Bio Sarah Polk
Born in 1803, Sarah Childress grew up on a plantation near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Elder daughter of a Captain, she gained something...
Comfort in My Retirement; White House History (Number 33) - Photo 1
- Photographer
- Bruce White
- Credit
- Bruce White for The White House Historical Association/James K. Polk Ancestral Home Collection
Comfort in My Retirement; White House History (Number 33) - Photo 1
Portrait of President James K. Polk at about age 50 by George P.A. Healy, 1846. To Polk, the long sittings were irksome, fatiguing, and “time unprofitably spent.”
You Might Also Like
-
-
Bio James K. Polk
Often referred to as the first "dark horse" president, James K. Polk was the last of the Jacksonians to sit...
-
The President and Washington During the War with Mexico
James Knox Polk was at home in Columbia, Tennessee, when he judged that it was about time to find out...
-
An American Icon
Savior of American portraiture, server of ice cream, dual term first lady and mentor of White House hostesses: all of...
-
Enslaved and Entrenched
Elias Polk was born into slavery in 1806 on a farm owned by Samuel Polk, father of the future president of...
-
Tennessee in the White House
As he left the White House in 1869, President Andrew Johnson supposedly exclaimed that he could “already smell the sweet mountain ai...
-
James K. Polk: The Mexican-American War and the Daguerreian Era
The presidency of James Knox Polk is underscored, among other things, by the War with Mexico. Amidst a military confrontation...
-
The Red Room in the Polk White House
Today’s State Floor of the White House has rooms designated by color (Green, Blue, and Red), purpose (State Dining Ro...
-
James K. Polk's July 4th White House Celebrations
Beginning with Thomas Jefferson in 1801 and for much of the nineteenth century, the White House hosted an annual reception on...
-
Martha Johnson Patterson: Hostess of the Andrew Johnson White House
Of her family’s role in the White House in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, Martha Johnson Patterson, da...
-
A "Dark Horse" in Sunlight and Shadow
When Whig opponents chanted “Who is James K. Polk?” throughout the presidential election of 1844, it was more an attempt to infl...
-
Notable African Americans in the Early Nineteenth Century White House
While not as famous as the presidents they served, several African American slaves who lived inside the White House went...
