James Knox Polk

James Knox Polk, (1795-1849), 11th President of the United States, he was one of the hardest-working presidents in American history, Polk was unusually successful in accomplishing in a single four-year term his ambitious goals in both domestic and foreign policy. The vigor with which he pushed the annexation of Texas, the settlement of the territorial dispute with Britain over Oregon, and the conquest of the Southwest through war with Mexico extended the territory of the …

…e moral dimensions of the slavery question made it impossible for him to understand the antislavery impulse, and it is doubtful whether even a political genius could have settled the question. Death Probably no president ever worked harder at his job than Polk, and by the end of his term he was near collapse. Settling into a quiet retirement in Nashville, he fell ill only three months after leaving office and died there on June 15, 1849.