Hysterical Journey to Historic Places

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DAY TWELVE: MAY 3, 2013



I bellied up with my cold pizza breakfast this morning and then went to Columbia, TN. Columbia is a town that has a dozen highways and none of them are marked. I had to just drive around until I found the James K. Polk Home and finally came up on it from the opposite direction than I planned.



James Knox Polk



Polk was our 11^th President holding office between 1845 and 1849, and he did a damn fine job of running the country. He had an expansionist agenda and worked hard every day until he got the job done. He served only one term, but got everything done that he set out to do. What more can we ask of a President beyond hard work and diligent fulfillment of his promises. Then he had the decency to lie down and die within three months of leaving office. Now that, my friends, is genuine commitment.



During his administration three states were added to union; Iowa, Wisconsin and Texas.



He campaigned on a slogan of Fifty- four Forty or Fight that was borrowed from the administration of William Henry Harrison. Fifty-four degrees and forty minutes north latitude was the southern boundary of the Russian possessions in Alaska. It is where the Democrats wanted the northern boundary of the United States set. Polk knew that was an unrealistic goal and it would likely cause a war with Great Britain and would leave Canada with only a few acres of frozen tundra on with to thrive. He used the slogan as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the British Foreign Secretary and the northern boundary was set at the 49^th parallel, which is where he wanted it in the first place. Everyone was happy and war was avoided. A war with Great Britain did not suit him because he had plans to go war with Mexico and hoped not to have to fight countries at once. We won our little war with Mexico, and annexed the whole western part of our country from them. Gold was discovered in California and Manifest Destiny marched onward and forward across our country which would not have been possible had Polk’s expansionist agenda failed. It took a talented politician to see that effort through because of the whole expansion of slavery issue.



The first Women’s Rights Conference took place in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York. It made headway under the influence of Polk’s wife, Sara. She was one of our best First Ladies. If Hillary Clinton gets elected President it will be amusing to see how her husband, Bill, will decorate the White House Christmas Tree.



I pulled up this evening at the Baymont Inn in Chattanooga after a drive of about 215 miles. Tennessee is a pretty state, but every Chinese Restaurant is a buffet, and the Mexican joints are terrible. They have put me up in a damn room right beside the elevator. Tomorrow I will find a motel that has facilities for guest laundry and a ground floor room far away from a noisy elevator. Will rest for a day, do my laundry, and watch the Kentucky Derby. Looks like wet weather tomorrow.

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Photos

POLK
Polk lived here between 1818 and 1824 when he got married. It is the only home where Polk lived, besides the White House, that is still standing. They had a retirement home built in Nashville, but Polk died before he could enjoy it. Sara lived in that house for 40 years though. It got torn down in 1901. It is kind of sad that Polk never set foot on any of the new territory that he added to the union.

POLK'S FOLKS
Andy, By God, Jackson was a good friend of the Polk family and was a visitor to this home on several occasions. When you visit the dining room in this house you are in a room that Andy belched, told lies, and farted in many times. There was no indoor plumbing or electricity. The property had a well hand dug by slaves, and a two room kitchen in the backyard. Meals are sometimes still prepared in that kitchen. The second room seems to be where the cook lived.