16) Abraham Lincoln - Father Abraham

In 1809, the president who saved the Union was born in Kentucky. The first true Westerner to ascend to the nation’s highest office had a hardscrabble, frontier upbringing. They moved from Kentucky to Indiana where Abe’s mother died. Unable to raise a family on his own, Abraham’s father went back to Kentucky to marry Sarah Bush Johnston. They returned with Sarah’s three children and luxuries that the Lincoln’s never had such as beds, a table and chairs, and utensils. Sarah treated her step-son with kindness and love that young Abraham affectionately returned. Throughout adolescence Lincoln’s relationship with his father deteriorated and shortly after the family moved again, this time to Illinois, Lincoln moved out at 21 years old and without any prospects.

Lincoln's "rail-splitter" image was an
important part of his appeal to voters.

It was during these years that the “Rail-Splitter” came to be. Lincoln worked on the river, tried carpentry, operated a general store, surveyed land, joined a militia to battle local Indians, was a postmaster, gravitated toward law, and eventually got involved in politics. Lincoln spent his twenties living a frontier life centered around the town of New Salem, Illinois but his political aspirations soon saw him elected to the Illinois legislature and, partly thanks to his political maneuvering, to the new capital of Springfield.

Lincoln served eight years in the Illinois legislature as a staunch Whig while building his law career. During this time, he was also engaging in a rocky courtship with Mary Todd which caused mood swings and severe bouts of depression. In his last year of the legislature he and Mary finally wed and Lincoln had to find a way to support his family. When the law practice he was involved in dissolved he decided to begin his own law firm and partnered with William Herndon. The partnership was successful and Herndon, and ardent Whig and abolitionist, helped encourage Lincoln’s political aspirations.

In 1847, at the age of 47, Lincoln ran for and won a seat in United States House of Representatives. Lincoln served only one term, however his actions while in the House are interesting. In Congress the debate over the Wilmot Proviso was raging. Lincoln believed that slavery should be left alone to die in the South and did not participate in these debates. However, on five occasions when the Proviso came up in a roll call, Lincoln voted in favor. During his second session Lincoln was more active and involved himself in the fight against the slave trade in Washington DC, viewed by many as a national embarrassment.

Lincoln did not run for reelection as his stance against the Mexican American War was unpopular in his district. He did not hold public office again until he was elected president 12 years later. Lincoln and Herndon continued to build their law practice during this time, however Lincoln was involved in building the Republican Party in Illinois by stitching together anti-slavery factions in the state. During this time Lincoln ran against Stephen Douglas for a Senate seat. While Lincoln did not win the seat, he did engage Douglas in their famous series of debates which helped to crystallize the Republicans as the anti-slavery party. Additionally, these debates catapulted Lincoln in to the national spotlight. Seizing on this newfound fame, Lincoln accepted an invitation to speak in New York City. It was 1860, a presidential election year, and Lincoln traveled to New York City and delivered his lauded Cooper Union speech. The location of the speech was as important as the content because New York City was the home turf of the presumptive Republican nominee, William Seward.

Lincoln rode the momentum from the Douglas debates and Cooper Union speech to the 1860 Republican Convention which was conveniently located in Chicago. Lincoln was not a front-runner, but also not a dark horse. He ticked important boxes with his opposition to the expansion of slavery and support of internal improvements. However, there was a chance that the upstart Republican Party may actually take the White House so they needed a candidate who could build a big enough coalition to win the general election. Lincoln was likely to attract former Whigs, given his strong Whig credentials. Secondly, while he opposed the controversial Know-Nothing Party, he wasn’t openly confrontational to the sizable nativist movement in the country. Lastly, Lincoln could deliver Illinois, a state the Republicans needed. Lincoln grabbed the nomination and then won a wild general election in which the vote was split between four candidates. As president-elect, Lincoln was acutely aware that he had garnered less than 40% of the popular vote and was by no means a consensus president. He went on a whistle-stop tour of the Northern states to build unity.

Lincoln was immediately the subject of derision as he snuck in to Washington at night due to rumors of an assassination plot in Baltimore. He regretted the show of weakness. Following the oath of office Buchanan was able to drop the Charleston Harbor crisis in Lincoln’s lap which went on to consume his first month in office. When it became clear that the nation was at war, the North rallied around the administration quickly filling Lincoln’s request for 75,000 volunteers. Unfortunately, Northerners expected a quick routing of the Southern troops. As the war dragged and the Confederate army notched key victories many turned on Lincoln. During much of his presidency Lincoln existed in a space where he was despised by the South, too radical for Northern Democrats, not radical enough for the abolitionist wing of the Republican party, and too hesitant in his handling of his troops. During mid-term elections Lincoln was rebuked with heavy losses in the House of Representatives, however Republicans importantly held on to their majorities in both houses thanks to the departure of Southern legislators.

During the war Lincoln never legitimized the Confederate government. He would refer to the “insurrection” or “rebellion” and when left with no other way to describe his adversary he would refer to “the so-called Confederate States.” He refused to refer to Jefferson Davis as a president. On the other hand, Lincoln utilized many war time measures. Captured Confederate soldiers were treated as POWs, not as criminals. Additionally, the occasional suspensions of habeas corpus and most importantly the Emancipation Proclamation were war time measures designed to weaken the South.

Speaking of the Emancipation Proclamation, it is important to understand what it was and what it was not. The Emancipation Proclamation did not end or outlaw slavery. It did establish the freedom of slaves in certain rebellious states and called for the acceptance of those newly freed slaves in to the armed forces. Additionally, the Proclamation tacitly established that abolishment of slavery was a precondition for reunion, at least on Lincoln’s watch. Congress did not vote on the Proclamation, Lincoln just declared it as a war-time measure. He worried about the ambiguous legal status of freedmen once the war came to a close and worked to use the Proclamation as a stepping-stone for the eventual 13^th Amendment to the Constitution that would pass Congress two years later and permanently abolish slavery. Chicago mayor and former White House Chief of Staff to Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, is famous for saying “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” I think this is a great phrase to synthesize and simplify Lincoln’s presidency.

The physical toll that the stresses of war took on Lincoln
are evident in these two pictures. To the left is a picture
taken in 1861, shortly after taking office. The picture on the
right was taken in 1865, about two months before his death.

Between the Emancipation Proclamation and the passing of the 13^th Amendment much happened. One significant event came during a lull in the war during 1863. Lincoln had been looking for a chance to give a public address on the significance of the war and got a chance when he was invited to the dedication of the graveyard at Gettysburg. Lincoln may have been tweaking his words up until the day of the address, however he had already arranged much of his carefully worded address. He was scheduled to speak after the eloquent retired politician Edward Everett. Everett spoke for over two hours, leaving many in the crowd unprepared for Lincoln’s brief remarks. So brief her his remarks that a photograph was not taken. Witnesses offered conflicting reports on what Lincoln said and how he said it; Was he reading from notes? Was he interrupted by applause? Did he say “under God”? That his words were extraordinary quickly became apparent as its text was printed in papers across the country. What I find most beautiful about these words was his use of “Four score and seven years ago”. By establishing 1776 and the Declaration of Independence as the birth of our nation and not the signing of the Constitution in 1789, Lincoln was driving home his philosophy that until Jefferson’s words “all men are created equal” were fulfilled, the nation had not met its purpose.

Lincoln dealt with rumblings of a contested nomination for the Republican nomination. Some Republicans even held a dissident convention in which John Fremont was nominated, but the party ultimately rallied around Lincoln and he easily defeated his former general, George McClellan. One interesting note from Lincoln’s second election was his passivity at the nomination of Andrew Johnson as his Vice President thereby replacing Hannibal Hamlin. Some suppose that Lincoln wanted to distance himself from Hamlin’s extreme (i.e. abolitionist) views on slavery. Lincoln was known to joke that he didn’t fear Confederate assassination attempts because they feared Hamlin more than him.

There is so much more to touch on with Lincoln. I’ve hardly discussed Mary and haven’t mentioned his children. There’s Lincoln’s struggle to find generals he could work with and trust, his premonition-like dreams, the reconciliation of views that would be considered racist today with the image we have of the Great Emancipator. In the last couple days that I read Lincoln’s biography I trying to decide how to compare Washington and Lincoln. Washington created the country while Lincoln saved it. It finally occurred to me, not that this is an earth-shattering revelation, that the country needed both of them. They are great because of each other. Without Washington, there would likely have been no United States for Lincoln to lead and without Lincoln, Washington’s creation may have been destroyed. Both were undoubtedly the perfect person at the perfect time for the country.

Given that I wasn’t looking much beyond Lincoln and the Civil War when I began this project, I’ve decided to linger for a while. My next two books will diverge a bit from the regular pattern. I’m going to read James Swanson’s Manhunt to better understand Lincoln’s assassination and the subsequent search for his killer. Then I’m going to read William Cooper’s biography of Jefferson Davis to better understand Davis and “the so-called Confederate States.”

15) James Buchanan - 10 Cent Jimmy

In the introduction to this blog I posed three random questions to illustrate my presidential illiteracy: “…what did James Monroe do? What was going on during Buchanan’s presidency as the country moved to the precipice of civil war? Who the heck is Chester Arthur?” We’ve answered the first question already and now it’s time to move on to the second.

Buchanan is the third oldest president at
the time of their inauguration. However,
the current front-runners for the 2016
election, Donald Trump and Hillary
Clinton, would both be older.

In 1791 James Buchanan was born in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania, about 40 miles west of what would become the deadliest battlefield of the Civil War. It would be another 66 years before he reached the White House and in that time Buchanan witnessed and participated in much of the American experiment. In all likelihood his family met President Washington when he stayed at Buchanan’s uncle’s tavern during the Whiskey Rebellion. Buchanan began practicing law out of college but quickly became interested in politics and sought a seat in the state assembly. His electioneering consisted involved a stint volunteering in the War of 1812 where he saw no fighting. From the state assembly, the young Buchanan went on to serve in the House of Representatives for four terms representing the dying Federalist Party before being elected as a Democrat for his fifth and final term. While in the House, Buchanan became wrapped up in the “Corrupt Bargain” which gave John Quincy Adams the presidency over Andrew Jackson in the 1824 campaign, he tangled with another young congressman and future president James Polk, and he chaired the Judiciary Committee during his final term.

When Andrew Jackson was elected Buchanan was asked to serve as Minister to Russia. The Russian post was political exile and it indicates that Jackson may have put some stock in the rumor that Buchanan was involved in the Corrupt Bargain. His Russian job lasted less than two years, but it was a difficult two years to be away from Pennsylvania. During that time two of his siblings married; his mother, brother, and good friend died; and another friend became critically ill. Adding to the distress, he learned that his sister had married into a slave owning family, potential political dynamite for the ambitious young man. Buchanan quietly arranged to buy the family’s two slaves into freedom. With his personal affairs sorted out, Buchanan turned his attention to an available seat in the US Senate which he would hold for the next decade. Buchanan’s time in the Senate was a golden age for the institution. He served with five future presidents; Van Buren, Tyler, Polk, Fillmore, and Pierce; as well as the “Great Triumvirate” of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John Calhoun. Buchanan was very much a legislative role-player during these years and never sponsored any important bills or involved himself in any high profile debates.

The 1884 election of a Democrat, James Polk, brought about patronage for Buchanan and he was asked to join the cabinet. He wavered, hinting he might be more interested in a seat on the Supreme Court, but ultimately joined as Secretary of State. His time in the Polk administration was anything but a honeymoon. The two men often disagreed and Polk’s diary indicates that he did not trust Buchanan. The next Democrat in the White House was Franklin Pierce and he appointed Buchanan to Minister of England. This was another post that Buchanan wasn’t thrilled with, but accepted nonetheless.

Buchanan’s removal from American politics during the Pierce administration proved to be fortuitous. The Kansas-Nebraska Act led to a bitter fight staining those associated with Pierce’s administration. In fact, Buchanan had the good fortune to be removed from domestic politics during the four great political crises of his age. Buchanan was between the Pennsylvania Legislature and the House of Representatives during the Missouri Compromise; during the nullification crisis he was serving in Russia; and during the Compromise of 1850 he was not serving in Fillmore’s Whig administration. This string of good luck undoubtedly aided his electability in 1856.

Political cartoon from the election of 1856 depicting
Fillmore as the level-headed option between
abolitionist (Fremont) and status quo (Buchanan) forces.

By the election of 1856, there was no doubt that it was Buchanan’s turn as the Democratic nominee. He squared off against the Republican John Fremont who ended up splitting votes with Millard Fillmore running for the American (or Know-Nothing) Party. The Republican Party’s platform called for the arresting, jailing, and possibly execution of those who supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In short, the Republican Party platform seemed to criminalize Southern slaveholding states and the mere election of a Republican was likely to push a teetering country into disunion. Under those circumstances Buchanan went about setting up his administration. He formed a cabinet excluding Northern and Southern partisans. The mood in Washington was dour at the time of his inauguration and it did not improve. His presidency began with the Dred Scott decision, ended with an impending battle in the Charleston Harbor, and was absorbed by the Kansas controversy throughout. In Kansas rival governments had set up in Lecompton (pro-slavery) and in Topeka (anti-slavery). Buchanan’s support of the Lecompton constitution using a pedantic legal argument split the Democratic party and stranded Buchanan’s administration as the country headed toward Civil War.

Buchanan struggled with the constitutionality of South Carolina’s secession and the reality of conflict at either Fort Sumter or Fort Moultrie. He also struggled with what the Federal government could legally do in dealing with secession in the event of, or absence of, armed rebellion. On the day after Abraham Lincoln was elected all federal employees save the post office workers resigned in South Carolina. It was the beginning of the end. His cabinet imploded and Buchanan worked to at least prevent Fort Sumter from turning into a battle until after he left office.

In hindsight, war was likely inevitable by the time Buchanan ascended to the presidency. Buchanan was a compromiser and a compromiser was not going to be the person to save the union. Like many Americans at the time, Buchanan felt slavery would die away if the country could just run out the clock. Whether or not this would have happened is irrelevant, to modern eyes (and many contemporaries) the inhumanity of this policy is difficult to see beyond. However, the way Buchanan is derided as the country’s worst president seems unfair to me. I think Pierce’s leadership was much weaker. Buchanan has the historical bad luck of being followed by one of the two greatest leaders to hold that office. Buchanan may have been dealt an unwinnable hand, but so was Lincoln and he still won. For that reason, history has judged Buchanan harshly.

With 15 presidents down, it is finally time to move on to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.

14) Franklin Pierce - Poor Pierce

With nearly two feet of snow covering the ground out my window, it seemed like an appropriate time to sit down and write about our only president from the Granite State.

Roy Nichol’s biography of Franklin Pierce was one of the more enjoyable during this project so far. I’ve said before that the presidents leading up to Lincoln were the ones I dreaded. I thought I may get bored of the project and give up. However, this well written and researched book is a fascinating way to both learn about an obscure president and provide context to some events leading to the Civil War whose names you remember from history class.

While not a prerequisite for the presidency, Pierce was also born in a log cabin. He grew up in New Hampshire as one of Benjamin and Anna Pierce’s eight children. Benjamin was a veteran of the Revolutionary War where he fought at Bunker Hill. He also served as Governor of New Hampshire. Legend has it that while Franklin was a schoolboy in New Hampshire a speaker came and told his class that if the children aim high in their studies the future President may be sitting in that very room.

Benjamin sent his son north to Bowdoin College in Maine where Franklin did not sufficiently focus on his studies. When his junior year began class rankings were released and Franklin learned he was last in the class. With prodding from classmates Franklin dedicated himself to his studies, rising to fifth in the class by graduation. Franklin made a lifelong friend while at Bowdoin who went on to gain more lasting fame. The author Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter, was a lifelong defender of Pierce even dedicating one of his final works, Our Old Home, to Pierce against the advice of his publisher.

After college Pierce moved to Hillsborough, New Hampshire and began learning law. He involved himself in local politics and was elected to the state legislature, eventually being voted speaker. His constituents then elevated him to the United States Congress where he served in the House during Jackson’s administration. He was a “devout hero-worshiper” of Old Hickory and did a great deal of fighting Jackson’s Bank Wars in the House. In the House Pierce would help to draw up the “gag-rule” which John Quincy Adams famously fought against. Pierce’s work on the gag-rule, which effectively barred debate of slavery in the House, and his disdain for abolitionism, which he saw as a grave threat to the Union, were early signs of Pierce’s states’ rights leanings which tarnished his image in posterity.

Like true Jacksonians, New Hampshire Democrats believed in office rotation and their senators typically served only one term. Pierce’s turn came in 1837. In an otherwise unremarkable Senate career, Pierce had to confront slavery again when he voted against a proposal to table a bill to abolish slavery in Washington DC. This vote came despite his dislike of abolitionists as his association with the gag-rule was giving material to abolitionist at home who claimed that Pierce was suppressing their First Amendment right to petition.

While a member of the House, Pierce married Jane Appleton. This was an odd choice as Jane was “shy, retiring, frail… with strict ideas of propriety.” She was also extremely devout. If you took the opposite of each of the preceding attributes you would have a fair description of Franklin. Jane did not like Hillsborough, so the family relocated to Concord. Their first child died in infancy and their second died as a toddler, their third, Benjamin, became an obsession for Jane and Franklin. Jane did not like Washington and was often ill, she spent much of his Senate term back in Concord. When his term ended, Pierce returned and established his law practice. This was a rare happy period for the Pierces. From 1842 through the first half of 1847 Pierce was the most prolific trial lawyer in Concord. Pierce, who battled alcoholism, was not drinking during this period. Jane also seems to have been happy and relatively healthy during these years. Pierce remained active in politics and became a local “party boss”. The surprise election of James Polk in 1844 was a fortuitous turn for Franklin who benefited from patronage as Polk named him district attorney for New Hampshire.

The Battle of Chapultepec, not as magestic when you're laid up with
Montezuma's revenge.

Then came war with Mexico. Growing up with a military hero father, Pierce longed for battle glory and volunteered immediately. He was promoted to Brigadier General, this was likely political given his limited military background, and given a command. Pierce labored to pull together recruits given the unpopularity of the war in New England, but by May 1847 he was ready to set sail. Pierce did not find glory in Mexico. He would find himself in three battles. At the Battle of Contreras, he was injured. The story that stuck with him from the war was when his horse threw him at Contreras a regular yelled to Pierce’s friend, Major Truman Ransom, “take command of the brigade, General Pierce is a damned coward.” This story was repeated by political enemies throughout his career. Again he was injured at the Battle of Churubusco and then finally at Chapultepec, where Ransom lost his life, Pierce was laid up with diarrhea and unable to participate. He held out hope that he would fight at the ultimate battle in Mexico City, however he arrived just in time to see the Mexicans surrender.

Back in New Hampshire Pierce resumed law and politics, the election of Zachary Taylor was a disappointment, however New Hampshire voted Democrat in no small part thanks to Pierce’s efforts. By the time the election of 1852 rolled around there was some talk that Pierce was a potential candidate, he demurred publicly. While he was by no means a major player on the national stage, the Democratic Party was fraying over slavery and Pierce’s Northern routes and Southern sympathies made him an attractive compromise candidate. Pierce was nominated on the 35^th ballot of the Democratic convention. Pierce defeated fellow Mexican War general Winfield Scott and won the presidency.

Shortly after his election, tragedy struck when a train that Pierce, Jane, and Benjamin were on derailed. Everyone on the train walked away except for Benjamin, who was decapitated in front of his parents. The Pierces went into a state of deep morning, a state that Jane would never exit. Soon thereafter Jane learned that Pierce had sought the presidency more than he let on to her. This was something difficult to forgive given how opposed she was to returning to Washington.  It is likely that Pierce entered the White House to assume his duties in a state of depression.

Shortly into his presidency, Pierce traveled to New York for the World’s Fair. He wanted to preach states’ rights and the importance of securing the Union. Pierce was sick much of the trip and a letter from a congressman to James Buchanan reveals how Pierce was coping:

“I deeply, deeply, deplore his habits. He drinks deep. My hearts bleeds for him for he is a gallant and generous spirit. The place overshadows him. He is crushed by its great duties and he seeks refuge in…”

The most memorable chapter of American history from the Pierce presidency was the signing of the Kansas/Nebraska Act which created the two states. The act called for popular sovereignty in the two states. Opponents of the act called this a repudiation of the Missouri Compromise, supporters said the Compromise of 1850 already nullified the Missouri Compromise. Proponents of slavery and abolitionists alike began piling into Kansas in hopes of swinging the vote. The ensuing clashes, dubbed Bleeding Kansas by John Fremont’s failed Republican bid for president in 1856, stained Pierce’s legacy and hurled the country closer to Civil War.

Pierce was not nominated by the Democrats in 1856. He had become so unpopular throughout the North that during the mid-term elections the Democrats lost every free state except California and New Hampshire – this after carrying every Northern state but Vermont during his election.

Pierce loathed the Civil War. He had focused his presidency on trying to keep the Union together and he believed the war to be senseless. He blamed abolitionists for the death and destruction. However, when Confederate plans to attack Washington were revealed, Pierce spoke on the need to defend the country “at all hazards” and he never justified the secession of the South. This did little to change public perception of Pierce. He inability to hide his disdain for Lincoln didn’t help public perception. He called Lincoln a tool of the abolitionists: “to the extent of his limited ability and narrow intelligence their willing instrument for all the woe which had thus far been brought upon the country…”

In late-1863 Jane died, the next spring Hawthorne died, in the summer political enemies circulated an old letter Pierce had written to his then Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, purporting to show that Pierce supported secession. The next spring came Lincoln’s assassination and Pierce’s depression and alcoholism began to take hold. His liver held out for four more years while he remained somewhat involved in political issues of the day and became involved in the church.

Pierce's life was tragic and his presidency was unsuccessful. However, it is important to understand his times as the prelude to the Civil War and it is important for one studying the presidents to understand the man, as it is a painful lesson in the burden of the office.

10) John Tyler – The Accidental President

John Tyler’s presidency was a unique one that challenged the young democracy and the resiliency of its Constitution. Tyler assumed the presidency in 1841 following the death of William Henry Harrison, 126 years before the adoption of the 25^th Amendment to the Constitution, which would spell out the order of succession to the Presidency. Upon Tyler’s ascendency to the executive there were some, most notably Henry Clay, who asserted that Tyler was acting president only, devoid of authority to serve out Harrison’s term. Tyler rejected this idea and was ultimately granted legitimacy by Congress. The Tyler Precedent would define presidential succession until the Cold War.

In a time of bitter partisanship and splintering political parties, Tyler’s politics didn’t fit neatly in either of the major political parties of the day. The early part of his political career as a member of the House of Representatives, Virginia House of Delegates, Governor of Virginia, and the US Senate Tyler was a Democrat. Despite his party affiliation, Tyler often found himself at odds with the preeminent Democrat of the day, Andrew Jackson. Like Jackson, Tyler did not support the Bank of the US, however he didn’t agree with Jackson’s decision to strip the bank of its deposits. He also agreed with Jackson that South Carolina should not nullify Federal Law, however Tyler was a strict believer in state’s rights and the force with which Jackson came down on South Carolina didn’t sit well with Tyler. Tyler would fall

in with the nascent Whig party, found his way onto the Whig ticket in the 1840 Presidential election as William Henry Harrison’s running mate, and was President of the United States upon Harrison’s death shortly thereafter.

The Tyler / Whig love affair was short lived. Before his first year in office ended Tyler had vetoed two banking bills favored by Henry Clay and the congressional Whigs. All but one of his cabinet members resigned and Clay dubbed him “The President without a party.” Whig newspapers heaped vitriol on Tyler for the duration of his presidency.

The legacy of Tyler’s presidency is the annexation of Texas. Tyler worked hard to shepherd annexation legislation through congress and coordinate with the Texan government. This work was disrupted by the USS Princeton disaster wherein the newly built ship’s main gun backfired during a celebratory cruise down the Potomac. Thomas Gilmer and Abel Upshur, Tyler’s secretaries of the Navy and State, respectively died along with four others in the disaster. Both Gilmer and Upshur had been key players in annexation effort. Despite their differences, Tyler appointed John Calhoun to fill the position at State, and Calhoun helped devise a joint resolution of congress to back annexation just before Tyler left office.

Tyler once again identified as a Democrat after his break with the Whigs. He agreed, for the sake of the party, not to seek reelection and back James Polk. Polk angered Tyler by never living up to the unspoken agreement to repay some Tyler men through patronage.

Tyler is not highly regarded by historians. To his supporters he was unwavering supporter of state’s rights, however in the mid-19^th century supporting state’s rights was a euphemism for supporting slavery and when the Civil War came around Tyler ended up on the wrong side of history.

Photo of Tyler and Monroe's gravesite,
courtesy of http://www.presidentsgraves.com

In retirement, Tyler initially opposed war. He presided over the “Peace Convention” which proposed to President James Buchanan that slavery be prohibited in the North, that slavery be continued in the South, that questions involving slavery in the South be resolved by Federal courts according to common law, and that any new states decide on slavery themselves. Tyler changed his tack after the Senate overwhelmingly rejected these proposals. He now believed that if the South presented a united front, by seceding from the union, war would be avoided. He was wrong. Tyler lived long enough to see shots ring out at Fort Sumter, his home state of Virginia secede, and the Confederates triumph at Bull Run. Tyler likely died believing that the South could defeat the Union troops. Interestingly, Tyler is the only US president who was not buried under the American flag. In an attempt to galvanize Southerners, Jefferson Davis ordered a grand burial for Tyler, under the Confederate flag, next to James Monroe’s grave.

Introduction

When Lincoln was released in 2012, I loved the movie, but it made me aware of how little of my country’s history I knew. I knew Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and Cleveland served the only non-consecutive terms. But what did James Monroe do? What was going on during Buchanan’s presidency as the country moved to the precipice of civil war? Who the heck is Chester Arthur?

After a couple years entertaining the idea of reading through these biographies, and inspiration from two other blogs documenting similar journeys, I've decided to start. With no idea when or if I’ll complete the project, this blog is intended to serve as my notes as I work my way through biographies of the presidents of the UnitedStates of America.