OUTLINE AND QUESTIONS ON JAMES K. POLK 



Outline 



I. Early Yean 



(1) Birth and family 



(2) Education 



(a) With private tutor 



(b) At University of North Carolina 



(c) Law study 



'areer as a lawyer 



II. Early Political Activity 



( 1 ) "Napoleon of the Stump" 



(2) In state house of representatives 



Opposition to dueling 



(3) In Federal House 



(a) Work on committees 



(b) Elected Speaker 



( 4 ) As governor of Tennessee 

 < .", i ( 'undidate for Presidency 



(a) His platform 



1. "Reannexation" of Texas 



2. "Fifty-four forty or fight" 



(b) Outcome of election 



III. AdminiHtratlon 



(1) His Cabinet 



( _ i \V:ir with Mexico 



(a) Causes 



(b) Events 



(c) Outcome 



(3) The Oregon trouble 



(a) United States claimed 54 40' as 



northern boundary 



(b) The compromise 



(c) Exclusion of slavery from terri- 



tory 



( 4 ) Domestic affairs 



(a) Tariff of 1846 



(b) Wilmot Proviso 



1. Failure to pass Senate 



2. Growth of "popular sovereign- 



ty" idea 



(c) Internal improvements 



1. President's veto of bills 



(d) Reestablishment of independent 



treasury 



(e) Formation of Free-Soil Party 



(f) Admission of states 



(g) Organization of territories 

 (h) Discoveries and inventions 



1. Ether 



2. Sewing machine 



3. Cylinder printing press 



(i) Founding of United States Naval 

 Academy 



(j) Founding of Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion 



(k) Election of 1848 



Questions 



When was "fifty-four forty or fight" a popular slogan, and what did it i: 



lid the United States finally compromise on its attitude toward this question, 

 and what was the President's view of the compromise? 



Who said "I prefer the deepest obscurity of private life, with an unwounded con- 

 science, to the glare of official eminence spotted by a sense of moral delinqi; 

 :in<l under what circumstances did he say it? 



What two questions made Folk's adimni.-tmtion one of the most important in the 

 history of the country? 



Of what state was Polk a native? Was any oiln-r I'M i >ul -nt horn in tho same 

 state? 



When was Polk call.d th. "Napoleon of th<> Stump." ami what do you under- 

 stand by the nickn.i: 



What was his attitude toward the Abolitionists? Toward slavery? 



How did Polk justify his use of the word "reannexation," rathrr than a: 

 peaking of Texas? 



e "spot resolutions," and by whon introduced? 



Why did Polk persistently veto bills for various internal improvements? 



What was the doctrine of "popular sovi-M-iirnty," and how did it grow out of thr 

 Wilmot Proviso? 



