James K. Polk

This full account is of Polk's important pre-presidential career. Since Polk was immersed in so many of the major political developments of his day, and after 1835 the fateful emergence of sectional animosities-his biography is also a history of his generation’s political experience. Professor Sellers has combined the elements with a sure hand, bringing out Polk’s character-his ambition, his determination, his faith in the electorate-and the nature of his friends, his enemies, and the times in which he moved.

This definitive biography of James K. Polk covers the most important years of Polk's political career - from a twice-defeated gubernatorial candidate in Tennessee to dark-horse candidate for the presidency and one of the most successful first 18 months of any American president. The months of Polk’s administration covered here contain the bulk of his expansionist program - the annexation of Texas, the settlement of the Oregon boundary with Great Britain, and the war with Mexico that led to the acquisition of California and New Mexico.