The

opponents. During the first session in which he presided, more appeals were taken from his decision than had occurred in the whole period since the origin of the government; but he was uniformly sustained by the house, including many of his political adversaries. Notwithstanding the violence with which he had been assailed, Congress passed, at the close of the session, in March, 1837, a unanimous vote of thanks to its presiding officer, from whom it separated with the kindest feelings. In the twenty-fifth Congress, over which he presided as speaker at three sessions, commencing in September, 1837, and ending in March, 1839, parties were more nearly balanced (Mr. Polk's majority as speaker being only eight), and the most exciting questions were agitated during the whole period. At the close of the term, Mr. Elmore, of South Carolina, moved "that the thanks of the house be presented to the Hon. James K. Polk, for the able, impartial, and dignified manner in which he has presided over its deliberations, and performed the arduous and important duties of the chair." On this resolution, a long and excited debate arose, which was terminated by the previous question; when the resolution was adopted by 94 in the affirmative to 57 in the negative. But few of the members of the opposition concurred in the vote of approval. speaker, in adjourning the house, made a reply of more than ordinary length, and showing, on his part, deep feeling. Among other remarks, he said: "When I look back to the period when I first took my seat in this house, and then look around me for those who were at that time my associates here, I find but few, very few, remaining. But five members who were here with me fourteen years ago, continue to be members of this body. My service here has been constant and laborious. I can perhaps say what but few others, if any, can, that I have not failed to attend the daily sittings of this house a single day since I have been a member of it, save on a single occasion, when prevented for a short time by indisposition. In my intercourse with the members of this body, when I occupied a place upon the floor, though occasionally engaged in debates upon interesting public questions, and of an exciting character, it is a source of unmingled gratification to me to recur to the fact, that on no occasion was there the slightest personal or unpleasant collision with any of its members. Maintaining, and at all times expressing, my own opinions firmly, the same right was fully conceded to others. For four years past, the station I have occupied, and a sense of propriety, in the divided and unusually-excited state of public opinion and feeling, which has existed both in this house and the country, have precluded me from participating in your debates. Other duties were assigned me.

"The high office of speaker, to which it has been twice the pleasure of this house to elevate me, has been at all times one of labor and high responsibility. It has been made my duty to decide more questions of parliamentary law and order, many of them of a complex and difficult

character, arising often in the midst of high excitement, in the course of our proceedings, than had been decided, it is believed, by all my predecessors, from the foundation of the government. This house has uniformly sustained me, without distinction of the political parties of which it has been composed. I return them my thanks for their constant support in the discharge of the duties I have had to perform.

"But, gentlemen, my acknowledgments are especially due to the majority of this house, for the high and flattering evidence they have given me of their approbation of my conduct as the presiding officer of the house, by the resolution you have been pleased to pass. I regard it as of infinitely more value than if it had been the common, matter-of-course, and customary resolution which, in the courtesy usually prevailing between the presiding officer and the members of any deliberative assembly, is always passed, at the close of their deliberations. I regard this as the highest and most valued testimonial I have ever received from this house, because I know that the circumstances under which it has passed, have made it matter of substance, and not of mere form. I shall bear it in grateful remembrance to the latest hour of my life.

"I trust this high office may in future times be filled, as doubtless it will be, by abler men. It can not, I know, be filled by any one who will devote himself with more zeal and untiring industry to do his whole duty, than I have done."

Few public men have pursued a firmer or more consistent course than Mr. Polk, in adhering to the democratic party, in every vicissitude. In 1835, when all of his colleagues of the Tennessee delegation, in the house of representatives, determined to support Judge White, of that state, as the successor to General Jackson, for the presidency, he incurred the hazard of losing his popularity throughout the state, by avowing his unalterable purpose not to separate from the great body of the democratic party, in the presidential election. He therefore became identified with the friends of Mr. Van Buren, in Tennessee, in 1836, when Judge White received the vote of the state by a popular majority of over nine thousand.

After a service of fourteen years in Congress, Mr. Polk in 1839 declined a re-election from the district which had so long sustained him. He was then taken up by the friends of the administration in Tennessee, as a candidate for governor, to oppose Newton Cannon, who was then governor of the state, and supported by the Whig party for re-election. After an animated canvass, during which Mr. Polk visited the different counties of that extensive state, and addressed the people on the political topics of the day, the election took place in August, 1839, and resulted in a majority for Mr. Polk, of more than 2,500 over Governor Cannon. At the ensuing session of the legislature, Governor Polk was nominated by that body for vice-president of the United States, to be placed on the ticket with Mr. Van Buren. He was afterward nominated

for the same office in several other states, but at the election of 1840 he received one electoral vote only for vice-president, which was given by one of the electors in Virginia.

Having served as governor of Tennessee for the constitutional term of two years, Mr. Polk was a candidate for re-election in August, 1841. His prospect was unpromising, as the state in 1840 showed a Whig majority of twelve thousand at the presidential election. The result was the defeat of Mr. Polk, and the election of James C. Jones, the whig candidate, as governor, by a majority of 3,224. Mr. Polk therefore retired from public life, at the expiration of his executive term. Two years after, in 1843, he was again a candidate for the executive chair, in opposition to Governor Jones, but he was the second time defeated, and the whig candidate re-elected, by a majority of 3,833.

From October, 1841, until his elevation to the highest office in the Union, Mr. Polk remained in private life, not, however, an inert spectator of the wild and troubled drama of politics. Happy in the confidence of his immediate neighbors, and his numerous political friends throughout the state, in the affections of a charming family, and in the ardent friendship of Andrew Jackson; he had determined to withdraw himself from the anxieties and labors of public life. But the voice of the democracy of Tennessee forbade the gratification of his wishes; as we have seen, he was repeatedly summoned to stand forward as its representative for governor of the state, and he yielded to the summons, whatever might have been the prospects of success.

Mr. Polk did not conceal his opinions on political subjects, when called upon by his fellow-citizens to express them. Those who differed from him had no difficulty in ascertaining the fact of the difference. A proof of this was found in the circumstance which developed his opinions on the subject of Texas. The citizens of Cincinnati had, early in 1844, expressed their "settled opposition" to the annexation of that republic to the United States, and invited him to announce his concurrence in their judgment. In his reply, he said: "Let Texas be re-annexed, and the authority and laws of the United States be established and maintained within her limits, as also in the Oregon territory, and let the fixed policy of our government be, not to permit Great Britain to plant a colony or hold dominion over any portion of the people or territory of either. These are my opinions; and without deeming it necessary to extend this letter, by assigning the many reasons which influence me in the conclusions to which I come, I regret to be compelled to differ so widely from the views expressed by yourselves, and the meeting of citizens of Cincinnati, whom you represent."

On the 29th of May, 1844, Mr. Polk received the nomination of the democratic national convention, assembled at Baltimore, for president of the United States. To this high office he was elected in the fall of the

same year, by the people of the United States, and his majority over Mr. Clay, the Whig candidate, as expressed through the electoral colleges, in December, 1844, was 65. The votes of the presidential electors were— for James K. Polk 170, for Henry Clay 105. George M. Dallas was elected vice-president by the same majority, over Theodore Frelinghuysen. The votes were counted in the house of representatives, on the 10th of February, 1845. The president elect, having repaired to the seat of government, informed the joint committee of Congress, who waited on him, that, "in signifying his acceptance of the office to which he had been chosen by the people, he expressed his deep sense of gratitude to them, for the confidence which they had reposed in him, and requested the committee to convey to their respective houses of Congress, assurances, that, in executing the responsible duties which would devolve upon him, it would be his anxious desire to maintain the honor and promote the welfare of the country."

In person, President Polk is of middle stature, with a full angular brow, and a quick, penetrating eye. The expression of his countenance is grave, but its serious cast is often relieved by a peculiarly pleasant smile, indicative of the amenity of his disposition. The amiable character of his private life, which has ever been upright and pure, secures to him the esteem and friendship of all who have the advantage of his acquaintance. He married a lady of Tennessee, who is a member of the presbyterian church, and well qualified, by her virtues and accomplishments, equally to adorn the circles of private life, or the station to which she has been called. They have no children.