The President was delighted by the news, seeing it as validation of his stance on expansion, and referred to the discovery several times in his final annual message to Congress that December. Shortly thereafter, actual samples of the California gold arrived, and Polk sent a special message to Congress on the subject. The message, confirming less authoritative reports, caused large numbers of people to move to California, both from the U.S. and abroad, thus helping to spark the California Gold Rush.[232]

Judicial appointments[edit]
Main article: List of federal judges appointed by James K. Polk
Polk appointed the following justices to the U.S. Supreme Court:

Justice
Position
Began activeservice
Ended activeservice

Levi Woodbury
Seat 2
18450920September 20, 1845[c]
18510904September 4, 1851

Robert Cooper Grier
Seat 3
18460804August 4, 1846
18700131January 31, 1870

Associate Justice Levi Woodbury (c. 1850)
Robert C. Grier, one of President Polk's two appointees to the Supreme Court
The 1844 death of Justice Henry Baldwin left a vacant place on the Supreme Court, but Tyler had been unable to get the Senate to confirm a nominee. 