Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk

Publication Date

3-1-2020

Document Type

Article

Organizational Units

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Center for Judaic Studies

Keywords

Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady, Jewish history

Abstract

Lady First examines the life of Sarah Childress Polk, an often-overlooked yet powerful political player who became the First Lady of the United States when her husband, James K. Polk, became the nation's eleventh president in 1845. Born to a well-to-do Tennessee slaveholding family, Sarah was uncommonly well-educated for a woman of her era. Her early political instincts were honed with her marriage to the rising politician, who served as a congressman and then as governor of Tennessee. According to the historian Amy S. Greenberg, the Polks, who never had any children, “were above all else a team of two, in politics as in life” (p. 113). Certainly, American politics had long been a family affair, starting with the Adamses and the Madisons.

Copyright Date

3-1-2020

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Rights Holder

Jeanne Abrams

Provenance

Received from author

Language

English (eng)

Publication Statement

© The Author 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Organization of American Historians. All rights reserved. 

Publication Title

Journal of American History

Volume

106

Issue

4

ISSN

1945-2314

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