Clue #1: Take the amount, in millions, that the U.S. spent on the Gadsden Purchase. Unlike Ben Bernanke, you need not worry about inflation.
Clue #2: Take the number of schools in the Big Ten Conference. Add to that the number of the Constitutional amendment that forbade cruel and unusual punishment.
Clue #3: Polk rallying cry: "54-_____ or fight". That proposal was too ambitious. So fill in the blank, but then halve it.
Clue #4: A squared, then rounded pi.
Clue #5: Hopefully this is not widely viewed as cruel and unusual punishment. Clue 1 is the month, clue 4 the days, then clue 2 followed by 3 for the year. 1/4/2&3.....or is that 4/1/2&3?
Clue #6: There's no "I" in team, but he needed no help in pulling of this unmatched feat.