Note 9 — XXXVI CONCLUSION 1825–1848

Polk’s Diary contains ample evidence regarding the character of his administration; e.g. May 16, 19; June 23–4; Aug. 18; Sept. 22, 24, 1846; Aug. 19, 23; Nov. 10–1, 1847; Jan. 24, 1848. (Period) Lalor, Cyclopædia, iii, 864. As Taussig says (Tariff Hist., 122), our prosperity from 1846 to 1860 should not be attributed solely to the tariff of 1846. London Examiner, Jan. 2, 1847 (“Polk has been the greatest of American conquerors, the most successful of American diplomatists,” and yet his recent Message does not boast). Curtis, Buchanan, ii, 72. Schouler, Hist. Briefs, 138 (Dallas said of Polk: “He left nothing unfinished; what he attempted he did”).