james k. polk didn't have many close friends. but sarah very much a sounding board, she would be one during the white house ears, i guess now we'll say reach across the political aisle to james k. polk was a democrat but there are complimentary things by sarah by john quincy adams and henry clay who didn't get along well with her husband. she was a gracious, elegant first lady. mr. smith had mentioned the sumptuous furnishings. sarah surprised folks that this wife of a democrat would have an interest in fashion and fine european imports. french gowns and elegant gown. one of you commented on her size, 5'2", very petite, wore a size 3 shoe, obviously a small waist. but it's sarah's sense of style reflected in the furnishings. the french vases, chandeliers. i mentioned this table, a gift right at the end of his presidency, from a friend, a diplomat in after friday california the egyptian marble with eagle and 30 stars for 30 states. if you look, and a list of when states come into the union you'll notice texas, iowa and wisconsin. f

primarily not because he believes what the whigs do, most apolitical, he's a whig because he hates james polk who wasn't running. polk had tried to ruin taylor's career, reputation, because he saw him as a political rival. and polk becomes a whig by default as a reflex -- >> you mean taylor. >> taylor becomes a whig as a reflex. >> he's buried in louisville? and clay is in lexington. >> it's a strange thing. at the time he was living in louisiana. >> yeah. >> he was a louisiana citizen. when he came back in he wanted to be president as a vindication, taylor did. clay didn't quite understand. in fact, in november of '47 taylor virtually foreswore and said if clay wants this, i'll step aside. that wasn't true. as time wore on, that became less true. and crittenden found himself pretty -- between a rock and a hard place on this because he had thrown in with taylor and taylor's compatriots and handlers and operators as sort of the kentucky point man but he kept that secret from clay. >> at the end of his life you say that they tried to get back together or they did get back together but in a meet

when his mistress hired him out to president james polk. when dolly madison died in 1849, jennings had spent just the last two of his 50 years as a free man, little thanks to her. she had offered him for sale for $200. jennings knew people in high places and he had gotten daniel webl center, formerly a neighbor on the square to advance him his purchase price. he was working for webster paying off his debt when his former mistress died. she was given the grand estate funeral to date regarded as she was as one of the last relics of the founding generation. it took place right here at st. john's church. but now i have gotten ahead of myself, so let me back up. in my book released last month, "a slave in the white house: paul jennings and the madisons," i tell the story of jennings's one-of-a-kind journey from slavery to freedom which played out in the highest circles of ideas and power, the white house, james madison's study. in freedom, jennings worked with northern abolitionists in an underground railroad operation known as the pearl inciden

it is not until the election of 1844 when james knox polk will make the annexation of texas a political issue and as he is being elected in the fall of 1844, john tyler will actually be responsible for the annexation of texas itself. he had tried to annex texas under a treaty, treaty needed two-thirds of both houses. well, a joint resolution simply needs a majority. instead of two-thirds of both parties, two-thirds of the senate. joint resolution needs a simple majority in each house. so by december of 1845, december 29th, 1845, texas would become the 28th state. and this 28-star flag would be a valuable flag. it remains in existence for only one year before iowa became the 29th state in december of 1846. now two days -- two days before the official entrance of texas into the union, john lewis o'sullivan, "u.s. magazine and democratic review" ran an editorial in which he said the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and possess the whole of the continent which providence has given us for the development of this great experiment of liberty and federal development of self-governmen

the statue of jefferson had been placed there by james k. polk. grant removed it when he did the landscape over in 1873. but polk wanted some symbol to define himself with expansion. so he put jefferson on the front lawn. and mrs. polk, who was a shrewd gal, she got a picture of cortez and hung it in the blue room. so she saw little jimmy polk as cortez and not jefferson then. this is the lawn over which the people -- they leapt over the fence that last speech lincoln made, and there were several thousand people there. the greenhouse was a very popular feature of the white house for about 40 years. it was torn down in 1902. or moved. part of it was moved. it was not the same one. 24 one was wooden, and this one burned about five years after lincoln's time. but here you see nicolet greeting plains indians and some ladies there and probably the agents, indian agents. these are the contents of the earlier orangery. and those are sasanquas which were very popular in the white house. and they used to take them out and put them in the halls during parti

. >> rose: james k. polk. >> he said "this place is so out of order i'm not going to recognize anybody." but the fact is is that if you can get civilitack... that's why the public has to be part of the solution. they have to demand and insist on the stability because it's a tactic by obstructionists. if you want to obstruct, you make it so unpleasant that no one wants to pay attention. >> rose: what do you think of the occupy wall street movement and what,... impact do you think it might have on the election. >> i think occupy wall street movement made a very strong statement about the 99% versus the 1%. they themselves would not want any politician giving any impratur to them beyond tat, i believe. but i think they gave vocal exfrogs the frustration. we have disparity of income, disparity of ownership in our country that's almost reaching a point of taking us to an oligarchy or plutocracy. and if you put on top of that-- which they do-- the role of money in politics and government you're hastening the proces