Biography of James Polk (11th President) Often called the first "dark horse" (because no one counted on him to become president in the 1944 election) President James K. Polk was the last of the Jacksonians to sit in the White House, and the last strong President until the Civil war. He was born in Mecklenburg County, N. Carolina, in 1795. Hard working and industrious, Polk graduated with honors in 1818 from the University of North Carolina. As a young lawyer he entered politics, served in the Tennessee legislature, and became a friend of Andrew Jackson. Until circumstances raised Polk's ambitions, he was a le