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This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people.

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Up next, the story of someone who might not have seen the world but played a huge role in creating the one

we live in today. Here's our own Monty Montgomery to get us into the story of this math

major turned lawyer, turned president. Let's get into the story. James K. Polk is probably the greatest president Americans have never heard of.

Here's Rachel Halvering at the James K. Polk home in Columbia, Tennessee with his story.

Polk is very forgettable, at least in a personal sense.

He's not very fun and he's not very scandalous in the way that Jackson is.

Jackson really kind of sucks all the air out of Tennessee politics.

But Polk really doesn't get enough credit because he's absolutely the most effective one-term president.

Most people are shocked to learn that Polk adds more territory than the Louisiana

purchase during his presidency. Polk is unmatched. Dancing Polk is born November 2nd of 1795,

and he's born in Meckleburg County, North Carolina.

He is not baptized as a child because you had to have a confession of faith from both parents,

which is very shocking. You know, his mom, Jane, is related to John Knox.

So she is like the Presbyterian and is very devout.

And it's interesting that she ends up with his father because he's a deist.

You certainly see that Jane influences Polk's religious kind of outlook,

though he also would consider himself, I think, a deist for a lot of his life.

I think one thing to underscore about Polk's early life is that he's very sick, stuck in the house,

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