Thursday, November 26, 2009

#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).

Friday, November 20, 2009

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.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

#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.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

#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.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

#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!

Monday, November 2, 2009

#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."