Chosen a Member of Congress-Repeated Reëlections-Opposition to Mr. Adams' Administration-The Panamá Mission and the American Sys- tem-Support of General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren-The Tariff Ques- tion-Internal Improvements-The Pension Laws-United States Bank- Dissensions in the Republican Party in Tennessee-Nomination of Judge White for the Presidency-Course of Mr. Polk-Chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives-Reëlected-Character as a Presiding Officer-- Mr. Polk supported by the Democratic Party in Tennessee as their Candi- date for Governor-The Canvass-His Election-Inaugural Address- Executive Recommendations-His Administration-A Candidate for CONTENTS. XV Position of the President-His Cabinet-The Washington Globe and The Union-Meeting of Congress-First Annual Message-The Oregon Boundary Question-History and Progress of the Negotiation-Ultima- tum of the American Government-Proposition of Great Britain-Con- Opposition of Mexico to the Annexation of Texas-The Question of Boun- dary-American troops ordered to Texas-Attempt to Negotiate-Re- fusal to receive a Minister--Advance of General Taylor to the Rio Grande-Commencement of Hostilities-Incidents of the war-Repeated The Independent Treasury-Tariff of 1846-Course in regard to Appoint- ments-River and Harbor Veto-Second Annual Message-Special Mes- sage on the Improvement Bill-Thirtieth Congress-President's Mes- sage-Refusal to Communicate Diplomatic Correspondence-Oregon Territorial Bill-Views of Mr. Polk-Presidential Election--Last Con- gress during his administration-Inauguration of his successor. Thomas Jefferson.-Declaration of American Independence.-Origin of the Movement.-Early Settlers of North Carolina.-Character.--The Mecklenburg Resolutions. - The Polk Family. -Their History. - Patriotic Conduct during the Revolution On the southwestern slope of Monticello,-in the midst of the native forest hallowed by associations which have protected it from the faggot and the axe, and where the soft winds that disturb its solemn stillness murmur ceaselessly of the storied past, there stands a plain granite obelisk, looking forth over the fair land, which he, who reposes there in the silence of death, loved with the affection of a son, and whose institutions he regarded with peculiar veneration. No heraldic blazonry may be witnessed there, none of the sculptured pomp of woe. All is simple, chaste, appropriate-yet impressive. Read the few lines graven upon this humble memento, in remembrance of one who asked no nobler monument ! -The inscription, in brief but eloquent words, relates a whole chapter, and that the brightest and the proudest in the life of him whose memory is thus consecrated."Here lies buried, THOMAS JEFFERSON," so runs the record," Author of the Declaration of Independence !" This is not merely the assertion of a claim to the authorship of that memorable document, which can perish only with the nation that it called into existence; but it is also an important historical fact, and one of which the party directly concerned, and those interested in his memory, have just right to be proud. It is, as it were, the impartial judgment of the recording Muse. As such, it will live in the history, and be perpetuated in the traditions, of the American people. But neither the Sage of Monticello, nor his most ardent admirer, ever claimed that he was the sole originator of the great movement to which the Declaration of '76 gave form and substance. Its germs were planted in ten thousand hearts, long before the resolutions of Patrick Henry concerning the Stamp Act were offered, or his eloquent voice had sounded the alarm; its hopes and its impulses throbbed in ten thousand bosoms long before the chimes of the old State-house bell in Philadelphia proclaimed "liberty throughout this land, unto all the inhabitants thereof;" and they only waited "the hour and the man" to call them into action, and give them expression. Occasions were not wanting, when the intolerance of oppression, and the stern resistance to tyranny, which were characteristic of the colonists, found utterance in something more than mere words and protestations. Such were the opposition of Massachusetts, in 1680, to the commercial restrictions; the refusal to surrender the charter of Connecticut to Sir Edmund Andros; the |