Editing James K. Polk (section)

=== Ways and Means Chair and Speaker of the House ===
[[File:James K. Polk. Speaker of the House of Representatives, U.S. - from life & on stone by Chas. Fenderich ; printed by P.S. Duval, Lith., Philadelphia. LCCN2012648806 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Lithograph of Polk as speaker.]]
In December 1833, after being elected to a fifth consecutive term, Polk, with Jackson's backing, became the chairman of Ways and Means, a powerful position in the House.<ref name="Borneman33">Borneman, p. 33</ref> In that position, Polk supported Jackson's withdrawal of federal funds from the Second Bank. Polk's committee issued a report questioning the Second Bank's finances and another supporting Jackson's actions against it. In April 1834, the Ways and Means Committee reported a bill to regulate state deposit banks, which, when passed, enabled Jackson to deposit funds in [[pet banks]], and Polk got legislation passed to allow the sale of the government's stock in the Second Bank.<ref name= "a" /><ref>Merry, p. 42</ref>

In June 1834, [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[Andrew Stevenson]] resigned from Congress to become [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|Minister to the United Kingdom]].<ref name="Borneman34">Borneman, p. 34</ref> With Jackson's support, Polk ran for speaker against fellow Tennessean [[John Bell (Tennessee politician)|John Bell]], Calhoun disciple [[Richard Henry Wilde]], and [[Joel Barlow Sutherland]] of Pennsylvania. After ten ballots, Bell, who had the support of many opponents of the administration, defeated Polk.<ref>Seigenthaler, pp. 53–54</ref> Jackson called in political debts to try to get Polk elected Speaker of the House at the start of the next Congress in December 1835, assuring Polk in a letter he meant him to burn that New England would support him for speaker. They were successful; Polk defeated Bell to take the speakership.<ref name="Borneman35">Borneman, p. 35</ref>

According to Thomas M. Leonard, "by 1836, while serving as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Polk approached the zenith of his congressional career. He was at the center of Jacksonian Democracy on the House floor, and, with the help of his wife, he ingratiated himself into Washington's social circles."<ref name = "Leonard23">Leonard, p. 23</ref> The prestige of the speakership caused them to move from a boarding house to their own residence on Pennsylvania Avenue.<ref name = "Leonard23" /> In the [[1836 United States presidential election|1836 presidential election]], Vice President [[Martin Van Buren]], Jackson's chosen successor, defeated multiple [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] candidates, including Tennessee Senator [[Hugh Lawson White]]. Greater Whig strength in Tennessee helped White carry his state, though Polk's home district went for Van Buren.<ref>Seigenthaler, pp. 55–56</ref> Ninety percent of Tennessee voters had supported Jackson in 1832, but many in the state disliked the destruction of the Second Bank, or were unwilling to support Van Buren.<ref>{{cite web|title=Democrats vs. Whigs|url=http://www.tn4me.org/article.cfm/a_id/194/minor_id/67/major_id/22/era_id/4|publisher=[[Tennessee State Museum]]|access-date=January 23, 2018|archive-date=April 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412202750/http://www.tn4me.org/article.cfm/a_id/194/minor_id/67/major_id/22/era_id/4|url-status=dead}}</ref>

As Speaker of the House, Polk worked for the policies of Jackson and later Van Buren. Polk appointed committees with Democratic chairs and majorities, including the New York radical [[Churchill C. Cambreleng|C. C. Cambreleng]] as the new Ways and Means chair, although he tried to maintain the speaker's traditional nonpartisan appearance. The two major issues during Polk's speakership were slavery and, after the [[Panic of 1837]], the economy. Polk firmly enforced the "[[Gag rule (United States)|gag rule]]", by which the House of Representatives would not accept or debate citizen petitions regarding slavery.<ref name="Seigenthaler5760">Seigenthaler, pp. 57–61</ref> This ignited fierce protests from John Quincy Adams, who was by then a congressman from Massachusetts and an abolitionist. Instead of finding a way to silence Adams, Polk frequently engaged in useless shouting matches, leading Jackson to conclude that Polk should have shown better leadership.<ref>Remini, p. 406</ref> Van Buren and Polk faced pressure to rescind the [[Specie Circular]], Jackson's 1836 order that payment for government lands be in gold and silver. Some believed this had led to the crash by causing a lack of confidence in paper currency issued by banks. Despite such arguments, with support from Polk and his cabinet, Van Buren chose to back the Specie Circular. Polk and Van Buren attempted to establish an Independent Treasury system that would allow the government to oversee its own deposits (rather than using pet banks), but the bill was defeated in the House.<ref name="Seigenthaler5760"/> It eventually passed in 1840.<ref>Bergeron, p. 1</ref>

Using his thorough grasp of the House's rules,<ref>Bergeron, p. 12</ref> Polk attempted to bring greater order to its proceedings. Unlike many of his peers, he never challenged anyone to a duel no matter how much they insulted his honor.<ref name="Seigenthaler62">Seigenthaler, p. 62</ref> The economic downturn cost the Democrats seats, so that when he faced re-election as Speaker of the House in December 1837, he won by only 13 votes, and he foresaw defeat in 1839. Polk by then had presidential ambitions but was well aware that no Speaker of the House had ever become president (Polk is still the only one to have held both offices).<ref>Borneman, p. 38</ref> After seven terms in the House, two as speaker, he announced that he would not seek re-election, choosing instead to run for Governor of Tennessee in the 1839 election.<ref>Merry, pp. 45–46</ref>