In 1844, the Democrats were split
The three nominees for the presidential candidate
Were Martin Van Buren, a former president and an abolitionist
James Buchanan, a moderate
Louis Cass, a general and expansionist
From Nashville came a dark horse riding up
He was James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump
Austere, severe, he held few people dear
His oratory filled his foes with fear
The factions soon agreed
He's just the man we need
To bring about victory
Fulfill our manifest destiny
And annex the land the Mexicans command
And when the votes were cast the winner was
Mister James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump
In four short years he met his every goal
He seized the whole southwest from Mexico
Made sure the tarriffs fell
And made the English sell the Oregon territory
He built an independent treasury
Having done all this he sought no second term
But precious few have mourned the passing of
Mister James K. Polk, our eleventh president
Young Hickory, Napoleon of the Stump
Why did I post this? Heh. Funny story. In graduate school I took an American history seminar. I had a 3 month old. I didn't do the reading. I'm sure I'm not the first or only grad student ever to face this problem BUT there were only 3 students in the seminar and it is a little harder to fake having done the reading in such a small class. Fortunately......the subject of James K. Polk came up and I had just heard the song at home. I quoted it almost word for word in my piece of the discussion and managed to make my way through the 3 hours. Gah. I've always suspected that one of the other students knew, the professor certainly didn't. Anyway. Funny story. ;) We all learn things in different ways. Me? I happened to learn obscure history facts from a They Might Be Giants song.
It was on my mind today and the subject of the upcoming Iowa caucus was discussed. Our lovely state is overrun by candidates, news affiliates, and campaign brew ha. I wonder how many of them know about James K. Polk?
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Ha!
ReplyDeleteTMBG has become an integral part of the kids learning, in such funny ways! Sassy Princess loves the songs of "No" (one quarter of George Washington's head... ) Naturalist wondered who Jason & the Argonauts were after listening to 'Birdhouse in your soul' and checked out some books at the library, Golfer checked out some books on Turkey after listening to 'Istanbul (not Constntinople)' about a billion times.
And we all join in to sing, "The Sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace..."
:)
Good to know these will all come in handy one day. What a funny story!