Running for Washington
Polk's refusal to accept the senate slot offered him in
1842 unknowingly affected his campaign for governor. The Whigs
controlled one house of the legislature, the Democrats the other,
although the Whigs had a majority in the joint session that selected
legislators. The Whigs had agreed to offer the senate seats to
one Democrat and one Whig, but when Polk turned down the offer
the Whigs argued that no other Democrat held the same stature or
respect. They decided to send two Whigs to the senate. The Democrats
demurred and both sides held strong. The thirteen Democratic senators,
later to be known as "The Immortal Thirteen," refused to meet in
joint session to select the senators, and so Tennessee was left
with no U.S. senators for two years. Both sides blamed Polk for
the lack of representation and the matter dogged him throughout
his campaign for governor. Polk lost his reelection bid again.
The loss presented a serious blow to Polk, as the presidential nominating
convention was now a year away and he had no political office–nor
any political success since the 1840 election. Andrew Jackson still
held considerable sway in the party, and Polk hoped that Jackson
would assist him. During a two-day conference at Jackson's plantation,
however, Martin Van Buren gained the support of Old Hickory and,
by extension, Polk. As Van Buren toured Tennessee, Polk stood by
his side and everywhere they went hundreds turned out to greet
them. But Polk had grown weary of standing at the sidelines; he
had given Van Buren his support and had received nothing in return.
Now, three states had nominated Polk for the vice-presidency and
he had the support of much of the national party. In fact, if Van
Buren wanted a chance of winning, he would have to select Polk
as his running-mate. Van Buren still wanted his previous running-mate,
R.M. Johnson, but after such a dismal showing in the 1840 election,
it would be difficult to convince the party the team should be
nominated again.
On February 28, 1844, the Secretary of State and Secretary
of the Navy were both killed in an explosion aboard a naval vessel.
President John Tyler offered the State Department to John C. Calhoun and
the Navy Department to Polk–Calhoun accepted, but Polk passed on
the offer. The Whigs wanted nothing to do with Tyler and the Democrats
did not want him either, leaving him alone in a political netherworld.
Polk continued to campaign for the vice presidency. Then, the Texas
issue exploded.
The possible annexation of Texas had long been a controversial topic.
Texas had applied for entrance into the Union, and that petition
was now tied up in Congress. Polk seized the chance and wrote a
strongly-worded letter demanding the immediate annexation of Texas
and went one step further to insist on the annexation of the Oregon
Territory, which both Britain and the U.S. claimed. He argued that
to allow Britain to regain a foothold in the U.S. would be tantamount
to treason. Both Henry Clay and Van Buren published letters opposing
the annexation because it might lead to war and, moreover, because
Texas' debt was too great for the U.S. to assume. If Texans paid
down the debt, and Mexico allowed it, Texas could be allowed to
join the Union. The letters pleased Clay's party and he was nominated
for the presidency. Van Buren, though, had underestimated the importance
the issue held in the minds of the members of his party. His letter
all-but destroyed Van Buren's chances of re-nomination. Polk received
an urgent summons to Jackson's plantation and when he arrived "Old
Hickory" presented the guests with a toast: "A toast to the next
President of the United States. To the health of James Knox Polk!"
The 1844 Democratic nominating convention was a disaster,
a near-riot. Van Buren failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds,
and after seven ballots, Van Buren's support was slipping quickly.
On the convention's third day, the New Hampshire governor placed Polk's
name in nomination. He was one of the few Democratic leaders trusted
by both the pro-Van Buren and anti-Van Buren factions of the party.
On the eighth ballot, Polk received forty-four votes of the necessary
176. But on the ninth ballot, everything shifted. State after state
went to Polk, and by the half-way point on the roll call, his name
was the only one left on the ballot. He was chosen unanimously–the
first "dark horse" candidate in American history. The news of his
nomination was quickly sent to Washington by telegraph–the first
commercial message sent on the new Baltimore-Washington telegraph.
It would be several days, however, before news reached Polk that
he stood as the next candidate for the presidency. The news rocked
Tennessee as well as the rest of the nation.
The campaign began. Editors in Whig newspapers traded
barbs with the editors of the Democratic newspapers. The campaigns began
to write parodies and songs for the race. Although neither Texas
nor Oregon was mentioned in the Whig platform, it became clear
that their respective annexation would be the hot issue of the year.
Polk scored a political point by pledging to only serve one term if
elected, whereas Clay–whose Whig Party had originally come up with
the one-term plank–failed to make such a pronouncement. The Whigs
hoisted ash trees at every rally (Clay came from Ashland) and the
Democrats sought out the tallest hickory trees they could find–although
they curtailed the practice after a 134-foot tall hickory tree
collapsed and killed a supporter at a Maryland rally. The disputed
Oregon boundary became a rallying cry for the Democrats who proclaimed
"Fifty-four, forty or fight," a reference to the latitude of the
disputed border.
On election-day, Polk lost his own home state by 112 votes.
As the election votes trickled in. It appeared that Polk led the
Electoral College, but everything hinged on New York and its thirty-six votes.
The Nashville Whig newspaper had proclaimed that New York had gone
for Clay, so it surprised everyone when news came that Polk had
been chosen as president.
