North Carolina Presidential Birthplaces
James K. Polk -
Andrew Johnson -
Abraham Lincoln
James K. Polk
(1845-49) - James K. Polk Memorial in Pineville.
Andrew Johnson (1865-69) - Mordecai Historic Park in downtown Raleigh.
Abraham Lincoln (1860-65) - Southeastern Rutherford County.???
Historic Sites for North Carolina born Presidents
(Taken in part from The News Herald, Sunday, August
22, by William L. Holmes - Associated Press.)
Two of the nation's early
presidents - James K. Polk (1845-49) and Andrew Johnson (1865-69) -
were born in the Tar Heel State and served during critical time in the nation's
history.
Polk pushed an expansionist vision
during his term, adding about 200 million square miles to the
Western United States. Johnson, vice president under Lincoln helped heal
the struggling nation after
Lincoln's assassination.
Visitors can learn a bit about both
men and the way they lived in visits to their North Carolina
birthplaces.
Polk was born n Mecklenburg County in
1795 and has the more extensive site, including a
memorial and log buildings that date to the early 1800s. The State historic site
is run by the
Department of Cultural Resources on part of a 250 acre farm worked by Polk's
parents,
Jane and Samuel Polk.
His family sold the farm when Polk
was 11 and the family moved to Tennessee to join relatives
there. Polk returned to the state to attend college at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill and
then went back to Tennessee, where he studied law and established a practice.
"Tennessee was the land of opportunity at that time," with
lots of cheap acreage, said Jeff Bockert,
site manage at the James K. Polk Memorial in Pineville.
Polk served in the U.S. House and
later was elected governor of Tennessee. He won the White
House by campaigning in favor annexing Texas and occupying Oregon. His
administration also
acquired the California territory, resulting in an unpopular war with Mexico.
Polk has since been overshadowed by
Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson and presidents
connected with the Civil War, Bockert said.
"Had the Civil War not occurred, Polk
would have probably been known as of our most
famous early presidents," he said.
Johnson, a tailor who had little
formal education, followed a similar Volunteer State path to power,
serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and as Tennessee
governor before
becoming Abraham Lincoln's vice president.
Johnson was born in downtown Raleigh
in 1808, the son of Jacob and Mary Johnson. Both his
parents worked at a large inn near the state Capitol, his mother as a weaver and
his father as a
horse keeper. Jacob Johnson also worked as a janitor at the state capitol
building.
At 16, in trouble fro throwing rocks at a man's house,
Johnson moved to the the Moore County town
of Carthage, where he established a tailoring business. He moved later to
Tennessee, where he
began a political career.
Though Johnson was a Democrat, the
Republican Lincoln chose him as his vice president in
1864 presidential campaign because Johnson was the only senator from a rebel
state to remain loyal
to the United States during the Civil War.
Johnson ascended to the presidency
when Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. In 1868, Johnson's
with the Republican congressional leadership over plans for Reconstruction
resulted in him being the
first president impeached by the House of Representatives. He was
acquitted by one vote
following a trial in the Senate.
The two-story buildings where Johnson
was born has been moved several times over the years,
and is now located on about 2 1/2 acres in Mordecai Historic Park, a few blocks
from a downtown
Raleigh.
Also at the site, which is a mishmash
of historical interpretation run by the city of Raleigh, are an
antebellum plantation home and two 19th century office buildings. A chapel built
by slaves in 1847
sits across from the entrance.
"The building itself has kind of a
checkered past," said Victor Gordon, program manager at Mordecai Park."
In the 1970s, it wasn't very uncommon fro buildings to be moved to be saved.
The clapboard building has gray,
peeling paint and a gambrel roof with wood shingles. The cramped
first floor has period pieces, including a spinning wheel and cooking utensils,
to show what the building
may have looked like when Johnson was born. The second floor is closed to the
public and littered with
a box of dolls, an old bed and other items.
The city of Raleigh has agreed to
spend about $100,000 fixing up the buildings later this year,
Gordon said.
Despite its shabby condition, the
building draws visitors from around the country, particularly
presidential history buffs.
"I think presidents and the lives of
presidents are touchstones of American history," Gordon said.
"They've been celebrated fro a long time."
Lincoln himself may have had North
Carolina roots, according to two North Carolina researchers.
In their 2003 book, "The Tarheel
Lincoln," Catawba Valley Community College history professor
Richard Eller and retired schoolteacher Jerry Goodnight argued in favor of a
decades-old claim that
Lincoln was the illegitimate son a North Carolinian named Abraham Enloe.
Eller and Goodnight theorize that the
16th president was born in southeastern Rutherford County
near the town of Bostic, about 60 miles west of Charlotte.
Traditional claims that Lincoln was
born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Ky., are based on a
statement written by Lincoln a few months before he was nominated to be
president.
"When we started, I was pretty
skeptical," Eller has said. "When we got into it, it started to make
sense. And when we put more of the pieces together, it makes good sense."
Officials at Lincoln's official
birthplace, a National Park Service historic site near Hodgenville, Ky.,
say they doubt the claim.
James K. Polk - was born in Mecklenburg County in 1795. He was president from 1845 to 1849.
Andrew Johnson - was born in Raleigh in 1808 and was president from 1865 to 1869.
Abraham Lincoln - some theorize, was
born in Rutherford County in 1809. He was president from
1860 to 1865. Johnson was Lincoln's vice president.
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