Tar Heel History
By Kelly B. Sageri
Napoleon Of The Stumps
Native Tar Heel James K. Polk, the country's 1 Itli
president, worked hard and always kept his word.
will (Icpici Polk and his wife as they
4
Д
nd if I am elected President. I
■XJl promise 10 . . . "
Пин
promise has been broken so
main limes dial most .Americans
nine ii out. Has this
piomise ever
1к*еп
kepi?
Once, by native
North Carolinian
|атеч
K. Polk, who
has been called
"one ol the very*
best, most hon¬
est and most
sue» essful pres¬
idents the
country ever
had" by one
historical
book.
James Polk’s
strict integrity
can be traced
hack to a deeply
religious upbringing
by his mother, Jane
Knox Polk. She was a
deseendent of the
louiidei ol the Scottish
Presbyterian Church,
and she believed that
time sj»ent on amuse¬
ment was time wasted. James took this
to heart, and was rarely seen smiling.
The one letter preserved from Jane is
signed: "Mother until death. Jane
Polk."
I his yea i is the 200th anniversary ol
Polk’s birth near Pineville on
November I. 1795. North Carolina's
I listen
и
Sites have been celebrating
I'olk and his accomplishments with
events in Raleigh and the James K.
Polk Slate Historic Site in Pineville
throughout the vear.
Л
finale to the
yearlong bicentennial celebration, an
historic drama, will be held December
10 from I to 5 p.m. at the State
Historic Site in Pineville. The drama
would Christmas at the White House.
Admission is free.
James Polk was the oldest ol
10 children. He was a
frail, sickly child until
revolutionary gall
bladder surgery
was successfully
p e r f
о
i in
«•
d
during his
teens, iinlor-
t it u a t e I
у
w i I h
о и
i
anesthesia.
Polk grad¬
uated from
t h e
University ol
N
о г
i h
Carolina in
ISIS, with top
honors in math¬
ematics and c las¬
sics. I lc missed only
one day ol c lass,
and delivered his
graduation spree h
in Latin.
Over the next
21»
year's. Polk excelled
as a lawyer, member of the Tennessee
legislature, a U.S. Representative for
seven terms, the speaker ol the House
for four years and the governor ol
Tennessee. True to character, he
missed only one session of the U.S.
Congress in H years. All this was
accomplished with his wife. Sarah
( Childress Polk, acting as his “conlidcn-
tial secretary" as well as hostess.
In fact. Surah refused to marry Polk
unless he ran for the Tennessee legis¬
lature. She was as ambitious and polit¬
ically shrewd as James himself.
Domestic chores bored her. and hav¬
ing no children, she dedicated hctscll
to her husband's career. She read
newspapers for him, highlighting use¬
ful information. She became so
engrossed in political dinner conversa¬
tion that she often forgot to eat. Polk
himself said, “None hut Sarah knew so
intimately my private affairs."
Hie Polks were longtime friends and
admirers of another political leader
with North Carolina ties. President
Andrew Jackson. Jackson, who was
1к>п1
in Waxhaw, was known affection¬
ately as "Old Hickory." so people
began calling Polk “Little Hickory."
Jackson |H‘rsuadcd his protege to run
lor the presidency in 1844. Polk, how¬
ever. was considered a "dark horse."
with little or no chance to win. Polk
earned the nickname “Napoleon ol
the Stumps" by delivering witty, sarc as¬
tir campaign speeches from the
stumps of trees. He stood only 5 feet 7
inches tall.
After nine rounds of voting in the
Democratic Convention ol 1844. Polk
became the first dark-horse candidate
to he nominated by a major political
party. He had such intense* party loyal¬
ty that he believed only Democrats
could go lc* heaven.
His main adversary for the presiden¬
cy was Whig candidate Henry Clay,
who ran on the slogan "Who is James
K. Polk?" Another commentator
summed up Polk as the "least likely
man who has ever been nominated for
president.” All of Clay’s strategies
backfired, and Polk became out I III»
president, gaining victory by relying
oil his common-man image and
dogged support of the annexation of
Texas and Oregon.
Inauguration Day for Polk must
have been fascinating. It rained so
hard that Polk spoke only to a “large
assemblage of umbrellas." while
Samuel Morse tapped out the s|K*cch
on his newfangled invention, the telc-
graph.
Sarah Polk impressed onlookers that
day Slim and graceful, her black curls
snapped above a gown that was spe¬
cially designed for her. Her dark eyes
were partially covered by a fan. which
was painted with the 1 1 presidents on
one side and the Declaration of
Independence on the other. Mrs. Polk
has been characterized as having
“excellent taste in dress, preserving
the subdued chough elegant costume
I he Suic/Dctcmbcr 1995
30