POLK, JAMES K.

born Nov. 2, 1795, Mecklenburg county, N.C., U.S. died June 15, 1849, Nashville, Tenn. James K. Polk, daguerreotype by Mathew Brady, 1849. in full James Knox Polk 11th president of the United States (184549). Under his leadership the United States fought the Mexican War (184648) and acquired vast territories along the Pacific coast and in the Southwest. George Clarence Robinson The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica