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Polk   /poʊk/  /poʊlk/   Listen
Polk

noun
1.
11th President of the United States; his expansionism led to the Mexican War and the annexation of California and much of the southwest (1795-1849).  Synonyms: James K. Polk, James Knox Polk, James Polk, President Polk.






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"Polk" Quotes from Famous Books



... Peter," said Mrs. Clare. "You see," she added, by way of an explanation, "my cousin Peter Polk had the settlement of my husband's affairs when he died, and I have always imagined that—well, that Rose and I did not get exactly what was coming ...
— Randy of the River - The Adventures of a Young Deckhand • Horatio Alger Jr.

... The election of Polk to the Presidency gave his friends the opening, and the campaign to secure an appointment was begun. Bridge, then living in bachelor quarters at Portsmouth Navy Yard, conceived the rather daring idea of a sailor house-party with Hawthorne as its ...
— Nathaniel Hawthorne • George E. Woodberry

... Mrs. Davilow to her sister who now came up from the other end of the room. "Gwendolen says she will not waltz or polk." ...
— Daniel Deronda • George Eliot

... bolt, but Mr. Clay promptly acknowledged the ticket, and it was elected. Then followed the death of the President in office, the obnoxious vetoes of the newly installed President—Tyler—the division of the Whig party, the nomination of Mr. Clay at this late inopportune time and the election of Mr. Polk. ...
— Hidden Treasures - Why Some Succeed While Others Fail • Harry A. Lewis

... the coast, Mr. Allison and the others that came with him were induced to settle in Nova Scotia. Mr. Allison purchased a farm in Horton, King's County, on the border of the historic Grand Pre, where he lived until his death, in 1794. His wife was Mrs. Alice Polk, of Londonderry. She survived him for several years, and gave the historic silver spoons to her youngest child, Nancy (Mrs. Leonard), who lived to be ninety years of age. They are now in the family of her great-grandson, the late Hon. Samuel ...
— The Chignecto Isthmus And Its First Settlers • Howard Trueman

... and locomotives of which the retreating Confederates were now so much in need. In addition, we burned twenty-six cars containing ten thousand stand of small arms, three pieces of artillery, a great quantity of clothing, a heavy supply of ammunition, and the personal baggage of General Leonidas Polk. A large number of prisoners, mostly sick and convalescent, also fell into our hands; but as we could not carry them with us—such a hurried departure was an immediate necessity, by reason of our critical situation—the process of paroling ...
— The Memoirs of General Philip H. Sheridan, Vol. I., Part 2 • P. H. Sheridan

... and, according to his custom on that day, McTeague took his dinner at two in the afternoon at the car conductors' coffee-joint on Polk Street. He had a thick gray soup; heavy, underdone meat, very hot, on a cold plate; two kinds of vegetables; and a sort of suet pudding, full of strong butter and sugar. On his way back to his office, one block above, he stopped at Joe Frenna's ...
— McTeague • Frank Norris

... coast, directly to Vera Cruz. A messenger from that port had before him a gallop of only two hundred and sixty miles to the city of Mexico. President Paredes, therefore, had full information of the attack on the American fort sooner than did President Polk by a number of ...
— Ahead of the Army • W. O. Stoddard

... interest to Americans because of their association with historical personages, we beheld the well preserved carriages of Daniel Webster and James Knox Polk. ...
— By Water to the Columbian Exposition • Johanna S. Wisthaler

... news, by thunder! It appears we have been barking up the wrong tree—at least so thinks President Polk. They say we can't reach Mexico on this line; so we're all going to be drawn off, and shipped to some port farther down the gulf, Vera ...
— The War Trail - The Hunt of the Wild Horse • Mayne Reid

... Oregon boundary dispute was likewise settled by treaty. Caleb Cushing's treaty with China was ratified by the Senate. Florida was admitted into the Union on March 3, the day before Tyler ceased to be President. James K. Polk succeeded him as the eleventh President. He had represented Tennessee in the House for fourteen years, serving twice as Speaker. Having declined the re-election to Congress, he was chosen Governor of his State. His nomination to the Presidency had been brought about by accident. Immediately ...
— A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year - Volume Two (of Three) • Edwin Emerson

... he threw himself into this contest with great zeal. Oblivious of courts and clients, he devoted himself to "stumping" Illinois and a part of Indiana. When Illinois sent nine Democratic electors to vote for James K. Polk, his disappointment was bitter. All the members of the defeated party had a peculiar sense of personal chagrin upon this occasion, and Lincoln felt it even more than others. It is said that two years later a visit to Ashland resulted in a disillusionment, and that ...
— Abraham Lincoln, Vol. I. • John T. Morse

... Francisco Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, with more than 250 members. He explained that his purpose was to have them, select twelve representatives from whom he should himself appoint five to act as an architectural board. When the board was formed with Willis Polk at its head, it included John Galen Howard, Albert Pissis, William Curlett, and Clarence R. Ward. This board was dissolved and an executive council composed of Polk, Ward and W. B. Faville was put in charge. ...
— The City of Domes • John D. Barry

... Finley, opening the door; "one might as well try to sleep in Bedlam. Merciful man! who broke all those dishes? John Madison Harrison Polk! who broke ...
— Little Ferns For Fanny's Little Friends • Fanny Fern

... the United States. As late as the spring of 1845, removal was considered by the leaders as only an alternative. In April, Brigham Young, Willard Richards, the two Pratts, and others issued an address to President Polk, which was sent to the governors of all the states but Illinois and Missouri, setting forth their previous trials, and containing this declaration:— "In the name of Israel's God, and by virtue of multiplied ...
— The Story of the Mormons: • William Alexander Linn

... was swiftly gnawing its way through Kearney street and up the hill, another and even more terrible segment of the conflagration was being stubbornly fought at the corner of Golden Gate avenue and Polk street. There exhausted firemen directed the feeble streams from two hoses upon a solid block ...
— Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror • Richard Linthicum

... with the heavier guns—silver platters and the like—the talk branched out to more diversified topics: the new omnibuses which had been allowed to run in the town; the serious financial situation, few people having recovered from the effects of the last great panic; the expected reception to Mr. Polk; the new Historical Society, of which every one present was a member except St. George and Harry; the successful experiments which the New York painter, a Mr. Morse, was making in what he was pleased to ...
— Kennedy Square • F. Hopkinson Smith

... of Kentucky at first undertook to hold the position of armed neutrality in the civil war. On September 4, 1861, Gen. Leonidas Polk, moving up from Tennessee with a considerable force into Western Kentucky, seized Hickman and Columbus on the Mississippi, and threatened Paducah on the Ohio. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, appointed brigadier-general of volunteers on August 7, 1861, to date from May 17th, assumed command ...
— From Fort Henry to Corinth • Manning Ferguson Force

... appointment to the United States Senate to fill a vacancy. Also declined the nomination for governor, tendered by the Democratic State convention, and in 1845 an appointment to the office of Attorney-General of the United States, tendered by President Polk. In 1846, when the war with Mexico began, he enlisted as a private in a volunteer company organized at Concord; was soon afterwards commissioned colonel of the Ninth Regiment of Infantry; March 3, 1847, was commissioned brigadier-general ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 3 (of 4) of Volume 5: Franklin Pierce • James D. Richardson

... purpose of giving themselves character." He doubted the efficacy of prayers invoked at political meetings, and cited an instance where a "Reverend gentleman" fervently prayed for the release of Dorr, the election of Polk and Dallas, and the triumph of Democratic principles. To believe in the efficacy of such a prayer implied that "Deity was a Democrat." Now, "if the Almighty was a Democrat, he would perhaps grant the prayer; if not a Democrat he would not grant it." Mr. Hall desired ...
— History of the Constitutions of Iowa • Benjamin F. Shambaugh

... him, and she found a seat in a basket chair by the willow tree beyond. She waited for Roger with a small but growing impatience; he must be done immediately with whatever he might say to Sidsall, and she wished to discuss the possibilities of a rumor that President Polk intended to visit Salem. There would be a collation, perhaps a military ball, to arrange; Franklin Hall would be the better place for the latter. She heard a faint silvery echo of laughter—Sidsall. It was extremely ...
— Java Head • Joseph Hergesheimer

... be honest with myself, I will have to confess that the explosively sentimental scene on the front porch, the night I left for college, with Polk Hayes has had something to do with my cowardice in lingering in foreign climes. I feel that it is something I will have to go on with some day, and the devil will have to pick up the chips. Polk is the kind of man that ought to be ...
— The Tinder-Box • Maria Thompson Daviess

... him Byron gave the profits arising from that and four other of his poems. Dallas was related to Lord Byron through the marriage of his sister with the poet's uncle. George Mifflin Dallas, son of the editor of the Columbian, became Vice-President of the United States under President Polk. His commencement oration at Princeton, in 1809, on the "Moral Influence of Memory," is printed in the Port Folio of that year (Vol. II, p. 396[7]). Two members of the family, Rev. A. R. C. Dallas, son of Robert Charles, and ...
— The Philadelphia Magazines and their Contributors 1741-1850 • Albert Smyth

... polk?" he said to her. "In fact, you regard all this as a delusion of weak minds. Then, will you come ...
— The Clever Woman of the Family • Charlotte M. Yonge

... availed himself in Washington, was of great value to the statesman from Illinois. His experiences on the floor were in no way important to him, but since 1914 I have thought often of what he said there, regarding Polk's invasion of Mexico, unauthorized ...
— A Man for the Ages - A Story of the Builders of Democracy • Irving Bacheller

... the House of Representatives from his adopted State, and was excluded from his seat by the casting vote of James K. Polk, at that time Speaker of the House. The facts in regard to the affair, according to the Tribune, are substantially as follows: In 1837, the President, Mr. Van Buren, called an Extra Session of Congress to assemble in September ...
— International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. 1, No. 5, July 29, 1850 • Various

... my first visit to Washington, I was much interested," says Barnum, "in visiting the capitol and other public buildings. I also satisfied my curiosity in seeing Clay, Calhoun, Benton, John Quincy Adams, Richard M. Johnson, Polk, and other leading statesmen of the time. I was also greatly gratified in calling upon Anne Royall, author of the Black Book, publisher of a little paper called 'Paul Pry,' and quite a celebrated personage in her day. I had exchanged The Herald of Freedom with her journal, and ...
— A Unique Story of a Marvellous Career. Life of Hon. Phineas T. • Joel Benton

... matter over the telephone yesterday with Mr. Henry C. Campbell, one of our devoted friends, and editor of the Milwaukee Journal. Mr. Frank Polk, Counsellor of the State Department, who was at the Convention, tells me that he was discussing this matter with Mr. Nieman, of the Milwaukee Journal, and that Mr. Nieman made the statement that both parties were "pussyfooting" and that he would not ...
— Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him • Joseph P. Tumulty

... For old Whitman Thayer, in whose hands lay the giving of contracts far larger than any that had as yet been handled by Jim or his senior partners in the young firm of Reid, Polk & Fairfax, Architects, was naturally an enormously important figure in his and Susanna's world. They spoke of Thayer nearly every night, Jim reporting to his interested wife that Thayer had "come in," or "hadn't come in," that Thayer had "seemed pleased," that Thayer had "jumped" on ...
— Poor, Dear Margaret Kirby and Other Stories • Kathleen Norris

... from the Captain. By an express order of that officer, most boatswain's mates carry the "colt" coiled in their hats, in readiness to be administered at a minute's warning upon any offender. This was the custom in the Neversink. And until so recent a period as the administration of President Polk, when the historian Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, officially interposed, it was an almost universal thing for the officers of the watch, at their own discretion, to inflict chastisement upon a sailor, and this, too, in the ...
— White Jacket - or, the World on a Man-of-War • Herman Melville

... humanity plainly enjoin that course; for equity and humanity enjoined that course as plainly when you were calumniating Lord Normanby, and hurrying forward your Registration Bill; but because Mr O'Connell and Mr Polk have between them made you very uneasy. Sir, it is with shame, with sorrow, and, I will add, with dismay, that I listen to such language. I have hitherto disapproved of the monster meetings of 1843. I have disapproved of the way in which Mr O'Connell and some other Irish representatives have seceded ...
— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 4 (of 4) - Lord Macaulay's Speeches • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... quaint, unique processions, Called "Log Cabin," ruled the hour. Eighteen hundred four and forty, Brought the fierce election canvass For the presidential office; Democrat and Whig opponents, In the race for fame and power. Henry Clay and Frelinghuysen Proudly bore the great Whig banner, James K. Polk and George M. Dallas, Were the Democratic champions. And the voters of Lancaster, All the voters of the county, Met together in the masses, Met to celebrate the contest; Barbecues and basket dinners, Gathered orators and hearers, Gathered women, men, and children, All together in ...
— The Song of Lancaster, Kentucky - to the statesmen, soldiers, and citizens of Garrard County. • Eugenia Dunlap Potts

... fight I was scared nearly to death. I hardly knew anything, I was so frightened; but you see, nobody knew that but me. Next day General Polk sent for me, and praised me for my bravery and gallant conduct. I never said anything, I let it go at that. I judged it wasn't so, but it was not for me to contradict ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... from time to time pressed upon the attention of Congress with varying fortunes, but never with favorable legislative action. In that year, however, a bill was passed for their ascertainment and satisfaction, and $5,000,000 were appropriated for their payment. This bill was vetoed by President Polk,[31] who declared that he could "perceive no legal or equitable ground upon which this large appropriation can rest." This veto was sustained by the House ...
— Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Volume 8, Section 2 (of 2): Grover Cleveland • Grover Cleveland

... though the propositions of Messrs. Hale and Palfrey were voted down, were not without their effect. The Common Council of Washington appointed an acting mayor, in place of the regular mayor, who was sick. President Polk sent an intimation to the clerks of the departments, some of whom had been active in the mobs, that they had better mind their own business and stay at home. Something was said about marines from the Navy-Yard; and from that time the riotous ...
— Personal Memoir Of Daniel Drayton - For Four Years And Four Months A Prisoner (For Charity's Sake) In Washington Jail • Daniel Drayton

... I remember was the Presidential campaign of Henry Clay and James K. Polk in 1844. In the fall of that year each party had a pole raising at Peach Bottom, York County, Pennsylvania. Mother took us to see the pole raising and then the people were all shouting for Henry Clay, but soon after that I remember hearing them ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 4, 1919 • Various

... the third year of his residence at Concord, Hawthorne was obliged to give up the "Old Manse," as the owner was coming back to occupy it. The Democrats had now come into power again under Mr. Polk, and Mr. Bancroft was in the Cabinet. The Secretary, mindful of his friend, procured him the post of Surveyor of the Port of Salem, and Hawthorne went with his little family to live in his native town. The Salem Custom-house was a sleepy sort of a place, and his duties ...
— Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made • James D. McCabe, Jr.

... country must ollers be took, An' Presidunt Polk, you know, he is our country, An' the angel thet writes all our sins in a book Puts the debit to him, an' to us the per contry; An' John P. Robinson he Sez this is his view o' the thing to ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume I. (of X.) • Various

... years, the political autocrat of Missouri. He had long been convinced of the latent treason of the Calhoun school of politicians. He was able to combat the schemes of the Southern oligarchy composing and controlling the Cabinet of President Polk; unsuccessfully, it is true, yet with but slight diminution of his popularity at home. Nevertheless, the seeds of disunion had been borne to his State; they had taken root; and, like all evil in life, they ...
— Continental Monthly, Vol. I., No. IV., April, 1862 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... soil is very ill adapted to agricultural purposes; in short, it is the last thing in the world that a decent nation would get into a passion about. Still, as the previous administration had gained much glory by completing the robbery of Texas from Mexico, Mr Polk has thought fit to illustrate his by an attempt to squeeze and bully the sterner majesty of England. Accordingly, in his message, he boasts of having offered less favourable terms than his predecessors; and these being of ...
— Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846 • Various

... these two at this time was a certain Polk Lynde, an interesting society figure, whose father owned an immense reaper works, and whose time was spent in idling, racing, gambling, socializing—anything, in short, that it came into his head to do. He was tall, dark, athletic, straight, muscular, with a small dark mustache, dark, black-brown ...
— The Titan • Theodore Dreiser

... are well pleased, however, that it will turn out as it will. The law will be too popular with the people to be repealed; and it will oblige Mr. James K. Polk's administration to provide ways and means out of the tariff to meet a deficiency of two millions in the postage. This will work ...
— Cheap Postage • Joshua Leavitt

... Laura Polk, she of the irrepressible spirits and what Mrs. Cupp called "flamboyant" hair, "she will come riding up to the Hall on her trusty pinto pony (whatever kind of pony that is), with a gun at her belt and swinging a lariat. She will yell ...
— Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch • Annie Roe Carr

... could speak, Miss Dorothy laughs and says: "You're Mr. Polk's kennel-man, I believe. Well, you tell Mr. Polk from me that the dog's not for sale now any more than he was five minutes ago, and that when he is, he'll have to bid against ...
— The Boy Scout and Other Stories for Boys • Richard Harding Davis

... Episcopalians among the ladies of the Post, but the services were attended by soldiers, both officers and privates. Mrs. Gamble, of course, led the choir. We could always find bassos and tenors. I sang alto. The music was really good. The death of Bishop Polk was a great grief to everybody, especially to the faithful few among us who revered him as a minister of The Church. Even while saying to ourselves and to each other "God knows best," we could not at once stifle the bitterness of grief, for it seemed as if a mighty bulwark had been swept away. ...
— Memories - A Record of Personal Experience and Adventure During Four Years of War • Fannie A. (Mrs.) Beers

... at the head of the army, and, being a soldier of acknowledged professional capacity, his claim to the command of the forces in the field was almost indisputable and does not seem to have been denied by President Polk, or Marcy, his Secretary of War. Scott was a Whig and the administration was democratic. General Scott was also known to have political aspirations, and nothing so popularizes a candidate for high ...
— Memoirs of Three Civil War Generals, Complete • U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan

... Washington counties in the legislature. Was defeated for the legislature in 1837, but in 1839 was reelected. In 1836 supported Hugh L. White for the Presidency, and in the political altercations between John Bell and James K. Polk, which distracted Tennessee at the time, supported the former. Mr. Johnson was the only ardent follower of Bell that failed to go over to the Whig party. Was an elector for the State at large on the Van Buren ticket in 1840, ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 2 (of 2) of Volume 6: Andrew Johnson • James D. Richardson

... cost the people $20,000,000. The group includes the City Hall, Public Library, State Building and Civic Auditorium, the latter seating 10,000 persons and being in demand for national conventions. [Easy walk from downtown, or by cars on Market and Polk streets, or taxi, auto ...
— Fascinating San Francisco • Fred Brandt and Andrew Y. Wood

... pride in his Irish ancestry. Arthur's parents were from Antrim, Buchanan's from Donegal, and McKinley's grandparents came from the same vicinity. Theodore Roosevelt boasts among his ancestors two direct lines from Ireland, and the first American ancestor of President Polk was a Pollock from Donegal. The present occupant of the White House, Woodrow Wilson, is also of Irish descent. Among the distinguished Vice-Presidents of the United States were George Clinton and John C. Calhoun, sons of immigrants ...
— The Glories of Ireland • Edited by Joseph Dunn and P.J. Lennox

... The only thing they can appreciate about him is his money, and the horses and dinners consequent thereon. If little Robinson, there, with his ne plus ultra tie and varnished shoes, were to have the same fortune left him to-morrow, he would be the better man of the two, because he can polk better, and because, being neither a married man nor the agent of a respectable house, he can gamble and do other things which Loewenberg's position does not ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 2, No. 4, March, 1851 • Various

... question had arisen, and had been settled on the footing of joint occupancy. The increased importance of the Pacific slope made the matter more vital, involving as it did the ownership of Vancouver Island and the mouth of the Columbia River; President Polk unequivocally claimed the whole, and said he would not shrink from upholding America's interests; the British Government was equally firm, and the matter ...
— The Letters of Queen Victoria, Vol 2 (of 3), 1844-1853 • Queen Victoria

... then indeed might the red men of the forest have felt proud of their distinction. But the Indian agent, a Christian gentleman, ordered the "Mormons" to move on and leave the reservation which a kind government had provided for its red children. An order from President Polk, who had been appealed to by Colonel Kane, gave the people permission to remain for a short season. The government of Iowa had courteously assured them protection while passing through that territory. As soon as the people were well under way, a thorough ...
— The Story of "Mormonism" • James E. Talmage

... like lightin' over level roads, and goin' up and down, and all sorts of street cars, a-goin' by horses, or mules, or lightnin', as the case might be. President Polk's old carriage looked jest like Grandpa Smedly's great-grandfather's buggy, that stands in this old stun carriage house, and has stood there for ...
— Samantha at the World's Fair • Marietta Holley

... only known as Poketown! And it was the pokiest, most rubbishy, lackadaisical village I ever saw. Just think of its original name being lost by years of careless pronunciation! The people had even forgotten that sterling old patriot, Hubbard Polk, who first settled here ...
— The Mission of Janice Day • Helen Beecher Long

... "villes,"—showing what it was to have won the Battle of New Orleans. Van Euren gets four counties and twenty-eight towns. Harrison seven counties and fifty-seven towns, as becomes a log-cabin and hard-cider President. Tyler has but three counties, and not a single town, village, or hamlet even. Polk has five counties and thirteen towns. Taylor, three counties and twelve towns. The remaining Presidents being yet in life and eligible to a second term, it would be invidious to make further disclosures till after the conventions. Among unsuccessful ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 30, April, 1860 • Various

... a small town in Sewanee county, experienced the same upheaval, losing a large proportion of its colored population. Dunnelon, a small town in the southern part of Marion county, soon found itself in the same situation. Lakeland, in Polk county, lost about one-third of its negroes. Not less than one-fourth of the black population of Orlando was swept into this movement. Probably half of the negroes of Palatka, Miami and De Land, migrated ...
— Negro Migration during the War • Emmett J. Scott

... he answered, "He has gone is Glencoe. The Judge is ill, Stephen. Doctor Polk says that he has worked all his life too hard. The Doctor and Colonel Carvel tried to get him to go to Glencoe. But he would not budge until Miss Carvel herself comes all the way from the country yesterday, and orders him. Ach!" exclaimed Richter, impulsively, "what ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... both of Judge Custis's hands, "how do our dear friends all get along in Somerset and Accomac? Where do you call home now, Friend Custis? How are our old friends Spence and Upshur, and Polk and Franklin and Harry Wise? Goy! how I love our ...
— The Entailed Hat - Or, Patty Cannon's Times • George Alfred Townsend

... money, and I so felt and so thought at that time; but since, I have employed some reflection upon the subject, and, like some of our modern politicians, I have changed. 'Tis true that money is no part of the motive, but then, as Mr. Polk once expressed himself in regard to the tariff and protection, I am willing that it should come ...
— Secret Band of Brothers • Jonathan Harrington Green

... Hawthorne mentions in one of those paragraphs from his Journals which I have just quoted, as having offered itself and then passed away, was at last, in the event, confirmed by his receiving from the administration of President Polk the gift of a place in the Custom-house of his native town. The office was a modest one, and "official station" may perhaps appear a magniloquent formula for the functions sketched in the admirable Introduction to The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne's duties were those of Surveyor of the ...
— Hawthorne - (English Men of Letters Series) • Henry James, Junr.

... citizens Hannibal's oath of eternal enmity. I would blot out the lines on the map which now mark our territorial boundaries on this continent, and make the area of liberty as broad as the continent itself." He even broke with the Polk administration when it retreated from the advanced position which the party had taken during the campaign, and was one of a hardy ten who, in the debate over the resolutions that led to the final settlement, ...
— Stephen Arnold Douglas • William Garrott Brown

... let Linda Riggs hear you say anything like that, Laura Polk," admonished Bess. "She's so conceited that she wouldn't know it was sarcasm. She'd think it was a tribute drawn from an ...
— Nan Sherwood at Palm Beach - Or Strange Adventures Among The Orange Groves • Annie Roe Carr

... forever — in act if not in sentiment, by the opening of the Boston and Albany Railroad; the appearance of the first Cunard steamers in the bay; and the telegraphic messages which carried from Baltimore to Washington the news that Henry Clay and James K. Polk were nominated for the Presidency. This was in May, 1844; he was six years old ; his new world was ready for use, and only fragments of the ...
— The Education of Henry Adams • Henry Adams

... had first built his cabin on the heights overlooking this little bay. He had been the first smith in this region, too, and gradually around "Polk's Smithy" had been reared the nucleus of ...
— Janice Day at Poketown • Helen Beecher Long

... him." He mentions the fact that his friends and near connections, the Stackpoles, are in Washington, which place he considers as exceptionally odious at the time when he is writing. The election of Mr. Polk as the opponent of Henry Clay gives him a discouraged feeling about our institutions. The question, he thinks, is now settled that a statesman can never again be called to administer the government of the country. He is almost if not ...
— Memoir of John Lothrop Motley, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... voted the best in 1886 or '87. It was called Fair Divide. Each side put his man and the one got most votes got elected. I don't think it necessary fur the women to vote. Her place is in the home. Seem like the women all going to work and the men quit. About 40 years ago R. P. Polk was justice of the peace here and Clay Holt was the constable. They made very good officers. I don't recollect nothing 'bout them being elected. Brinkley is always been a very peaceable town. The colored folks have to go clear ...
— Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Arkansas Narratives, Part 4 • Works Projects Administration

... that the CONTINENTAL publishes nothing but original articles, and therefore beg you, at the request of your large and highly respectable Washington constituency, to find a shelf for the following, which is original with Bill H. Polk ...
— Continental Monthly, Vol. I, No. V, May, 1862 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... young Arthur had always taken a great interest in politics, and it is related of him that during the Clay-Polk campaign of 1844, while he and some of his companions were raising an ash pole in honor of Harry Clay, they were attacked by some Democratic boys, when young Arthur, who was the leader of the party, ordered a charge, and drove the young Democrats from the field with sore ...
— The Bay State Monthly, Volume 1, Issue 5, May, 1884 - A Massachusetts Magazine • Various

... fill out the skirt To the proper dimension, without being girt In a stiff crinoline, or caged in a hoop That shows through one's skirt like the bars of a coop; Something light, that a lady may waltz in, or polk, With a freedom that none but you masculine folk Ever know. For, however poor woman aspires, She's always bound down to the earth by these wires. Are you listening? nonsense! don't stare like a spoon, ...
— East and West - Poems • Bret Harte

... The following architects accepted places on the commission: McKim, Mead and White, Henry Bacon, and Thomas Hastings of New York; Robert Farquhar of Los Angeles; and Louis Christian Mullgardt, George W. Kelham, Willis Polk, William B. Faville, Clarence R. Ward, and Arthur Brown of San Francisco. To their number was later added Bernard R. Maybeck of San Francisco, who designed the Palace of Fine Arts, while Edward H. Bennett, ...
— The Jewel City • Ben Macomber

... for Morse, the telegraph's opportunity came quickly. The Democratic national convention was in session at Baltimore. After an exciting struggle they dropped Van Buren, then President, and nominated James K. Polk. Silas Wright was named for the Vice-Presidency. At that time Mr. Wright was in Washington. Hearing of the nomination, Alfred Vail telegraphed it to Morse in Washington. Morse communicated with Wright, ...
— Masters of Space - Morse, Thompson, Bell, Marconi, Carty • Walter Kellogg Towers

... years dating from 1827, when he won by a single vote against Felix Grundy, one of the strongest men in Tennessee and a special favorite with General Jackson. Disagreeing with Jackson on the removal of the deposits, Bell was elected Speaker of the House over Jackson's protege, James K. Polk, in 1834, and in 1841 he entered the Whig cabinet as Secretary of War under Harrison who had defeated another of Jackson's proteges, Van Buren. In 1847 and again in 1853, he was elected United States ...
— The World's Best Orations, Vol. 1 (of 10) • Various

... after the Presidential contest between Clay and Polk, Lincoln devoted himself assiduously to his law practice. But in 1846 he was again active in politics, this time striving for a seat in the National Congress. His chief opponent among the Whig candidates was his old friend John J. Hardin, who soon withdrew from the contest, leaving Mr. Lincoln ...
— The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln • Francis Fisher Browne

... these worthies I will name, as he not only took a big swath in the evening's entertainment, but he was a man more generally known than our worthy President, James K. Polk. That man was the famous Captain Riley! whose "narrative" of suffering and adventures is pretty generally known, all over the civilized world. Captain Riley was a fine, fat, good-humored joker, who at the period of my story was the representative of the ...
— The Humors of Falconbridge - A Collection of Humorous and Every Day Scenes • Jonathan F. Kelley

... Doddridge, Heckewelder and others; but it is denied by Jacob. "Pursuing these examples," says Mr. Jefferson, "Daniel Greathouse and one Tomlinson, who lived on the opposite side of the river from the Indians, and were in habits of friendship with them, collected at the house of Polk, on Cross creek, about sixteen miles from Baker's bottom, a party of thirty-two men. Their object was to attack a hunting party of Indians, consisting of men, women and children, at the mouth of Yellow creek, some distance above Wheeling. They proceeded, and when arrived ...
— Life of Tecumseh, and of His Brother the Prophet - With a Historical Sketch of the Shawanoe Indians • Benjamin Drake

... merely. What fruitful or constructive ideas did they leave us? Could they forget party in the good of the whole country? Are not the opponents of the League of Nations of our own day in the same case—without, however, shining with the same degree of brilliancy? To some of our Presidents—Polk, Pierce, Buchanan—we owe little or nothing. Roosevelt's career, though meteoric in its sudden brilliancy, will shine with a steady light down the ages. He left lasting results. He raised permanently the standard of morality in politics and business in this country ...
— The Last Harvest • John Burroughs

... in Mecklenburg County, N.C., November 2, 1795. He was a son of Samuel Polk, a farmer, whose father, Ezekiel, and his brother, Colonel Thomas Polk, one of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, were sons of Robert Polk (or Pollock), who was born in Ireland and emigrated to America. His mother was Jane, daughter ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Polk - Section 3 (of 3) of Volume 4: James Knox Polk • Compiled by James D. Richardson

... never enjoyed herself more than to-night. Young Mrs. Hofer, who had bought and remodeled the old Polk house on Nob Hill—the very one in which Mrs. Groome's oldest daughter had made her debut in the far-off eighties—had turned all her immense rooms into a bower of every variety of flower that bloomed on the rich California soil. It was her second great party of ...
— The Sisters-In-Law • Gertrude Atherton

... prospered. During the nineteenth century, the United States Government had often been urged to obtain possession of it; for example, the sum of one hundred million dollars was offered in 1848 by President Polk. Slavery was at last abolished absolutely in 1886. In recent years Spain, by ceding Cuba and the Philippines to the United States and the Carolines to Germany, has brought her colonial history ...
— The Story of Extinct Civilizations of the West • Robert E. Anderson

... dispute amicably, had failed. The American authorities asserted a valid claim to all the territory, and were unwilling to allow any portion of it to be given up to England. In the present year, the dispute assumed more the aspect of war than it had hitherto done; for Mr. Polk had been chosen president, and he was decidedly hostile to the claims of the British to this or any portion of this territory. His hostility was clearly unfolded to the world by his presidential ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... were opposed to the annexation; the former was defeated for nomination, and the latter at the election, because, during the canvass, to please the slaveholding Whigs he sought to shift his position, thus losing his anti-slavery friends, "whose votes would have elected him"; and Polk became President. Annexation, however, did not wait for ...
— Slavery and Four Years of War, Vol. 1-2 • Joseph Warren Keifer

... to Washington. Many incidents recur to me but they were of persons now dead and gone, the memory of whom will not be recalled by the present generation. Mr. Polk was then President. He was a plain man, of ordinary ability and more distinguished for the great events that happened during his presidency than for anything he did himself. I attended one of his receptions. His wife appeared to better advantage ...
— Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet - An Autobiography. • John Sherman

... Bankhead has given me letters of introduction to General Bragg, to General Leonidas Polk, and several others. ...
— Three Months in the Southern States, April-June 1863 • Arthur J. L. (Lieut.-Col.) Fremantle

... George Bancroft was its candidate for Governor. He was an enthusiastic leader, but not a popular candidate. I recall the circumstance that I met him during the canvass at the head of Hanover Street, Boston, when some news favorable to Polk had been received. He had a small cane in his hand which he whirled in the air, and shouted: "Glorious! Glorious!" until we were surrounded by a crowd of ...
— Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs, Vol. 1 • George Boutwell

... cabanas; and the war to them was a liberal education. They had all the light gaiety of the Gaul, and, after the manner of their ancestors, were born cooks. A capital regimental band accompanied them, and whenever weather and ground permitted, even after long marches, they would waltz and polk in couples with as much zest as if their arms encircled the supple waists of the Celestines and Melazies of their native Teche. The Valley soldiers were largely of the Presbyterian faith, and of a solemn, pious demeanour, and looked askance at the caperings of my Creoles, ...
— Stonewall Jackson And The American Civil War • G. F. R. Henderson

... These were the three Presidentships of Polk; of Taylor, succeeded by Fillmore; and of Pierce;—1845 ...
— Poems By Walt Whitman • Walt Whitman

... this well-ordered convention in the little Western town of Pittsfield, came the national convention of the Democratic party at Baltimore, where the unexpected happened. To Douglas, as to the rank and file of the party, the selection of Polk must have come as a surprise; but whatever predilections he may have had for another candidate, were speedily suppressed.[180] With the platform, at least, he found himself in hearty accord; and before the end of ...
— Stephen A. Douglas - A Study in American Politics • Allen Johnson

... six in the morning. Passed the plantation of Leonidas Polk Walker. He is said to be the wealthiest man in North Alabama. His domain extends for fifteen miles along the road. The overseer's house and the negro huts near ...
— The Citizen-Soldier - or, Memoirs of a Volunteer • John Beatty

... 1812 was opposed and condemned; the Mexican War was bitterly condemned by Abraham Lincoln, by Charles Sumner, by Daniel Webster and by Henry Clay. That war took place under the Polk administration. These men denounced the President; they condemned his administration; and they said that the war was a crime against humanity. They were not indicted; they were not tried for crime. They are honored today by all of their countrymen. The War of the Rebellion was opposed and condemned. ...
— The Debs Decision • Scott Nearing

... been studying the lives of your presidents," he said, "and—really, how can one expect them to get good results with no training for their work and only a few years in office? Take men like Johnson, Tyler, Polk, Hayes, Buchanan, Pierce, Filmore, Harrison, McKinley. Mediocre figures, are they not? ...
— The Conquest of America - A Romance of Disaster and Victory • Cleveland Moffett

... DAWSON was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, February 7, 1813. He was educated at Washington College, adopted the profession of law, and was, in 1845, appointed by President Polk United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Since 1844 he has been a member of most of the Democratic National Conventions. In 1850 he was elected a Representative to the Thirty-Second Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-Third, in which he served as Chairman ...
— History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States • Wiliam H. Barnes

... near at hand. Desperate illness had made it necessary to seek relief near Asheville, N.C., where he was joined by Mrs. Lanier and by his father and step-mother. Growing no better, he was moved to Lynn, Polk County, N.C. Of the rest we shall hear in the words of his wife: "We are left alone (it is August 29, 1881) with one another. On the last night of the summer comes a change. His love and immortal will hold off the destroyer of our ...
— Select Poems of Sidney Lanier • Sidney Lanier

... by a man stopping at the gate and bidding her good-morning. He was the fishman from Polk Street, extremely excited, his greeting followed by a voluble description of how he had escaped from a collapsing building in his undershirt. Aunt Ellen swapped experiences with him, and pointed to the chimney, which if it had fallen inward would ...
— Treasure and Trouble Therewith - A Tale of California • Geraldine Bonner

... rooms." We looked up, startled, but the major went right along. "Young gentlemen, it may interest you to know that every time I see our worthy governor I am struck more and more by his resemblance to General Leonidas Polk, as that gallant soldier and gentleman looked when I ...
— The Escape of Mr. Trimm - His Plight and other Plights • Irvin S. Cobb

... in danger?" answered Crailey, lifting his hand to still the clamor of approbation that arose. "Is Polk in danger? Or Congress? But that would be too much to hope! Do you expect to see the Greasers in Washington? No, you idiots, you don't! Yet there'll be plenty of men to suffer and die; and the first should be those who thrust this war ...
— The Two Vanrevels • Booth Tarkington

... Americans, whether as Republicans they admire Washington and the Adamses, or as Democrats hold by Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson, do not at any rate blush for their old Presidents. But who has heard of Polk, of Pierce, of Buchanan? What American is proud of them? In the old days the name of a future President might be surmised. He would probably be a man honored in the nation; but who now can make a guess as to the next ...
— Volume 2 • Anthony Trollope

... 1844.—President Tyler would have been glad of a second term. But neither of the great parties wanted him as a leader. The Democrats would have gladly nominated Van Buren had he not opposed the acquisition of Texas. Instead they nominated James K. Polk of Tennessee, an outspoken favorer of the admission of Texas. The Whigs nominated Henry Clay, who had no decided views on the Texas question. He said one thing one day, another thing another day. The result was that the opponents of slavery and ...
— A Short History of the United States • Edward Channing

... says, "In no case has literature, pure and simple, ever supported an American author, unless, possibly, if he were a bachelor." Hawthorne's college friends, Bridge and Pierce, came to his assistance, and used their influence with President Polk to secure for Hawthorne the position of surveyor of customs at Salem, with a yearly salary of ...
— History of American Literature • Reuben Post Halleck

... investigation of its powers, and the phenomena exhibited when its development was unusually large—hence came the initial fact of psychometry. Early in 1841 I found a very large development of the organ, in the head of the late Bishop Polk, then at Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas, who subsequently became a confederate general. After explaining to him his great sensibility to atmospheric, electric, and all other physical conditions, he mentioned a still more remarkable sensibility—that whenever he touched ...
— Buchanan's Journal of Man, September 1887 - Volume 1, Number 8 • Various

... rejected by the casting vote of the Speaker, Mr. Polk, and the election sent back to the people; when, after another extraordinary canvass, he was triumphantly returned. After the adjournment of Congress he visited his mother in Portland. About this time a great reception was given to Mr. Webster, as defender of the Constitution, in Faneuil Hall, ...
— The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss • George L. Prentiss

... gunboats, heretofore acting upon the river at Columbus and Island No. 10, were in the regular naval service under the command of Flag Officer George N. Hollins, formerly of the United States Navy. At No. 10 the force consisted of the McRae, Polk, Jackson, Calhoun, Ivy, Ponchartrain, Maurepas, and Livingston; the floating battery had also formed part of his command. Hollins had not felt himself able to cope with the heavy Union gunboats. His services had been mainly confined ...
— The Gulf and Inland Waters - The Navy in the Civil War. Volume 3. • A. T. Mahan

... of Wu Ting-Fang, Chinese Minister to the United States, at the annual dinner of the New York Southern Society, New York City, February 22, 1899. William M. Polk, the President of the Society, occupied the chair. Minister Wu responded to the sentiment, "To our newest and nearest neighbor on our Western border, the most ancient of Empires, which until now has always been in the Far East, and to her distinguished diplomatic representative—persona ...
— Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z • Various



Words linked to "Polk" :   President of the United States, United States President, James Knox Polk, Chief Executive, president



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