Non-fiction: Farewell Address (March 3, 1849)

Overview
James K. Polk’s Farewell Address of March 3, 1849, presents a final accounting of his one-term presidency and a parting counsel to the nation. He frames his tenure as a fulfillment of specific, public pledges and emphasizes fidelity to constitutional limits, national honor, and the preservation of the Union. The address blends gratitude and sober justification, defending controversial measures while urging moderation amid rising sectional tensions.

Fulfilling Pledges and Defining Principles
Polk organizes his retrospective around promises made in 1844. He highlights the restoration of the Independent Treasury, which separated public finances from private banks to safeguard federal funds and insulate national policy from speculative panics. He points to the revenue-only Walker Tariff’s lower rates as a spur to commerce without resorting to protective favoritism, casting both measures as expressions of strict construction and limited federal power. Throughout, he affirms that government should confine itself to enumerated duties, resist doubtful powers, and avoid accumulating public debt.

Territorial Expansion and the Mexican War
Polk devotes substantial attention to foreign relations and expansion. He underscores the peaceful settlement of the Oregon boundary with Great Britain, securing a vast northwest domain and ensuring stability along the 49th parallel. He then turns to the Mexican-American War, portraying it as a just and necessary conflict triggered by Mexican aggression and waged to vindicate national rights. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, he argues, concluded the war honorably, indemnified American claims, and added California and New Mexico to the United States. Polk insists that the acquisition will expand commerce, open Pacific trade, and extend the blessings of American civil and religious liberty, while affirming that the United States seeks no conquest for its own sake and aspires to peace with all nations.

Union, Constitution, and Sectional Restraint
Against the backdrop of mounting disputes over slavery in the new territories, Polk counsels constitutional fidelity and mutual forbearance. He reiterates that the domestic institutions of the states rest beyond federal interference and that any adjustment regarding the territories must respect the equality of the states and the compromises embedded in the constitutional order. He warns that sectional agitation risks imperiling the Union’s harmony and strength. His guidance is less a detailed blueprint than a call for a fair, lawful settlement that neither exalts one section nor demeans another, with the courts and Congress proceeding within their proper spheres.

Executive Conduct and National Posture
Polk presents his executive conduct as measured and restrained, stressing accountability, frugality, and transparency. He favors a diplomacy of firmness without entanglement, echoing the republican preference for friendly relations and commerce with all while avoiding permanent alliances. Military readiness is justified as a means to secure peace and national respect, not to invite adventurism. This posture, he suggests, has elevated American influence without compromising principle.

Retirement and Civic Appeal
True to his one-term pledge, Polk announces his retirement from public life, offering thanks to the American people and to Providence. He expresses satisfaction that the administration leaves the country larger, more prosperous, and at peace, while conceding that continued prosperity depends on adherence to constitutional limits and the cultivation of national unity over party or sectional passion. He leaves the nation with a civic appeal: preserve the Union by honoring the Constitution, maintain public virtue through modest government, and channel the fruits of expansion into liberty, order, and common prosperity.