Editing James K. Polk (section)

==== Fiscal policy ====
[[File:James Knox Polk by GPA Healy, 1858.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Polk's official White House portrait, by [[George Peter Alexander Healy]], 1858]]
In his inaugural address, Polk called upon Congress to re-establish the [[Independent Treasury]] System under which government funds were held in the Treasury and not in banks or other financial institutions.<ref name=merry206207/> President Van Buren had previously established a similar system, but it had been abolished during the Tyler administration.<ref name=sieg121122>Seigenthaler, pp. 121–122</ref> Polk made clear his opposition to a national bank in his inaugural address, and in his first annual message to Congress in December 1845, he called for the government to keep its funds itself. Congress was slow to act; the House passed a bill in April 1846 and the Senate in August, both without a single Whig vote.<ref>Bergeron, pp. 191–193</ref> Polk signed the Independent Treasury Act into law on August 6, 1846.<ref name=Merry273/> The act provided that the public revenues were to be retained in the [[Treasury Building (Washington, D.C.)|Treasury building]] and in sub-treasuries in various cities, separate from private or state banks.<ref name=Merry273>Merry, p. 273</ref> The system would remain in place until the passage of the [[Federal Reserve Act]] in 1913.<ref name=Merry276-277>Merry, pp. 276–277</ref>

Polk's other major domestic initiative was the lowering of the tariff.<ref name=merry206207>Merry, pp. 206–207</ref> Polk directed Secretary of the Treasury Robert Walker to draft a new and lower tariff, which Polk submitted to Congress.<ref name=sieg113114>Seigenthaler, pp. 113–114</ref> After intense lobbying by both sides, the bill passed the House and, in a close vote that required Vice President Dallas to [[List of tie-breaking votes cast by vice presidents of the United States|break a tie]], the Senate in July 1846.<ref name=sieg115116>Seigenthaler, pp. 115–116</ref> Dallas, although from protectionist Pennsylvania, voted for the bill, having decided his best political prospects lay in supporting the administration.<ref>Pletcher, p. 419</ref> Polk signed the [[Walker tariff|Walker Tariff]] into law, substantially reducing the rates that had been set by the Tariff of 1842.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://millercenter.org/president/keyevents/polk |title=American President: A Reference Resource Key Events in the Presidency of James K. Polk |author=Miller Center of Public Affairs |publisher=millercenter.org |year=2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606074743/http://millercenter.org/president/keyevents/polk |archive-date=June 6, 2013 |author-link=Miller Center of Public Affairs }}</ref> The reduction of tariffs in the United States and the repeal of the Corn Laws in Great Britain led to a boom in Anglo-American trade.<ref name=Merry276-277/>