Quotes & Sayings About James Polk

In the nineteenth century, cholera struck the most modern, prosperous cities in the world, killing rich and poor alike, from Paris and London to New York City and New Orleans. In 1836, it felled King Charles X in Italy; in 1849, President James Polk in New Orleans; in 1893, the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in St. Petersburg. — Sonia Shah

With me it is exceptionally true that the Presidency is no bed of roses. — James K. Polk

There is more selfishness and less principle among members of Congress than I had any conception of, before I became President of the U.S. — James K. Polk

If a man ... would shake and not be shaken, grip and not be gripped, taking care always to squeeze the hand of his adversary as hard as it squeezed him, then he suffered no inconvenience from it. — James K. Polk

I cannot, whilst President of the United States, descend to enter into a newspaper controversy. — James K. Polk

All distinctions of birth or of rank have been abolished. All citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal protection. — James K. Polk

The passion for office among members of Congress is very great, if not absolutely disreputable, and greatly embarrasses the operations of the Government. They create offices by their own votes and then seek to fill them themselves. — James K. Polk

We must ever mandate the principle that the people of this continent alone have the right to decide their own destiny. — James K. Polk

There are four great measures for my administration - a reduction of tariff, an independent treasury, settlement of the Oregon boundary and acquisition of California. — James K. Polk

The world has nothing to fear from military ambition in our Government. — James K. Polk

No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure. — James K. Polk

Thank God, under our Constitution there was no connection between church and state. — James K. Polk

I love you Sarah. For all eternity, I love you. — James K. Polk

Although most Americans believed in Manifest Destiny, few could agree on exactly which lands the United States was supposed to govern. — Charles W. Carey Jr.

Peace, plenty, and contentment reign throughout our borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world. — James K. Polk

No union exists between church and state, and perfect freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds. — James K. Polk

Under the benignant providence of Almighty God the representatives of the States and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the public good. — James K. Polk

The gratitude ... should be commensurate with the boundless blessings which we enjoy. — James K. Polk

Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression. — James K. Polk

Although ... the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a party only, but of the whole people of the United States. — James K. Polk

Well may the boldest fear and the wisest tremble when incurring responsibilities on which may depend our country's peace and prosperity, and in some degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human family. — James K. Polk

In the White House now was James Polk, a Democrat, an expansionist, who, on the night of his inauguration, confided to his Secretary of the Navy that one of his main objectives was the acquisition of California. His order to General Taylor to move troops to the Rio Grande was a challenge to the Mexicans. It was not at all clear that the Rio Grande was the southern boundary of Texas, although Texas had forced the defeated Mexican general Santa Anna to say so when he was a prisoner. The traditional border between Texas and Mexico had been the Nueces River, about 150 miles to the north, and both Mexico and the United States had recognized that as the border. However, Polk, encouraging the Texans to accept annexation, had assured them he would uphold their claims to the Rio Grande. Ordering troops to the Rio Grande, into territory inhabited by Mexicans, was clearly a provocation. — Howard Zinn

General Taylor is, I have no doubt, a well-meaning old man. He is, however, uneducated, exceedingly ignorant of public affairs, and I should judge, of very ordinary capacity. — James K. Polk

Foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our government. — James K. Polk

The Presidency is not a bed of roses. — James K. Polk

Public opinion: May it always perform one of its appropriate offices, by teaching the public functionaries of the State and of the Federal Government, that neither shall assume the exercise of powers entrusted by the Constitution to the other. — James K. Polk

When I observed a strong man approaching I generally took advantage of him by being a little quicker than he was and seizing him by the tip of the fingers, giving him a hearty shake, and thus preventing him from getting a full grip upon me. — James K. Polk

I am heartily rejoiced that my term is so near its close. I will soon cease to be a servant and will become a sovereign. — James K. Polk

The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be directed. — James K. Polk

It becomes us in humility to make our devout acknowledgments to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for the inestimable civil and religious blessings with which we are favored. — James K. Polk

In the incongruous role of the insurgent party-builder, he made crystal clear the whole host of inferences we have drawn from the experiences of Monroe and Polk: that innovation, however orthodox, is inherently destabilizing; that the purely constructive leadership project is an illusion; that the affiliated leader cannot assume independent ground without ultimately embracing the role of the heretic; that the only way ever to be president in your own right is to become yourself a great repudiator and set yourself directly against the bulwark of received power; that political disruption parallels presidential significance. Roosevelt's insight was not simply that new achievements do not rest securely on old foundations, but that to save the handiwork of his presidency he would have to reconstruct its political base. — Stephen Skowronek

One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. — James K. Polk

It is confidently believed that our system may be safely extended to the utmost bounds of our territorial limits ... — James K. Polk