As some of you might know, I collect political campaign items as well as coins and other tokens. Recently I was the successful bidder on this James K. Polk presidential campaign piece. All Polk items, that were issued during his 1844 campaign, for President are scarce. After the 1840 campaign when the opposition Whig Party flooded the market with campaign tokens dedicated to William Henry Harrison, the Democrats responded by writing language in their platform which stated that they "would not insult the people" by flooding the market with trinkets. This piece is a shell medalet. It is similar to a normal token in that it is made of metal, in this case brass with a gold coating, and is made by dies. It differs from a normal token because it is made from two pieces of embossed metal that is held together by a bezel. This piece is hollow inside. James K. Polk was one of the most successful and controversial presidents. During the campaign, he made four promises: · He would lower tariffs. · He would annex Texas and make it a state. · He would settle the Oregon Territory Border between the United States and the British Empire · He would fulfill “the Manifest Destiny” and make The United States into an empire that would stretch from the Atlantic to Pacific. Polk succeeded in all of these goals. Texas was a big issue in 1844. The Texans had won their independence from Mexico in 1836. After that they had sought to join the United States, but a slave state, that posed a major problem. There were always battles over the number of free and slave states, and the admission of Texas threatened to upset the balance. Polk pledged to make Texas a state, and he helped do that at the end of 1845. This shell token which has a “T” inside of a star (The Lone State Republic, soon to be the Lone Star State) on the reverse symbolized that campaign promise. The United States and the British Empire had long an uneasy truce concerning the Pacific Northwest. Ultimately extremists on both sides had their idea about when the boundary should be. Extremists on the American side had the battle cry “54-40 or fight!” Polk was able the settle the issue with the British by setting the boundary on the 49th parallel, shown in this map from Wikipedia. The final piece of the Polk platform concerned California. Many in The United States had come to the conclusion that the U.S. boundary should extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. To achieve that, the United State States would have to buy the land from Mexico or take it by force. This token expressed that proposal with the more diplomatic phrase, “Press onward the boundaries of freedom, Young Hickory.” The reference to “Young Hickory” liked Polk to the very popular and controversial president, Andrew Jackson, who was known as “Old Hickory.” The United States provoked a war with Mexico. Despite the fact that the U.S. Army forces were consistently outnumbered, they won the war rather easily, making heroes of Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico ceded the lands shown on the map below to The United States for a payment of $15 million. In 1962, Historian Arthur Schlesinger as 75 historians to rank the American presidents. In that poll Polk ranked #8 out of 31 which placed him in the "near great" category. A similar poll conducted by the Chicago Tribune in 1982 ranked him as #11 of 36. Today Polk is controversial. Some historians accuse him of imperialism. He attacked a weaker country and took their land. They argue that The United States would have taken that territory in any case by peaceful means although they don’t explain how that could have happened. They also argue that Polk was partially responsible for the Civil War by making to disputes of free and slave territory worse because of the addition land he added to U.S. territory. One can only speculate what world history might have been if Polk had not enlarged the size of The United States. Would the U.S. have been as strong during the First and Second World Wars and the Cold War if it had not had control of California and the other western states? It’s a question that poses interesting speculations with no definitive answers.
Polk’s greatest weakness as an administrator was his inability to delegate authority and responsibility. He had to run everything himself, and it ultimately killed him. His workday began early in the morning and didn’t end until midnight or later. He kept this schedule six and a half days a week, only taking time off to attend church on Sunday. Polk died three months after leaving office.
Great thread and really neat campaign pieces. I had never known much about Polk; thanks for the history lesson. I'll post a coin from 1844:
hello I have one of these as well mine has a loop for a necklace I believe could you please tell me the approximate value if any.
It's a tough call because of condition issues. I have not doubt that it is genuine, but there is a big scratch on the reverse and there could be some environmental damage concerns. Of the top of my head, I would say that it might be worth $400 to $500. It's very scarce to rare, but would a collector buy it in hopes of finding a better one? 19th century political pieces is a specialized market that has grown in recent years. Polk pieces are part of "the royalty" within the series.
Seriously??? A metal detector. You don't get that often huh? BTW that Polk-Dallas is totally sweet. What did you pay $900+? You have the holy grail of political tokens. Yes political tokens have exploded in value. You did well picking it up now. I'm currently bidding on a Lewis Cass - I'll bet your bidding against me. Stop it.
There is one Lewis Cass piece that is somewhat common. I handled two of them when I was a dealer. The others are hard to impossible.
Here's another Poke piece I acquired out of the Heritage DeWitt sale. I was determined to get this because it is very frank about Polk's goal to add Texas. I knew I would have to pay a strong price. And yes, this is a very scarce to rare piece.
