Democrat · 1845–1849
James K. Polk
Expansion to the Pacific, a lower tariff, an independent treasury, and war with Mexico.
James K. Polk was president 1845–1849. The party color on the chart is Democrat. Early presidents are not forced into today’s party names. The placement note is: Expansion to the Pacific, a lower tariff, an independent treasury, and war with Mexico.
The dot is economics +12 and authority +38. That is near the middle on economics. The other axis sits toward authority. Color and place are allowed to disagree. Theodore Roosevelt sits left of Grover Cleveland on economics.
What was said, and what the administration did, are filed separately. Said: Four goals: Oregon, California, a lower tariff, an independent treasury. Then leave. Done: All four happened, with a war attached to California. He did leave. Where those two sentences pull apart, the dot follows the governing record, not the slogan.
The nearest other presidents on these two numbers are Franklin Pierce (1853–1857, +8 / +32) and Richard Nixon (1969–1974, +6 / +42). A small distance can join people who would have disliked each other. The chart is a compression, not a claim that they were alike.
Presidents are not placed with the Voteview roll-call score used for the current Congress. Two axes cannot carry a war, a court, a tariff, and a civil-rights record as separate facts.