James Knox Polk is the President of the United States who survived a very difficult time.
During his term, a gold rush occurred, experiencing several historically significant events such as the victory of the Mexican-American War and the establishment of Walker tariffs.
President from Southern North Carolina
Considering the birthplace of the American president until the Civil War, there are overwhelmingly many people from the south.
The southern part refers to the area including the following areas, and occupies about half the territory of the United States.
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia (including Washington, D.C.)
Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee
Arkansaw, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas
Since the founding fathers, including Washington, are mostly from Virginia, the American president from the north was rare. He is the owner of a large plantation that uses black slaves, including Washington, and the owner of a plantation that uses black slaves, although the house of James Pork is not large, and he is from the so-called southern part of North Carolina. ..
James has been ill since childhood, and his father, Samuel, had even shown him to a renowned doctor for his son, and had undergone major surgery. He disappeared as adolescents and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1818 and worked as a lawyer.
Almost all US presidents so far have experience as lawyers or are from the Army.
He was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1825, a Speaker of the House from 1835, and a Governor of Tennessee from 1839.
The background to James Polk's becoming presidential candidate was that Martin Van Buren, the eighth president, opposed the annexation of Texas, and his Democratic Party built James Polk as an alternative candidate. There is.
"James Polk Who?" Was the general reaction at the time, and the Whig Party, which was a rival of the Democratic Party at that time, attacked his lack of name. However, in the 1844 presidential election, when I opened the lid, it turned out to be James Polk's election.
It is said that the background to this was that William Harrison and John Taylor (who were exiled from the Whig Party during the presidential term), who were from the Whig Party, had become less popular, and the Democratic Party was the Democratic Party of Jackson and Martin. Van Buren's popularity is declining, and in a sense it can be said that it is a presidential election between unpopular people. This is common in Japanese politics. Rather, it's every time, so I think you can understand it well. It was just the result of voting for the better one, and the number of votes obtained was relatively small (105:170 in the voter vote, 1.3 million votes in the general vote, and the difference is about 40,000 votes).
The 11th President of the United States
James had professed to assume the post of President of the United States for only one term.
"The expansion of US territory is another mission God has commanded us, both towards southwestern Texas and in northern Oregon."
This is what James said in the presidential election, but it became the intention of the United States at that time, and when columnist O'Sullivan boosted it with the word "manifest destiny" in 1845, the United States expanded at once. I started to walk towards it.
The first thing James did was to resolve the Oregon Border Dispute with Britain.
This is the 49th parallel north of the border between the United States and the United Kingdom, and James initially insisted on the 54th parallel north, but the Oregon Treaty, which was conceived by then Secretary of State James Buchanan, is 49th parallel north. This is the conclusion that the proposal was passed by the Senate of the Congress, and the evaluation of this part is still divided. Some say it is a compromise, while others say it is a victory for pork diplomacy because it succeeded in expanding its territory.
James subsequently won the Mexican-American War with Mexico, signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and acquired vast lands of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Colorado. Seen from the Mexican side, it has lost one-third of its land area and is said to have shaped the ongoing relationship between the United States and Mexico.
These lands were not obtained free of charge, and the United States paid $ 18 million in cash and debt to the Mexican side, originally due to the independence of the Republic of Texas and the participation of Texas in the United States.
Texas was originally a Mexican territory, but became independent of Mexico in the 1830s. This was approved by European countries, but Mexico itself did not recognize independence, and when Texas was merged into the United States, the relationship between the two countries deteriorated at once, and Zachary Taylor was ordered by James Polk to Texas. When a fort was built in Texas, the Mexican army attacked it, and the Mexican-American War began.
As an aside, this is a clear provocation on the part of the United States, and the United States always makes such provocations and attacks in subsequent wars before intervening in the war.
The Maine incident in the Spanish-American War, the Lucitania incident in World War I, the Pearl Harbor incident in Hawaii in World War II, and the Gulf of Tonkin incident in the Vietnam War are all the same.
The Mexican-American War was an overwhelming war. The difference in armament is clear, and Mexico has been completely beaten up, as if the United States had no teeth.
Another big thing in the James Knox era was Walker tariffs.
As of 2019, the United States is still arguing over tariff issues, but tariff issues have always been one of the most important policies in the United States.
Former President John Taylor imposed a high tariff (35%) called the Black Tariff, while James Polk introduced the opposite policy, the Walker Tariff, a low tariff (25%).
On the issue of tariffs, Walker tariffs have gained high support from the southern states, as the southern part, which is centered on cotton cultivation, favors liberal trade and favors lower tariffs.
The later Civil War can be evaluated as a war over this tariff, and it can be said that this Walker tariff was one of the triggers of the Civil War. The industrialized northern part favored protectionist trade, which imposes high tariffs.
As a result of the introduction of the Walker tariff, tax revenue has increased 1.5 times even though the tax rate has decreased.
As was the case with the ancient Roman Empire, the lower the tax rate, the better the economy. However, Japan is raising taxes following the tax hike, and is currently in the process of declining national power. The higher the tax, the lower the income and the weaker the national power.
Walker tariffs remained a valid policy until 1857.
The north is very opposed to this tariff. There is also the case of liberation of slaves, and the scheme is like northern =justice, but the history is not so simple, and it is certain that the industrial capitalist emerged as a result of the victory of the northern part, and the gap between rich and poor widened. Perhaps because of this, there were overwhelmingly many presidents from the South until the Civil War, but after the Civil War, most American presidents from the South disappeared.
In the 20th century, it was about Jimmy Carter from Georgia.
James Knox's workload in just four years was tremendous, and he said he took only 37 days in four years.
Perhaps because of that, he died at the age of 53, just 103 days after the end of his term.
I have experience, but overwork does not come when you are moving, but when you take a break.
Like Emperor Trajan, hard work will definitely shorten his life.
Personal evaluation of James Pork
James Knox Polk is said to be the president who kept his promise most.
He has achieved almost all the content of the presidential speech and is sometimes referred to as the last big president from the South.
In Japan, there is a tendency that the promise is not realized only by the name of the manifest, but I would like you to emulate James Polk. Especially the Democratic Party was terrible. It ended without fulfilling any promises.
In that sense, Pork should be one of the top presidents in the United States. He expanded his territory and greatly extended his national power.
The name of pork rarely appears in Japanese world history textbooks, but I think it's too bad to handle.