Polk
Polk names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Polk pok, James K
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
pok, James K. (1795-1849), the eleventh president of the United States . He was born in Mecklenberg County, North Carolina , November 2, 1795. He died at Nashville, Tennessee, June 15, 1849. The Polks were of Scotch-Irish descent, the name being formerly Pollock. James K. was educated at the University of North Carolina, studied law, and in 1820 established an office in Columbia, Tennessee. Three years later he was elected to the Tennessee legislature. With slight intervals he remained in public life until the time of his death. In 1825 he was sent to Congress by the Democratic party . From 1835 to 1839 he was speaker of the House. . At the close of his congressional career he was made governor of Tennessee. In 1844 Van Buren was a candidate for a second term. The Southern Democrats nominated Polk instead, and, after an exciting campaign, elected him president over Henry Clay, the Whig candidate. He ran on a platform favoring the annexation of Texas and the occupation of Oregon, a double issue which appealed to both sections of the Union. The chief event of his administration was the prosecution of the Mexican War which followed on the heels of the annexation of Texas. The forty-ninth parallel was settled upon as the northern boundary of Oregon, although "Fifty-four-forty, or fight" had been the slogan of the campaign. Very naturally Polk's opponents claimed that he was much keener to gain territory in the southeast, where it was likely to be occupied by slaveholders. Florida and Wisconsin, as well as Texas, were admitted during this administration and California was declared a part of the United States. The discovery of gold in the latter territory was followed by a rush of immigration in that direction. The policy of making national appropriations for the improvement of rivers and harbors received a serious check. Polk vetoed the bill for the purpose, claiming such a use of public money was unjustifiable. At the close of his administration Polk retired to his home near Knoxville, Tennessee, where he died in the following June. He was a man of integrity and quiet habits, a good citizen. While he was not a brilliant man he made a very respectable president. See Presidents
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JAMES KNOX, an American statesman, 11th President of the United States; born in Mecklenburg co., N. C., JAMES K. POLK Nov. 2, 1795. His ancestors, who bore the name of Pollock, emigrated from the W. of Ireland early in the 18th century. He was educated at the University of Nashville, Tenn., and was admitted to the bar in 1820. In 1823 he was sent to the Tennessee Legislature, and in 1824 to Congress, to which body he was reelected for seven successive terms, serving till 1839. He was made chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means in 1833, and twice elected Speaker of the House-1835-1837. In Congress he was consistently a Democrat, supporting unwaveringly the administrations of Jackson and Van Buren, and opposing that of Adams. In 1839 he was elected Governor of Tennessee, and in 1844 unexpectedly nominated as a compromise candidate of the National Democratic Convention for the presidency, and elected over Henry Clay, the Whig candidate. His administration was eventful, and in some respects brilliant. Texas was annexed, and the Mexican War fought which, with territorial purchases, added the great territory y now comprising Texas, California, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and the W. part of Colorado to the domain of the United States. The Oregon boundary forming one of the issues on which he was elected, was settled by a compromise offered by England. He was a man of eminent administrative abilities, of consistent principles and pure and upright private character. At the close of his single term Polk declined to stand for renomination, and retired to private life in Nashville, Tenn., where he died June 15, 1849.
Polk LEONIDAS, an American military officer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
LEONIDAS, an American military officer; born in Raleigh, N. C., April 10, 1806; was a cousin of President Polk. Graduating at the United States Military Academy in 1827, he received a commission in the artillery, but was induced to study for the ministry, and in 1838 was consecrated Bishop of Arkansas and Indian Territory, with charge of the dioceses of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In 1841 he resigned all these except the bishopric of Louisiana, which he retained till his death. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil War he was offered a major-generalship by Jefferson Davis, and, accepting it, proceeded to strongly fortify strategical points on the Mississippi. At Belmont, in November, 1861, he was driven from his camp by Grant, but returned and compelled him to retire. At Shiloh and at Corinth he commanded the 1st Corps; in October, 1862, he was promoted to Lieutenant- General and in November he conducted the retreat from Kentucky. After Chickamauga, where he commanded the right wing, he was relieved of his command; but in December, 1863, he was appointed to the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and Eastern Louisiana, and he afterward joined Johnston in opposing Sherman's march to Atlanta. He was killed while reconnoitering on Pine Mountain, June 14, 1864.
Polk FRANK LYON, an American public official
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
FRANK LYON, an American public official. Born in New York City, 1871, and graduated from Yale University in 1894. Began the practice of law in New York City in 1897 and later served on the Civil Service Commission. In 1915 he was appointed counsellor for the Department of State, and after President Wilson's and Secretary Lansing's departure from Paris in 1919, he represented the United States at 'the gathering of the Powers. He resigned his post in June, 1920.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The outlines Aiton's (1910) and Collier's (1921) give are still the standard ones, but two details in them are wrong: Polk was educated at the University of North Carolina, not the University of Nashville as Collier's says, and he retired to Polk Place in Nashville, not to a home near Knoxville as Aiton's has it. Aiton's judgment that he was "not a brilliant man" but "a very respectable president" has been overtaken twice: through the twentieth century historians' polls placed him in or near the top ten for adding the Southwest and California and keeping to a single term, and more recently the same record has been read as an aggressive war of conquest for slaveholding territory. Scholarship since the 1990s, notably William Dusinberre's study of Polk's Mississippi cotton plantation, has documented that he quietly bought enslaved people while in the White House, a fact neither account mentions. His body, buried at Polk Place, was moved to the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol in 1893, and proposals to move it again to the family home in Columbia have so far failed.
Written for this edition, 2026.