NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A resolution supportive of moving President James K. Polk’s body for the third time since his death about 170 years ago has failed in the Tennessee House.
The Republican-led chamber voted 49-37 on the resolution Monday. Fifty are needed to pass.
Polk died of cholera in 1849 and was buried in what’s now Nashville City Cemetery.
Less than a year later, he was moved to a tomb in the yard of his Nashville mansion, as his will specifies.
After his widow’s death in the 1890s, both were buried on the Capitol grounds. The mansion was sold outside the family and demolished in 1901.
Supporters of the resolution want the tomb moved to what was Polk’s father’s home in Columbia, 50 miles away.
The resolution could still be revived this year.
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