The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly of American Presidents: Part 5

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 4, we looked at the presidencies of Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and William Henry Harrison. Adams. We now continue with two more presidents, John Tyler and James K. Polk.

9. John Tyler (in office April 4, 1841 – March 4, 1845)

Proponent of states' rights.

Constitutional constructionist, believing in the laws of the Constitution as written.

Served on Virginia legislature.

Elected to US House of Representatives, representing Virginia.

Elected Governor of Virginia.

As governor, delivered the funeral address for former President Thomas Jefferson.

Served as a delegate for the Virginia Constitutional Convention.

Served in the US Senate, representing Virginia.

Seen as a senatorial maverick, voting against President Andrew Jackson, a fellow Democrat, when he believed Jackson was trying to spend too much money or overextending federal power over the states.

Elected President pro tempore of the Senate. The only President to have held this position before becoming President.

Due to conflicts with President Jackson and other Democrats, joined the new Whig Party.

Elected Vice President under William Henry Harrison.

Praised for his integrity.

Trusted advisor of President Harrison for his brief time in office.

Achievements as President

First President to take office due to the death of the preceding President.

First President to serve without a Vice-President (the guidelines for succession and filling vacant offices were not yet fully established).

When sworn in at age 51, was the youngest President to take office.

For the sake of stability, Tyler maintained Harrison's cabinet. Though they were openly hostile to him and tried to convince him that the cabinet operated by majority vote, which the President cooperated with, Tyler asserted that the cabinet's role was to advise the President, not dictate to him.

Despite many claiming he was not the actual President, just the Vice President standing in, Tyler was praised for his strong leadership, and returned any mail addressed to him as "Vice President" or "Acting President" unopened.

Appointed a panel of private citizens to investigate suspected fraud in the New York Customs House. When the investigation proved fraud had occurred under former President Martin Van Buren (predecessor to Harrison and Tyler), it was embarrassing to the Whig Party. Whig members of Congress complained about the investigation, but Tyler asserted authority under the President's role to uphold the law.

Negotiated a trade deal with China.

Extended the Monroe Doctrine to include Hawaii and advised Great Britain to not get involved there. Establishing Hawaii as an area protected by the United States led to the eventual annexation of Hawaii as a state.

Finally established a hard border between Maine and Canada, ending longstanding conflicts there.

Sent an expedition to explore the areas of Oregon, Washington, and California.

Admitted Florida to the union as a state.

Oversaw the peaceful resolution of a potential insurrection in Rhode Island.

Ended the Seminole War against Native Americans in the South.

Worked hard to annex the independent Republic of Texas, finally succeeding in the last days of his term.

Failures

In response to his investigation proving fraud occurred in the New York Customs House, Congress passed a resolution indicating presidents cannot fund investigations unless the use of funds is approved by Congress.

Before the presidency of Andrew Jackson, presidents rarely vetoed bills passed by Congress. But as a Democrat, Jackson vetoed multiple bills passed by Whigs in Congress. Similarly, despite being elected as a Whig candidate, Tyler vetoed any bills he found to be outside of the reach of Congress. This angered Congress so much that Tyler became the first President facing articles of impeachment. The move to impeach ultimately failed, but it was expected that efforts would continue.

On his last full day in office, Tyler became the first President to have a veto overridden by Congress.

Tried to establish part or all of Oregon, which was jointly occupied by the the U.S. and Great Britain, as U.S. territory, but negotiations fell through.

Due to his frequent clashes with Congress, when almost of of Tyler's cabinet resigned, Congress rejected several of Tyler's nominations for cabinet positions. He was the first President to have cabinet nominations rejected.

When two Supreme Court seats became open, Congress rejected several of Tyler's nominees. He was only able to fill one of the seats before he left office.

Lacking the support to run for a second term as a Whig candidate, Tyler tried to rejoin the Democrats, but was rejected by them, in spite of strong support from former President Jackson, founder of the Democrats. Unable to secure a nomination, Tyler was limited to one term.

Controversies

Born into a wealthy plantation family that owned slaves.

After he made a career for himself as a lawyer, Tyler bought his own plantation and his own slaves.

Believed slavery was protected by the Constitution under state's rights.

Hoped slavery would be abolished at some point, but repeatedly voted against any federal restrictions of it.

Believed states should be responsible for their own roads and infrastructure, rather than federal funds and labor.

Was nominated as Vice President supposedly because no one else would accept the nomination, and reportedly only by concealing his political views, though politically a Southern Vice President was needed to make William Henry Harrison, a Northerner, a more viable candidate.

When he refused to buckle to pressure from the Whig Party to cooperate with policies he found to be unconstitutional, Tyler's cabinet resigned, hoping he also would resign. When he refused to resign, he was kicked out of the Whig Party and Congress refused to allocate funds to repair the White House.

Favored the forced cultural assimilation of Native Americans.

When the U.S. Army conducted an investigation into alleged fraud by the Cherokee, Congress demanded the results of the investigation. Tyler refused to comply, citing executive privilege and claiming the results were outside of the public interest.

Long after his presidency ended, at the start of the Civil War, Tyler worked in support of the new Confederate States of America. When he died of ill health during the war, he became the only former president whose death was not recognized or memorialized in Washington. However, he was honored by a lavish memorial by the Confederacy and buried with the Confederate flag on his coffin, making him the only President to be buried with a flag other than that of the United States.

1o. James K. Polk (in office March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1849)

Served in Tennessee state legislature.

Served as Speaker of the House of Representatives, the only President to date who first served as Speaker.

Served as Governor of Tennessee.

Grew up in politics, with fellow Democrat Andrew Jackson as a family friend.

As Speaker, maintained more order in the House than previous Speakers, and no matter how he was insulted, did not challenge any of his peers to a duel, though others did.

Intended to run for Vice President, but became the Presidential nominee when other candidates couldn't gather enough votes.

Achievements as President

At 49, youngest President to take office, breaking his predecessor John Tyler's record of 51.

Completed the annexation of Texas begun by President Tyler, making Texas a state.

Greatly increased the size of U.S. Territory by winning the war with Mexico, establishing the modern border with Mexico.

Achieved an agreement with Great Britain establishing Oregon as U.S. territory.

Pledged before his campaign that he would only serve one term as President, a pledge he honored.

Formed a new, demographically balanced cabinet that provided input from all regions of the United States.

Signed the bill creating the Department of the Interior.

Signed a treaty with the Republic of New Granada that recognized New Granada's sovereignty over the Isthmus of Panama, leading to the much later construction of the Panama Canal.

Lowered tariffs on foreign goods, leading to a boom in trade between Britain and America.

Failures

First President to be elected despite not winning the election in his home state (Tennessee) or the state of his birth (North Carolina).

While the territory of the United States grew greatly during his tenure, finally reaching the Pacific Ocean, Polk's policies of expansion made Americans more loyal to their regions (North, South, West, Texas) and less to the country in general, than ever before. This, and his vigorous defense of slavery, set the stage for the Civil War.

Tried to purchase Cuba from Spain for $100 million, but Spain rejected the offer.

Controversies

He was a plantation owner who used slave labor, buying more slaves during his presidency.

During the campaign, in order to appeal to abolitionist voters, he lied about slave ownership, claiming he only inherited slaves from his father. While he had inherited slaves, he bought more than 30 more himself to work on his cotton plantation.

Vetoed several bills against federally funded infrastructure for things such as ports because he believed states should fund such projects, and he also found many of the projects were designed to gain favor and votes for members of Congress, while having little real value.

Next: Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore