#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

#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).

#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).