The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of American Presidents: Part 4

All too often, American presidents are generalized. This one was good, this one was bad, or all of them were bad before or after this point. In reality, each President has positive or negative aspects that may be frequently overlooked. Sometimes what seemed good at the time is not so good in retrospect, or what was controversial would be accepted today. In this series, we'll look at the highlights of each President from the founding of America to today.

In Part 3, we looked at the presidencies of James Monroe and John Quincy Adams. We now continue with three more presidents, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and William Henry Harrison.

6. Andrew Jackson (in office March 4, 1829 – March 4, 1837)

Jackson and both his brothers fought in the Revolutionary War. He and his brother Robert were captured and kept as prisoners of war. When a British officer demanded Jackson and his brother polish his boots, they refused and were slashed with the officer's sword, scarring Jackson for life. The incident gave Jackson a lifelong hatred of political privilege, aristocracy, and anything associated with the British ruling class.

A famed general, Jackson's victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans was a decisive end to the War of 1812 and an enormous boost to American morale.

Jackson served in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Jackson was known as an advocate for ordinary citizens and defender of the preservation of the union of the states.

Jackson and his supporters split from what had been the Democratic Republican Party to form the new Democratic Party.

Achievements as President

Jackson was the only president to successfully pay off the national debt.

Jackson recognized the Republic of Texas as an entity independent of the United States and Mexico.

Jackson survived the first assassination attempt on a sitting U.S. President.

He vetoed a bill to reauthorize the Second Bank of the United States, citing that it was a corrupt institution. The bank was eventually dismantled.

Believing the preceding Adams administration had been corrupt, Jackson ordered an investigation into all executive departments. He found that $280,000 had been stolen from the treasury, and the Navy was prone to waste. His reduction in costs in the Department of the Navy resulted in savings of $1 million.

Due to the confirmation of his suspicion of corruption, Jackson enforced the Tenure of Office Act, which reversed the trend of allowing previous office appointees to remain and bringing in new office holders, limiting the tendency to become corrupt over time.

Despite the development of multiple parties during his first term, his policies gained him support in all regions of the United States and Jackson won reelection by a landslide.

Jackson's administration negotiated a trade agreement with Siam, the first East Asian country to establish trade with the United States. He also made trade agreements with the Ottoman Empire, and further agreements with Great Britain, Russia, and Spain.

On the last day of his presidency, Jackson increased the number of Supreme Court justice seats from seven to nine and reorganized the federal judiciary system.

Failures

While Jackson's policies resulted in paying off the national debt for the only time in history, his policies afterward led to a national panic, destabilizing the economy and culminating in a four year economic depression.

Controversies

Jackson was nefarious in his view and treatment of Native Americans, fighting numerous wars against Native American tribes as a soldier, and as President, signing the Indian Removal Act, ordering tens of thousands of Native Americans to relocate in the infamous move called "The Trail of Tears", which resulted in thousands of Indian deaths.

Jackson amassed a fortune as a planter, owning hundreds of slaves.

Prior to his presidency, Jackson was in an argument over a horse race, and the argument resulted in a duel. While his opponent shot first, the bullet lodged in Jackson's breastbone. Jackson returned fire, killing his opponent. The bullet remained lodged in Jackson for the rest of his life, causing him considerable pain, and the duel damaged his reputation.

In the 1828 campaign for president against incumbent John Quincy Adams, vicious mudslinging occurred between the candidates and their supporters, with Jackson being accused of numerous war crimes, including allegations of killing women and children, and even cannibalism. The only allegations that bothered Jackson were those that he and his wife were married before the divorce from her previous husband was final. The stress of this was so great his wife grew ill and died of a heart attack or stroke after he won election, but before she could see him sworn in. Jackson never forgave those involved, calling them murderers and noting that his wife had such a noble soul she would have forgiven them, though he didn't know if he could ever forgive them.

The wife of Jackson's secretary of war, John Eaton, was alleged to be promiscuous, and it was rumored that she and Eaton had been having an affair before her first husband died. Because of this, wives of other members of the cabinet refused to socialize with the Eatons, and the cabinet became so ineffective that Jackson rarely called them together and eventually replaced all of them. Even after they were replaced, Jackson was so distrustful of his formal cabinet that he preferred the council of informal advisors he referred to as his "kitchen cabinet."

Due to severe objections to the so-called "Tariff of Abominations" passed by the preceding President Adams, South Carolina worked to nullify the Tariff or even secede from the union. To prevent this, Jackson passed the Tariff of 1830 as a concession, reducing the effects of the previous tariff. When South Carolina continued to make threats, Jackson sent warships to the South Carolina coast to enforce the tariff, threatening to hang anyone working to nullify the tariff, secede, or promote any other acts of treason. He then asked Congress for a "Force Bill" authorizing him to enforce the tariff. South Carolina backed down, but the conflict led Vice President Calhoun to run for the Senate. When he won election, he stepped down as Vice President, leaving his office vacant until Jackson found a replacement. The affair also troubled Jackson, leading him to predict that states would attempt to secede again in the future, possibly over the issue of slavery.

Because he acted to remove funds from the Second Bank of the United States, the Senate, led by his opposing party (the Whigs), voted to censure Jackson, making him the only president ever censured by the Senate. When Jackson's Democratic party later became the majority in the Senate, they expunged the censure.

After he fired the head of the Department of the Navy after finding the department to be corrupt and inefficient, Jackson was struck by him, making him the first president to be physically assaulted while in office. The next day a would-be assassin tried three times to shoot Jackson, but his gun jammed each time and Jackson beat the man with his cane prior to arrest. This made him also the first president to survive an assassination attempt while in office.

7. Martin Van Buren (in office March 4, 1837 – March 4, 1841)

Van Buren was one of the primary founders of the Democratic Party, building its organizational structure.

Founded "The Holy Alliance" aka "The Albany Regency", a political alliance that controlled most of the state politics of New York, one of the earliest examples of a political machine.

He served as Attorney General of New York, and U.S. Senator for New York.

He was elected governor of New York, serving briefly before serving as Secretary of State for President Jackson.

He served as minister to Great Britain under President Jackson, and was Jackson's second Vice President.

Achievements as President

Raised in a predominantly Dutch community in New York, he spoke Dutch as a child and is to date the only president to have learned English as a second language.

He is the first US president not born as a British subject.

He was highly opposed to slavery, leading him to leave the Democratic party for a time due to its support of slavery.

In contrast to the preceding presidency of Andrew Jackson, Van Buren was able to hold regular cabinet meetings and seek the advice of his cabinet while maintaining authority over them.

When Canada sought to be independent from Great Britain, leading to some Canadians defecting to the United States, and bursts of armed conflict, Van Buren made the U.S. official neutral in Canada's crisis and negotiated a peaceful resolution to the violence involving Americans.

Peacefully negotiated a border dispute in the area of northern Maine, where both Canadians and Americans had been living and working. The territory was claimed by both Maine and Canada, and both sides were willing to fight over it. The treaty with Great Britain (which included Canada at the time) wasn't signed until after Van Buren's presidency, but it was negotiated by Van Buren while in office.

Failures

Because of his key role in Jackson's cabinet, including financial policies, and his response to "The Panic of 1837", a financial crisis which led to an economic depression, he quickly lost popularity.

In the case of United States vs. Amistad, slaves on a ship operated by Spain rebelled and took over the ship. When the ship entered American waters, it was seized by U.S. forces and Van Buren demanded that the slaves be returned to Spain as they were legally Spanish property. The case went to the Supreme Court, where former president John Quincy Adams argued the slaves were free and should remain so. The Court ruled in favor of the slaves and against Van Buren's order that they be returned.

Lost his bid for reelection in 1840.

Failed in his attempt to be nominated as a presidential candidate in 1844.

Controversies

The Second Seminole War, also known as The Seminole War, was an official conflict in which the US military fought to remove Native Americans, collectively referred to as "Seminoles", from Florida. It was the longest and costliest Indian war in American history, finally ending after Van Buren's presidency was over.

Refused to allow Texas into the Union because it was a slave state.

Found slavery to be immoral, yet didn't work to abolish it because he thought it was constitutional. He also knew that moving for abolition would cost him the support of slave states.

Despite the country being in a deep economic depression, Van Buren allowed his daughter-in-law, who was serving as the official hostess of White House events (because Van Buren was a widower), to discuss how she would be modelling décor and events after classical European procedures and styles, including remodeling the White House grounds. This was found to be insensitive and a waste of public funds.

8. William Henry Harrison (in office March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841 )

Father was a signer of the Constitution.

Veteran of the Northwest Indian War including the battle of Tippecanoe, earning him the nickname, "Tippecanoe."

Veteran of the War of 1812.

Appointed Secretary of the Northwest Territory, what is now Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Later elected representative of the territory in Congress.

Elected governor of Indiana Territory and negotiated multiple treaties with Indian tribes in the territory.

After moving to Ohio, represented the state in the House of Representatives, then later the Senate.

Appointed minister to Colombia.

Grandfather of later president Benjamin Harrison.

Achievements as President

Despite being raised on a Virginia plantation, he was opposed to slavery, and looked forward to its abolition.

While he was from a wealthy family, Harrison's campaign team promoted him as a simple frontiersman, to make him appeal to common citizens the way the very popular Andrew Jackson did. This also enabled him to defeat incumbent President Van Buren, who was being painted as an out of touch, insensitive elitist. To complete this image he even altered his manner of dress, wearing rough, homespun clothing. This kind of marketing helped change how presidential campaigns were conducted and resulted in a massive defeat of Van Buren.

First American President to die in office, serving exactly one month. Due to his death, the order of succession had to be formerly defined, as it was unclear in the constitution.

Failures

Harrison wanted to be seen as physically fit and vital, so he rode to his inauguration on a cold day without a coat or hat, gave a two hour speech in the cold, and attended a series of exhausting social functions. Three weeks later he again braved cold, rainy elements without hat or coat and grew ill, dying a few days later. His presidency was so brief it's often left out of effectiveness rankings by default.

Controversies

It was alleged that Harrison fathered six children with a slave, giving four away to one of his brothers to avoid scandal prior to running for president. While this has never been proven or disproven, it is part of the oral history of the slave's descendants.

Next: John Tyler and James K. Polk