Polk, James Knox (1795–1849)

• Author: Kermit L. Hall
• Pages: 1958-1959

Page 1958

The eleventh President's constitutional beliefs blended STRICT CONSTRUCTION, expediency, and continental vision. He returned to a central theme of Jacksonian constitutionalism to harmonize these divergent interests: the President was the tribune of the people, the only nationally elected federal official.

Polk stressed the SEPARATION OF POWERS in order to legitimate the popularly based presidential power he exercised. He recognized that congressional committees had legitimate claims to information held by the executive branch, but he spurned congressional requests that intruded upon areas of constitutional responsibility he believed assigned to the President, most notably FOREIGN AFFAIRS. He rebuffed, in 1848, SENATE advice to negotiate a treaty of extradition with Prussia and to secure the

Page 1959

purchase rights of the Hudson's Bay Company on the Columbia River. Yet Polk acknowledged that Congress commanded a broad sphere of constitutional responsibility; he vetoed only three legislative acts.

Polk contributed significantly to the constitutional development of the COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF clause. Unlike ABRAHAM LINCOLN, he believed that the clause granted only military leadership to the President. Yet Polk made use of this power to implement his policy of continentalism. He ordered General ZACHARY TAYLOR into disputed territory between the United States and Mexico knowing that such actions were likely to precipitate hostilities. When the Mexicans responded with force, Congress was left to ratify a war rather than to fulfill its constitutional mandate to declare it. Throughout the ensuing conflict Polk established the precedent that a vigorous conception of the commander-in-chief clause meant control over military affairs.

Tough and efficient, Polk was a...