William Hawkins Polk (May 24, 1815 – December 16, 1862) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for Tennessee's 6th congressional district from 1851 to 1853.

Prior to his election to Congress, he had been a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives (1841–1845), served as U.S. Minister to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1845–1847), and fought as a major in the Mexican–American War.

"[4] In 1838, William H. Polk killed Robert Hayes, a young Nashville lawyer, following an altercation at the Nelson House in Columbia.

Buchanan instructed Polk to focus on obtaining any treaty, no matter how minimal, that would put the U.S. on an equal footing with Britain, France and Spain.

While the treaty wasn't as favorable as the U.S. had hoped, it did outline rules regarding duties on tonnage and purchase imports, and rights regarding navigation, shipwrecks, movement of citizens, and asylum.

[10][11] In late May 1848, two companies under Polk's command escorted an American delegation to Querétaro, where the two countries exchanged official ratifications of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, bringing the war to an end.

[12] In 1850, Polk was a delegate to the Nashville Convention, a gathering of Southern representatives to plot strategy regarding the expansion of slavery in territories acquired during the Mexican–American War.

In an attempt to counter the secessionist efforts of Fire-Eaters at the convention, Polk, a leader of the moderate Democrats, submitted resolutions that would allow the Southern states to accept the Compromise of 1850.

During the presidential election of 1856, Polk was nominated as an at-large elector for his old State Department boss, James Buchanan, who was the Democratic nominee for president.

[19] In 1857, Polk was elected to Maury County's seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives, defeating an independent candidate, William S. Bassford, 1,669 votes to 676.

[20] Polk again sought the 6th district's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1859, and spent several weeks battling his old foe, James H. Thomas, for the Democratic Party nomination.

[21] Polk persistently campaigned against secession during the growing sectional strife in the late 1850s, delivering sixty speeches, according to one source, in favor of remaining in the Union.

[22][23] In January 1861, after South Carolina had seceded following the election of Abraham Lincoln, Polk remained steadfast in his support for the Union.

In a letter to a friend, he argued that Tennessee should not follow the path of South Carolina and submit itself to a "yoke shaped in an hour of madness and folly by political desperadoes.

[26] In May 1861, Polk chaired the state convention of the Union Party, which had been formed by ex-Whigs and pro-Union Democrats in hopes of stemming the rising secessionist furor led by Governor Isham G. Harris.

[30] He attacked Harris for ordering troops into East Tennessee, arguing the move only served to inflame already-heightened tensions in the region.

[32] In the months following the election, Polk traveled to Washington to champion causes for the state's Unionists, including advocating the confiscation of the property of Confederates.

[37] His sister-in-law, former First Lady Sarah Childress Polk, arranged for his body to be taken to Columbia (which was still behind enemy lines) under a flag of truce for burial.