James K Polk Serves two terms

What if James K Polk decided to serve a second term? Would he still die quite early like OTL?

I don't think his re-election victory would be a foregone conclusion. Remember that the 1848 election elected Zachary Taylor of the Whigs. Also, I don't quite know what there would be for him to do in a second term, literally. There's only so much of North America, and he signed treaties establishing the borders with the British and with Mexico during the term he had.
 
Polk in OTL only ran for & served one term because he accomplished all he wanted to in that term & couldn't see any benefit to staying in office, especially at his age & health. To get Polk to run again he'd probably have to be less successful in his first term at achieving his objectives. For all that implies, particularly regarding US territorial gains...
 
As far as I understood from my reading, Polk was not popular enough with his party to run again. He spent the entirety of the war juggling political and military concerns, and was depressed he was making heroes out of his political rivals.

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
As far as I understood from my reading, Polk was not popular enough with his party to run again. He spent the entirety of the war juggling political and military concerns, and was depressed he was making heroes out of his political rivals.

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

Since Polk isn't popular with his party what if he runs as a Third Party or Independent? Polk would still be popular with the voters and Taylor might decide not to run against a popular incumbent.
 
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