Polk Addendum

I forgot this!

#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).

Recap

The entries have gotten long-winded and unwieldy, so I'm rethinking this project a little. In the meantime, here's a recap of the first 10 presidents, the first fourth of this enterprise!

1. George Washington - Revolutionary War hero, our first President

2. John Adams - accomplished statesman

3. Thomas Jefferson - father of the Declaration of Independence

4. James Madison - shaped the system of Separation of Powers

5. James Monroe - oversaw grand expansion and Missouri Compromise

6. John Quincy Adams - didn't get much done

7. Andrew Jackson - opposed the Bank of the US, drove the Indians out

8. Martin Van Buren - presided over the first major recession, refused government aid

9. William Harrison - died after 30 days in office

10. John Tyler - wigged out the Whigs by going his own way

#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).