George Mifflin Dallas

• Vice President to:       James Polk - Democrat, from Tennessee.
  
  
  • James Polk served 1845 - 1849. He died in 1849, 3 months after leaving office, at the age of 53.
    
    
• Dates Served: Dallas served as Vice President from 1845 - 1849.
  
• Political Party: Dallas was a Democrat, from Pennsylvania
  
• Born: 1792.
  
• Died: 1864, at the age of 72.
  
• The presidential opponent during the 1844 campaign was:
  
  
  • Henry Clay - Whig - Former Kentucky Senator, & former Speaker of the House
    
    
• Campaign issues in 1844:
  
  
  • The issue this year was Slavery and whether or not it should be allowed to be exported into new Territories and States. At issue this year was the annexation of Texas, and whether or not it should be admitted to the Union as a Free or Slave state. Polk supported its annexation as a Slave state. Henry Clay opposed it and expected to get the support of Abolitionists in the North, but he was hamstrung by a small third-party candidate, James Birney of the Liberty-Abolitionist Party, who pointed out that Clay, like Polk, owned slaves, and argued that Clay was just an opportunist. Birney sucked enough Abolitionist votes in the North-East away from Clay to hand the election to Polk. (Never underestimate the power of small third parties)
    
    
  
  
• Notable Facts about George Dallas:
  
  
  • The city of Dallas, Texas is named after him.
    
    
  • He was the son of Alexander Dallas, Secretary of the Treasury under President Madison.
    
    
  • Religious affiliation: Dallas was an Episcopalian.
    
    
  • He was a lawyer, and began his political career as Mayor of Philadelphia in 1819.
    
    
  • He represented Pennsylvania in the US Senate from 1831 - 1833.
    
    
  • He was Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 1833 - 1835, and then Minister to Russia for President Van Buren from 1837 - 1839.
    
    
  • Dallas normally supported high tariffs, but during his term as Vice President he supported Polk's low tariff policies, which really pissed off his home state; so much so that he was hung in efigee there and he had to move his family away for their own safety.

Notable events during his Vice Presidency:

• The rubber band is invented by Stephen Perry in London, in 1845.
  
  
• Texas admitted into the Union, 1845.
  
  
• The height of the Oregon Trail migration. This was the age of Manifest Destiny.
  
  
• Oregon Treaty ratified in 1846 with the British, which drew the US/Canadian border at the 49th Parallel. This in spite of the Democrats' earlier rallying-cry of "Fifty Four Forty or Fight!", which would have put the boundary up against the southern border of Alaska.
  
  
• Iowa admitted into the Union, 1846
  
  
• Mexican-American War, 1846 - 1848, in which the US gains the new territories of California and New Mexico.
  
  In 1846 President Polk offered to the buy the region of California from Mexico (which had gained independence from Spain 25 year ealier) for the bargain-price of $25 million. Mexico said "Gracias, pero no!", primarilly due to the unpleasantries related to the recent battles and annexation of Texas from Mexico 10 years earlier. Not taking no for an answer, Polk sent some soldiers under the command of his most pleasant general, Zachary Taylor ("Old Rough and Ready"), who would succeed Polk as President, to the region in order to "accidentally" engage with Mexican troops, creating a pretext for declaring war on Mexico, which he did after the dastardly Mexican troops killed 16 American soldiers who just happened to be passing through the area. Polk even arranged for the secret transport of Mexican General Santa Anna (called "Santie Annie" by the American fighters in Texas who had battled him at The Alamo) from his Cuban exile into Mexico so he could take over their government and then sign a truce with the reasonable Americans. But once he arrived he took command of the Mexican troops and fought the Americans with renewed vigour.
  
  In 1847 another pleasant American General, Winfield Scott ("Old Fuss and Feathers") who would unsuccessfully run for President in 1852, fought his way all the way to Mexico City, bringing the war to an end with the occupation of the city. In 1848 Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which turned over almost half of their entire country to the United States, with them keeping the 800-mile-long peninsula of Baja California (since the US thought it was too inhospitable) but giving up everything north of there.
  
  
• Only a few weeks before Mexico signed the treaty surrendering their northern territories, Gold was discovered in California, on January 24, 1848, by James Marshall at Sutters Sawmill. President Polk announced the news later that year, and the stampede West began that following year.
  
  
• Wisconsin admitted into the Union, 1848
  
  
• When Polk's presidential term ended on March 4th, 1849, Zachary Taylor refused to take the Presidential oath since it was a Sunday. He insisted on waiting until the following day. So for 24 hours (from noon, March 4th until 11:30 AM, March 5th) the President Pro Tem of the Senate, David Rice Atchinson from Missouri, served as President of the United States, becoming America's shortest-serving president. He is rumored to have spent most of his term napping.
  
  
• President Polk's wife was a devout Presbyterian and she banned such evils as card-games, alcohol, and dancing from the White House during her husband's term. One week prior to his death, Polk was baptized as a Methodist.
  
  
• President Polk died of cholera 3 months after leaving office, at the age of 53.