I have a great interest in the American presidents: I've written about Chester Arthur, Ronald Reagan, Franklin Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover on this very blog. I have even published my rankings of them here. Today, I will look at a president who is far more famous for his accomplishments prior to the office. This man, the "Father of the Constitution," served as the fourth president, from 1809-1817. Three of these years, 1812-1814, were quite traumatic to the young nation.
These years, of course, covered an aptly-named war in which the United States fought to reinforce its independence: the War of 1812. The United States was able to fight off an offense from the British. The war itself was necessary, as Madison realized: the British had essentially been abducting American sailors. The way in which it was fought was ignominious. The U.S. was ill prepared to enter the war, and was only able to hold off the British long enough that they grew weary of the war too. In the process, the ill prepared Americans allowed the British to march straight through Washington, DC, as the Madisons fled the White House just before it burned.
The British were held off, but Madison had failed in his role as Commander in Chief. When Madison's administration is analyzed, his actions prior to 1809 must be ignored, which marks President Madison as average at best.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
My Ranking of the Presidents
A long, long time ago, I had a blog. The purpose of this blog was to survey people and achieve a ranking of the presidents. That fell by the wayside, at least in the rather inefficient method of a blog. I achieved my goal in other ways, but I will postpone the publishing of that. Here are the rankings I developed by first grading each, then ranking them all within the grades. Only the rankings appear here.
- George Washington
- Abraham Lincoln
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Ronald Reagan
- James Polk
- Dwight Eisenhower
- Harry Truman
- James Monroe
- Thomas Jefferson
- Andrew Jackson
- Franklin Roosevelt
- John Adams
- Chester Arthur
- William McKinley
- Calvin Coolidge
- Grover Cleveland
- William Taft
- George H. W. Bush
- John Q. Adams
- Rutherford Hayes
- John Kennedy
- James Madison
- Richard Nixon
- Zachary Taylor
- John Tyler
- Woodrow Wilson
- Lyndon Johnson
- Gerald Ford
- Benjamin Harrison
- Herbert Hoover
- Andrew Johnson
- George W. Bush
- Bill Clinton
- Ulysses Grant
- Martin Van Buren
- Millard Fillmore
- Warren Harding
- Jimmy Carter
- James Buchanan
- Franklin Pierce
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Exceeding Expectations: Chester Alan Arthur
On July 2, 1881, tragedy struck the United States as Charles Giteau, 39, shot President James Garfield, 49. Seventy-nine days later, on September 19, the president was dead from his wounds.
During this time, a man who had been prominent in politics for the past ten years slipped quietly away from the public view, not wanting to draw attention to himself as the president suffered. This man was the vice president, Chester Alan Arthur, 51.
Arthur was almost vice president by mistake. A political follower of prominent New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, Arthur became Collector of the Port of New York in 1871, a well paying position. However, his association with Conkling would lose him his job seven years later. Two years after that, in 1880, the Republicans needed to nominate a president. They chose Garfield, an unpopular decision with Conkling and his followers, known as the Stalwarts. To appease the Stalwarts, the Republicans wanted their vice presidential nominee to be one of them. Although Arthur was not their first choice, he accepted when the position was offered. The Garfield-Arthur ticket would go on to win the 1880 presidential election. Ten months after the election, Arthur was president.
The Stalwarts were the last remaining supporters of the idea of a spoils system, where rather than selecting qualified candidates, party bosses would pick those politically helpful to them. Arthur himself had supported the concept prior to obtaining the presidency. However, once in office, his attitude changed, and on January 16, 1883, he signed the Pendleton Civil Service Act. Federal employees were to be chosen on merit, not political grounds, or any other attribute of a candidate besides his merit for the job.
Arthur's term was also marked by the somewhat unfortunate Chinese Exclusion Act, but Arthur vetoed the original version which demanded a 20-year ban on Chinese immigration, and it had been reduced to 10 on the copy which he signed.
A final event of Arthur's term was the beginning of a buildup of the American Navy, as Arthur proposed appropriations which would begin its expansion.
Overall, Chester Arthur's term was a success, especially considering the lack of any positive expectations for his term. He could have easily opposed a bill which basically fixed the broken way in which federal employees were selected; his efforts reduced the effects of a racist bill; and he recommended an expansion of naval appropriations. The years after the assassination of President Garfield could easily have turned disastrous, but under Arthur's guiding hand, those years were rather serene and improved the functioning of the American government. He is one of our most underrated presidents.
During this time, a man who had been prominent in politics for the past ten years slipped quietly away from the public view, not wanting to draw attention to himself as the president suffered. This man was the vice president, Chester Alan Arthur, 51.
Arthur was almost vice president by mistake. A political follower of prominent New York Senator Roscoe Conkling, Arthur became Collector of the Port of New York in 1871, a well paying position. However, his association with Conkling would lose him his job seven years later. Two years after that, in 1880, the Republicans needed to nominate a president. They chose Garfield, an unpopular decision with Conkling and his followers, known as the Stalwarts. To appease the Stalwarts, the Republicans wanted their vice presidential nominee to be one of them. Although Arthur was not their first choice, he accepted when the position was offered. The Garfield-Arthur ticket would go on to win the 1880 presidential election. Ten months after the election, Arthur was president.
The Stalwarts were the last remaining supporters of the idea of a spoils system, where rather than selecting qualified candidates, party bosses would pick those politically helpful to them. Arthur himself had supported the concept prior to obtaining the presidency. However, once in office, his attitude changed, and on January 16, 1883, he signed the Pendleton Civil Service Act. Federal employees were to be chosen on merit, not political grounds, or any other attribute of a candidate besides his merit for the job.
Arthur's term was also marked by the somewhat unfortunate Chinese Exclusion Act, but Arthur vetoed the original version which demanded a 20-year ban on Chinese immigration, and it had been reduced to 10 on the copy which he signed.
A final event of Arthur's term was the beginning of a buildup of the American Navy, as Arthur proposed appropriations which would begin its expansion.
Overall, Chester Arthur's term was a success, especially considering the lack of any positive expectations for his term. He could have easily opposed a bill which basically fixed the broken way in which federal employees were selected; his efforts reduced the effects of a racist bill; and he recommended an expansion of naval appropriations. The years after the assassination of President Garfield could easily have turned disastrous, but under Arthur's guiding hand, those years were rather serene and improved the functioning of the American government. He is one of our most underrated presidents.
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