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Source/Further reading:
Miller Center, in-depth: https://millercenter.org/president/polk/life-in-brief?
North Carolina history encyclopedia: https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/james-k-polk-1795-1849/?
Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-K-Polk?
History: https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/james-polk?
American Heritage: https://www.americanheritage.com/country-vast-designs-james-k-polk-mexican-war-and-conquest-american-continent-robert-w-merry?
Washington Post presidential podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXcMhKRNlS4?
History, Mexican-American War: https://www.history.com/topics/mexican-american-war/mexican-american-war?
Oregon Territory Dispute: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/oregon-treaty?
Capturing California: https://www.history.com/news/california-independence-bear-flag-revolt?
Polk's wife: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/books/review/lady-first-amy-greenberg.html?
California Genocide: https://www.history.com/news/californias-little-known-genocide?
Dark Horse Candidacies explained: https://www.thoughtco.com/dark-horse-candidate-1773307
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@birdinmotion1525 Says:
I'd rather call him an imperialist war monger
@erikapple8955 Says:
Woke
@jeremy6710 Says:
Just found out James Polk is my 3rd cousin
@jonchal5561 Says:
I cant understand this guy. Hire an American
@Hugh-Janus-1 Says:
Thank you, Shane Gillis
@Vegaryu47 Says:
You speak waaaay too fast...
@MY-ku3pd Says:
I liked you right up until you begin to add your little editorials. State the facts. Not “your” facts
@milothetinker Says:
I just found out that my wife is related to him
@Robert-zc2cc Says:
Most underrated president in American history
@woodstock2918 Says:
SERENITY NOWWWW!!! HAHA FRANK COSTANZA WAS THE MAN…..YOU STOPPED SHORT WITH MY WIFE???!!! I USED THAT ON HER 40 YEARS AGO UGHHH STOP SHorT
@danadams1427 Says:
Polk did help the Latter-day Saints, something Van Buren didn't do.
@OPrimetime Says:
Smoking Polk pack 💨
@captainnoone6021 Says:
We will never have great Presidents like Polk ever again. I was born centuries too late 😭😭
@GChevy410 Says:
Anyone else think this dude looks like Mel Gipson?
@williamstocker584 Says:
His last words were “I love you Sarah for all eternity I love you” I found that out at his museum
@mikemorrissey5467 Says:
Pretty funny how it's almost always a Brit narrating these documentaries on American history. 😂
@Samisgirl-j8d Says:
Slow down
@Jac0Frost0SCZ Says:
I don't think this is a bad thing, but the more I learn about polk, the more I think he had autism.
@cactusrancher1 Says:
I had me until slavery.
😂😂
@sambrown4761 Says:
It wasn't that Polk didn't address the slavery question he couldn't. The growth of cotton plantations between 1795 and 1845 was the center of economy of the USA. Cotton fed the Northern mills and cotton was our #1 export. Cotton caused the growth of slavery and cotton caused the westward expansion to Texas. Polk owned his own cotton plantation and since 1810, when imported slaves stopped, breeding and trading like wasn't seen in 1700's became how slavery was conducted. Polk speculated in slave trading. The south went from a society with Slaves to a slave society.
@ChrisBrewer-f2s Says:
This guy is painful to listen to he is poncey and boring . He seems to want to shape everyone's opinions to his own
@CarlSanchious-r7o Says:
Yeah Andrew Jackson that lack luster ethic cleanser who's on the $20 bill.
Ol' hickory sent thousands of native Americans under him were uprooted from their land in a few southern states and forced to march to the Midwest plains where they'd be ushered into reservations.
@William_Stephens Says:
James K Polk is the president I have always had an affinity with ever since 4th Grade. We had a class project where everyone was given a different president at random and he was the president I was given. We had to color their portrait, write a biography about them and highlight some of their accomplishments while in office. Ever since then I always perk up when he is mentioned and listen more attentively when his presidency is discussed. I’m probably one of the foremost James K Polk fans in the world lol 😅.
@jeffmiller211 Says:
To answer your first question, I don't think I've seen or heard of a single president in my lifetime or my parents a lifetime not doing that! With the Only Exception being Donald trump!
@richardruiz-sx9up Says:
This dishonorable slave owning murderous killer does not impress me today 2025 I can't bury my father in Los Angeles he passed away because of this piece of crap polk that premeditatedly murdered Mexicans for their land I don't want 2 acres and a mule like the black folks that got Plymouth Rock landed on them I just want to be able to be with my family in LA that's Mexico stolen he lied to Congress in that Americans were killed on American soil when it was Mexican land that they were killed on does it affect me today 2025 yes it does I am Ricardo Ruiz and this murderous connivingly stoled Mexico by lying to Congress of the whereabouts of the killings of American soldiers and your arrogance doesn't want to see through it but you will pay you have no honor shame on you USA so it's said so it shall be amen blessings to all
@justinward1969 Says:
ypur amazing
@JPF_311 Says:
Every Al Bundy fan’s heard of Polk High… he scored 4 touchdowns-in ONE game!!
@Auron12786 Says:
Anyone else think he bears a resemblance to Tom Hiddleston’s Loki? Which is hilarious considering how humorless and overly serious Polk was
@nfccturf Says:
The slavery issue needs to stop. Christ, everyone had slaves. For 10,000 years plus. The west were the first to put an end to it. No one else but the west keeps punishing ourselves for it. 10,000 plus years of something being normal doesn’t just end without conflict.
@SirDavidAsher Says:
Effing hell. Go figure you’d be telling me about this.
@StrannayaStrannik Says:
A U.K man speaks on account of a dying nation. Goodbye fruity.
@leenightingale2352 Says:
Oops!!! Wrong newspaper at 11:50 - The 1898 annexation of Hawaii. Off by 53 years! I'm surprised at you Simon!
@WinstonNewYork Says:
Keeping bold promises. Sounds like Trump. Polk, McKinley and Trump I wager are and will be the most underrated of all presidents, if you care about a sovereign and powerful republic.
@Dolphan64 Says:
I’m related to James Knox’s Polk because I’m related to his wife and from marriage I’m related to him so yay!
@theAmericanEnglishWay Says:
This is not a hero, this is a thief. Those lands belonged to Mexico and their Natives
@mochimitsu7 Says:
Polk is known for being the definition of an imperialist. He literally stole the land from Mexico. That's not to defend Santa Anna, who was also an insolent warlord, but just as imperialism goes, Polk is the literal definition.
@anthonymartin7736 Says:
If James Knox Polk had not stood his ground against England 54 40 or fight, Their would be no Washington State now
Canada would own all the way to the Columbia river
@stayfocusedJV Says:
My ancestors were slaves on the Polk plantation.
@CJdaOne Says:
Doctor said “you’re gonna need this”😂
@gabrieladdison Says:
It’s awesome how he promised so much and did exactly what he said he would do
@kendallhuff6012 Says:
He was my great great great…great (idk how many greats lmfao) grandfather!
@homelessjesse9453 Says:
Exactly. A lot of people blame Buchanan or Lincoln for the Civil War, but Polk should have had the foresight to understand what was going on.
@I_Stand_Correct Says:
He also oversaw the issuance of the first postage stamps, the start of the Smithsonian, and the building of the Washington monument.
@greenlawler Says:
and yet modern "historians" rank JFK higher.....what a joke. He also established the Smithsonian, and The Washington Monument.
@LauraBrown-yj9vw Says:
James k Polk it's the biggest thief, and I think that's why we got a big border problem
@Diego-ci6yk Says:
Through death threats to the Mexican people, James the rat got more territory. It was not a friendly treaty as you Americans call it.
@Diego-ci6yk Says:
The BIGGEST THIEF AND POLITICAL TRASH THAT EVER EXISTED after the president of
@georgebyrd5503 Says:
He loved slavery and thought it wasn’t wrong I’m good he was not a good president 😂 just cause he did what he sought out to do ??? Nahh
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