James Knox Polk was the 11th president of the United States and a protege (one whose career is helped by the influence of another) of Andrew Jackson, who was a good friend of the prosperous farming Polk family in Tennessee. Polk was too sick as a child to get formal schooling, yet managed to graduate at the top of his class from the University of North Carolina when he was 22. He was nicknamed "Napoleon of the Stump" for his excellent speaking skills. Polk was a very hard-working chief executive who proved to be one of the most productive presidents in history. He greatly expanded the U.S. territory and reestablished the independent treasury system, among many other accomplishments.
 

Upon election, he vowed to serve only one term, a promise he kept when he declined to run in 1848.
 

The First "Dark Horse" Presidential Candidate
 

James Polk went to the 1844 Democratic Convention supporting the presidential front-runner Van Buren. Polk wanted to be the vice president but became the presidential nominee by accident.
 

Van Buren lost Southern support because he opposed the annexation of Texas, so he gave up his delegates (who vote at the convention for their choice of nominee) to Polk, who supported it. Andrew Jackson used his influence to suggest that a Democratic nominee be chosen who reflected the nation's "manifest destiny": its inevitable westward expansion. (When something is "inevitable," is means it can't be avoided or prevented.)
 

Polk won the nomination. The opposition Whigs and their nominee, Henry Clay, began to ask scornfully, "Who is Polk?" How did Polk and the Democrats respond?
 

James Polk responded by becoming the candidate in favor of national territorial expansion. Polk avoided trouble over his desire to annex Texas (which would become a slave state) by proposing to add Oregon as a free state.
 

Do you know why Polk was called the "dark horse" as the Democratic nominee in 1844?
 

In horse racing, a "dark horse" is a horse that wins a race when no one expects it to.
 

As the surprise Democratic nominee, Polk was first "dark horse" candidate for the presidency. News of his nomination was spread to Washington by the first Morse telegraph line, which was only a few days old at the time.
 

Many people couldn't believe the news report delivered by this new technology. Polk ended up winning the election by the closest margin in history. Because of his "dark horse" status, Polk was determined to prove himself by becoming one of the most productive presidents ever.