October 13

"One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppression of minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression."

James K. Polk, 11th President, 1845-1849- From his inaugural address, March 4, 1845. Polk, the first of ten children of Samuel Polk and Jane Knox, was born in what is now Pineville, North Carolina in Mecklenburg County. There Polk spent his youth and early adult life and in 1818 graduated from the fledgling University of North Carolina. While there, he became a member the Dialectic Society and gained experience in debate and public speaking. To identify themselves from their rival, The Philanthropic Society, the Dialectical Society took on the color of light blue, now known as Carolina Blue, one of the distinguished colors of the university to this day. After graduation, Polk moved west and studied law under trial lawyer, Felix Grundy, in Nashville, Tennessee. He started his political career in 1823, winning a seat in the Tennessee State Legislature. He soon won a seat in Congress and became a supporter and advisor of Andrew Jackson who became President in 1828. Polk's career progressed and he, himself, eventually was nominated President and won the election of 1844. Under his administration, the United States greatly expanded its territory, annexing the Oregon Territory after a dispute with Great Britain. In another expansion, the United States, annexed Texas after it declared independence from Mexico and after the Mexican-American War also added what is now California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. As a young President, only 49 years of age, in his Inaugural Address of 1845, Polk lays out his philosophy and interpretation of the of the Constitution as his guide. "... The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be directed...“To the States, respectively, or to the people” have been reserved “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States.” Each State is a complete sovereignty within the sphere of its reserved powers. The Government of the Union, acting within the sphere of its delegated authority, is also a complete sovereignty... It is a common protector of each and all the States; of every man who lives upon our soil, whether of native or foreign birth; of every religious sect, in their worship of the Almighty according to the dictates of their own conscience; of every shade of opinion, and the most free inquiry; of every art, trade, and occupation consistent with the laws of the States...By the theory of our Government majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression." (http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/swearing-in/address/address-by-james-k-polk-1845). As the question of states rights grew in the coming decade, it was the very spirit of "compromise" and the question of the "rights" of the states and individuals which contributed to the coming Civil War.