Walker Tariff of 1846Polk said that he would never put another tariff out during his presidency. He got together with his secretary of state (also known as his brother-in-law) Robert Walker, and spoke with him about the tariff levels. Soon the Bill was passed to Congress, which over a long debate was agreed on. The Walker Tariff moved prices down toward revenue-only levels. It also dropped the policy of a percent of value of the goods rates (ad valorem rate) in favor for a set rate, regardless of what its value was. This was in favor for many of the citizens, even though some Congress disagreed.
Independent Treasury Act of 1846
Polk wanted to bring back the Independent Treasury Act that President Buren has made into a law in 1840, since the Whigs in Congress repealed it one year later. This act established independent treasury deposit offices separate from private/state banks to relieve all government funds. This system was supposed to help replace for the damages from the Panic of 1837. Polk made sure that any disbursements where given in hard currency, like gold or silver. This was to hopefully avoid any money problems in the bank while the country was expanding its territory.
Wilmot Proviso: Slavery in the New TerritoriesThe Wilmot Proviso said that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of the Mexico territory." Nearly all of the northern Democrats and Whigs supported it, southern Democrats and Whigs disapproved it. This exposed sectionalism, threatening to split the pro-slavery Democratic Party. Polk's southern supporters ended up looking towards John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. Calhoun made the "southern rights position" to the Wilmot Proviso stating that southerners should be able to transport their "human cattle" anywhere in the country. But towards then end of Polk's term, the issue of slavery in the new territories still loomed over the nation.
