Who Is James K. Polk?

“Elections matter. And few have mattered more in US history than the 1848 election, which elevated to the White House a leader whose aggressive policies inadvertently helped set the nation on a path to civil war. In Who is James Polk? historian Mark Cheathem harnesses his unrivalled command of the politics of the 1830s and 1840s to give us the definitive account of this pivotal, if too often neglected, election. A must-read addition to this justly acclaimed series on America’s presidential elections.”—Richard J. Ellis, author of Old Tip vs. the Sly Fox: The 1840 Election and the Making of a Partisan Nation

“This will be the standard work on the election of 1844. It is also the model for how presidential elections should be studied and discussed. Cheathem gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of all the campaigns during the 1844 election. Any reader will feel like a political insider after reading this excellent work.”—William K. Bolt, professor of history at Francis Marion University and former assistant editor on the James K. Polk Project

“Mark R. Cheathem’s account of the election of 1844 tells us who James K. Polk was, how he earned the Democratic nomination for president, how he won the White House, and why it matters. Deeply researched and engagingly written, the book places this often-overlooked election into the wide sweep of antebellum politics and explains that Polk’s election represented a ‘tipping point’ for the United States. Indeed, Cheathem makes clear that the sectional conflict over slavery that put the nation on the path to civil war cannot be fully analyzed without an understanding of this election. Historiographically significant, this book is a worthy contribution to the American Presidential Elections series.”—Christopher J. Leahy, professor of history, Keuka College, and author of President without a Party: The Life of John Tyler