Part one of term paper
Biography of James Polk (11th President) Often called the first "dark horse" (because no one counted on him to become president in the 1944 election) President James K. Polk was the last of the Jacksonians to sit in the White House, and the last strong President until the Civil war. He was born in Mecklenburg County, N. Carolina, in 1795. ...

Part two of term paper
... President in 1844. Both Martin Van Buren, who had been expected to win the Democratic nomination for President, and Henry Clay, who was to be the Whig nominee, tried to take the expansionist issue out of the campaign be declaring themselves opposed to the annexation of Texas. Polk, however, publicly asserted that Texas should be "re-annexed" and all of Oregon "re-occupied." The aged Jackson, correctly sensing that the people favored expansion, urged the choices of a candidate committed to the ...