Short Stuff: James Polk, Disinterred

He did clerk for the Senate. That's where he where he got his start, which was pretty impressive because he was still in law school, I think. But he made such a name for himself that they basically said, come on as our as the Tennessee State Senate mascot, buddy, and we're gonna we're gonna raise you up from there. Yeah. So Polk was born in North Carolina, although he um, you know, I think people in Tennessee have a lot of respecting reverence for him. But he was born in

North Carolina or North Kakaaki as we call it. And when he was ten, they moved to Tennessee what this article calls the Tennessee Frontier. Yeah, well, I mean it was at the time why not if you were a white European settler and his dad, uh, Sammy Polke, Samuel Polk, his paw, Chuck, we're talking Tennessee, that's right, his paw. He built a two story house in eighteen sixteen in Colombia, and that's where James lived for a while as young adult, and it now serves as the James K. Polk Museum

Home and Museum Presidential Museum. Yeah. So that's like just a bit of the background of this interesting story about the fact that James Polk has been exhumed and moved a couple of times since his death. Yes, this, this short stuff just got interesting. Even though this article, I'm sure you noticed, did not say anything about his death or where he was buried. There's clearly a paragraph or two missing, I think. So I went back and I

was like, it's there under this, like what's going on here? Um, But nope, it's not there. So so basically, James Polk he became the eleventh president of the United States after John Tyler Um, who was the first president not elected I believe, to become president. He succeeded William Henry Harrison, who died after a month. You know that famous Simpsons song, there's William Henry Harrison. I died in thirty days. Um. Well, that that's what happened, and John Tyler succeeded him. Well, Um,

James Polk soundly beat uh Taylor Tyler Um. And he beat him basically saying like, look, I've got some campaign promises I'm going to handle. I'm going to take care of these things in one term and then I'm going to go. And I'm young, and and no one's ever elected a president this young. No. I think he was forty nine when he was elected or something like that, so at the time he was definitely the youngest, although you'd think in like the eighteen forties or eighteen fifties

that was like old school, but I guess not. But he was elected and he did what he said he was going to do. He um established the Naval Academy. He um oversaw the very first US postal stamp created, right, and everyone's like, what's that? And he's like, just watch everybody. Um and then he uh signed into law of the Smithsonian, which makes me a big fan of him. He also did something pretty big. He established the Independent Treasury System,

which was the predecessor Chuck to the Federal Reserve. And at the time you might think, well, federal Reserve, you know, boo or yeah, or whatever however you feel about it. It was very much needed at this time because back then stay owned or private banks would routinely just not trade you gold and silver for the paper that you came to trade back in. They would say, we don't have it, sorry, and this would cause panics over and

over again. So they set up a bank to the banks, the Independent Treasury System, And that was a big one that he did because it took a lot of political clout to overwhelm him the state's interests at the time. Who are who are run by these these influential bankers who didn't want a federal system above them. So those were some big ones. He also started the Mexican American War, which is definitely a mark against him, that's right. But

through all, I mean, he got a lot. A lot happened in those four years, and like you said, true to his word, he said, four years, I'm out, and uh I went back to Tennessee and then I think let's take a break now and then we'll talk about how he died and started bouncing around after that. So Polk died of what they think now is cholera. Um, he got sick. They kind of denied it was cholera, but he was surrounded by people with cholera. But they

were like, no, you don't have cholera. And he was like, I'm pretty sure I have cholera because everyone around me has cholera. And they said, no, it's not cholera, not you, James. But I think he died. That's kind of widely believed to be his cause of death today. Well, the first place he was interred was the Nashville City Cemetery with

the cholera victims. Yeah, it was a legal thing. It wasn't called the Nashville City Cemetery back then, but the way I saw it, it it was basically like if you died from infectious disease, infectious disease, you had to be buried there as close to the groundwater as possible. Yeah. So, um, that's the first place that he's buried. We need like a ding or something here because he's been interred one time.

I think Jerry could manage a ding. Let's let's hope Jerry. So, um, he's he's buried there in again the Nashville City Cemetery like a common caller victim. And somebody said, whoa, this is no place for a beloved president Um to to be buried. We need to we need to show some respect and also more closely follow them the wishes of his will. Yeah, because he said that he wanted to be buried at Polk Place, which was his mansion where he and his wife lived. Um, And they they moved

him there. They actually built him like a pretty sweet little memorial on the front in the front yard. You can see drawings of it, and it's like, there's the house, there's the memorial, like right there in the little front yard. It was pretty cute. Yeah. And his wife Sarah, thank you for for remembering her name. I was like frantically searching for it and couldn't find it. Yeah, his wife Sarah, I guess you know, she was like, well, let me just live for another I don't know, forty two years.

I read that. I was like, is that a miss Brent. It could be in this article, but it's not. Yeah, exactly, according to this article, he never died. He's right behind you, so, oh my god. Um, So yeah, she lived another forty two years, which is outstanding, great, great long life. And once she finally died, there was a bit of an argument over the ownership of Polk Place and kind of like where they should be ultimately in their uh whatever,

what they thought was their final resting place. But everyone else is like, but where should their real final resting place be? Right? Well, I think they would technically be there, but he in his will had had left the stipulation that the state of Tennessee could take Polk Place and own it as long as a Polk would be allowed to live there forever. And Um, Tennessee said, that's an

im perpetuity, which is illegal. So this clause as part of your will is null and void, which left it open to his errors to do with what they wished with this place, um, which was turned around and sell it to a developer because he didn't have any children. Um. These were all relatives who didn't give a spit about what happened to this to his beloved home. Yeah, I can't believe that was sold by developers in and they

demolished it. They demolished it, and this was like this they were Tennessee was thinking of turning this into the governor's mansion and preserving this, and they said, no, get rid of it. So they actually disinterred him. So the state of Tennessee disinterned he and Sarah and moved their remains to the state capital. And you'd think, okay, that would be the end of the story. The guy's been buried to two times now, no, one to three times.

He's been buried three times. Let him rest in peace, right, but it's not buried buried? And then was it three times? Yeah, he was buried in the city since twice buried? Yeah, right, I know. It kind of concerned me too. It's like trying to understand economics. Yeah, that's the old saying. Uh buried, never mind buried thrice, but moved only twice. That's it. So they, like you said, they moved into the capitol and uh, you know, a place of great reverence and

respect where people can can go see. Although he is sort of in the shadow of these two, he doesn't have the kind of monuments that Jackson and Johnson have. No, and that's why there's some people in the Tennessee State government, specifically a guy named um oh what's that that State senators Joe Joey Hensley, which is number one, not a senator's name if you ask me a number two, not a Tennessee senator's name. But there you have it, Joey Hensley right exactly. Um he I could see him on

like Jersey Shore or something like that. He's like bright orange. His hair stands up like a mile high. Anyway, Senator Joey Hensley is like, look, man, I I I have been up here for fourteen years working in the in the Tennessee legislature, and I can tell you James Polk is not getting his reverence. Yeah, people don't know he's buried there. They barely mentioned him on the tour. He's literally in the shadows of um Jackson and Johnson statues.

Like you said, we got to do something better. Let's move this guy to his presidential library at his father's house in Columbia, Tennessee. Yeah, this is a couple of years ago, in two thousand seventeen, and a lot of hoops have to be jumped through to move a dead president's body. Believe it or not. Um. It did pass the State Senate in March, which was just you know,

like kind of like the first stop to getting this done. Uh. The governor has to approve it, the House has to approve it, a local judge, and then most importantly in this case, the Tennessee Historical Commission has to approve it. Um. And that's the one that said no, I don't think you should do that. Yeah, and his his um family UH is kind of divided about it. Some people are like, yeah, of course this would be a great place for him, it's his presidential library, and other people like who right?

But then I and I didn't understand why anybody would be opposed to moving him if he's not getting his due in the capital. But the opposition's position seems to be that he wanted to be buried at Polk Place in Nashville. Right, Polk Place isn't around anymore, So he's still buried in Nashville and at the Capitol. Get that so um. I saw also in two thousand and eighteen, the issue was brought back up again and it got voted down by one vote by the state Senate this time.

So he's not going anywhere. It doesn't look like he's going anywhere. Uh. So you know, if you're ever in Nashville, go eat some hot chicken. Maybe go cut a record at Jack White's little Recording booth. Don't forget to pick up a molda rama while you're there. Pick up a molda rama and go uh if you want to pay your respects to James Polk Short stuff out. Stuff You Should Know is a production of I Heart Radio's How

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