Are we more polarized today than ever before?

One thing I get tired of hearing is people saying that we are more polarized today than ever before. We are a history of wars, and what is more polarizing than wars. You have people so polarized that they want to kill each other to get their way. We have fewer wars today than ever before, and, therefore, by default, we are less polarized today, not more.

So, you want to relate it to American history. What about the election of 1812 was between Thomas Jefferson democratic-Republicans and John Adams Federalists. Back then presidential candidates believed it was not presidential to campaign for themselves, yet their surrogates were very polarized in their comments.

They each called their opponents some vial names. Let me give you some examples. Both sides claimed that victory by the other would ruin the nation. I have heard such comments from both sides in nearly every election that I've ever participated in.

Federalists called Jefferson an undisciplined deist whose sympathy for the French revolution would bring similar bloodshed to America. Democratic-Republicans complained that the Federalists wanted the government to be too central and too powerful. They adamantly complained about the attack on individual rights by the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Adam's Federalists wanted a large central government with the government having more control over people's lives, while Jefferson's Democrats wanted a small central government in order so that the people could have control of their own lives.

Rutherford B. Hayes: The end of reconstruction

Rutherford B. Hayes, a republican, was the 19th President of the United States.  He became president in one of the most contested elections in American history, and oversaw the nation through the end of the reconstruction period following the Civil War.

In 1842 he graduated valedictorian of his class at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.  He then studied at a Columbus law office for a year before entering Harvard, where he earned a law degree in 1845.  He began a practice in Lower Sandusky, although he moved his practice to Cincinnati in 1849 where he became a successful lawyer.  At this time he was a Whig.

Because of his opposition to slavery he was drawn to the republican party.  When the Civil War started he offered his services to the State of Ohio, and Governor William Dennison appointed him major of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  He saw a lot of action, rose up the ranks, and was wounded four times.  

He was still in the army in 1864, Cincinnati republicans nominated him for Congress.  He refused to campaign as he believed that would be a dishonor to the military.  He did, however, accept the nomination, and was elected to Congress.  He did not take his seat until the Union had won the war, and was reelected in 1866.

In 1867 he was elected governor of Ohio.  He retired after his second term in 1872, although he was elected governor again in 1875.  It was at this time that his fellow republicans nominated him to run for president. He faced off against Democrat Samuel J. Tildon, who won the popular vote by a count of 4,288,311 to 4,288,546.  

At first count Tildon had won 184 electoral votes and Hayes had won 165.  This left 20 electoral votes that were unresolved, although Hayes would have to win every single one of these votes in order to become president.  Believing he had been defeated, he went to bed.  

The 20 electoral votes were disputed in four states.  Both parties in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina had reported their candidate had won.  In Oregon one of the electors was declared illegal and replaced. The dispute was over who would win these 20 electoral votes. 

For several months the nation was held in limbo as uncertainty reigned.  Then, in January 1877, Congress established an ad hoc electoral commission to resolve the dispute composed of eight republicans and seven democrats.  The results were completely along party lines, as every single one of the 20 electoral votes were given to Hayes by a vote of 8 to 7.  This gave Hayes the Presidency by an electoral vote of 185 to 184.  

Compromise of 1877 was then made between republicans and democrats in the House allowing the results of the electoral commission to take effect in exchange for the removal of troops from the states in contention. Northern republicans also promised southern democrats one cabinet post in the Hayes administration, and subsidies for internal improvements

Before Hayes was inaugurated, Grant acted by removing troops from Florida.  After his inauguration Hayes removed troops from South Carolina and Louisiana.  White republicans left with the troops, and white democrats were allowed to take over leadership in these states.  This left black republicans in the cold and feeling betrayed.  

This compromise was very controversial.  So Hayes secretly took the oath of office in the Red Room of the White House.  He decided that appointments should be made on merit and not based on politics.  So angered some republicans by choosing one person for a cabinet office who was an ex-Confederate, and another who had bolted to become a liberal republican in 1872.

Hayes hoped that by removing the remaining troops from the south he could instigate peace in the region, and create a republican majority in the south.  However, neither he, nor his republican successor -- James A. Garfield -- were able to create this republican majority.

Regardless, after all the scandals of the Grant administration, Hayes was seen as a very trustworthy man who brought honesty and respect back to the White house.

The following are facts about his presidency.

• He was the first president to take the oath of office in the White House
• Of all the Civil War Heroes to become president, he was the only one shot four times
• His wife -- Lucy Webb Hayes-- was the first wife of a president to have a college degree
• His wife was also the first wife of a president to be referred to as the first lady
• He was the first president to be elected by a congressional commission
• He was the only president elected by one electoral vote (still the closest election ever)
• He was the first president to lose the popular vote and win the presidency
• He was the first president to travel to the west coast
• He was the first president to have a typewriter
• He was the first president to use a phone
• He began the "Easter Egg Roll" on the White House lawn in 1878

Lucy Webb wanted to have an alcohol free world, and so she banned alcohol from the White House.  She also championed and succeeded to obtain a ban of alcohol in army forts.  

He made a pledge that he would only serve one term, and he honored this pledge.  

The Compromise of 1877 is still seen as a controversy to this day.  The results called for the end of reconstruction, and ultimately resulted in many southern states returning to their pre-Civil War ways, working to the detriment to blacks in the south.  

Further Reading:

• The disputed presidential election of 1876
• History Channel: Rutherford B. Hayes

Teddy Roosevelt: The Stewardship Theory

Teddy Roosevelt turned the presidency into the "bully pulpit."  While most presidents before him, except during times of war, were inactive, Roosevelt made it to a president could be active even during times of peace, especially when he believed something was in the best interest of the populace, or "for your own good."

He explained this in his autobiography:

I declined to aosevdopt the view that what was imperatively necessary for the Nation could not be done by the President unless he could find some specific authorization to do it. My belief was that it was not only his right but his duty to do anything that the needs of the Nation demanded unless such action was forbidden by the Constitution or by the laws. Under this interpretation of executive power I did and caused to be done many things not previously done by the President and the heads of the departments. I did not usurp power, but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power. In other words, I acted for the public welfare, I acted for the common well-being of all our people, whenever and in whatever manner was necessary, unless prevented by direct constitutional or legislative prohibition.

William Howard Taft referred to this as the Stewardship Theory.  Not only must a president do what the Constitution commands him to do, he must also push forth his agenda if he believes it serves the general welfare.  The exception here is "unless he is expressly forbidden not do it" by the Constitution.

The problem with this is that many future progressive presidents took this a step further, and made it so their own personal agenda was prioritized above and beyond the Constitution.  When this started to happen was when chaos in our nation started to ensue.

William Howard Taft: The last liberal conservative

Theodore Roosevelt was so popular as his second term as president came to an end that he easily could have won a third term, yet he made the spontaneous decision almost immediately after his 1908 landslide victory not to run for re-election.  Not wanting to give up the progress he made, he hand selected his good friend and secretary of war, William Howard Taft,  to succeed him.

Taft did a good job of not making it publicly known what his political stance was on many of the political issues of the day.  It must have been presumed by Roosevelt, perhaps it was even discussed, that Taft would continue his work of reform (the progress) that he had accomplished.

Roosevelt was under the impression that Taft was, like him, a progressive. In fact, Roosevelt even had him make a pledge to do just that.

What Roosevelt did not know was that Taft was a classical liberal (a conservative by today's standards) who secretly despised Roosevelt's idealist agenda.  In fact, he would later claim that Roosevelt's disregard for the Constitution made him "not unlike Napoleon."

So, in essence, Taft reneged on his promise. But not initially.  He initially did some "trust busting" of his own by initiating 80 anti-trust suits.  However, he later backed away from these suits, and aligned himself with the more conservative members of his party, as opposed to Roosevelt's progressive wing of the party.

Despite being a conservative, he agreed to sign the Payne-Aldrich Tariff in 1909, which essentially raised some tariffs even higher than they were during the Roosevelt administration.  Roosevelt actually wanted him to veto this bill.

While he was president two very progressive amendments were ratified.

• 16th amendment, which called for a progressive income tax.  This allows Washington to tax income and not allocate it equally to all the states. This allowed the president and Congress the ability to pick and choose who to give the money to, which was a direct violation of the Constitution.
• 17th amendment, which called for the direct election of senators. This made is so that no longer could state House's choose the senators, instead they were voted on by the people. This made it less likely that senators would defend and protect state's rights, which was why it was set up the way it was.  This made it much easier for progressives to get their agenda approved even when it directly vioilated state rights (Obamacare is a great example)

Teddy Roosevelt was irate to learn that Taft had overturned many of his reforms, and he decided, still in his early 50s, that he still had the energy to be president.  Since the republicans nominated Taft, Roosevelt ran under the Bull Moose Party as an ardent progressive.  

Roosevelt was even more progressive than democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson.  Because the republican party was split, Wilson easily defeated both Roosevelt and Taft.  

Senator Albert J. Beveridge: Buddies with Teddy Roosevelt?

Senator Albert J. Beveridge is a name all school children should become aware of, because he was one of the leading Senate progressives responsible for helping Roosevelt champion and pass much of his progressive agenda.

He was the main ally of Teddy Roosevelt against his own party, mainly the classical liberals, or the conservative wing. By today's standards, Teddy Roosevelt was the John McCain, while William Howard Taft was the traditionalist like Sarah Palin (although it's not actually fair to compare Taft with Palin, but for this example it's fitting).

The following are some of the things Beveridge helped make possible for the progressives:

• Reform of the meat packing industry (with the help of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle) by the passage of the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 
• Child labor laws 
• 8 hour work day 

He was the friend of the following:

• The special interests 
• Conservationists 
• Reformers 
• Railroad magnates 
• Trusts 

He once noted, "The opposition tells us we ought not to rule a people without their consent. I answer, the rule of liberty, that all just governments derive their authority from the consent of the governed, applies only to those who are capable of self-government."

It's should also be noted he was a Republican from Indiana, a historian, and the keynote speaker for the progressive party when Roosevelt ran for President in 1912.

He served as Senator from 1899 to 1911. He ran for the senate one more time in 1922 and lost, and dedicated the rest of his life to writing literature. He actually won the Pulitzer prize for his book, "The Life of John Marshal."

Teddy Roosevelt: The first progressive president

Teddy Roosevelt's administration marked a shift in American politics toward a more active president with greater powers.  In essence, he turned the executive into the "bully pulpit."

Most presidents from Thomas Jefferson to William McKinley believed the role of government was limited, and that individuals were better at making decisions than government.  This all changed with the death of William McKinley.  Teddy Roosevelt became president, and he used his energy to increase the powers of the executive, making it possible for future presidents to allow government to intercede in nearly every aspect of our daily lives.

In August of 1898 he returned home from Cuba the most popular man in the United States, and it was mainly for this reason that republican leaders in New York asked him to run for governor.  He was young had tons of energy, and turned out to be a brilliant politician.  It was hear he is thought to have said," said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."  His campaign used his war heroics, even going as far as to have Rough Riders speaking on his behalf, to help his chances.

He was 25-years-old when he was inaugurated as governor of New York in January of 1901.  He became an ardent reformer, or what later would be called "progressive," and later "liberal."  He called for:

• Laws limiting the long working hours of children
• Better conditions for workers in factories (sometimes called sweatshops)
• Signed a law imposing taxes on corporations

William Plat was a former U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate member from New York who was considered the "Political Boss" of the republican party.  He helped Roosevelt gain the governorship, and by 1900 he was tired of him.  He said, "I don't want him raising hell in my state any longer."  

Roosevelt was up for reelection.  The Boss came up with the perfect solution: he began a campaign to have Roosevelt nominated as William McKinley's vice president.  This would turn out to be perhaps the biggest blunder in the history of American politics.  McKinley, with Roosevelt riding on the ticket, easily defeated William Jennings Bryan.

Okay, so I alluded to the fact that Roosevelt would "fundamentally transform" the republican party into a progressive party.  Well, the same was true of the democratic party. It is probably for this reason that Grover Cleveland is often considered as the last classical liberal.  William Jennings Bryan had transformed the democratic party to becoming more progressive (big government) party.  So perhaps the transition was inevitable.  

Regardless, McKinley was now president.  But not for long.  On September 6, 1901, McKinley was shot by an anarchist and by September 13 the president was dead.  This officially made Roosevelt the "Accidental President."

The irony of this news was that, along with the death of McKinley, so too was the death of limited government.  Roosevelt proceeded to fundamentally transform the executive.  He gave it powers that previous presidents believed were unconstitutional (and rightly so). 

Yet because of books like Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," the American people came to realize (or at least to figure) that individual corporations were not going to regulate themselves, and the state's could not be trusted to create regulations fast enough.  So men like Roosevelt believed this was the job of the federal government.

His progressive agenda became known as the "Square Deal."  It incorporated three core principles that are still staunchly used by liberals today.  

1. Regulating Corporations
2. Protecting Consumers from the Free Market
3. Safeguarding Natural Resources from Overuse

To accomplish these, he increased the powers of the executive by becoming the first president to create agencies that would be given the authority to regulate, or make rules or laws for individuals and individual corporations, without the approval of Congress.  The first of these was the establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903, which gave consumers a voice in Washington. 

He distrusted wealthy business owners, and so he started by breaking up monopolies that were created by the formation of trusts. These monopolies were formed when stockholders from various companies turned their stock over to a trustee in exchange for a trust certificate guaranteeing them a dividend.  The companies were run as though they were one company, and therefore this allowed them to set prices as high or low as needed to drive the competition out of business.  

The test case for Roosevelt was J.P. Morgan's attempt to combine three railroads and to combine them into a single corporation called Northern Securities Company.  Roosevelt had attorney general Philander Knox bring suit charging that this was a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.  The Supreme Court decided in Roosevelt's favor, thus giving the government the authority to break up other trusts, such as those in the beef, cattle, and oil industries. 

Roosevelt said he was only out to get trusts that he saw were abusing workers or overcharging customers. So, essentially, the federal government decided what trusts could continue to exist.  During Roosevelt's eight years 40 trusts were dissolved. He became known as the "trust buster." 

In 1902 he used what was now referred to as the "bully pulpit" to settle a dispute between business and labor.  In May, 15,000 workers went on strike to protest low wages and unsafe working conditions in coal mines. The mine owners hired non-union replacement workers.  Ticked off, the striking workers terrorized the replacement workers.  

Since coal was a essential for a functioning economy -- it was used to generate electricity, heat, power railroads, and heat homes, businesses, and schools -- the strike caused schools to close, coal prices to quadruple, and families to freeze during the winter.  It also resulted in riots as people fought to obtain coal from the few remaining locomotives that carried it.  

Previous presidents supported state's rights, and the rights of individual corporations, and therefore, if they got involved, they would support the corporations.  Roosevelt decided to take a different approach.  Even though he had no legal right to interfere, he invited both sides to Washington.  An arbitrator came up with a plan the strikers accepted but the mine owners rejected. 

So he tried speaking softly, now he got out his big stick.  He unconstitutionally ordered U.S. troops to prepare to take over the mines.  Workers were allowed to go back to work, and an arbitrator worked out an agreement that required a 10 percent wage increase, reduction in workday hours, and safer working conditions. Of course in order to do this coal prices were raised 10 percent.  

The people were happy that the president took away some of the liberties of the coal operators to the benefit of the common worker.  Roosevelt's popularity skyrocketed.

Modern libertarians won't like his next move, but many conservatives would.  For years people had wanted to create a channel across Panama so ships wouldn't have to travel thousands of miles around the tip of South America.  The Colombian government had rejected this idea.

However, a group in Panama had wanted to break away from Columbia and form their own government. Roosevelt decided he would support these radicals obtain their independence in exchange for the right to a Canal Zone where a canal could be dug out.  After ten years of construction, the Panama Canal opened in 1914.

Did Roosevelt have the Constitutional right to tinker in national affairs for his own personal gain the way he did? This is a question that made Roosevelt's actions so controversial.  The answer is still debated to this day.  However, this action created a precedent for future presidents to act upon.

During the 1904 election, Alton B. Parker, a judge from New York, ran as a conservative against liberal William Randolph Hearst for the democratic nomination.  Parker won the nomination, although was no match against the popular Roosevelt.  Parker received only 140 electoral votes to Roosevelt's 336.

Roosevelt would gloat about the results: "I have the greatest popular majority and the greatest electoral majority ever given a candidate for president."  But then he went on to say that he would not run for reelection in 1908.  This was a decision he would come to regret.

By 1906 various investigative reporters were reporting on abuses in the workplace. Roosevelt often responded to these reporters, calling them "Muckrakers."  One example of such "muckraking" was the book "The Jungle," by Upton Sinclair, which reported on the unfair and uncleanly working conditions in the meat packing industry.

They also gave Roosevelt an opportunity to solve more problems, and buy more votes for his party (or for the progressive cause, if you will).  He acted by creating regulations that would create more consumer protections and better working conditions.  Keep in mind here that Sinclair was a socialist, and he was after the workers more so than the consumers.

To get started, he encouraged Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act in June of 1906.  This act mandated that food prepared in factories be properly labeled and and safely produced.  It lead to the formation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which had the ability to set regulations on the workplace without the permission of Congress.

The FDA went on to:

• Ban foreign and interstate traffic in adulterated or mislabeled food and drug products
• Direct the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry to inspect products and refer offenders to prosecuters
• Required active ingredients be placed on the label of a drug's packaging 
• It required that drugs could not fall below purity levels established b the U.S. Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary.

The actions of Roosevelt here were very popular. However, how good were they actually in retrospect? Conservatives would argue that cleaning up the meat packing industry should have been left to the states, not the federal government.  Likewise, creating laws and regulations is the job of Congress, not the executive branch.

By the turn of the century many railroad owners recognized their costs were increasing, so they decided to take advantage of the increased demand for their services by increasing their rates.  Passengers and shippers were unhappy with this, and the fact that railroads were giving free passes to loyal shippers.

So in 1903 he signed the Elkins Act, named for Senator Steven B. Elkins.  It strengthened the Interstate Commerce Committee (ICC) that was created in 1887 when Grover Cleveland signed the Interstate Commerce Act.  Now the ICC had the ability to impose fines on railroads for offering rebates, and punish shippers who accepted the rebates.

In 1906 he signed the Hepburn Act, named after its sponsor, republican William Peters Hepburn.  This act fortified the Interstate Commerce Committee, giving it the authority to set maximum rates, to restrict use of free passes, and the ability to enforce the regulations it created.  It also brought other businesses that transport goods and services under the control of the ICC, including terminals, storage facilities, pipelines, ferries, and trucking.

Both of these acts benefited consumers at the expense of the railroads. These Acts were justified under the false pretense that railroads were rich and could afford it. What the new laws did was retard the growth of the south, which the railroads could no longer afford to subsidize.  This was one of the unintended consequences of government interventions into the marketplace "with good intentions."

In essence, Roosevelt did something that would cause many of the founding fathers, and most of the previous presidents, roll over in their graves: he turned the government into a giant watchdog. Many people were fearful of what a large central government might do to personal liberties.  One newspaper wrote that Roosevelt's programs were "the most amazing program of centralization that any President of the United States has ever accomplished."

History would show that they were justified in their fear.  Roosevelt, in essence, opened a Pandora's Box, setting precedents that nearly every president after him used to their advantage to push forth an agenda and to obtain votes. Before Roosevelt, this was never done out of fear of what might happen if they did.

Fearing that Roosevelt's agenda might harm the country, conservatives decided to take Roosevelt's promise not to run for reelection to heart.  They started to work to delay his agenda any way they could, hoping that the next president wouldn't be so "progressive."

Congress was successful, although the president sometimes found ways to push forth his agenda (similar to what Obama would later do) to push forth his agenda anyway: by using executive orders.  One of his executive orders blocked the misuse of natural resources (forests, wildlife areas, vital waterways, natural wonders like the Grand Canyon).  He also assembled a conference of state and territorial governors to discuss conservation.

Surely these are all nice things.  Surely it's great to see the federal government preserving natural resources.  it's great to see all the natural parks and forests from being destroyed.  Still, many wondered if this was proper use of the executive branch.

All of Roosevelt's actions were noble, but they all increased the power and scope of government.  They created regulations, each of which took away another personal liberty.  Plus they were expensive, and would require sacrifices by the populace.

This was one of the reasons tariffs stayed generally high during his term in office, and he refused to even hear arguments about tariffs while he was president. This was also the reason why Roosevelt became the first president to push for a progressive income tax system.

Among his last actions was to utilize the precedent created by the McKinley administration (a time when he was vice president) to show the mite of the U.S. military, and the ability of the U.S. to be a world power. Japanese immigrants in California were the subject of discrimination.  Leaders in Japan made clear their disappointment.  Roosevelt responded by sending 16 battle ships (The Great White Fleet) on a goodwill cruise around the world.  This would be the "greatest display of naval power ever brought together in one squadron."

While protectionists would consider this a bad move on his part, I think it was good.  It, along with the actions of Mckinley, helped clear the path to the United States becoming a Superpower.

During his last two years in office Roosevelt worked hard to push forth more progressive programs, but Congress decided not to act on any of them because they knew Roosevelt would be out of office in 2008. They figured his successor wouldn't be so progressive, or at least have the energy, and things would return to normal.

Roosevelt personally selected his secretary of war, his friend William Howard Taft, to be the leader of the next administration.  Roosevelt believed Taft was the best person to continue on pushing forth the progressive agenda.  Little did he know that Taft was not a supporter of the progressive agenda at all, and was actually a conservative.

So, while many today associate the democratic party with the progressive movement, the father of the movement was actually Teddy Roosevelt -- a republican.  He is the father of modern liberalism.  He created the "activist president," thereby setting the precedent for the president to be active during times of peace as well as times of war. 

Andrew Johnson: A lucky-unlucky president

Harper's Weekly of Thaddeus Stevens making his final argument
to the house during Johnson's impeachment hearing.

When Andrew Johnson was selected to be Senator from Tennessee in 1857 he did not have ambitions of becoming president.  Yet circumstances would unravel as to set up a situation whereby he would luck into the Vice Presidency and, six months later, the Presidency. However, his time in that office was tenuous at best, or quite unlucky despite his honorable intentions.

He lived in a part of Tennessee where there were no large plantations and no wealthy land owners. So he had no ambitions to pass laws that benefited large businesses and merchants.  This was the job of the Whig party, which grew a large following in Tennessee.

Johnson, on the other hand, was sort of what we would now refer to as a libertarian.  However, back in his day they were referred to as Jacksonian Democrats. They supported farmers and small businesses, or what many refer to as commoners.  He was opposed to regulations and taxes, believing commoners could manage their affairs better than the government.

So he had a nice job as U.S. Senator from Tennessee when the Civil War Started.  He had succeeded in talking legislators in his state from seceding from the nation until the Battle of fort Sumpter between April 12-14, 1861.  It was at this point that tensions grew to a point that, despite his pleas to stay in the Union, Tennessee seceded.

Despite this, Johnson became the only Senator from a Confederate State to stay loyal to the Union and stay at his post.  This must have been the hardest decision he ever had to make.  He was lambasted and ridiculed by other legislators from Tennessee, many of whom had been his friends.  But it also proved to be a brilliant decision at the same time, as he was loved by members of the Union.

One person who was well aware of Johnson's heroics was Abraham Lincoln.  During his first term as President, Lincoln appointed Johnson Military Governor to Tennessee. Johnson was honored to take the job, although he would soon discover that it was an arduous task mainly because he had little authority over Union soldiers, and because there remained many Confederate supporters in the state.

It must be understood that at this time their were two factions of the republican party: Moderate Republicans and Radical Republicans.  Moderate Republicans were lead by Abraham Lincoln, and this consisted of the majority when Lincoln was elected in 1860 and 1864.

During reconstruction, Radical Republicans agreed with Lincoln that the seceded states should be admitted back into the Union, although on Congress's terms,not the presidents. Radical Republicans believed the seceded states should be punished, and their social structure uprooted. In the meantime, they wanted newly emancipated blacks to be protected by Federal powers.

In 1864, Moderate Republicans contented that their party was for all Union supporters.  So, for one election only, they became the Union Party.  Hannibal Hamlin had been Lincoln's Vice President, but moderate republicans, concerned about Lincoln's re-election chances due to the war, thought Andrew Johnson would
appeal to voters in border states.  So Johnson became the logical choice as Lincoln's running mate -- even though he was a slave owning southern democrat (he owned a few slaves).

This decision didn't sit so well with Radical Republicans in the North, one of whom was Thaddeus Stevens, who believed the republicans should have found a candidate "without going down into one of those damned rebel provinces," Steven's said.

George B. McClellen was the best logical choice of the democrats.  He had gained fame as General of Union Troops at the start of the war, although he had lost the faith of the President, who replaced him with General Ulysses S. Grant.  The problem with McClellan is he did not support the Democrat position that the war should come to a swift end.

It didn't really matter that the republicans chose Johnson to be the VP, or that the democrats chose McClellan as their presidential nominee, because just prior to the election word was spread of General Sherman's triumphant victory in Atlanta.  This seemed to be all that was needed to carry Lincoln into a landslide victory in the general election, earning him 212 electoral votes to McClellan's 21.

However, six months after the election, on April 15, 1865, Lincoln was dead and Johnson was sworn in as President. This was an unlucky moment for Lincoln, Johnson, and the nation.  However, this was how Johnson, a democrat and slave owner from the south, became president when republicans controlled Washington.

Initially every thing seemed to work out just fine for Johnson, as he intended to push forth the plans already set in place by Lincoln.

Just prior to his death, Lincoln authorized a ten percent plan, whereby he would allow elections after ten percent of voters made an oath of allegiance to the United States.  Radical Republicans in Congress hated this plan claiming it was too lenient, and so they passed a bill requiring a majority vote before voting could take place.  Lincoln pocket vetoed this bill.

Like Lincoln, Johnson, likewise wanting to quickly restore southern states to the Union.  He believed that they did not win the war, and therefore never truly left the Union.  Based on this idea, he believed former Confederate states should be recognized by the Union as soon as they formed a government.  At the very least, Lincoln and Johnson believed a speedy resolution of the messes made by the Civil war would ease tensions within the Union.

Let us say that Johnson was very supportive of the idea of a quick period of reconstruction.  He believed any efforts to resolve any civil rights issues, such as suffrage, of the newly freed slaves (referred to as freedmen) would only act as distractions.  He figured these issues would be resolved over time by each individual state.

So, even with Congress out of office until December, Johnson set in place his plan at reconstruction.  He figured that, if everything went his way, that he could have most of the work done before Congress was back in session.

Among Johnson's first actions as president was to grant pardons to all former radicals who took an oath of office.  He made Confederate leaders, and all wealthy men (those who made over $20,000), obtain a special pardon from the President. Either way, Johnson believed this would quickly mend scars.

Initially his plan went well and was supported by the greater portion of the American populace.  All they wanted was for the Confederacy to be abolished, for those in power to admit defeat, that slavery be ended, and that living conditions for African Americans be improved.

Like Johnson, civil rights for blacks, such as the right to vote, were not on top of the agenda.  In fact, this made sense considering many northern states at the time still didn't recognize freedmen as citizens.  This issue didn't come to the forefront until Congress was back in session in December of 1895.

Until then, Johnson's plan was allowed to continue as an experiment. But even while it seemed on the surface to be working, it wasn't.  Because it was so lenient, many southern leaders allowed back into their old positions of power were making laws that made it difficult for blacks.  For instance, some laws required former slaves to work on farms on an annual contract they could not quit.  These became known as Black Codes.

When Congress reconvened in December of 1865, Radical Republicans, lead by Charles Sumner and Stevens, decided Johnson's plan was too lenient. They decided harsher punishments were needed to assure the old Confederacy was abolished, and more guarantees were needed to guarantee the rights of the newly freed slaves.

Members of both the House and Senate refused to seat any former member of the Confederacy. While many southern states had already submitted new constitutions, these were set aside and relatively ignored. The House and Senate then got together and created the Joint Committee on Reconstruction and decided all plans for reconstruction must be approved by this committee.

Congress passed a bill enlarging the Freemen's Bureau that was created during the Lincoln Administration to help newly freed black men and women.  It consisted of northern teachers, ministers and former government officials.  They provided food, shelter and an education to help freedmen adjust to life outside of plantations.

President Johnson vetoed the bill claiming it was a violation of state's rights.

Congress passed the Civil Rights Act that guaranteed the basic rights of freedmen.  It said that all persons born in the United States would be classified as U.S. citizens, including African Americans.  It also established the rights of blacks to own land, make contracts, and to "enjoy the full and equal benefit of all laws."

President Johnson vetoed the bill claiming it was a violation of state's rights.

Making matters worse for Johnson was the midterm election.  It was at this time that voters turned out in groves in support of the radical republican agenda, giving radical republicans a majority in both the House and Senate.  This gave them enough votes to override any of the president's vetoes.  They then proceeded to:

• Override Johnson's veto of the Civil Rights Act, thus establishing the Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Override Johnson's veto of the Freedman's Bureau
• In the fall of 1867 they created their own plan for reconstruction that began by placing  southern states under military rule
• They passed the Civil Rights Amendment, or the 14th Amendment, and required that southern states must ratify it before being allowed back into the Union. Despite Johnson's opposition, it was ratified by each state in July 1868.
• They passed a bill requiring all of Johnson's Military orders be approved by Grant.  They wanted to make sure he didn't hire military generals who were sympathetic to the south. 
• They passed the unconstitutional Tenure of Office Act that restricted the president's ability to dismiss or appoint members to his own cabinet.  This was an ardent violation of separation of powers.

Of course it didn't take long for Johnson to violate the Tenure of Office Act.  Secretary of War Edward R. Stanton openly supported the Radical Republican agenda, and he even reported to Congress on secret White House matters.  Johnson had no choice but to dismiss him from office.  In his place he hired General Grant.  He did this while Congress was not in session, so they could not object.

When Congress reconvened, Radical Republicans ordered the president to re-hire Stanton, and Johnson reluctantly agreed. Still, on February 21 he again defied Congress and fired Stanton.  This time he chose General Lorenzo Thomas for the position.  Stanton refused to leave his office, even to the point of barricading his door.

Radical Republicans saw this as an opportunity to get Johnson out of office, so three days later the House voted to impeach him, making this the first impeachment of a sitting president.  He was tried in the Senate in the Spring of 1868, and was acquitted by one vote.

Later, as part of his farewell speech, Johnson said, "It will be recorded as one of the marvels of the times that a party claiming for itself a monopoly of... patriotism... endeavored, by a costly and deliberate trail, to impeach one who defended the Constitution and the Union... during his whole term of office."

So Johnson vetoed bills because he wanted to protect state's rights.  For this we have to give him a little credit. Still, he is generally deemed a failure, at least on the domestic front, because he failed to recognize that white southerners were probably not going to respect the civil rights of African Americans without being forced to do so.  In fact, the same was probably true of some northerners as well.

While his domestic policy was a failure, his foreign policy was sort of a success.  Secretary of State Edward H. Seward, with Johnson's encouragement, brokered a deal whereby the Russian Empire would allow the U.S. to purchase Alaska.  He did this to counter Canada, figuring that it would eventually force Canada into American hands.  Johnson approved the deal. This would turn out to be a significant foreign policy of Johnson's.

This purchase would prove beneficial to the national security of the nation during the Cold War.  It would also prove beneficial about 13 years after the purchase (and five years after Johnson's death) when gold was discovered in Alaska.  Many years later, in 1968, oil was discovered there.

Seward believed that the U.S. would liberate Canada from Britain.  However, in the same year Britain gave Canada Home Rule, meaning if the U.S. invaded Canada they would be invading a sovereign nation.  While Seward's plan of Canada becoming part of America never came to fruition, the purchase of Alaska would eventually pay for itself 100 times over.  Likewise, while this was unknown at the time, it would also mean the end of American expansionism.

So, chances are, if not for the encouragement of Johnson on this issue, Alaska may have ultimately ended up in the hands of the British or Canada.

Understanding the republicans would go in another direction, Johnson petitioned to be the democratic presidential nominee in 1968.  They would strongly consider him before deciding to go with the governor of New York, Horatio Seymour.  The republicans went with a still very popular Civil War General by the name of Ulysses S. Grant.

So Johnson can be considered a horrible president mainly because he had little control over a Radical Republican Congress.  Radical Republicans supported Ulysses S. Grant for President in 1868, and so this would limit Johnson to one term.

Andrew Johnson: Libertarian ideas

Andrew Johnson became the 17th President of the United States after the untimely death of Abraham Lincoln. He is generally considered one of the worse presidents, This actually might be true considering he had essentially no clout over a Radical Republican controlled Congress.

Johnson was born in a log cabin in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1808 to impoverished and nearly illiterate parents.  He had one older brother, William.  His dad, Jacob, worked as a hotel porter and bank janitor.  When Andrew was only three-years-old, Jacob dove into an icy river rescue three men from drowning.  While all the men survived, Jacob fell ill and died shortly thereafter.   His widowed mother, Mary (nicknamed Polly), made money as a weaver and spinner.  Later that same year she married Turner Haugherty, although the family still continued to live in poverty.

When he was 10 he joined his older brother as an apprentice to a tailor named James Selby. This worked nice for the parents, because they knew their sons would learn how to make and alter clothing while being fed and housed.  While the agreement required the boys to obey and work for their master until they were 21, when Andrew was 16 he and his brother played a prank that went bad.  Not wanting to face punishment they ran away.  Selby put an award out for their return.

After two years of being on the run, Andrew returned home to reunite with his mother and Turner. Selby wanted him to pay a high fine that he could not afford.  He and his mother and stepfather then headed to Tennessee where they would not be subject to North Carolina apprentice laws.  Andrew, now seventeen, set up his own tailor shop, hanging over the door a sign that said, "A. Johnson Tailor."

Over the years he attempted to teach himself how to read, although he was never fully able to master the skill until, at eighteen in 1827, he married sixteen-year-old Eliza McCardle.  She was the daughter of a shoemaker and was well educated.  While he worked in his little shop, she read to him and taught him to read and write.

Johnson became involved in politics early on as a town alderman and as a mayor.  He considered himself a Jacksonian Democrat, and was therefore an ardent supporter of state's rights and the rights of individuals. He learned that he was very good at giving speeches and debating, and he became very popular.

He rode this popularity into the state legislature's lower house in 1834 and 1838, and then the state senate in 1841.  He was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843 and served until 1853. He was an ardent opponent of high taxes and regulations that would hurt the common man. In this way he became an opponent of the Whig party that grew strong in Tennessee that championed for a larger, more active government that needed higher taxes and tariffs to create and maintain roads and canals that would improve transportation to increase business and trade.

As a State Senator he opposed any bill, even when he figured it would work to his benefit, that was paid for by the public.  One Whig bill would have paved roads in his own district, and he opposed it because it would be constructed at the taxpayers expense.  He believed people most likely to use the roads should pay for it.

Another thing he opposed was large government grants to railroads so that they could use small portions of this land to lay tracks.  They would then sell the remaining lands to settlers at a profit. Johnson thought this worked to the disadvantage of the common man who was trying to make a living.

In stead, ho proposed a Homestead Act in 1846. The government would grant a deed to any land a person settled on with the agreement that the land would be cleared and farmed it.  After a person lived on the land for five years it was theirs to keep.  He continued to re-introduce this bill.  At the same time he continued to oppose any bill proposed by Whigs that increased the size and scope of government at the taxpayers expense.

He was so strongly anti-big government that he even opposed building a national museum that would eventually become the Smithsonian Institute, a U.S. patent office that would allow people to register new inventions.  He even, at one point, suggested cutting salaries of government officials, including his own salary.

So he was quite, as we would consider today, the libertarian.

In 1852 his Congressional district was redrawn in such a way he was unable to run for re-election to the U.S. House.  He then managed to muster up support so he could become governor of Tennessee. He succeeded.  In fact, the man he beat was the same person who redrew the congressional lines, giving him a good feeling of vindication.

However, the job had little power, so he had trouble getting any of his ideas passed through the state Congress. This was a problem that would plague him once again when he became president after the death of Abraham Lincoln.

In 1857, during his last years as governor, he championed the state legislature to elect him to the U.S. Senate.  This allowed him to once again become involved in national affairs.  Atop his agenda was to get Homestead Bill passed.  Other than that he had no agenda.  Little did he know what cards were in store for him as the Civil war era began.

James K. Polk: The Last Jacksonian President

Andrew Jackson was a bold "champion of the common man."  So when he was elected in a landslide victory in 1828, he gave birth to a movement that became known as the Jacksonian Movement or the Jacksonian Democracy.  So while he was the first, the last Jacksonian President was James K. Polk, the eleventh president of the United States.

He was born in North Carolina, and as a young lawyer from Tennessee, and later state legislator, he became good friends with Andrew Jackson.  Later, as a member of the House of Representatives, Polk was a big supporter in Jackson's fight against the Second Bank of the United States. He was Speaker of the House from 1835-1839, only leaving to become governor of Tennessee.  As a Jacksonian Democrat with the support of Andrew Jackson, he was in a prime position to becoming a future president.

Like Jackson, Polk was a huge supporter of expansion, and he believed the United States should annex Texas (a popular idea in the South) and claim Oregon (a popular idea in the North). He also supported acquiring California.

It should be understood here that Polk did understand that slavery was a big issue at the time.  However, he was a slave owner, and he believed slavery was made legal by the Constitution, and a solid boundary had been created with the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and so to him slavery was not an issue.

Still, Polk believed new territories in New Mexico and California should not allow slavery.  So, regardless of what he was thinking about this issue, it was not going to be resolved by adding new territory -- rather, it would only get worse.  So, while his ambitions should have been considered an overall good thing and cause for excitement, it only added tensions between the North and South.

Still, he had no ambitions (that were known publicly anyway) of becoming the presidential nominee when he attended the 1844 democratic convention.  Rather, he had fully supported Martin Van Buren, and was hoping to become his Vice President.

Van Buren, however, had trouble gaining enough support from western democrats, who yearned for the immediate annexation of Texas.  Since Polk did support the annexation, they gave their support to him instead.  Van Buren, being a good sport, gave his delegates to Polk, who in turn won the nomination.

So, Polk correctly positioned himself in a spot where he gained a lot of support.  He correctly understood the modern wave of support for expansion, or "Manifest Destiny," and he ran the wave of this support to becoming his parties nominee.

In this way, Polk became what many now refer to as the first Dark Horse Candidate, or the first candidate to come seemingly out of nowhere to earn his parties nomination for president.

As a candidate he made his goals quite clear:  He wanted to settle the Oregon Territory boundary dispute with Great Britain, he wanted to acquire California, he wanted to lower tariffs, and he wanted to establish an independent treasury.  He said if he accomplished all of these goals he would not run for a second term.

The Whigs nominated Henry Clay, who had already lost bids to become president in 1824 and 1832.  Clay wanted to increase the size of the government, and he opposed the idea of annexing Texas.  Some say his efforts to strengthen his position regarding Texas alienated voters in the South and West who strongly supported the annexation. Still, he tried to pull votes from Polk by saying, "Who is James K. Polk?"

The reason the annexation of Texas was such a pressing issue was because of slavery.  Northern states had more representatives in the House, and so they maintained a stronghold there.  Southern states needed to make sure than any new states that entered the union did not throw off the balance in the Senate, where they continued to have an influence.  So the annexation of Texas was strongly supported by southern slave states.

A third candidate, James Birney, was an abolitionist who was the nominee for the Liberty party.  Enough anti-slavery Whigs in the north voted for him that he was able to garnish 2.3% of the popular vote, or enough to give the election to Polk.  James K. Polk then narrowly became the 11th president of the United States.

Before he even took office, John Tyler took the bold step of annexing Texas, and Congress voted to support the annexation.  This left Polk with a big decision of whether he wanted to go to war with Mexico or find some kind of diplomatic solution.  Of course, at the same time, his stance on Oregon risked war with Britain. So it seemed that war was almost inevitable before Polk even set foot in the White House.

Democrats wanted to claim the entire Oregon territory from the California Boundary northward to a latitude 54'40.  A common theme at the time was, "Fifty-Four-Forty or Fight."

Polk understood that nothing short of war would result in the Americans getting all this land. And neither he nor Britain wanted to go to war.  So this called for a compromise with Britain.  He offered to create a boundary between the U.S. and Canada along the 49th Parallel, from the Rockies to the Pacific.

Initially the British declined this offer, and when they did so Polk claimed the entire Oregon area.  Quickly the British decided they had better take the deal.  The only exception they made was the tip of Vancouver Island.  The deal was signed in 1846.  Polk, in this way, was able to avoid war with Britain.

Now he had to deal with Texas and Mexico and California.  Polk sent an envoy to Mexico offering them $20 million (plus a settlement to claims owed to the Americans) for California and New Mexico.  No Mexican leader wanted to sign the deal, particularly considering it meant giving away half the nation.

So the envoy was not well received. So he sent Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grande to increase pressure on Mexico.  The Mexicans saw this as aggression, and they in late April of 1846 they attacked Taylor's forces.

So Polk was unable to avoid war with Mexico.

Despite Northern opposition, Congress declared war. The Americans won many early victories, and by 1848 Mexico the Treaty of Guadalupe was signed, forcing Mexico to cede New Mexico and California in return for only $15 million plus the U.S. would assume any damage claims.  Another part of the treaty drew a line between the U.S. and Mexico at the Rio Grande.

Texas asked to be allowed to join the United States, and this request was accepted.

Polk was constantly bombarded by the Wilmot Proviso, a bill intended to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico.  While the bill was passed the House more than once, but the Senate never supported it.

If there is any criticism of Polk, it's that he did not take up the opportunity to deal with the issue of slavery during his term.  Still, to his credit, he did set goals and he accomplished them all.  And had he made it a goal of his to resolve the slavery issue, it probably would have taken up all of his energy and he may not have accomplished his goal of expanding the nation.

So Polk had succeeded in adding a vast amount of land to the United States.  He had also accomplished his goal of lowering tariffs and creating an independent treasury.  This made him a successful president minus the slavery issue.  He had accomplished this all in only four short years.  As promised, he decided he would not run for re-election.

Indeed, he did add a lot of land to the United States.  But this would increase tensions between the North and the South, moving slavery into the forefront as the main issue in Washington.  So, as Polk left office in March of 1849, with him went the Jacksonian era -- making Polk the last of the Jacksonian Presidents.

He was succeeded into office by Zachary Taylor, a Whig and a man he despised.  Still, it was probably a good thing he did not run for re-election, as he died only three months later, in June of 1849.  He left his estate to his wife under the direction that she free their slaves.

James Monroe: The last unopposed president

James Madison (President 1817-1825) 

James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States. He would become one of the best presidents we ever had, both for his domestic and for his foreign policies. He was the last of the founding fathers to become President, and the last president to run unopposed.

He was born in 1758 in Virginia and attended the College of William and Mary. He also fought in the Continental Army, the army that was formed by the Continental Congress in 1775.  He practiced law in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

He joined the anti-Federalists in the Virginia Convention. Considering the Federalists were in favor of a large central government, this made Madison a supporter of a limited government. In other words, he was essentially a supporter of the Jeffersonian Principles, which included a limited government and strict adherence to the Constitution.

As an anti-Federalist in Virginia, he supported the ratification of the new Constitution that was mostly written by James Madison. In 1790 he was a supporter of Jeffersonian policies when he was elected as a U.S. Senator. He then served as Minister to France from 1794-1796.

During Thomas Jefferson's first term, Spain transferred New Orleans to the French. New Orleans was important to the Americans because it was used by traders as a port for shipping their products to Europe. Fear arose that the French would not allow the Americans to use the port, so Jefferson chose Monroe to go to France to broker a deal that would allow America to buy New Orleans.

When Monroe approached the French, he was surprised that Napoleon was not just willing to sell New Orleans, but the entire Louisiana Territory. Monroe, and current Minister of France, Robert R. Livingston, would decide to agree to the deal. The United States would end up paying $15 million for 539,000,000 acres. This came to about four cents an acre. The deal nearly doubled the size of the United States, and included all or portions of 15 present U.S. states.

In 1811, Monroe was chosen by Madison to be his secretary of state.  At this time the Americans were becoming increasingly impatient with the British, and this resulted in the War of 1812. Madison actually considered asking Monroe to lead troops, although decided he was too valuable as a member of his Cabinet.

This turned to be a critical decision, because Madison's secretary of war -- William Eustis resigned, Madison named Monroe as Secretary of War.  In effect, Monroe held two cabinet position for two months before Madison named John Armstrong as the new secretary of war.

Monroe was then one of the government figures who fled Washington as the British army approached.  The British ended up eventually burning the Executive Mansion, the Library of Congress, and other government buildings.

Blame for this was on Armstrong, and so Madison once again named Monroe as secretary of war. He immediately went to work organizing a defense of Baltimore, where American forces defeated the British three weeks later.

That victory, together with another in New York, lead to the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war.  The treaty assured that American merchant ships would no longer be terrorized by British war ships.

Monroe's role in the war earned him widespread fame.

Monroe was looking like a quintessential presidential candidate.  Like Jefferson, he was born in Virginia, had served as secretary of state, and was a democratic-republican.

Others, however, believed it was time for a president who was from some other part of the country, and they wanted to nominate William Crawford of Georgia, who was also an ardent supporter of Jeffersonian Principles.

Regardless, on March 16, 1816, Monroe was voted (by a count of 65-54) to be the party's presidential candidate.  Crawford wasn't even chosen to be vice president, as the party chose Daniel D. Tompkins of New York.

The Federalist Party was on the verge of collapse, and so there was limited opposition to Madison.  The Federalist did nominate Rufus King, although he was a weak opponent to Madison, who won by an electoral count of 183 to 34, carrying 16 states to King's three.

Like other candidates of this era, Monroe did not campaign for president: doing so was considered impolite. Instead, campaigning was left to his supporters.  Yet while previous elections, such as the election of 1800, were very partisan and dirty, the election of 1816 was relatively calm: their was very little mudslinging.

Monroe became the fifth president of the United States.  Daniel D. Tompkins was elected vice president.

Monroe wanted to make sure his cabinet well represented the nation.  He named John C. Calhoun as Secretary of War and John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State.  He named Crawford as secretary of treasury.  He named Benjamin Crowninshield as secretary of Navy, and William Wirt as attorney General. He offered a job to Henry Clay, although he declined. Unlike previous presidents, Monroe valued his cabinet, often seeking and heeding their advice.

This era in our history is often considered the "Era of Good feelings." This is mainly because the Federalists were in decline, and the democratic-republicans were the main party, lead by Monroe. By having members of varying opinions in his cabinet, he was essentially able to adapt key ideas from both parties, and this essentially eliminated partisanship. Unfortunately, this era would only last until the end of Monroe's terms, or about 8 years.

Among the first things he did during his first term was undertake a tour of the nation.  It was later dubbed as a "goodwill tour" during "An era of good feelings."  There were no wars, although there were still signs of tensions in the country.  For instance, the territory of Missouri petitioned for statehood.  While you'd think of this as a good thing, what it did was ignite a fiery debate over whether it would be a slave or free state.

The debate would lead to the Compromise of 1820, which allowed Missouri to enter the union as a slave state and Maine (formerly a part of Massachusetts) to enter as a free state.  There were also prohibitions made on the expansion of slavery.

Monroe had to face another crisis on the border between Spanish Florida and Georgia.  Spanish pirates had established operating bases in Florida.  Seminole Indians living in Florida were raiding white settlements in Georgia, and these were often encouraged by the British. There were also complains that the Seminole were giving shelter to runaway slaves.  While this was going on, the U.S. demanded Spain control the pirates and gain control of the Indians in their land.

Tensions grew to a point that Monroe sent a small force to the region lead by the U.S. military commander of the South, and the hero of New Orleans, General Andrew Jackson.  He had permission to chase the Seminole into Florida if he needed to, and he did.  In fact, he went so far as to capture two Spanish forts and two British men he accused of encouraging the raids.  Jackson executed the men.

The British were outraged and the White House embarrassed.  Some members of Congress wanted to censure Jackson, but this never happened.  However, Monroe and his Secretary of State John Quincy Adams decided Jackson had gone too far and returned the forts.  They then decided to use the incident as proof that Spain could not control the region, and offered Spain $5 million for the territory.  Spain agreed, and ceded Florida to the U.S.

Being there was no opposition to the democratic-republican party, factions were created within the party, and they started to disagree and argue with one another.  About the only thing they agreed upon was to ignore the president's agenda. This was one of the few times in American history where Congress had a lot of control over the president.

This made men like Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House, very powerful.  Unlike Madison, Clay was a supporter of big government, and he wanted to create a program where the government would raise tariffs to pay for roads linking the eastern and western portions of the U.S., a system called the "American System. Monroe did not support this system, instead believing building and maintaining roads was the job of individual states.  However, Clay succeeded in getting some of his ideas passed, including a tariff on British cotton in 1816, and a tariff on iron in 1818.

In March of 1819 Monroe went on a second tour of the nation, and the response he received was once again spectacular.  Even while he talked of economic prosperity across the nation, the nation was heading into a recession caused by the Panic of 1819.  Because of the increased power gained by Congress over the presidency, Monroe was almost powerless to do anything about it.

With Europe recovering from a 20 year war, fewer goods were shipped to there.  This caused the prices of wheat, cotton, and other manufacturing products to drop.  Farmers could not sell their crops.  Sailors and merchants had no work.  Many were unable to repay their debts.

Compounding this problem was that the Bank of the U.S. loaned money to local banks, who loaned this money to spectators to buy land to sell to new settlers at a profit.  These local banks were printing more money than they had backed up in gold.  This made bills relatively useless. So, when the Bank of the U.S. demanded loans be repaid in gold rather than useless bills, spectators could not repay loans.  Local banks closed, and land prices fell.

This is what caused the Panic of 1819.  Such was the state of the union during the election of 1820, which saw a very popular Monroe running unopposed. With only one candidate to choose from, the election went by with little excitement, meaning there were very few people who participated in the voting.  On March 5, 1820, Monroe was sworn in to a second term.

The first agenda item was regarding foreign affairs.  Spain's American Empire was falling apart, as it had sold Florida to the U.S., and rebels in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Columbia had won their independence. Monroe and members of Congress worried that other European nations would join forces with Spain to regain control of these lands.

He was also concerned about Russia, which had gained lands along the Pacific in the Oregon Territory. Monroe was worried about a Russian colony being formed

So, how was the United States to deal with such a potential threat. One idea was to have the United States join forces with Britain.  This idea failed to gain weight because the British military was still considered to be the best in the world, and the U.S. would look like a puny partner.

This inspired Monroe, on December 2, 1823, to send a letter to Congress and the world in which he said, in part, "that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers..."

This was America's formal rejection of European powers coming to the United States looking to obtain territorial lands in either North or South America.  This was Monroe's defining moment.  The doctrine had little weight on international law.  No European leader denounced it. Still, Monroe knew he knew the British military would work with him to enforce it if need be.  So this was an opportunity for Monroe to "flex some American muscle."

Essentially, the doctrine was relatively ignored for the most part throughout the rest of the 19th century, and wasn't even referred to as the Monroe Doctrine until 1952.  Still, the doctrine was the first time the United States was able to put itself on equal terms with the other powers of the world. It was a defining moment for Monroe, and a defining moment for the young nation. It put the United States firmly on the side of democracy and self-government around the world.

Still, it did seem to work.  In 1824 the U.S. was able to talk Russia into giving up its claims in the U.S.

Also throughout his second term was ongoing debate over how to spend money on roads.  Henry Clay succeeded in getting a bill through Congress to pay for a National Road, although it was vetoed by Monroe. In vetoing it, he once again insisted, as Jefferson had before him, that it was up to individual states to decide how to spend money, not the federal government. This was Monroe's only veto.

Finally, another thing he did was to champion for a place to send freed slaves.  He was an ardent supporter in former slaves being sent back to Africa.  Like other Americans at the time, he did not believe blacks could function living in a world side by side with whites.  It was during his presidency that the American Colonization Society established a colony in Liberia (West Africa).  This settlement was named Monrovia. Today Monrovia is the capital of Liberia.

In 1824 he decided he would follow in the footsteps of Washington and not run for a third term.  He also decided that he would not support any candidate for president, leaving the decision to the American people. Three of the leading candidates were members of his cabinet (Calhoun, Crawford, Adams) and the third was the speaker of the House (Clay).  The other was a Senator from Kentucky (Andrew Jackson).

Even though Jackson won the popular and the most electoral votes, he didn't win enough to make him president.  So the decision went to Congress.  A deal was brokered between Clay and Adams to make Adams president and Clay Secretary of State.  So Monroe was succeeded into office by John Quincy Adams, a big government democratic-republican.

So, while his presidency was flawed as any presidency, Monroe was a very successful president.  , he supported Jeffersonian Principles, supported westward expansion, saw five new states enter the union (Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri), saw the nation obtain lands all the way to the Pacific Ocean, and he was strong on both domestic and foreign policies.  He was popular throughout his terms of office.  He was, in essence, one of the truly great presidents.

John Quincy Adams: Raised to be President

John Quincy Adams was elected as the 6th president of the United States during the election of 1824.  He was the son John Adams, the second president, and therefore was the first son of a former president to become president.  He had the same temperament as his father, and generally tended to have the same big government views as his father.

He was actually raised to become president.  He watched the Battle of Bunker Hill from the top of Penn's Hill.  He served as his father's secretary in Europe.  He graduated from Harvard and became a lawyer by the age of 26.  He was appointed Minister to the Netherlands.  Then, in 1802, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and in 1808 he was appointed Minister to Russia by President Madison.

In 1817 he was selected by James Monroe to become Secretary of State.  He would work with the president on writing the Monroe Doctrine.  In fact, he was the main author of the document that forbade European nations from forming colonies, or interfering in any way, in North or South America. He also helped the U.S. obtain Florida from Spain.  Generally speaking, he was considered a great secretaries of state.

This was a time in U.S. history when Secretary of State set a person up nicely to becoming a future president.  The fact that he was considered a great one bode well for him, making many assured that he was the political heir to the presidency.  However, their was public clamor at this time for electors to be chosen by direct vote of the people as opposed to by state legislatures.  So, after John Quincy Adams, the office of Secretary of State would no longer be a stepping stone to the presidency.

By 1824 political factions started to develop among members of the democratic-republican party, and so party unity started to break up.  So what happened was that a candidate was chosen from each of the different regions of the country: New England supported the large centralized government ideas of Adams; Kentucky supported the large centralized ideas of Henry Clay; Tennessee supported the small government ideas of Andrew Jackson; and Georgia supported the small government ideas of William H. Crawford.

These were the four democratic-republican nominees for president.

Jackson won the popular vote.  He also earned the most electoral votes, but not enough to seal the election. So the decision who the president would be was left to the House to decide.

Henry Clay finished in last place, so he was out.  So he brokered a deal where representatives from the states he won would vote for Adams in exchange for Adams naming Clay Secretary of State, a position that would set Clay up nicely (or so he thought) to becoming a future president.

So this was how John Quincy Adams became president of the United States despite losing both the popular and electoral votes to Andrew Jackson.  The deal that Clay made would ultimately backfire on him, as it essentially motivated backers of Jackson to defeating Adams four years later.  In the meantime, however, John Quincy Adams was the president.

The democratic party was now officially split: the followers of Adams and Clay became national republicans, and the followers of Jackson and Crawford became democrats.

Despite being raised to be president, he was not a very effective one.  He believed the U.S. should work as a national entity, with each region of the country focusing on a specific industry.  He also supported Henry Clay's American System and tried to enact it.  The American System included three parts:

1. A tariff to protect and promote American industry (bad because it's a tax on imported goods)
2. A national bank to foster commerce (bad because it gives too much power to a few people)
3. Federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other internal improvements (government officials decided who got what and how much). 
4. High western land prices to prevent people from moving from leaving eastern states to western states (unconstitutional because it favored the rich at the expense of the poor, or one group over another)

The American system pretty much made it so the Federal Government chose what projects would be completed and how much money would be doled out to what project.  This was contrary to Jefferson's approach to improving infrastructure, whereby he dole out surplus funds equally among the states and allowed them to decide what projects to fund. 

Adam's opponents, such as Crawford and Jackson, tended to support the ideas of Jefferson, and so they adamantly opposed the American System.  They claimed it was unconstitutional, and they were right.  But in his opening proclamation to Congress he endorsed this program.  He said a national program was necessary to bring the different sections of the country together through a series of canals and roads. Funds for this would be made by the sale of public lands. 

He also championed for a National University that would allow the U.S. to take the lead in arts and sciences. He also financed championed for expeditions and an observatory.

His opponents balked at such huge ambitions, especially considering he had barely become president in the first place.  So, for this reason, he was barely able to get any of his bold ideas through Congress.  Not helping matters was that he received a lot of pressure from Jacksonian supporters.  Not helping matters was that Jacksonian followers were able to gain 27 seats in the Senate, compared to only 21 seats by the followers of Adams.

He also accomplished in regards to foreign affairs.  This was partly due to the fact he had settled many foreign affairs while he was vice president.

Of course opposition from Jacksonian supporters didn't help either.  However, he did succeed at keeping the United States out of foreign affairs and out of foreign wars, and that in and of itself can be cited as a major accomplishment.

By the end of his term he signed a tariff into law, and it was called the "tariff of ambition' by his political opponents.  It protected American manufacturers, but it raised the prices of many goods, particularly in southern states.  The tariff was so unpopular that it is often sited as sealing the fate of Adams.

He would run as the first and only national republican in 1828 against democrat Andrew Jackson.  The Jackson camp made sure  voters knew about the failures of Adams, and made certain they were well aware of the "corrupt bargain" that made Adams president.  Andrew Jackson defeated Adams in a landslide.

He was known as a great diplomat as Secretary of State before his presidency, and as a great U.S. Senator after his presidency.  However, he is generally considered a poor president, and rightly so.

Further Reading

• whitehouse.gov: John Quincy Adams

Thomas Jefferson: What he meant by 'Wall of Separation'

The statement "wall of separation between Church & State" is a vastly repeated statement by those who believe the federal government should have no influence over religion. These words by Thomas Jefferson are taken out of context more so than any other words by a founding father.
Jefferson became our third president in March 1801, following one of the dirtiest presidential campaigns in American history. Among others, he was called a weakling, a libertine, a coward, an infidel, a deist and an atheist. The later two probably stemmed from his own words, such as ones he wrote to his nephew Peter Car in 1787:

"Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear."

Jefferson was brought up as an Anglican, which was a Christian religion associated with the Church of England.  He was later influenced by men like Bolingbroke and Shaftesbury, who were deists. They believed that God created the earth and that evidence of this can be found by reason alone, not by supernatural events.

Jefferson was also a strong supporter of the French Revolution, and reports made their way to American homes that the French were violently disrespecting religious structures and symbols. So when word got out that Jefferson was "an atheist," many housewives "were seen burying family Bibles in their gardens or hiding them in wells because they expected the Holy Scriptures to be confiscated and burned by the new Administration in Washington," said Daniel L. Dreisbach of the American Heritage.

Dreisbach explains that New England politics in 1800 were generally dominated by Federalists.  However, New England Baptists tended to support Jefferson, making them a minority political and religious faction in New England.

In October of 1801, the Baptist Association at Danbury wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson Congratulating him on his victory and letting him know that they shared his ideas of religious liberty, and criticized those who called him an atheist for his views.  They said he was not, as his enemies said, "an enemy of religion... because he will not, dares not assume the prerogative of Jehovah and make Laws to govern the Kingdom of Christ."

So, on January 1, 1802, it only made sense that Jefferson would sit down and write a return letter to them. He wrote, in part:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.

In essence, the letter from Jefferson was meant to affirm that he supported the Constitution, and would not push for laws that would take away Bibles and Churches.  In essence, his letter was meant to allay fears that the government planned to interfere with how the Baptist Church went about its business.

He essentially reaffirms the first amendment.  It is often referred to as the establishment clause, whereas Congress shall make no law...

• Respecting an establishment of religion
• Impeding the free exercise of religion
• Infringing on the freedom of speech
• Infringing on the freedom of the press
• Interfering with the right to peaceably assemble
• Interfering or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

Basically, the establishment clause prevents the government from denying the natural right of practicing faith, speaking out against the government, writing about the government, assembling in protest against the government, and petitioning the government.

This is important, because in Britain the Government had forced people to be a part of certain religions, such as the Church of England, and punished those who did not do as they were told. The people of the young nation feared that their new government leaders might take actions that would deny their natural right to worship as they chose, and this explained the fear of a Jefferson Presidency among the Baptist community.

So Jefferson's "Wall of Separation Letter" was nothing more than an affirmation of the establishment clause, and nothing more. And the establishment clause says the government cannot endorse a religion, it does not say that people working for the government (i.e. teachers, legislators, judges, etc. ) can't endorse a religion. It does not say that schools and teachers cannot endorse religion.

Further reading:

• The Heritage Foundation: The Mythical "Wall of Separation": How a Misused Metaphor Changed Church–State Law, Policy, and Discourse
• The Jefferson Monticello:  Jefferson's Religious Beliefs
• CNN: Founding Father's Dirty Campaign
• U.S. Constitution Online: Jefferson's Wall of Separation Letter

William Henry Harrison: A Public Relations Success

Some people like to insist that William Henry Harrison was the worst president ever, claiming he was president for only 30 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes, was sick for most of that time, and accomplished nothing.  I think the evidence will show that his presidency was, at worse, a moderate success.

In 1835, at the age of 62, he was already famous as a war hero, and his nickname -- Old Tippecanoe -- was a testament of just how popular his actions against the Indians along the Tippecanoe River were.  He appearance was very presidential, and he had been a successful politician, brokering various treaties.  And, perhaps most important, he had been away from Washington long enough to be considered an outsider.

Still, in 1835, Andrew Jackson was president and he was very popular.  His choice to be his successor was Martin Van Buren, who pledged to continue the popular policies of Jackson.  The leaders of the newly formed Whig party knew they would have trouble defeating Van Buren, so they devised a strategy that had never been done before or since: they nominated four candidates from different parts of the country. Harrison was the nominee from the northwest region, Daniel Webster was from Massachusetts, Hugh L. White was from Tennessee, and Willie Person Mangum was from North Carolina.

The Whigs figured each of their candidates would win enough votes to defeat Van Buren in their respective region.  Since neither candidate would receive enough electoral votes, the decision on who would be the next president would go to the House, which would choose among the Whig Candidates.

The strategy failed.  Van Buren won the electoral and popular votes.  However, Harrison had made a good showing, gaining a third of the popular vote and 73 electoral votes.  This set him up nicely for becoming the Whig candidate in 1840.

While Van Buren did continue the policies of Jackson, and while he signed no bills into law that would take away natural or state rights, he was unable to get the nation our of the depression that was caused by the Panic of 1837.  Plus, while Van Buren was a brilliant politician, he was a better adviser than president.

Henry Clay and Daniel Webster had more experience in government than Harrison, but for the good of the party they stepped aside -- however reluctantly -- for the good of the party and allowed Harrison to be nominated.  They also nominated John Tyler to be vice president.  These were both decisions that would result in short term dividends, but would haunt the Whigs long term.  You'll see what I mean by this in a moment.

So this set the stage for the first great public relations campaign of a presidential candidate.  The Whigs knew they had to come up with a great strategy for winning, and the one they chose was one of slogans.

Because it had worked so well for Jackson, they wanted to take advantage of his war hero status, so they created the slogan: "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too."  They wanted to paint him as a common man, so they painted him as a person who drank hard cider (an inexpensive and common drink) and who was born in a log cabin.  One cloth handkerchief from 1840 depicts Harrison as a farmer living in a log cabin.

This is what was done even though he was actually born to a distinguished plantation family, and lived in mansions as opposed to a simple log cabin. He was also fond of drinking wine, not cider.  Still, according to the campaign, he was "A man of the people."

The campaign was such a success that it inspired a record (at that time) of 42.4% of the voting age population to vote.  Harrison won by an electoral vote of 234 to 60.  However,  considering the circumstances of the economy, Van Buren lost the popular vote by only 146,000.

Post election day was filled with an array of parties and parades, all using the slogans of the campaign, such as "Log Cabin March," and "Log Cabin Candidate."  Details of Harrison's heroic campaigns as a war hero were retold or sung, and the outgoing president was referred to as "Martin Van Ruin."

He chose Daniel Webster to be his secretary of state.  He offered Henry Clay, the man who should have nominated for president, a job too, although he chose to stay in the Senate where he could use his skills to get Whig bills passed for Harrison to sign.  It appeared that the Whigs were in a great position.

Yet then their luck started to turn.  The president elect was in no hurry to get to Washington, and he made many stops along the way.  His wife became ill, and so she was unable to join him.  Inaugural day was cold and rainy.  His advisers recommended he wear a hat and coat, although he refused in order to keep up his image.  He was also advised to give a short speech, and he refused this too, although his speech was trimmed down to 10,000 words.

The speech went on for an hour and forty minutes.  It was a great speech as far as his Whig supporters were concerned.  The Whigs hated Jackson for making the presidency too powerful, so he called for scale back the role of the president.  He also promised to be a one term president, and called for a constitutional amendment to limit future presidents to one term.

In light of increased tensions between the north and south, he talked of the importance of keeping the union together. He said Congress did not have the power to end slavery, although he said some compromise must be made regarding slavery to preserve the union.  He championed for the the establishment of free land grants to appease northern voters, and pleased his fellow soldiers by championing for pensions for those who serve in the U.S. military, either as sailors or soldiers.

He also called for an end of the spoils system that was created by Van Buren and enacted by both the Jackson and Van Buren administrations.

While the campaign and victory were exciting for Harrison, he seemed to be overburdened once he actually took the office.  He had political leaders who wanted decisions made right now, and he had pressure from members of Congress, leaders of federal agencies, local Whig leaders, and even foreign officials.

Canadians began a revolt against the rule of Britain.  Some Americans supported them by attempting to bring them supplies to the rebels along the Niagara River, along the border of U.S. and Canada.  Canadian loyalists set fire to their ship, the Caroline, and pushed it down the Niagara Falls.  Police in Buffalo, New York, arrested one man accused of burning the Caroline and killing an American.  The British demanded he be released and threatened war.

This was a situation that would have to be dealt with by the John Tyler Administration, because Harrison fell sick.  Many suspect that he fell sick as a result of his long inauguration speech, although he also enjoyed going on errands.  He would walk on mornings to buy food for the White House kitchen.  On March 27, 1841, rain interrupted his walk, and so he paid a visit to the home of a military officer to offer him a job. It was on this day that he started to feel ill.

Later that night, after dinner, he called for a physician who diagnosed him with pneumonia.  Today pneumonia is a relatively treatable disease, and the death rate is less than five percent.  Back in 1841, however, pneumonia was a disease that killed as many as 30% of those inflicted with it.

Harrison would spend the last two weeks of his presidency in bed.  On April 4, 1831, he passed away.  He had been in office for a few hours less than one month.  He was 67 years old when elected, and 68 years old when he died (his birthday was February 9).  He was the oldest president to ever be elected until Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980.  He was also the first president to die in office, and the president with the shortest term.

So it is true that he did not accomplish much as president.  In fact, you can argue that he accomplished nothing.  But this is not so bad, as later presidents would learn that doing nothing is often better than doing something stupid. Doing nothing is better than passing laws that take away personal liberties and cannot be undone.

The Harrison campaign was a big winner for the presidency.  All candidates prior to Harrison refused to campaign for themselves, mainly because doing so was considered impolite.  To help his chances, Harrison was encouraged to campaign for himself, although he was encouraged to not give away any of his political positions.  So Harrison became the first presidential candidate to campaign for himself.

His campaign was also the first time a public relations campaign was used to create a positive image of a presidential candidate.  In fact, some would argue that "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" was the greatest presidential slogan ever.

So, while he accomplished little during his short presidency, his campaign set a new style for presidential campaigning that would be used by nearly every presidential candidate since.

Plus, while John Tyler proved to be a Burden to the Whig cause, he would prove to be a champion of the Constitution and a protector of natural rights.  He would go on to fight against Henry Clay, refusing to sign bills that Harrison probably would have.

So Harrison's administration was not the failure most would say it is.  Harrison was not the worse president ever.  In fact, he was indeed a moderate success.