#8: Van Buren, Martin

Martin Van Buren
December 5, 1782 - July 24, 1862

• Martin Van Buren presided over the nation's first great depression, the Panic of 1837 (hence, his portrait on an old Talk of the Town article about the fall of the Big Three, from about a year ago). Many of the problems that caused the panic began under Andrew Jackson's presidency. Failure to properly regulate the sale of public lands to actual settlers led to wild speculation; "even clerks and shoe-shine boys" bought up property. When the bubble burst, the ensuing panic "brought financial ruin and misery to millions. Many turned to the government for help, but Van Buren refused all public aid. He believe in Thomas Jefferson's theories that government should play the smallest possible role in American life. . . . [D]uring the three years of panic, Van Buren bore the anger of a disappointed people. His enemies called him 'The Little Magician' and 'The Fox of Kinderhook.'"
• Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, New York. His father ran a truck farm (?) and a tavern. "As a child, Martin enjoyed listening to tavern patrons as they argued politics in the Dutch language."
• Martin started studying law at age 14. He first took part in a court trial at 15. "Another lawyer from [his mentor's practice] had tried the case. As he was about to sum up his arguments, he turned to Martin and said: 'Here, Mat, sum up. You may as well begin early.' The boy was rewarded that day with a silver half dollar. He soon became a familiar sight in the village court."
• Martin married a distant cousin, Hannah Hoes. They had four sons. Mrs. Van Buren passed away 18 years before her husband entered the White House. The four Van Buren boys, by then all young men, were admired by the people of Washington for their modesty and charm. One son later served as White House Secretary, and a second son became attorney general of New York.
• Before being elected to the presidency, Van Buren served in the U.S. Senate where he fought to pass a law abolishing imprisonment for debt, "a social evil of the time." He also introduced a bill forbidding the importation of slaves into Florida unless they were owned by settlers.
• Van Buren served as Andrew Jackson's Secretary of State, then Vice President. In the election of 1836, Van Buren easily won the Democratic nomination, coasting in part on Jackson's popularity.
• "In Van Buren's time, Washington, D.C., was still a city of muddy streets and few trees. One traveler said: 'It looks as if it had rained naked buildings upon an open plain.'" (such fantastic imagery!)
• During Van Buren's presidency: (1) the population of the U.S. approached 18 million; (2) Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne; (3) the first photograph made in the U.S. was made; (4) and the Underground Railroad became increasingly active.
• In the election of 1840, Van Buren had grown unpopular and was easily defeated by William Henry Harrison, who used the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." After leaving office, Van Buren remained active in politics for more than 20 years. In 1848, the antislavery Free Soil party nominated him for President. He lost.
• Van Buren died in Lindenwald, New York, on July 24, 1862. It seems a lovely place to visit if ever you are in the Hudson River Valley.
  

#7: Jackson, Andrew

Andrew Jackson
March 15, 1767 - June 8, 1845

Andrew Jackson was tall and
lean, with bright blue eyes.

I fell a little behind this month--too much travel, Christmas shopping, etc. Nevertheless, here we are.

• Andrew Jackson had a big personality. He's either a badass or a monster--more likely both. He reshaped the American presidency. He was a strong president, the first to appeal to the people directly, over the heads of Congress. He was the first president to be born in a log cabin, the first frontier president (born in the Carolinas, raised in Tennessee.... hmmm Dolly....), and the last president to have fought in the Revolutionary War. He famously opened the White House to the masses upon his inauguration, so that the celebration was truly a people's party.

Andrew Jackson, all I'm askin':
Show us the wheel and give us the wine*

• Jackson had a hair-trigger temper. He was a fighter from an early age: at the age of 11, Andrew was sent to boarding school where, according to World Book, "sports and cockfighting occupied more time than studying. He wrote a 'Memorandum' on 'How to feed a cock before you fight.'" Jackson joined the mounted militia of South Carolina in the Revolutionary War when he was 13 years old. He and his brother were captured by British troops in 1781. When young Andrew refused to shine the boots of a British officer, the Brit "lashed out at Andrew with his sword, and the youth threw up his left hand to protect himself. The blade slashed Andrew's hand to the bone and cut him badly on the head. He carried scars from the wounds the rest of his life." By age 14, Andrew was orphaned--his mother died of small pox during the war and his father had died when Andrew was only 3.
• Jackson studied law in the office of Spruce Macay, a wealthy Carolinian. He established a reputation as "the most roaring, rollicking, game-cocking, horse-racing, card-playing, mischievous fellow that ever lived in Salisbury. . . . Professional standards for lawyers were not high in those days, and Jackson was admitted to the bar in 1787 at the age of 20." He built his practice as a frontier lawyer, prosecuting settlers delinquent in paying their bills.
  
• Jackson married Mrs. Rachel Donelson when she was separated from her husband. This act of bigamy bit Jackson in the ass in the bitter presidential election of 1828: his opponents called Jackson a "paramour husband," and his wife a "convicted adulteress." These political attacks on his wife made Jackson depressed. When Mrs. Jackson died of a heart attack shortly thereafter, Jackson said: "May God Almighty forgive her murderers as I know she forgave them. . . I never can."
  
• Andrew Jackson's nickname was "Old Hickory," because he was so tough. According to the Jersey Shore Nickname Generator, Jackson's Shore nickname would have been "Juice Springsteen."
• The defining issue of Jackson's first term was his opposition to the Bank of the United States, which he believed was unconstitutional and had failed to establish a "uniform and sound" currency. He vetoed the bill re-chartering the bank, and Congress upheld the veto. In his second term, Jackson ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to remove the government's deposits from the Bank and place them in state banks.
• Jackson is the only president to have paid off the national debt.
• Jackson presided over the forced migration of Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw and Chicksaw Indians westward, in which many died. Another ugly chapter in this nation's history.
• The election of 1832 was the first election in which presidential candidates were selected by national political conventions. Jackson's opponents referred to him as a "jackass," which Jackson later co-opted as the symbol of the Democratic party.
  
• Jackson kept his collection of race horses in the White House stables.
• After seeing his buddy Martin Van Buren sworn in as President in 1840, Jackson moved back to his plantation, the Hermitage, about 12 miles from Nashville. "On June 8, 1845, Jackson fell unconscious. He died that evening."
  

And with that, Happy Christmas!

post script
For Christmas today I received a beautiful piece of ledger art, that my mom acquired from a North Dakotan artist at a pow-wow. It is an extraordinary reminder, given the horrible treatment of American Indians by most U.S. presidents (in particular Jackson), that pieces of Indian culture and heritage survive and thrive in some parts of the country today.

#6: Adams, John Quincy

John Quincy Adams
July 11, 1767 - February 23, 1848

World Book says John Quincy Adams was an aloof man.

Does that explain this large forehead and these snotty
looking eyebrows? Adams was said to be affectionate
with close friends, but more reserved towards others
(I can relate to that). He once referred to himself as
"an unsocial savage."

John Quincy Adams was the 6th president of the United States. He served as Commander in Chief from 1825 to 1829. World Book doesn't seem to think there was anything particularly special about him, apart from helping negotiate the Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812 well before he was even President. He gets an acrostic:

Just like his dad, John Quincy Adams only served one term as President.
"Old Man Eloquent" was his nickname, because he spoke so well--though "his shrill voice often broke when he became excited."
Harvard allowed Adams to join its junior class in 1787, after he'd "attended schools in Paris, Amsterdam, and Leydon as his father moved from one diplomatic assignment to another."
Not long after Harvard, John read law for three years, but closed up his private practice because he had too few clients. He became a political journalist, then a politician instead.

Quite unexpectedly, John met his future wife Louisa Catherine Johnson, while on assignment for George Washington in London--she was the daughter of the American consul general.
"Unmanageable" is how John's peers in the Massachusetts Senate called him; John often voted with the Democratic-Republicans, though he considered himself a Federalist.
Intent on staying out of public life permanently after having served as an ambassador and diplomat for the first four presidents, John's plans were foiled when President James Madison persuaded him to again accept a post as minister to Russia.
Next, James Monroe called John to serve as secretary of state; John gets credit for shaping the Monroe Doctrine well before Monroe announced it.
"Cockboat" is the term John used to describe what the United States was becoming without the Monroe Doctrine; he advocated against merely falling in line with British foreign policy vis-a-vis Austria, Prussia, and Russia (the Holy Alliance) after the fall of Napoleon. John declared that America must not "come in as a cockboat in the wake of the British man-of-war."
You better believe George W. Bush isn't the first president to squeak into office: the House of Representatives had to choose one of three men in the Election of 1824, when none had won a majority of the electoral votes, though Andrew Jackson had won the most.

Acrostics suck when someone has a really long name.
Despite trying really hard to push through a program of road improvements and construction of weather stations (!), President Adams' efforts were rebuffed by Congress.
An abominable tariff was passed while Adams was president, sort of as a response to the shift from manufacturing to farming as the chief activity in most New England states and Southerners hated it.
Mrs. Quincy Adams suffered ill health during her husband's term (what is it with sickly first ladies?!), but nevertheless "arranged a brilliant series of parties during the visit of the Marqis de Lafayette in 1825."
Some people die at home in their beds, while others, like John Quincy Adams, die in Congress. Adams was re-elected post-presidency to the House of Representatives. He suffered a stroke at his House desk, and was carried to the Speaker's room. His final words were: "This is the last of earth. I am content."

#5: Monroe, James

James Monroe
April 28, 1758 – July 4, 1831

Man oh man. This drawing made me mad!
It started out as a charcoal subtractive drawing,
which I usually have a hard time with.
Then I used some conte crayon.
Then I gave up, because Mr. Monroe
started to look wonky.

Hello December! James Monroe brings me to my second “M” president in a row, which means that I was stuck browsing the “M” volume for two weeks. On the plus side, the "M" volume is the home of Michigan. I digress... on to Mr. Monroe:

• Monroe has a whole doctrine named after him. Basically he told European countries to back off and cease their colonizing efforts in the Americas.
  
• He was "tall and rawboned, and had a military bearing." He was yet another Virginian (yawn).
  
• As a boy, Monroe had to walk to school through the forest. "He often carried a rifle and shot game on the way." Later, Monroe dropped out of college to join the army during the Revolutionary War. He saw lots of combat action and became an accomplished army officer.
  
• Monroe became president after more than 40 years of public service! Senator, governor, ambassador, secretary of state, secretary of war... actually he was secretary of state and secretary of war at the same time for a stretch because the original secretary of war under Madison was forced to resign in 1814 for "neglect of duty"-- for letting Washington burn upon the advance of British troops (see Madison, James and War of 1812).
  
• America was growing, growing, growing under Monroe's presidency. "Monroe sent General Andrew Jackson on a military acquisition of Florida from Spain." (World Book includes a ridiculous illustration of a dude in knickers handing over a pie-sized Florida to another dude in knickers.) World Book omits that Jackson was also charged with preventing Spanish Florida from becoming a refuge for runaway slaves. World Book does say that Jackson, upon Monroe's orders, raised a militia and put down a Seminole Indian uprising in Georgia (or the First Seminole War). Jackson chased the Seminoles into the Everglades.
• In 1818, Monroe also oversaw the Missouri Compromise: "This law permitted slavery in Missouri, but banned it from the rest of the Louisiana Purchase region north of the southern boundary of Missouri. Monroe avoided interfering with [the Congressional] debates. But he made it known that he would not sign a bill placing any special restraints on Missouri's admission to the Union." The Missouri Compromise figured prominently in this sad story, several years later.
• During Monroe's presidency, "the first public high school in the United States opened its doors in Boston, Mass., in 1821." I am a product of a public high school.
  
• In the White House, the first lady, partly due to her ill health, "received only visitors to whom she had sent invitations. [How topical!] She refused to pay calls, sending her elder daughter . . . in her place. Soon all Washington buzzed about the 'snobbish' Mrs. Monroe."
• After Monroe left office in 1825, there were no clear successors to the position and four candidates duked it out for the presidency. Monroe's wife died in 1830. Like his friend and mentor Thomas Jefferson, Monroe experienced financial distress in his old age. He moved to New York City to live with his daughter and her husband. And he died there on July 4, 1831. The third president (after Jefferson and Adams) to die on our country's independence day! Spooky.
  

#4: Madison, James

James Madison
March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836

James Madison says, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

Today is Thanksgiving and I am grateful for the health and happiness of my loved ones, and for the many opportunities this country has afforded me. Now, on to this week's forefather:

• James Madison may have been the “Father of the Constitution,” but he was also “small and frail,” according to World Book.
  
• His presidency was marked by one tremendous mistake (as far as I can tell): the War of 1812. Also during Madison’s presidency, (1) the country got its national anthem, the Star Spangled banner, (2) road and canal projects, as well as a new land system hastened settlement of the West, and (3) Madison’s wife Dolly served ice cream in the White House for the first time.
• Madison was from Virginia and he was buddy-buddy with another famous Virginian, Thomas Jefferson. (Virginia is a president-making machine! Three out of our first four presidents came from that state. Virginia is also for lovers.) Both Jefferson and Madison were slave-owners. Both Jefferson and Madison fought for separation of church and state in Virginia, even though they were devout men. After graduating from Princeton, Madison even spent "six months studying Hebrew, philosophy, and other subjects that showed his deep interest in religious questions. A weak speaking voice prevented him from taking up a career as a minister.” Later, Jefferson and Madison co-founded the Democratic Republican party, working to limit the power of federal government. Madison also served as Jefferson’s Secretary of State.
• During Madison’s tenure as president, “Denmark gave Norway to Sweden.” Wait, what?
• Also, while serving in Congress, Madison “advocated many . . . measures to stabilize and dignify the government.” Hmmm, not sure what dignification of government entails, but I guess I'm for it.
  
• Madison is credited with shaping the Constitution and the system of separation of powers that we now take for granted. His account of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Notes on the Federal Convention, is the only record of what was said and debated. In addition, Madison played a big part in crafting the first ten amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. World Book says twice that Madison was the ablest statesman of the era.
• When Madison was elected president in 1809 (beating his opponent, C.C. Pinckney, 122 electoral votes to 47!), Great Britain and France were trampling all over the rights of Americans on the high seas. Also, the peace treaty with Tripoli had basically fallen apart, and pirates were again attacking American ships on the Barbary Coast again. Facing pressure from a new crop of nationalist southerners, and having failed to find a peaceful resolution of this untenable situation, Madison declared war June 18, 1812. Bad news bears. Americans were basically beat on every front, and the British managed to invade Washington and set fire to the White House. “Dolly Madison fled the White House so late that British soldiers ate a hot meal she had prepared.” When the Treaty of Ghent was ratified in February 1815, ending the conflict, it satisfied none of the problems that started the war—only succeeding in preserving American territorial integrity.
• Nevertheless, World Book says that the War of 1812 was followed by “the era of good feeling”—a growth of nationalism. Albert Gallatin, Madison’s Secretary of the Treasury, said that the War of 1812 brought the country together: “The people . . . are more American; they feel and act more as a nation.”
• My favorite quote in the article comes from Washington Irving, writing about the presidential couple: “Mrs. Madison is a fine, portly buxom dame who has a smile and a pleasant word for everybody . . . as to Jeemy Madison—ah! poor Jeemy!—he is but a withered little apple-John.” Withered little apple-john indeed.

Thanksgiving family fun (guest drawer)! My sister kindly drew this additional picture of James Madison to contribute to this site. We both agreed that the portrait we were drawing from looked funny (it's not the drawings, I assure you).

Interlude

A friend just sent me this, from the New York Times. A photographer is compiling a series of portraits of people who share presidential names. It's wonderful!

Another friend wrote to say that he had once tried memorizing all the presidents by investing in a placemat and mug. It did not work. In our house growing up, we had placemats with the flags of the world, a world map, a US map, and the American Sign Language alphabet. I can spell my name in American Sign Language, but this skill has not served me well.

#3: Jefferson, Thomas

Thomas Jefferson
April 13, 1743 - July 4, 1826

I started reading the article about Thomas J this past weekend when a friend was visiting, but then put it down and am just now getting around to writing up the bits I learned. Here goes:

• In addition to being an all-around Renaissance man (the World Book is super gushy about Jefferson), some of Jefferson's many inventions included "the swivel chair and the dumb-waiter."
• Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. It was approved by his fellow committee members with few changes and adopted by Congress as written. "Jefferson said his object was 'to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent . . . Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind . . ." It is a very fine piece of writing.
  
• While serving in the Virginia House of Delegates, Jefferson sponsored a bill abolishing entail, and later helped outlaw primogeniture, basically making property more alienable and opening the door to political participation for people (read = white men) other than the landed gentry. Even though those things basically don't exist in American law anymore and haven't existed for a loooong while, I still had to learn about them in law school. Alienable property = good stuff. Property law 1L year = lamesauce.
  
• Jefferson allegedly wooed his wife Martha with music. "Two rival suitors came to call one day, but left without a word when they saw [Thomas and Martha] playing a duet on the harpsichord and violin." Is a harpsichord sexy?
  
• As a couple, Thomas and Martha had six children, only two of whom lived to maturity. Martha died after only 10 years of marriage, and Jefferson was so grief-stricken that he withdrew from public life for a year. His daughter wrote many years later: ". . . the violence of his emotion . . . to this day I dare not describe to myself." (Later, as president, Jefferson thought the White House was a lonely place, so his daughters would sometimes come stay and be hostesses.)
  
• World Book credits Jefferson with: (1) piloting through Congress the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War; (2) laying the groundwork for the Northwest Ordinance of 1787; (3) urging his friend James Madison to introduce the 10 constitutional amendments that became known as the Bill of Rights; (4) sending Lewis and Clark on their expedition, then sealing the deal on the Louisiana Purchase; (5) devising the decimal system of currency we still use today; and (6) founding the Library of Congress and the University of Virginia. No small feats.
• While serving as Secretary of State for President Washington, Jefferson opposed Alexander Hamilton's plans to encourage shipping and manufacturing. "Jefferson wanted the United States to remain a nation of farmers." He was strongly anti-federalist (anti-centralization of the federal government) and people like Hamilton and John Adams were his political foes. Later, Jefferson and Adams became buddies again.
  
• Jefferson was sort of elected president in 1800. All the Republican electors had cast one vote for Jefferson and one vote for his running mate Aaron Burr of New York (electors cast two votes back then, and the runner-up would be VP). It meant that technically, both Jefferson and Burr were elected President. Embarrassing! The House of Representatives had to settle the matter. Burr became VP. In Jefferson's second term, Burr was a big headache. He killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, then got involve in some shady dealings (though he was ultimately acquitted on charges of treason, much to Jefferson's dismay).
  
• As president, Jefferson avoided public speaking because he was bad at it. He was the first president to send his annual message to Congress, rather than deliver it in person. "Later presidents followed this procedure until 1913, when Woodrow Wilson resumed the practice of appearing before Congress."
• In an effort to eliminate some of the formality from the White House, "Jefferson began the practice of having guests shake hands with the President, instead of bowing."
• This very big thing happened when Jefferson was president.
• Jefferson waged war against pirates, sort of like we do today!
• When he left the presidency, Jefferson wrote, "Never did a prisoner released from his chains feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power." World Book makes only one mention of the fact that Jefferson was a slave owner: "Jefferson was 14 years old when his father died. . . . He inherited Shadwell [the family farm] with its 30 slaves and more than 2,5000 acres of land."

The "J - K" volume is skinny, but it contains Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson, so I'll be revisiting it.

Also, this volume contains kidney bean, Jews, Jesus Christ, and Kansas.

#2: Adams, John (second try)

I tried to draw him again. It's marginally better, and for some weird reason the photo makes it look like I used a fleshy color, when in fact it's just pencil on white paper.

#2: Adams, John

John Adams
October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826

This is not a good drawing, so I am attaching it in a small format. He looks like he's wearing blush and lipstick, but I was going for "ruddy." I was using the portrait in the World Book as a model: it is an oil painting of Adams by Mather Brown, done in 1788 (well before he was president). I drew this with a Reeves HB pencil. I think I should have tried again, but I was running late to go to my upholstery class.

Things I learned:

• John Adams graduated from Harvard College in 1755, ranked 14th in a class of 24. "In those days, a student's rank indicated social position, not scholarship, and Adams was one of the best scholars in his class."
• While Adams was in office (1797-1801), two new territories were organized (Mississippi and Indiana), the Eleventh Amendment was adopted (limiting the power of the federal government), and "Andre Garnerin of France made the world's first parachute jump from a balloon." (World Book doesn't say whether Garnerin survived.)
• Adams did a terrible thing: he presided over the adoption of the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were later repealed. "Historians agree that the acts were unwise."
• Adams was the first president to live in the White House, "the Executive Mansion." Abigail Adams wrote her sister: "As I expected to find it in a new country, with houses scatterred over a space of 10 miles, and trees and stumps in plenty with a castle of a house--so I found it." When the Adams moved in, the house was not yet finished. "Mrs. Adams had to dry the laundry in the East Room, because no drying yard had been provided."
• Adams and Thomas Jefferson became great friends when they met in Congress in 1775. "Their friendship cooled steadily after about 1790, because they differed on the meaning of the French Revolution. But they forgot their political quarrels after retiring from public life. By a remarkable coincidence, both men died on July 4, 1826. Adams' last words were: 'Thomas Jefferson still survives.'"
• According to the 1981 World Book, Adams lived longer than any other President: he died four months before his 91st birthday. I checked though and both Reagan and Ford died at age 93.

The "A" volume is very fat. Other articles in the "A" volume:

• Affenpinscher: "The Affenpinscher is often called the Monkey Dog."
• Adolescent: "Adolescent is a person who is no longer a child but not yet an adult." Sub-sections in the"Adolescent" article include "Growth and Development," "Special Problems of Adolescence: Attitudes Toward Schooling, The Use of Drugs, and Delinquency," and "Preparation for the Future."
• Advertising: This article includes an illustration of a Hertz ad that shows OJ Simpson running in a suit with a briefcase and the slogan "Need a car fast? Come to Hertz. The Superstar in rent-a-car."
• Also, Africa, Arabs, Atonement, Asbestos, and Austria, my mother's homeland!
  

#1: Washington, George

George Washington February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799


This is a blind contour line drawing.

Things I learned from the encyclopedia (italics throughout are mine):

• Washington's friend George Mercer wrote of him in 1760: "He may be described as being straight as an Indian, measuring 6 feet 2 inches in his stockings, and weighing 175 pounds . . . A large and straight rather than a prominent nose; blue-gray penetrating eyes . . . He has a clear through rather colorless pale skin which burns with the sun . . . dark brown hair which he wears in a queue. . . . His mouth is large and generally firmly closed, but which from time to time discloses some defective teeth . . . "
• Washington had a difficult mother, who refused to let him go away to become a sailor, crushing his teenage dreams.
• Before his military career, George made his fortune as a surveyor of the Shenandoah Valley and he liked arithmetic. His first expedition (and first long trip away from home) was with Lord Fairfax, the largest landowner in Virginia. "The month-long expedition set out on horseback in March, 1748. Washington learned to sleep in the open and hunt for food. By the time he returned to Mount Vernon, he felt he had grown into a man. He was also now shaving."
• Between the ages of 16 and 42, he continued to make money as a country gentleman (farmer, businessman, popular legislator, and a county court judge). He was ahead of his time in using certain farm methods, such as crop rotation and prevention of soil erosion. He also used the refuse from his fishing operation to fertilize his fields.
• After Washington's first major battle in the French and Indian War, he commented that he liked the swishing sound of bullets.
• The Virginians that Washington recruited to serve under him in his early military career were described by a British officer as "an extremely bad collection of broken inn-keepers, horse jockeys, and Indian traders." A motley crew.
• Some of his contemporaries in the colonies and in England had funny names, e.g., Governor Dinwiddie. The man who invented the legend of Washington cutting down the cherry tree was a clergyman named Mason Locke "Parson" Weems.
• (Why you should always dress for the job you want:) At the First Constitutional Congress, Washington didn't do much. At the Second Continental Congress, the early battles of the Revolutionary War had already happened in Massachusetts. "To express his desire for action, Washington began wearing his red and blue uniform of the French and Indian War. He was appointed to one military committee after another." And ultimately, he was elected Commander in Chief.
• Washington's first inauguration took place in New York City, at Federal Hall, on the corner of Broad and Wall Streets. His second took place in Philadelphia. And by the time he left office, plans were underway to build a new capital, in a federal district located on the Potomac River.
• During his two terms in office as the first president of the new nation, Washington presided over the Neutrality Proclamation (staying out of the the conflict between France and Great Britain), the Whiskey Rebellion (flexing federal muscle), a cabinet scandal (his Secretary of State Edmund Randolph was accused of treason), and the rise of political parties (the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans). He was very busy. When it was suggested in his second term that he should be impeached because he had overdrawn on his $25,000 salary, "Washington's feelings were very hurt."
• He died in retirement of what historians now believe was a streptococcal infection of the throat. He was bled three times, before he finally said to his doctors, "You had better not take any more trouble about me, but let me go off quietly. I cannot last long." According to World Book, "At around 10 p.m. [on December 14, 1799], Washington whispered: 'I am just going. Have me decently buried, and do not let my body be put in the vault less than two days after I am dead. Do you understand me?' His secretary answered: 'Yes, sir.' Washington said: ' 'Tis well.' He felt his own pulse. Then he died."
  

An introduction

I am embarking on a quixotic journey to draw the first forty U.S. presidents in the next forty weeks. As I draw them, I will be reading about each fellow (and sadly, they've all been fellows) in my newly acquired, old set of World Book Encyclopedia, and posting interesting tidbits here.

Why forty? Three reasons:

(1) My new, old set of World Book Encyclopedia was published in 1981. I got the complete set (including an atlas!) for free from a nice family in Ypsilanti. 1981 is the year Ronald Reagan, our 40th president, was elected. Thus, the project is in part circumscribed by the limits of my primary source.

(2) 1981 is also the year I was born. I have meaningful memories of all the presidents that followed Reagan. This project therefore allows me to explore the 40 presidents that preceded my life as a sentient and politically aware being.

(3) Finally, and perhaps most important, I am in Michigan, in my current job (as a law clerk) for about 40 more weeks. As much as the job presents interesting new challenges, I worry that other parts of my brain are suffering for lack of creative stimuli. These 40 weeks are a finite period within which to try something new and to practice my rather rudimentary drawing.

A word regarding accuracy: I am not an artist, nor do I pretend to believe that the 1981 World Book Encyclopedia is an authoritative source on these historical figures. Accuracy isn't really the point.