US Presidents For Dummies

by Marcus Stadelmann

  Monroe’s second great foreign policy success involved the purchase of Florida. Florida, a Spanish colony, presented constant problems for the United States. It became a base from which Native Americans raided settlements in Georgia. In 1817, Monroe took action. He sent General Jackson to Florida to take care of business. Jackson did so by almost wiping out the Seminole Indians. Next, the United States told the Spanish that if they couldn’t control the Native Americans in Florida they should sell Florida to the United States. Spain agreed, and Monroe purchased Florida for $5 million, though no money actually changed hands. Monroe used claims U.S. citizens had against Spain for property losses due to Indian raids in Spanish-controlled Florida and shipping losses caused by Spanish warships over the previous three decades.

  Establishing the Monroe Doctrine

  Monroe’s most famous accomplishment in foreign policy was the Monroe Doctrine. During Monroe’s two terms, Latin America rebelled against Spanish rule, and many of the former Spanish colonies became independent nations. Monroe was afraid that other European powers, especially the Holy Alliance of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, would try to interfere in, or even recolonize, the new countries. He consulted with Jefferson and his secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, to find ways to make sure that this didn’t happen. The result was the Monroe Doctrine. Monroe outlined it to Congress in 1823. It became the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy up to this day.

  The Monroe Doctrine, which was actually written by John Quincy Adams, warned the European powers to stay out of the western hemisphere (the Americas). It stated that the United States wouldn’t tolerate any European interference in the newly created countries. In turn, Monroe pledged to stay out of European affairs. The Monroe Doctrine drew little attention and was relatively forgotten until 1852.

  Serving not so well: Monroe’s domestic policy

  Despite Monroe’s great foreign policy accomplishments, domestic crises overshadowed his terms in office. Two issues in particular — the economy and slavery — plagued his presidency.

  Dealing with slavery

  The questions brought up in response to the admission of new states lead to a major crisis in 1819 when Missouri and Maine applied for statehood. The problem was Missouri’s insistence on being admitted as a slave state. Before Missouri and Maine applied for statehood, the Senate was evenly split between slave and free states. The Southern states insisted that this equal division continue. The North feared that if Missouri came in as a slave state, the rest of the Louisiana Territory could follow. Monroe, who owned slaves himself, sat on the side while Congress hammered out a compromise. In 1820, the Missouri Compromise passed Congress and Monroe signed it into law.

  The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. More importantly, it outlawed slavery in new areas above the southern part of the new state of Missouri.

  Monroe, a slave owner, believed that free slaves needed to be resettled in Africa. The place for resettlement was a piece of land, called Liberia, that was bought by the American Colonization Society. Monroe’s support led to the naming of the capital of Liberia — Monrovia — after him.

  Losing the fight with recession

  In 1819, a recession hit the United States. Monroe, who believed in a weak federal government and states’ rights, didn’t do much about it. He got lucky: The economy recovered in time for the 1820 election, and the recession didn’t undermine his popularity.

  Running unopposed

  Because Monroe was so successful in foreign policy, the election of 1820 wasn’t much of a contest — in fact, Monroe had no opposition at all. He won every state and received all but one Electoral College vote.

  One member of the Electoral College cast his vote for John Quincy Adams to assure that George Washington would remain the only president in U.S. history to be elected unanimously.

  Calling it quits after two terms

  James Monroe decided not to run for reelection in 1824, upholding the two-term principle established by Washington. He was also tired of the job. Unlike Madison and Jefferson, Monroe refused to name a successor, which tore the Democratic-Republican Party apart in the 1824 election.

  Monroe left office in 1825 and retired to Virginia. Financial troubles forced him to sell one of his estates. After the death of his wife, Monroe’s grief and poor health forced him to move in with his daughter in New York City. In a twist of fate, James Monroe became the third president to die on July 4. He passed away on July 4, 1831.

  Like Father, Like Son: John Quincy Adams

  John Quincy Adams, shown in Figure 5-3, is one of the most respected politicians in U.S. history. With his father having been president and vice president (check out John Adams in Chapter 4), the pressure was on for John Quincy Adams to succeed in life and in the political arena. To complement his privileged upbringing, Adams was extraordinarily bright. At the same time, he was a serious man who didn’t make friends easily, and he had a tough time relating to people. This personality trait contributed to him having a tough time dealing with Congress as president.

  Adams, considered a genius by many, is regarded today as one of the best secretaries of state the United States ever had. A master diplomat and superior congressman, Adams contributed greatly to the success of the United States and enjoyed a worldwide reputation. He had a friendship with Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. Despite his intelligence and accomplishments, Adams experienced one of the worst presidencies in history. It’s a shame his presidency was such a failure. He deserved better.

  John Quincy Adams enjoyed swimming in the nude in the Potomac River until he was 79 years old. One day, a female journalist, Anne Royall, surprised him. She sat on his clothes until he agreed to an interview and became the first woman to interview a president.

  Getting elected at home

  After traveling extensively in Europe, gaining experience from assisting his father and from his own endeavors, Adams returned to the United States, where being the son of a former president had its advantages. In 1802, the Federalist Party elected John Quincy Adams to the Massachusetts state senate. In 1803, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate.

  Figure 5-3: John Quincy Adams, 6th president of the United States.

  Courtesy of the Library of Congress

  As a senator, Adams disappointed his supporters. For Adams, it was the good of the country that mattered — not the good of his home state or his party — and his independent voting record reflected this. He crossed party lines to vote for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 — the only Federalist senator to do so. He crossed party lines again in 1807 when he voted for Jefferson’s Embargo Act. In 1808, his party was fed up with his independence and voted to replace him as senator.

  Going Back to Europe

  Having spent much of his childhood on the European continent, Adams continued to take an active interest in European affairs and their effects on American interests.

  As a foreign ambassador

  After leaving the Senate in 1808, Adams served the United States abroad for the next eight years. His independence had caught the eye of the opposition party, the Democratic-Republicans, and especially James Madison, who sent Adams back abroad.

  When the War of 1812 wasn’t going well for the Americans, Madison asked Adams to head the peace delegation and negotiate with the British. Adams negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, signed in 1814, which ended the War of 1812. Madison was so impressed with the way Adams handled the British that he appointed him ambassador to Britain in 1815 where he served until President James Monroe named him secretary of state.

  Making his father proud

  John Quincy Adams was born in 1767 on the Adams family farm in Massachusetts. As the oldest son, he received special treatment from his father, John Adams, who took him along on his travels. At the age of 10, Adams went to France when his father became the U.S. special envoy there during the Revolutionary War. Adams spent the next eight years in Europe, studying languages and diplomacy.

  In
1785, Adams returned to the United States to study at Harvard. Practicing law bored him, however, and he was ready to get involved in politics. He got his chance in 1793 when President Washington appointed him the U.S. representative to the Netherlands. The next president — his father — appointed John Q. ambassador to Prussia.

  John Adams met his wife, Louisa, in France. They married in 1797. Because she was born in Britain, the daughter of a U.S. diplomat, Louisa became the only foreign-born first lady in U.S. history.

  As secretary of state

  As secretary of state, Adams was in his milieu. First, he handled the purchase of Florida for Monroe. When General Andrew Jackson defeated the Seminoles and invaded Florida, Adams was the only member of Monroe’s cabinet to defend Jackson. Adams blamed Spain for not keeping a tighter reign on the territory and told the Spanish to either control their colony or sell it to the United States. Spain, already fighting independence movements in Latin America, decided to sell Florida.

  While negotiating, Adams further pressured Spain into agreeing that the Louisiana Territory purchased from France reached all the way to the Pacific Ocean. (The western borders of the Louisiana Territory had not been agreed upon in 1803.) The United States now spanned coast to coast.

  The most important contribution Adams made to U.S. foreign policy occurred in 1823, when he established the Monroe Doctrine. Adams argued for years that the Americas were no longer open to colonization by Europe and that the European powers needed to stay out of the western hemisphere. President Monroe relied on Adams when he established the Monroe Doctrine: Adams actually wrote the doctrine and presented it the European powers.

  Picked by the House

  President Monroe was the first president in 16 years to retire without naming a successor. This complicated matters in the 1824 election. Four men, all from the Democratic-Republican Party, ran for the presidency. They were John Quincy Adams; General Andrew Jackson; the Speaker of the House, Henry Clay; and the secretary of the treasury, William Crawford.

  All four of the men received Electoral College votes, but no one received a majority. Jackson won the popular vote but received only 99 Electoral College votes out of a possible 261. Adams came in second with 84 Electoral College votes. Crawford finished third, and Clay came in fourth.

  With nobody receiving a majority in the Electoral College, the House of Representatives had to pick the new president. Clay, who despised Jackson, threw his support behind Adams, helping him win the presidency. Adams, in turn, appointed Clay secretary of state. Jackson and his followers cried foul. For the first time in U.S. history, the candidate that won the popular vote lost the election. This put a shadow on Adams’s presidency from the beginning.

  After the 1824 election, the Democratic-Republican Party fell apart. Jackson and his supporters formed the Democratic Party, still around today. Adams and his followers renamed the Democratic-Republican Party the National Republicans, but it collapsed after the 1832 election. Remnants of the National Republicans later became the Whigs.

  President John Quincy Adams (1825–1829)

  The Adams presidency was a disaster. Building up the U.S. infrastructure by pushing Congress to spend money on roads and canals was one of only a few bright spots. Then, in 1828, he made the political mistake of his life, which cost him reelection.

  In 1828, Congress passed the “Tariff of Abominations,” as opponents of the tariff called it. It established high tariffs on foreign goods and raw materials. Northern congressmen wanted it to protect their industries. The southern and western states opposed it because they depended on cheap foreign goods. When Adams didn’t veto the bill, his opposition had the issue they were waiting for to help defeat him in the upcoming presidential race.

  The election of 1828 turned into one of the ugliest presidential elections in U.S. history, pitting the incumbent Adams against an angry Andrew Jackson and his supporters who believed that Jackson had won the election of 1824. Jackson’s supporters accused Adams of having premarital sex with his foreign-born wife, while Adams’ supporters called Jackson’s mother a whore. Amidst all the mudslinging, Adams lost badly.

  Adams was so upset over the loss that he didn’t attend Jackson’s inauguration. Like his father, he snuck out of the capital and returned home.

  Going back to Congress

  The people of Massachusetts elected Adams to the House of Representatives two years after he retired as president. Here he accomplished more than in his four years as president. Both admirers and opponents called him “Old Man Eloquent” because of his oratory skills. Serving from 1831 until his death in 1848, Adams accomplished the following:

  He opposed the annexation of Texas, believing it would become a slave state.

  He revoked the gag rule, which made it illegal to introduce legislation that called for the abolition of slavery into Congress.

  He opposed the war with Mexico, believing that Polk tried to spread slavery (see Chapter 8).

  He helped establish the Smithsonian Institute, a museum and center for research that is dedicated to public education and national service and scholarship.

  He defended escaped slaves in the Amistad Case.

  John Quincy Adams opposed slavery throughout his life. As early as 1820, he publicly condemned slavery, calling it a “foul stain upon the North American Union.” In 1841, he defended a group of slaves who took over the ship carrying them to Cuba. When the ship landed in the United States and the government wanted to return the slaves to Cuba, Adams defended them in the Supreme Court and won the case.

  In 1846, Adams suffered a stroke. Despite his condition, he went back to Congress. On February 21, 1848, while protesting the Mexican-American War, Adams suffered a second stroke. His colleagues took him to the speaker’s chambers, where he died two days later — the only U.S. president to die in the Capitol building. His famous last words were: “This is the last of earth! I am content.”

  Part III

  Enduring the Best and the Worst: Jackson to Buchanan

  In this part . . .

  Italk about two strong, successful presidents and a whole bunch of forgettable ones. Some were outright lousy.

  On the positive side is Andrew Jackson, our first strong president, who challenged Congress and vetoed more legislation than all of his predecessors combined. Jackson stood up for the common person and did what he thought was right. James Polk is the other successful executive. He was an honest, dedicated president, who managed to add much of what is today the American Southwest.

  Other presidents of this era, such as Martin van Buren, were unsuccessful or died early in office, like William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor. To make matters worse, in the 1850s — a time when the country needed its best leaders to guide the country through the issues dividing the North and South — some of the worst presidents this country ever saw ran the country. They include presidents like Millard Fillmore, a dedicated racist, Franklin Pierce, an alcoholic, and James Buchanan, who let the union fall apart, thereby almost insuring the outbreak of the Civil War.

  Chapter 6

  Standing Firm: Andrew Jackson

  In This Chapter

  Entering politics

  Losing the presidential election in 1824

  Winning the presidency

  Paving the Trail of Tears

  Retiring gracefully

  C ompared to his predecessors, Andrew Jackson was an unlikely candidate to win the presidency. He grew up in poverty, was almost illiterate, had no political connections, and refused to identify with the ruling elite.

  Jackson remains one of America’s most controversial presidents. Some consider him a hero, a champion of the people, and the first strong president in U.S. history. Others see him as a gambler, wife stealer, “Indian killer,” and the founding father of political corruption in the United States. The truth is that he was all of these things.

  Jackson’s Early Career

  In 1796, the federal government formed a new state
out of the western part of North Carolina, calling it Tennessee. Andrew Jackson successfully ran for the House of Representatives and became a U.S. senator one year later. In Congress, he supported the Democratic-Republicans, headed by Jefferson and Madison, and criticized President Washington for being too lenient with Native Americans.

  Jackson retired from the Senate in 1798 and became a justice on the Tennessee Superior Court for the next six years. He gave up his judicial position to enjoy his marriage and dedicate himself to becoming a successful plantation owner. Within a few years, Jackson had over 100 slaves working on his Tennessee plantation, The Hermitage. To supplement his income, he got involved in horseracing and acquired a reputation as a top-notch horse breeder. Jackson seemed to have it all.

  As tough as hickory

  Andrew Jackson’s nickname, “Old Hickory,” is an apt nickname. He received the nickname during the War of 1812, when he headed the Tennessee militia. He received orders to move his troops to Mississippi, but was told to disband his troops when he arrived. Instead of doing so, he marched his unit back to Tennessee. He gave his horse to a wounded soldier and walked the whole way. His troops referred to him as “Old Hickory” because he was as tough as hardwood.