#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.

#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."

#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!