Leading off the final leg of the journey to historic suckatdue Number 3:
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| Andrew Jackson. 7th President |
So I have a hunch a lot of people would call this my "biggest shock/outrage pick" yet, and thats after putting Washington at #4 on the Best List. And your welcome to that opinion.....but here's the thing, I dont get it.
There are very few famous Presidents in US history where some kind of argument cant be made to justify their high standing in the American Consciousness. In fact I can only think of two, Jackson and Reagan. And in Reagan's case, as vastly overrated as he is (and if this were a top 15 worst presidents list, Reagan would probably be on it) , he at least had some small redeeming qualities to his presidency.
That's more than can be said for Jackson. I tend to think his entire public perception is based on the fact he was the first Democratic president, and since the first ever president, and the first republican were great, people assume he must be too. But its not true.
In fact, the one slightly redeeming thing Jackson did, force South Carolina down on the idea states can nullify federal law, comes with a giant asterisk.....the guy pushing for the idea of Nullification was Jackson's vice president. And this was in the post 12th amendment era, which was designed to make a fight between the President and Vice President much harder.....but at least Jackson replaced him for his second term.
Oh and you remember how I put Chester Arthur at #10 on the best presidents list because he over turned the system of patronage, known as the spoils system that had corrupted pretty much every president since it was put in place? Yea......Jackson is the guy who created it.
And maybe you've heard of the trail of tears in your elementary school? thats another of Jackson's great ideas. In fact his policy towards Native Americans was so bad, its not much of a stretch to compare his policy towards natives to Hitlers policy towards Jews. Hell he even went to war over trying to get rid of the Natives, in the Second Seminole War, america's most expensive war against natives. (and not one we won either, as anyone who roots for Florida State could tell you).
And his stand on African American's wasnt much better. His Attorney General once issued an opinion saying it was legal for the state of South Carolina to legally exclude any free blacks from entering the state. Jackson responded by later appointing his AG Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Oh by the way, this guy's name was Roger Tawney......the Chief Justice who wrote the Dred Scott Decision.
Most famously Jackson killed off the Second Bank of the United States, and ended centralized banking in the country. (side note, the Secretary of the Treasury who actually helped Jackson do this was Roger Tawney, prior to being Chief Justice.....this is how the spoils system works, you just kept kicking your friends higher and higher up the ladder). Now I'm not saying that was a mistake or anything. I'm saying that Jackson paid off the national debt in 1835 (the only time that has ever happened), killed the Bank in 1836, and by 1837 we had a debt of 3.3 million......which meant a lot more back then. Oh and then there was the Panic of 1837, the economic crash that possibly even beats out the great depression as the WORST crash in the history of the country. Technically its official "crash" date is less than 5 weeks after Jackson left office, but since the visible signs of a crash had started before he left, I'm going to break my rule slightly and blame the thing on him, because hey less than 5 weeks really cant be the new guys fault.
It's also worth noting that in the 40 years before Jackson killed the banks, only two presidents failed to win a second term (the 2 Adams') and in the 100 years since Wilson restarted centralized banking, only 4 have failed to win a second term (Hoover, Ford, Carter, H.W. Bush), not counting those who died in their first term. However in that 80 year interim, only 4 presidents won back to back terms....two who won wars (Lincoln and McKinley) and 2 who were considered the heroes of those wars (Grant and T Roosevelt). Now the reason a lot of those presidents lost in those 80 years was because, as a rule, the economy was in the toilet,
Basically, ending the Second Bank was a historically bad decision, that really could only be beaten by a couple of worse decisions.....which brings us nicely to Number 2:
There are very few famous Presidents in US history where some kind of argument cant be made to justify their high standing in the American Consciousness. In fact I can only think of two, Jackson and Reagan. And in Reagan's case, as vastly overrated as he is (and if this were a top 15 worst presidents list, Reagan would probably be on it) , he at least had some small redeeming qualities to his presidency.
That's more than can be said for Jackson. I tend to think his entire public perception is based on the fact he was the first Democratic president, and since the first ever president, and the first republican were great, people assume he must be too. But its not true.
In fact, the one slightly redeeming thing Jackson did, force South Carolina down on the idea states can nullify federal law, comes with a giant asterisk.....the guy pushing for the idea of Nullification was Jackson's vice president. And this was in the post 12th amendment era, which was designed to make a fight between the President and Vice President much harder.....but at least Jackson replaced him for his second term.
Oh and you remember how I put Chester Arthur at #10 on the best presidents list because he over turned the system of patronage, known as the spoils system that had corrupted pretty much every president since it was put in place? Yea......Jackson is the guy who created it.
And maybe you've heard of the trail of tears in your elementary school? thats another of Jackson's great ideas. In fact his policy towards Native Americans was so bad, its not much of a stretch to compare his policy towards natives to Hitlers policy towards Jews. Hell he even went to war over trying to get rid of the Natives, in the Second Seminole War, america's most expensive war against natives. (and not one we won either, as anyone who roots for Florida State could tell you).
And his stand on African American's wasnt much better. His Attorney General once issued an opinion saying it was legal for the state of South Carolina to legally exclude any free blacks from entering the state. Jackson responded by later appointing his AG Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Oh by the way, this guy's name was Roger Tawney......the Chief Justice who wrote the Dred Scott Decision.
Most famously Jackson killed off the Second Bank of the United States, and ended centralized banking in the country. (side note, the Secretary of the Treasury who actually helped Jackson do this was Roger Tawney, prior to being Chief Justice.....this is how the spoils system works, you just kept kicking your friends higher and higher up the ladder). Now I'm not saying that was a mistake or anything. I'm saying that Jackson paid off the national debt in 1835 (the only time that has ever happened), killed the Bank in 1836, and by 1837 we had a debt of 3.3 million......which meant a lot more back then. Oh and then there was the Panic of 1837, the economic crash that possibly even beats out the great depression as the WORST crash in the history of the country. Technically its official "crash" date is less than 5 weeks after Jackson left office, but since the visible signs of a crash had started before he left, I'm going to break my rule slightly and blame the thing on him, because hey less than 5 weeks really cant be the new guys fault.
It's also worth noting that in the 40 years before Jackson killed the banks, only two presidents failed to win a second term (the 2 Adams') and in the 100 years since Wilson restarted centralized banking, only 4 have failed to win a second term (Hoover, Ford, Carter, H.W. Bush), not counting those who died in their first term. However in that 80 year interim, only 4 presidents won back to back terms....two who won wars (Lincoln and McKinley) and 2 who were considered the heroes of those wars (Grant and T Roosevelt). Now the reason a lot of those presidents lost in those 80 years was because, as a rule, the economy was in the toilet,
Basically, ending the Second Bank was a historically bad decision, that really could only be beaten by a couple of worse decisions.....which brings us nicely to Number 2:
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| Franklin Pierce. 14th president. |
The fact that Pierce was nominated on the 34th round of voting at the 1852 Democratic Convention was probably a sign he was going to suck. Sadly no one knew how much.
First there was the Ostend Manifesto, which was drafted by Pierce's ambassadors and state officials, which was designed to give a rational to going to war to annex Cuba as a slave state (possibly two slave states) if Spain refused to sell it to us. Luckily this didnt happen.....but only because something worse did.
Perhaps you've heard the term "Bleeding Kansas"? that would a mini Civil War (or arguably the start of THE civil war) that raged in Kansas over its admission as a slave or free state starting in 1854.
Well that was Pierces fault. You see the territory of Kansas wanted to come in as a state (well two states, Kansas and Nebraska), and under the preexisting laws at the time, both would have come in as free states since they were north of the Missouri Compromise line. Well pro slavery forces, including the President, objected and instead changed the law to allow "popular opinion" to decide if the states would be free or not. Which worked so well, the first election held on the issue in Kansas had more votes cast then people living in Kansas at the time. And that election led to a Pro slavery Constitution and government. Congress sent a committee to Kansas to look into the results, and the committee declared the results invalid and called for a new election. The second election (which was policed and closer at least to being a real and fair election) nominated an anti slavery government and an anti slavery Constitution. Pierce for his part had the anti slavery government declared insurrectionists, which would be quickly followed up by an attack and sacking of the anti slavery town of Lawrence, and so on and so forth it would go, in fact the bloodshed of bleeding Kansas would only officially end in 1861....not because the fighting stopped but because the fighting in Kansas became national and was absorbed into the Civil War.
Which brings us to our number 1, and unlucky winner of the WORST DAMN PRESIDENT AMERICA HAS EVER HAD:
First there was the Ostend Manifesto, which was drafted by Pierce's ambassadors and state officials, which was designed to give a rational to going to war to annex Cuba as a slave state (possibly two slave states) if Spain refused to sell it to us. Luckily this didnt happen.....but only because something worse did.
Perhaps you've heard the term "Bleeding Kansas"? that would a mini Civil War (or arguably the start of THE civil war) that raged in Kansas over its admission as a slave or free state starting in 1854.
Well that was Pierces fault. You see the territory of Kansas wanted to come in as a state (well two states, Kansas and Nebraska), and under the preexisting laws at the time, both would have come in as free states since they were north of the Missouri Compromise line. Well pro slavery forces, including the President, objected and instead changed the law to allow "popular opinion" to decide if the states would be free or not. Which worked so well, the first election held on the issue in Kansas had more votes cast then people living in Kansas at the time. And that election led to a Pro slavery Constitution and government. Congress sent a committee to Kansas to look into the results, and the committee declared the results invalid and called for a new election. The second election (which was policed and closer at least to being a real and fair election) nominated an anti slavery government and an anti slavery Constitution. Pierce for his part had the anti slavery government declared insurrectionists, which would be quickly followed up by an attack and sacking of the anti slavery town of Lawrence, and so on and so forth it would go, in fact the bloodshed of bleeding Kansas would only officially end in 1861....not because the fighting stopped but because the fighting in Kansas became national and was absorbed into the Civil War.
Which brings us to our number 1, and unlucky winner of the WORST DAMN PRESIDENT AMERICA HAS EVER HAD:
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| James Buchanan. 15th president. |
You know, I'm convinced part of the reason Lincoln is seen as such a great president is because he followed these two jackasses. (the fact that both of Lincolns immediate successors are also usually on these "bad lists" likely helps as well)
For starters he had the bad luck to be in office when Dred Scott was issued....although he was hardly a critic of the decision.
But mostly his administration consisted of taking everything Franklin Pierce had done and making it worse.
For example, Pierce had refused to recognize Utah for admission to the Union....mostly because he didnt like polygamists. When Utah tried again after Pierce left office Buchanan sent the military to replace the governor by force. (so yea a military overthrow of a duly elected government). The plan was stopped when the Mormons took up arms and raids all over the territory, the army backed off and Buchanan basically ignored the state for the rest of his term.
He also got involved in Bloody Kansas. He appointed a new governor to hold yet another election to decide if Kansas would be free or slave......well sort of. You see the options to vote were "a Constitution with slavery", and a "Constitution without slavery", except the second choice actually meant not that Kansas was a free state, but only that it would ban the future importation of slaves into the state.....something that basically would have been unenforceable. Not shockingly the "With slavery" option won, despite most Kansans being against slavery. Buchanan then instantly publicly endorsed this Constitution as the legitimate one, only to see it go down in flames in congress. (in fairness to Buchanan's hand picked governor, he resigned after seeing the options for the vote not wanting to be involved with the injustice)
But here's what lands Buchanan at the number 1 spot.....he was the president in office when the South Seceded. South Carolina went first in December of 1860, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas would all follow, and the Confederate States would officially be created while he was in office. Hell Jefferson Davis was even sworn in while Buchanan was in office.
However the big problem was actually that as the states seceded they confiscated all federal property in their respective states, much of which was fortifications and the weapons needed to fight the civil war.
Buchanan's response was to decide that this really wasnt his problem, he'd be out of office in 4 months or less (he'd already lost his reelection bid), stick his head up his ass and do nothing.
Which is possibly the biggest dereliction of duty of any president in US history....even John Adams and Andrew Jackson at least threatened to put down uprisings with military force, Buchanan couldnt even be bothered to do that.
So yea, for basically abandoning his duty, James Buchanan is america's worst president EVER!.
So there you have it folks, America's 10 best.....and 10 worst presidents.
That said I would feel a little remiss if I didnt include my runner up for 10 worst presidents, especially since I did a runner up for 10 best presidents (Harry Truman). Except that in this case, we have a tie.
For starters he had the bad luck to be in office when Dred Scott was issued....although he was hardly a critic of the decision.
But mostly his administration consisted of taking everything Franklin Pierce had done and making it worse.
For example, Pierce had refused to recognize Utah for admission to the Union....mostly because he didnt like polygamists. When Utah tried again after Pierce left office Buchanan sent the military to replace the governor by force. (so yea a military overthrow of a duly elected government). The plan was stopped when the Mormons took up arms and raids all over the territory, the army backed off and Buchanan basically ignored the state for the rest of his term.
He also got involved in Bloody Kansas. He appointed a new governor to hold yet another election to decide if Kansas would be free or slave......well sort of. You see the options to vote were "a Constitution with slavery", and a "Constitution without slavery", except the second choice actually meant not that Kansas was a free state, but only that it would ban the future importation of slaves into the state.....something that basically would have been unenforceable. Not shockingly the "With slavery" option won, despite most Kansans being against slavery. Buchanan then instantly publicly endorsed this Constitution as the legitimate one, only to see it go down in flames in congress. (in fairness to Buchanan's hand picked governor, he resigned after seeing the options for the vote not wanting to be involved with the injustice)
But here's what lands Buchanan at the number 1 spot.....he was the president in office when the South Seceded. South Carolina went first in December of 1860, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas would all follow, and the Confederate States would officially be created while he was in office. Hell Jefferson Davis was even sworn in while Buchanan was in office.
However the big problem was actually that as the states seceded they confiscated all federal property in their respective states, much of which was fortifications and the weapons needed to fight the civil war.
Buchanan's response was to decide that this really wasnt his problem, he'd be out of office in 4 months or less (he'd already lost his reelection bid), stick his head up his ass and do nothing.
Which is possibly the biggest dereliction of duty of any president in US history....even John Adams and Andrew Jackson at least threatened to put down uprisings with military force, Buchanan couldnt even be bothered to do that.
So yea, for basically abandoning his duty, James Buchanan is america's worst president EVER!.
So there you have it folks, America's 10 best.....and 10 worst presidents.
That said I would feel a little remiss if I didnt include my runner up for 10 worst presidents, especially since I did a runner up for 10 best presidents (Harry Truman). Except that in this case, we have a tie.
The two guys who just missed making the cut would be Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, the 29th and 30th presidents. Both these guys benefited highly from the fact I cant blame them for the Great Depression because it didnt happen while they were in office, even though it was pretty clearly their policies that led to it (which they still take heat for even under my rules since the policies were bad at the time in many cases).
However even without that, they both still came close to making my list, Harding for the Teapot Dome and Veterans affairs and Justice Department scandals (all involved his appointees basically stealing money from the government), and Coolidge for his response (or lack of) to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, leaving flood damage that was only surpassed by Hurricane Katrina. The only thing that knocked the two of them off was a sense of obligation that I had to include the only president to resign and the one who oversaw the most corrupt administration ever. I would say that Nixon and Grant were actually better presidents than Harding and Coolidge (especially Harding), but I just couldnt justify not including such historic levels of corruption, so Harding and Coolidge got moved off the list.
Finally for those who are interested in partisanship, the final party tallies are as follows:
On the 10 best presidents list: 4 Republicans, 4 Democrats (5 counting the runner up), 1 Democratic-Republican, and George Washington who had no party.
On the 10 worst presidents list: 3 Republicans (5 counting the two runner ups), 4 Democrats, 1 Federalist, 1 Whig, and Andrew Johnson, whom I cant decide what party to stick him with.
Since I didnt really consider party affiliations when I put these lists together, I find it kinda interesting its basically an even balance all around.
Finally for those who are interested in partisanship, the final party tallies are as follows:
On the 10 best presidents list: 4 Republicans, 4 Democrats (5 counting the runner up), 1 Democratic-Republican, and George Washington who had no party.
On the 10 worst presidents list: 3 Republicans (5 counting the two runner ups), 4 Democrats, 1 Federalist, 1 Whig, and Andrew Johnson, whom I cant decide what party to stick him with.
Since I didnt really consider party affiliations when I put these lists together, I find it kinda interesting its basically an even balance all around.
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