nature [is] hissing' — and embodied the government's policy in laws."
But this mood changed surprisingly. When Congress adjourned, it was in bad humor, and the country sympathized with it. News of the occupation of California produced little enthusiasm, for it had been expected. The fighting at Monterey excited interest, but it was followed at once by a long armistice, and it had no permanent effect on the downward course of public sentiment. Instead of glorying in the war, the Democrats now defended it feebly, and a great many regarded it as a grave political blunder. The fall Congressional elections went strongly against them. Every reverse could be explained, of course — in Pennsylvania a heavy storm, in New York the opposition of "every most pestilential and reckless form of law-hating faction," apathy here, lack of organization there — but the National Intelligencer, chief organ of the Whigs, brushed explanations aside, and coldly remarked, "We presume that our President and his Cabinet are by this time convinced that they have forfeited the public confidence — the confidence, that is, of their own party; that of the other they never possessed"'; and by mid-winter the political outlook for the war seemed extremely dark.'[1]
The reasons for this change were complex and interesting. The people — Democrats and Whigs alike — — knew they did not want Polk for chief executive. To the millions demanding, "Who is James K. Polk?" the answer had been given, "He is President of the United States'; but this excellent retort silenced instead of satisfying. Disagreeable ideas prevailed regarding the methods of his nomination and his election. Many viewed him as an Accident, an Unpleasant Surprise, a Surreptitious Incumbent; and his unpopularity not only was a disadvantage in itself, but colored the interpretation placed upon everything he did or said.[2]
Besides this initial difficulty, he was not considered a large enough man for the place, and the Cabinet seemed too much of a piece with him in that respect. The public did not hear Polk's confidential declaration, "I intend to be myself President of the United States." 'They were not aware that he risked a great deal to avoid having Calhoun and Flagg, a New York man of unusual ability, in his official family. But they
