James K. Polk
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James Knox Polk was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. A protégé of Andrew Jackson and a member of the Democratic Party, he was an advocate of American expansionism an
Portrait, c. 1849
Reconstruction of the log cabin in Pineville, North Carolina, where Polk was born
c. 1846–49 daguerreotype of James K. Polk and his wife Sarah Childress Polk
The James K. Polk Home where he spent his young adult life in Columbia, Tennessee, is his only private residence still standing.
Sarah Childress Polk
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Sarah Childress Polk was the first lady of the United States from 1845 to 1849. She was the wife of the 11th president of the United States, James K. Polk.
James K. Polk
…At the polls, where Polk provided alcoholic refreshments for his voters, he defeated incumbent William Yancey. Beginning in early 1822, Polk courted Sarah Childress; they were engaged the following year and married on January 1, 1824, in Murfreesboro. Educated far better than most women of her time, especially in…
Portrait, 1845
The Polks on the portico of the White House alongside Secretary of State James Buchanan, and former first lady Dolley Madison.
Polk in her later years