidate but that that mantle would tall fall upon henry clay jacksons old enemy who w ho had cost cast envious eyes at the white house hince 1821 van nuren duren was the logical demo candidate although his appo opposition to the annexation of texas had find lessened his popularity in tle party when the democratic met in unlit more it N was as apparel apparent nt that van nuren duren would have a majority of the delegates and then the second all 4 96 j IM I 1 A 21 11 V t ATri buLe land morning ut ot the meeting the celebrated two thirds majority rule was passed after what seemed a hopeless deadlock between van buren and lewis cass van burens name was withdrawn then followed the first convention stampede in american history and james K x polk of tennessee who had been a prominent candidate for vice president was nominated as the first dark horse in our political history back of its his nomination was a little known figure in american political history one of those real history makers whom tile the school history bistor y books so often overlook ne ile was senator robert J walker of mississippi who a month before the conn contention antion had resol resolved ed to defeat van buren when both clay and van buren sidestepped the question of the annexation of 0 texas walker r boldly demanded not only the annexation 0 of texas but also the reoccupation occupation re of 0 oregon it was walker who put through the two thirds majority rule thus depriving van buren of the leadership of the lie party it was walker who gave the convention its slogan of all of texas nil all of oregon and it was walker who engineered the deadlock which resulted in folks nomination thus the campaign opened with the democrats committed to an all expansionist policy james C Q calhoun supported polk daniel webster clays great rival for the leadership of 0 the S said little during the campaign the contest centered about territorial expand expansion on and slavery polk whose platform supported both propositions found himself in a highly favorable position clay whose prestige and personal popularity were vastly greater than that of ills op was put on the defensive at the outset so 0 o polk xou by an electoral vote of to upon assuming ollice office lie he found one of the main planks of its ills platform already adopted president tiler had persuaded the short session of congress in december 1814 to offer the independent republic of texas satisfactory terms for entering the union these were accepted so all that there remained for polk to do was to carry out the formalities of receiving the lone star commonwealth into the sisterhood of states ue ile next turned to the question of oregon which tor for the past CO 50 years had been claimed by both great britain and the united states folks offer to england to divide this country by extending the forty ninth parallel already the boundary as far west nest as the brockles Ito Ro ckles was rejected at once the expansionists raised a cry that had bad already been heard during the campaign it was nas 01 51 40 or fight 1 meaning that america demanded tile alie whole hole coast as far north as the russian possessions but polk folk had no do intention of embroiling the country in two ars wars fo for r he foresaw that conflict with ith mexico was inevitable so he persisted in his negotiations with england until in june 1840 a treaty with will her was signed algne it establishing tile the forty ninth parallel boundary line for the first time america now had tin an undisputed foothold on the pacific coast given to her by the diplomacy of james K polk the dispute with mexico was not so easily settled however that country had refused to recognize the independence of texas and had protested against its annexation by the united states moreover it rejected the southern boundary claimed by the texans and had been very settling the claims against it tor for outrages against the person and property of americans these matters however might have been settled amicably had it not been for the ambitious extent of the expansionist policy under folks administration polk wanted california to add to oregon and extend to our holdings on the pacific coast and lie he was willing to buy it but when lie sent john slidell to mexico to open negotiations got lations for its purchase the mexicans refused even to receive Sll slidell dell relations on oil the border became strained anil and mexico began mobilizing for war at the same lime polk foil ordered gen zachary taylor who wits was stationed nt at corpus or pins christi on the river lit r ild advance vance fill ills bis troops to tile the rio grande tailor did so and closed the trade of the river with its ills guns the inevitable collision between the armed forces came on april 24 1848 1846 when the mexicans attacked a body of 0 american cavalrymen on the northern side of the rio grande thereupon polk on may 11 1840 sent a message to congress recommending that war be declared since war exists and notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it amon among the abolitionists of 0 the north P polk olk was denounced as the mendacious tool of 0 a grasping and some historians have criticized severely his mexican adventure and declared that the war with mexico was unjustifiable lie he has been accused of trying to foment revolution among the californians as a preliminary to its ita annexation and he Is said to have been determined to acquire not only california but new mexico and other northern provinces of the southern republic by fair means or foul cut but other historians especially since the publication li of his diary have taken a more kindly view ot of his actions one of them declares that it leaves little question as to folks honest dealing with england in oregon or of equal effort to deal fairly with mexico on the southern border another says nis his own perception of the objects of the war was never clouded by doubt or hypocrisy ne ile would have been glad to buy the northern provinces from mexico it if that had bad been possible As the war progressed the american forces despite the blundering of their general officers won victory after victory and an early end to the conflict became a certainty some of the greedier expansionists began shouting for the annexation of the whole of mexico but polk folk was content with the cession in march 1848 of more than square miles of territory in california and tile the southwest for which mexico was paid just as the states which were carved out of the louisiana purchase are a perpetual monument to thomas jefferson so are the states of washington oregon idaho california nevada utah arizona new mexico texas and parts of wyoming colorado kansas and oklahoma a similar memorial to james K polk the etiopi empire re builder ue lie left the white house in march 1849 a sick and exhausted man the first victim of the terrific strain which we put upon tile the men whom we elect president says a historian polk was plainly murdered by byon byan an ollice office which the prevailing notions of democracy joined with ills his own inability to delegate details had rendered beyond any mans finans powers lie ile felt it his duty to be accessible ces sible to everyone ee ne ile was annoyed and irritated beyond belief by a swarm of ollice office seekers who kept after him until almost the final day of his term all manner of people of no importance rambling into the presidential presence at will to demand petty offices and giving him a piece of their minds on being refused common drunkards waylaying way laying the president on his walks with pleas picas for money wanderers from home calling at the white house for loans of 5 and 10 folks election to the presidency wits a sentence to confinement at hard labor in his diaries he speaks again and again of his excessive fatigues nor did they end in march 1819 1810 on oa his hla way home to Na shillie by way of litchmond charleston mobile and new orleans lie he was almost as literally assassinated by his frier friends ids as though he be had been shot he was suffering from a disorder requiring plain food and absolute rest anil and he was in plain fact feted and banqueted to death ile he reached nashville on april I 1 2 and he died on june 15 ills wife sarah childress knox Is described as a very handsome woman whose hose black hair and dark eyes and complexion were reminiscent of a spanish donna a woman who nho was as a sincere and understanding student of political affairs in a day when women were not supposed to know anything about politics and who had a better gr grasp asp of public questions than most of the states men who throng thron thronged ged ed the washington of her day she was devoted to her husband and as long iong as she lied she kept ills his S tudy study in their home just as he left it on the grounds of what is 13 now the statehouse yard in jn nashville ashville she had erected a small marble temple and there ills his body was placed on three sides of a monument inside the structure she set down in orderly array the record of ills his life the mortal remains or of james knox knos polk are resting in the vault beneath lie he was born in mecklenburg county north carolina and emigrated with ills his father samuel polk to tennessee in 1800 the beauty of virtue was illustrated in his life the excellence of christianity was exemplified in his death ills life was devoid to the public seri sen lee ice lie he n was as elevated successively to the first places in the state and federal governments A member of the general assembly A member ot of congress and chairman of the most important congressional committees speaker of the house of 0 representatives governor of tennessee and president or of the united states by ills his public policy he defined estabill esta established bils bed and extended the tha boundaries of ills his colt country ue he planted the laws of the american illner ican union on the shores of the pacific ills ilia Int luence find ills his counsels tend tended ed to organize the national treasury on the principles or ir the ahe constitution and to apply the rule of freelia to Nail gatlon trade and industry 0 news newspaper paper union |