James Polk - Rapid City, SD
Posted by: 
beagle39z
N 44° 04.783 W 103° 13.525
13T E 642085 N 4882257
Visitors to Rapid City are greeted by the City of Presidents, a series of life-size bronze statues of our nation’s past presidents along the city’s sidewalks.
The project began in 2000 to honor the legacy of the American presidency.
Waymark Code: WMFA6E
Location: South Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 09/18/2012
Views: 7
James Polk, Eleventh President of the United States - 1845-1849
After Thomas Jefferson, James K. Polk increased the size of the United States more than any other president through the acquisition of California and New Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War. He also claimed Oregon Territory after a treaty with England. He was a key figure in Manifest Destiny.
He was also an extremely effective leader during the Mexican-American War. He is considered to be the best one-term president.
Polk’s wife Sarah Childress banned dancing and liquor from the White House.
Bronze stature of Polk presented in a political tradition of the times, conducting a cracker-barrel session with local townsmen, often in the taverns and general stores. The banner on the barrel is the slogan for Polk’s 1844 campaign “54? 40' or Fight”. The slogan refers to a particular line of latitude which defined the northern-most extent of the Oregon Country, a territory which was disputed and claimed jointly by both the United States and Great Britain. The territory under dispute included all of the modern states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana, Wyoming, and the Canadian province of British Columbia. Various proposals to resolve the joint claims of sovereignty were proposed, but proponents of "Manifest Destiny" thought that the United States should resolve the conflict with Great Britain by insisting on taking the entire territory (all the way North to the 54'40" line) and if necessary to fight (go to war) to do so.
President James K. Polk ultimately resolved the dispute peacefully in the Oregon Treaty of 1846, by extending the border between the United States and British North America along the 49th parallel.
The phrase "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight" has been attributed to William Allen, who was a Senator from Ohio at the time.
Location: Corner of St Joseph Street and 5th
Sculptor: Lee Leuning and Sherri Treeby – 2000
Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.