#19: Hayes, Rutherford Birchard

Rutherford B. Hayes
19th President of the United States (served 1877-1881)
Oct. 4, 1822 (Delaware, Ohio) - Jan. 17, 1893 (Fremont, Ohio)

From a good beard to better!

• Hayes was the first president to be elected by a margin of only one vote. The election had to be decided by a special congressional commission. During his presidency, he ended Reconstruction (pulled federal troops out of the South) and ended the Spoils System (based his appointments on merit). Otherwise, his was a remarkably unremarkable reign.
• “Hayes was a champion speller in elementary school. He later boasted that ‘not one in a thousand could spell me down!’”
• During the Civil War, Hayes was quickly promoted. He “distinguished himself in several battles . . . . He was wounded four times and had four horses shot from under him.”
• Hayes had a hand in expanding the Library of Congress and he helped found the college that would later become Ohio State University.
• Hayes’s wife was the first First Lady to have gone to college. She and her husband introduced the custom of Easter egg rolling by children on the White House lawn.

SIDENOTE: I recently started watching the West Wing. I’m almost through the first season and it amazes me how every episode feels topical and relevant almost ten years after the show first aired. For example, one episode addressed the politics of the census when I filled out my census questionnaire. Another episode addressed the national parks and Yellowstone when I was writing about Ulysses Grant. The latest episode addressed the Easter egg roll while I was writing this entry! Not to mention all the issues (gays in the military, nuclear disarmament, state dinners for visiting dignitaries gone awry) that speak directly to issues faced by the current administration. Insane! Or perhaps merely a sad commentary on how little politics change! But either way, I highly recommend it!!!

BONUS BITS from the “H” volume! (We've already visited the "H" volume--hello there again, Mr. Harrison--but nevertheless I stumbled upon these gems and had to share)

• There is an entry devoted to “Hats.” In what context would this be useful? No idea, but it’s delightful to peruse. It includes a feature on “How a Felt Hat Is Made,” as well as an explanation of “Why People Wear Hats.” According to World Book, “people wear hats for three main reasons: (1) protection, (2) communication, and (3) decoration.”
• I learned that manufacturers can use the air bladder of a squirrel hake to make glue. Wha????
• And I found separate entries for "Hand," "Head" and "Human Body." According to World Book, "HAND is the end of a forelimb, or arm. Hands are specially constructed for taking hold of objects. True hands have opposable thumbs . . . " True hands! Priceless.
  

#18: Grant, Ulysses

Ulysses S. Grant

April 27, 1822, Pt. Pleasant, Ohio - July 23, 1885, McGregor, New York

What a beard!

• What's in a name? According to World Book, Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant. Hiram! That is totally going on my short list of names for my as-yet unborn sons. (Kidding, kidding... I don't have such a list, but if I did, Hiram would be way up top.) When he was seventeen, Grant's father found out that a neighbor's son had been dismissed from the U.S. Military Academy. He wrote his congressman to appoint Ulysses as a replacement (little 'Lyss had been going to school at an academy in Ripley, Ohio in the meantime). The congressman agreed, but when he made out the appointment he wrote it for "Ulysses S. Grant," mistakenly thinking the boy's middle name was his mother's maiden name, Simpson. 'Lyss never bothered to change it; "He thought his classmates might tease him about his real initials, 'H.U.G.'" Later, as a military commander, Grant earned the nickname "Unconditional Surrender Grant" after, on his own initiative, he took Fort Donelson in 1862 and refused to give the fort commander any concessions upon surrender. He was later called a "butcher" because he lost so many men in battle.
• Grant was the first West Point graduate to serve as president. After graduating in 1843, he fought in the Mexican War (including participating in the capture of Mexico City). He was later stationed in Detroit (hey-yo) and also Sackets Harbor, New York, before being sent to the West to serve at Fort Vancouver in the Oregon Territory and Fort Humboldt in California. Grant eventually resigned, preferring to return to be closer to his wife and four children. After a series of business failures, he returned to the Army in 1861 to fight for the Union (he freed his only slave in 1859). Grant quickly moved up the ranks from drill captain to colonel to brigadier general to lieutenant commander. He was ultimately named supreme commander of all Union armies by Lincoln in 1864. He led the North to victory and emerged from the Civil War a national hero. In the North, people admired him for his fierce tenacity and in the South people respected him for having given General Robert E. Lee generous terms of surrender.
• World Book refers to Grant as "trustworthy" and "shy and retiring." He was a talented horseman. His career outside the army as a young man was marked by business failures. He tried his hand as a farmer, a real estate agent, a landlord, and a store clerk. He was terrible at all of them. His unluckiness followed him after his presidency--in retirement he invested all of his savings (about $100,000) in a banking firm, for which his son, Ulysses, Jr., was a partner. The bank turned out to be run by a dishonest man and the company ultimately failed, leaving Grant almost penniless. In his old age, Grant turned to writing his memoirs for income. Mark Twain became his publisher. The memoirs earned his family $500,000!
  
• Grant's presidency (1869 - 1877) was marked by widespread political corruption--he vowed not to be ruled by professional politicians in his inaugural address and instead appointed personal friends and army officers to government offices. The spoils system quickly thrived and over the course of his two terms in office, government fraud ballooned. During his presidency, Grant presided over two financial panics: Black Friday (spurred by a gold speculation scandal) and the Panic of 1873 (spurred by the failure of several Eastern banks). All the while, Grant continued to accept personal gifts and his cabinet members accepted bribes left and right.
• Despite all the scandals, Grant succeeded in reducing the national debt. While he was president, the First Transcontinental Railroad System was completed, which I learned about from a Lucky Luke comic book, "Des Rails sur la Prairie." (Come to think of it, almost everything I know about the American West I learned from either Lucky Luke or the Magnificent Seven.) Grant also presided over the creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872. Hooray for national parks! Hip hip...
  

Bonus drawing!
(that is a tree trunk Grant is leaning against, for your information)

#17: Johnson, Andrew

Andrew Johnson
(Dec. 29, 1808, Raleigh, NC - July 31, 1875, Carter Station, Tennessee)

• Mr. Johnson was the first president to be impeached; he was the first and only president who had never gone to school (he was a tailor by training); he was the first president to grant a reporter a formal interview; and he was the first and only former president to serve as a Senator (he ran and won in 1874, six years after his term as president ended).
  
• Even though Johnson was a completely self-taught man (well almost completely--his wife taught him arithmetic and how to write), he diligently worked his way up the political ladder: from town alderman in Greenville, Tennessee, to the Tennessee House of Representatives, to Governor of Tennessee, to U.S. Senator, to Military Governor of Tennessee during the Civil War and finally to Vice President in Lincoln's second term (though notably Johnson owned 8 slaves, often advocated a "middle ground" on the slavery issue--sort of like being "kind of pregnant" or "very unique"--, and he was a Democrat on the Republican ticket). The World Book account of Johnson's inauguration bears quoting directly:
  

He had recently recovered from an attack of typhoid fever, and was still weak. On his way to the ceremony in the Senate, Johnson stopped to rest. He drank some whisky, thinking it would strengthen him. In the heat of the Senate chamber, and because of his weakened condition, Johnson became tipsy. His jumbled speech embarrassed even his friends. For many years, Johnson's opponents accused him of drunkenness, but the accusation was unjustified. Lincoln remarked: 'I have known Andy for many years; he made a bad slip the other day, but you need not be scared. Andy ain't a drunkard.'

• The morning after Lincoln's assassination, Johnson took the oath of office in his hotel room. In the four-year term that followed, he fought Radical Republicans intent on punishing the South. This resistance led to his tremendous unpopularity and eventual impeachment (though the Senate acquitted him in the impeachment trial). One of his lawyers at his impeachment trial wrote: "He is a man of few ideas, but they are right and true, and he could suffer death sooner than yield up or violate one of them." How's that for a backhanded compliment! During the trial, Radical Republican voters threatened Senators who did not vote in favor of impeachment. One voter, for example, warned, "Any Republican Senator who votes against impeachment need never expect to get home alive." My, my. Politics can get quite ugly.
  
• During Johnson's presidency, the U.S. acquired Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million in 1867. The deal was negotiated by Secretary of State William Seward--many American called Alaska "Seward's folly" for years thereafter. Recently, Discovery confirmed that it had finalized a deal with Sarah Palin to do an eight-part travelogue show about her home state. Although the series is not yet in production, the cost is estimated at about $1 million per episode. So that would be about $8 million. I can do math.
  
  

And that, my friends, is all I have to say about Andrew Johnson.

#16: Lincoln, Abraham... bio

I lost the “L” volume for two weeks! I know, I know… excuses, excuses. But seriously, I couldn’t find it to finish reading the mammoth entry on Lincoln. While presidents like James “Blech” Buchanan get like 3-page entries, Honest Abe gets 17 and a half pages! That’s longer than any president so far.

Things I like about Lincoln:

• He Was A Bad Lawyer! Not really bad, but as a lawyer Lincoln argued better and more convincingly when he himself was convinced that his client was right. This somehow charms me… it’s a weakness as far as lawyering goes, but it also seems like the result of having a strong moral compass—an admirable quality.
  
• He Was A Serial Loser! Lincoln lost plenty of political campaigns before winning the presidency: he lost a campaign for state legislature in 1832 (but won when he ran again in 1834 on the Whig ticket); he lost the Whig nomination for Congress in 1843 and again in 1844 (but won when he presented himself in 1846); he lost the nomination for Congress again in 1854 (but succeeded in getting a colleague who opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act elected); he won the nomination but lost the election for U.S. Senate to Stephen Douglas in 1858… and finally won the presidency in 1860 without actively campaign for himself! It was considered unseemly at the time for presidential candidates to campaign.
• The Lincoln-Douglas Debates—Enough Said! The story of Lincoln's debates with Douglas during their race for Senate is inspiring. Compared to modern political debates (over-produced, glossy, lacking in substance, filled with nonsense about flag pins and Joe the Plumber) these debates seem AWESOME. They actually debated real, hard issues (e.g. slavery) in front of real people (i.e. not neutered audiences). According to World Book, both men also toured extensively making speeches on their own while doing the debates. “Before the exhausting campaign ended, Douglas’ deep bass voice had become so husky that it was hard to understand him. Lincoln’s high, penetrating voice still reached the limits of a large audience.” The debates made Lincoln famous across the nation.
• Insane Presidential Power Grabs! Lincoln took the oath of office and became the 16th president of the United States on March 4, 1861. Civil War broke out on April 12, 1861, with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Lincoln responded within two weeks by proclaiming a blockade on Southern ports, expanding the army beyond the limits of the law, suspending habeas corpus in areas where Southern sympathizers were active, and ordering the spending of federal funds without waiting for congressional appropriations. All this to prevent the Union from breaking into pieces. That Abe Lincoln fella was a ballsy man. Ballsy, I tell you!
  
• He Was Accessible! As president, Lincoln saw everyone who called upon the White House--including widows and soldiers--and he insisted on writing most of his own letters and all of his speeches. He also made frequent visits to army hospitals (World Book says these visits “tore his gentle heart”).
  

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in late 1862, freeing slaves in Confederate territory. The proclamation didn’t have an immediate effect, since mid-war there was no way for federal officers to enforce it, but it had tremendous long-range effect, paving the way for the Thirteenth Amendment. By 1864, when Lincoln was up for reelection, his popularity had seriously waned—but a series of Union victories turned popular opinion and Lincoln was elected to a second term. He took his second oath of office on March 4, 1865—his face, “gaunt and deeply lined,” bore the effect of four years of war. The war ended on April 9, 1865, when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Lincoln was assassinated a little over a week later on the evening of April 15, 1865 while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth, a prominent stage actor. After Lincoln’s death, “even his enemies praised his kindly spirit and selflessness. Millions of people called him ‘Father Abraham.’”

#16: Lincoln, Abraham

Abraham Lincoln

February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865

Abraham Lincoln looms large in our presidential mythology (and on a certain craggy cliffside in South Dakota). I drew him while watching the Oscars. I didn't have time to write up my World Book bullet points--how to sum this man up?! So I'm posting just this for now. Such a large forehead! At least I got the beard and the quasi-pout right.

#15: Buchanan, James

James Buchanan

April 23, 1791 (Gettysburg, Pa.) -- June 1, 1868 (Lancaster, Pa.)

If there were a teleplay about Buchanan's life,

John Lithgow would have to play him.
(Please disregard the puppies on the bottom of this drawing--
I couldn't find white paper and had to resort to a
notepad with puppy art across the bottom.)

• Buchanan presided ineffectually over the terrible years right before the Civil War (1857-1861). For this he wins the dubious distinction of being one of our worst presidents. Buchanan's hit list of horrors included refusing to oppose slavery--indeed he supported the infamous Dred Scott decision, and letting seven of the fifteen slave states secede in 1860-61, believing that war would only encourage more states to secede and would impede eventual peaceful settlement. He believed that "if left alone the . . . Confederate states would soon disagree among themselves, and move toward reunion." He was the original King of Wishful Thinking.


• Buchanan was born in a log cabin in Pennsylvania, son of Irish-Scot immigrants. He worked in his Dad's general store. He went on to enjoy a lengthy career as a lawyer, Congressman, and diplomat before ascending to the presidency as the Democratic party's least offensive choice for the nomination (he was abroad when the Bleeding Kansas episode occurred, so he had the benefit of having said nothing on the record about the slavery issue).


• Buchanan was the only bachelor president. He fell in love with a girl in his younger years, and got engaged. However, after a misunderstanding (World Book is frustratingly vague on this point), the young lady left Buchanan to go stay with her sister in Philadelphia. She died soon thereafter. Gossips suggested it was suicide (gasp!). In the White House, Buchanan's niece and ward, Harriet Lane, served as his hostess. She threw many balls and receptions. "Buchanan added a conservatory to the White House to provide flowers for these affairs. The most spectacular parties centered around the visit of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII of Great Britain. The prince brought such a large party that Buchanan had to sleep in a hallway to provide proper quarters for his guests."


• Because Buchanan had one eye that was near-sighted and one that was far-sighted, he had a peculiar habit of tilting his head so that he could see better. Hence the wonky look in his official portrait.
  

THE WORLD OF PRESIDENT BUCHANAN: During Buchanan's presidency, the population of the US was about 32 million. The first Atlantic cable was laid between Newfoundland and Ireland in 1858--it failed and was not replaced until 1866; Darwin published his theory of evolution in 1859--a movie about his life would fail at the box office 151 years later; and the Pony Express system carrying mail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, was established in 1860.


Bonus from the "B" Volume: SIZES OF BEARS
(in descending order, from largest to smallest, with average adult length)

Alaskan Brown Bear - ursus arctos middendorffi, 9 feet
Polar Bear - thalarctos maritimus, 8.75 feet
Grizzly Bear - ursus arctos horribilis, 8 feet
American Black Bear - euarctos americanus, 5 feet
Asiatic Black Bear - selenarctos thibetanus, 5 feet
Sloth Bear - melursus ursinus, 5 feet
Spectacled Bear - termarctos ornatus, 5 feet
Sun Bear - herlarctos malaynus, 3 feet

#14: Pierce, Franklin

Franklin Pierce

Our Fourteenth President (1853-1857)

November 23, 1804 (Hillsborough, NH) – October 8, 1869 (Concord, NH)

Jon Hamm as Franklin Pierce!

• "The personal good looks of Pierce and his brilliant speaking manner impressed all who met him." He was a lawyer who served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and later, at 33, was the youngest Senator in the U.S. Senate. When elected president at 48, Pierce was the youngest president up to that time (woohoo).
• However, Pierce supported the Compromise of 1850 and, as president, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which made slavery possible in a large part of the West (boo), and also led to armed clashes among slavery and anti-slavery people (the so-called "Bleeding Kansas" chapter in our nation's history).
• Pierce's home life was super depressing: his wife suffered from tuberculosis and "melancholy." The couple lost two of their three sons. Most notably, Pierce's 11-year old son was killed in a railroad accident two months before Pierce's inauguration--"Mrs. Pierce collapsed from grief, and did not attend her husband's inauguration."
• After Pierce lost the presidency (his political usefulness was destroyed by his handling of the slavery issue), he started drinking and became a big critic of Abraham Lincoln (double boo).
  

#13: Fillmore, Millard

Millard Fillmore, our Thirteenth President
January 7, 1800 (Locke, New York) - March 8, 1874 (Buffalo, New York)

• Fillmore signed the Compromise of 1850, the series of laws passed by Congress that abolished the slave trade in the District of Columbia, admitted California as a free state, and organized the territories of Utah and New Mexico with no reference to slavery. It also established a stricter fugitive slave law. This Compromise is credited with staving of civil war for ten years, but it also was a huge concession to the South.
• Fillmore was a self-made man. He spent part of his childhood as a clothmaker's apprentice. The master treated him so badly "that the boy once threatened him with an axe." At age 19, Fillmore bought his freedom from the apprenticeship for $30. He also bought the first book he ever owned: a dictionary. He went on to study law with a local judge.
• Fillmore was elected with Taylor on the Whig ticket. They won in part because the slavery issue split the Democratic vote--many voted with the Free Soil party. Fillmore took office when Taylor died: the second vice president to inherit the presidency in this way.
• Fillmore married one of his teachers, Abigail Powers, the daughter of a baptist minister. "He was 19 and she was 21, and they fell in love." They had two children and lived in Buffalo. Mrs. Fillmore died one month after her husband left office (he was not re-elected). He remarried five years later in Buffalo, where he continued to be active in politics, opposing Abraham Lincoln's policies.
  
• During Fillmore presidency, "Amelia Bloomer wore long pantaloons to draw attention to the woman suffrage movement. Many of her followers copied her costume, and they became known as 'Bloomer Girls.'" Also, school attendance became compulsory in Massachusetts--the first law in the country of its kind.
  

#12: Taylor, Zachary

Zachary Taylor
November 24, 1784 (Barboursville, Virginia) - July 9, 1850 (the White House!)

• Zachary Taylor "served his country for 40 years as a soldier and for 16 months as President": he fought in the War of 1812, was promoted to Major, then sent to Florida in 1837 to fight the Seminole Indians, and in 1846 he went to the Rio Grande with thousands of troops to fight in the Mexican War, then was elected prez in 1849. He died in office in 1850 and was succeeded by Vice President Millard Fillmore.
• Zachary grew up on "the dark and bloody ground" of Kentucky's frontier. No schools, some tutors. He "gained much practical knowledge by working on his father's farm."
  
• Taylor won the presidency on the Whig party ticket. During the campaign, neither the Democrats nor the Whigs talked about the slavery issue--only the Free Soil Party led by former president Martin Van Buren campaigned on it.
• Under Taylor's presidency, debates over slavery heated up and came close to bringing about civil war. Southerners demanded compromise before California could be admitted to the union. Taylor refused and as a result California was not admitted until Fillmore succeeded to the presidency.
• Mrs. Taylor did not like the fact that her husband ran for President. "She viewed it as a plot to deprive her of his company." She did not participate in social life at the White House, so hostess duties passed to her daughter Betty.
  

I also learned that a Tayra (TY ruh) "is a large member of the weasel family. It lives in tropical forests from Mexico to Argentina. . . . Tayras wander through the forests . . . eat birds, small mammals, and fruits."

#11 Polk, James K.

New format: I think I'm going to do five bullets (tops!). The goal? Maximum readability. Maybe by week forty I'll be tweeting entries.

Today... James K. Polk!

November 2, 1795 (Pineville, North Carolina) - June 15, 1849 (Nashville, Tennessee, of cholera)
President #11, 1845 - 1849

• Polk oversaw the greatest territorial growth of the US, including winning the Mexican War and adding Texas to the Union. During his presidency, covered wagons rolled across the Oregon Trail and forty-niners hunted for gold in California.
• Polk's era as president was the "Fabulous 40's." "The country seethed with excitement, energy, and prosperity." (Seethed!)
• The national scene had a seedy underbelly too: reformers called attention to the hardships of child laborers, the poverty of immigrants, and slavery.
• Mrs. Polk became the first wife of a President to serve as her husband's secretary. Over the course of his career, she looked over and approved his writings. She managed a plantation on the Yalobusha River for 42 years after his death.
  
• Polk is the first President not to seek reelection. He retired at the end of his first term.
  

The "P" volume includes a handy reference for: Polled Cattle. See Cattle (Horns; Beef Cattle).
And for: Polka. See Dancing (Folk Dancing; The Rise of Romanticism).

#10: Tyler, John

John Tyler
March 29, 1790-January 18, 1862

Tyler was long considered a bad president. (And I am a bad blogger for falling behind again.) Theodore Roosevelt said of him: “Tyler has been called a mediocre man, but this is unwarranted flattery. He was a politician of monumental littleness.” (What wit!!?) According to World Book, Tyler earned this reputation by being soft-spoken, but stubborn. He was the first Vice-President to become President upon the death of a Chief Executive. He was elected on the Whig party ticket alongside Harrison. After Harrison’s death in 1841, 30 days into his term, Tyler assumed the presidency. He proceeded to veto almost every important bill that was presented to him. When he blocked a call for a new Bank of the United States, an armed mob marched to the White House. “Hoodlums shouted insults at the President and hurled rocks through the windows. Tyler calmly issued guns to the White House servants and stood firm against the mob. The rioters melted away.” The Whigs shortly thereafter disowned Tyler, and in 1843 tried unsuccessfully to impeach him.

During Tyler’s presidency, China opened its ports to world trade, the YMCA was organized in London (laying the groundwork for one of the great disco classics of the modern era), and the Oregon Trail opened the way for settlement of the Pacific Northwest (laying the groundwork for many a wasted hour in sixth grade social studies classes circa 1992).

On Tyler’s last day in office, March 1, 1845, he signed a bill admitting Florida to the Union. The House and Senate passed a joint resolution admitting Texas as well, though it did not formally join the Union until December 29, 1845, under Tyler’s successor James K. Polk.

Tyler was married twice and had way too many kids. With his first wife, he had eight children. Mrs. Tyler died during her husband’s presidency, and Tyler remarried 22 months later. He was the first president to be married while in office. Tyler and wife #2 met on a ship watching the firing of a new naval gun. The gun exploded, killing eight persons, including David Gardiner. Tyler had been courting Gardiner’s daughter Julia. The death of Gardiner brought Tyler and Julia together (this is somehow distasteful to me--it seems vaguely predatory--but it's not nearly as creepy as the last minute of this). Tyler and Julia married and had seven children.

After leaving the presidency, Tyler retired to Virginia, his home state, where he lived until just before the Civil War. In 1861, Tyler participated in a secession convention, and voted in favor of Virginia leaving the Union. He won a seat to the Confederate House of Representatives, but died before taking office.

#9: Harrison, William Henry

William Henry Harrison
February 9, 1773 - April 4, 1841

At 68, William Henry Harrison was the oldest man to become president and the first to die in office. He was a Virginian, but perhaps better known as a leader in the new Northwest Territory, where he pushed to have a bill passed dividing western lands into tracts small enough for even a poor person to buy. He later was named governor of the Indiana Territory, where he set up a seat in Vincennes (I've driven by Vincennes!!). On the one hand, Harrison sought to "protect" the Indians' welfare, in a paternalistic way (e.g. banning sale of liquor to Indians, forced smallpox innoculations). But on the other hand, he later set out to drive Indians from treaty lands, shattering Indian forces in the Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811. After serving as brigadier general, major general, U.S. Representative, and Senator, Harrison was named the first U.S. Minister to Columbia in 1828. His blunt-spoken ways were a hindrance: he told Simon Bolivar not to become a dictator, and Bolivar took offense.

I've composed this lame little limerick about Harrison's short-lived presidency, 1841-1841:

Good Willy H., “Old Tippecanoe,”
Spent too long outside and caught the flu.
He worked thirty days,
Temperature ablaze,
Then gently died, without much ado.*

*Actually, there was some ado: Congress had to sort out an order of succession.

#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).

#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.