In the last section of Chapter 11, four different presidents and their terms are discussed in less than three pages! Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler and James Polk's presidencies are all briefly touched on, but much is left to the imagination. Your blog assignment this week is to fill in some of these gaps.
Spend 20-30 minutes researching one of these Presidents online. Here is the White House Website which I have found helpful, but feel free to use other text and online sources! Then, write a paragraph about the President that you research which includes his education and what prompted him to run for President (don't forget to include his running mate and party!). Discuss any key events or decisions that are happened during his presidency.
For your final paragraph, try to draw a connection from the legacy of President you choose to research to our present day government, views on the presidency or way we look at life.
I have chosen James K. Polk because we have talked about him the the least and I wanted to know what he did for this country. Polk was born in Mecklenburg, North Carolina in 1795. He graduated from in 1818 from the University of North Carolina with an Honors Scholar. He entered into the Tennessee Legislature and there is where he met Andrew Jackson (who will be an important ally). Polk then served in the house of representatives as Speaker of the House between 1835 & 1839, he left to become the governor of Tennessee. Polk came back to the federal government during the 1844 election. Jackson, the leader of the democratic party, knew that Polk had the popular of the people and urged that Polk be nominated over Martin Van Buren, who was expected to be nominated. When Polk as elected as nominee, many were shocked. Even Henry Clay, the Whig nominee, said "Who is James K. Polk?" Polk believed in the re-annexed Texas and the re-occupied Oregon. Polk won the election of 1844 and immediately began acquiring land. Polk first got Oregon, which was in controversial area. Polk knew that he was making a dangerous step with the deal, because one false move and a war was on his hands. Luckily, neither he or the british wanted a war. Polk next went to acquire parts of Mexico. He knew that no leader could succeed half of his country and not stay in power, so he sent General Zachary Taylor down to the area. Zachary's troops were fired apron and Congress declared war. The war ended with america victory and a trade between America and Mexico. America got the areas of New Mexico and California and gave mexico 15 million dollars. Polk unfortunently couldn't decide wether the new states would be free or slave states, this lead to his defeat in the 1848 election. Polk died within the next year due to stress of the job of president.
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DeleteI decided to choose William Henry Harrison, our 9th president. What many people think of when they think of Harrison is how short his term was, but there was more to his life. Harrison was born on February 9, 1773 in Charles City County, Virginia in an aristocratic family. Studying history and classics, Harrison attended Hampden-Sydney College and then went to Richmond studying medicine. After college in 1791, he decided to join the army and head northwest. In 1798, Harrison chose to leave the army and ran for government offices. It wasn't long before he was chosen by John Adams to be the Secretary of the Northwest Territory and then the governor from 1801 to 1813. In 1811 William was attacked by the natives, led by Tecumseh. Fortunately they were able to stop their attack, but 190 died or were wounded. This battle made him known as an Indian fighter and led to his campaign nickname "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too (the most famous political saying in US history)." After the War of 1812, he went to Ohio and served in the House of Reps, Ohio Senate, and the US Senate. In 1836, Harrison ran for president as a Whig, but lost to Martin Van Buren. In his campaign he tried to be portrayed as the common man. The Whigs showed him in front of a log cabin, even though he was an aristocrat. In 1840, he and John Tyler, his running mate, tried again and won becoming the first Whig president. He was 68 years old. The votes in the Electoral College were 234 to 60. When he gave his speech at the Inauguration, he refused to wear a coat or hat. Unfortunately he got pneumonia and died on April 4, 1841. Harrison established many firsts. He was the oldest president, the first Whig, the first president to die in office, and the last to be born under Great Britain's rule. His presidency, was short yet memorable.
ReplyDeleteSince his term was so short, he didnt really leave a presidency legacy, but he did leave a "war legacy" when he fought in the Battle of Tippecanoe. (355)
The president I chose is James K. Polk. He was considered the dark horse candidate of the election of 1845. He graduated in 1818 from the University of North Carolina. His vice president was George Dallas. His Secretary of State was John Buchanan. His Secretary of War was William Macy. His postmaster general was Cave Johnson. His Secretary of the treasury was Robert Walker. His attorney general was John Mason and Isaac Toucey. Some of the big things he did while in office were the fiscal policy, the foreign policy, and the Oregon dispute. He died on June 15, 1849.(106)
ReplyDeleteI chose William Henry Harrison. He was an aristocratic Virginian planter. He was born in 1773. He studied classics and history at Hampden-Sydney College, then started studying medicine in Richmond. Then suddenly he decided to join the army. In 1798, after resigning from the army, he became Secretary of the Northwest Territory and divided the territory into the Northwest and Indian Territories. In 1811 he attacked Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet, from which he received most of his fame. In 1840 he was nominated for President by the Whigs and won the vote by a landslide. He was elected as the 9th President with John Tyler as his Vice President. William Henry Harrison wasn’t in office long enough to have sufficient impact on the government. But supposedly there was a curse put on him by Tippecanoe that said that any President elected in a year ending in 0 would die in office. That “curse” has been proven from Abraham Lincoln to Ronald Raegan.(164)
ReplyDeleteMartin Van Buren was born December 5th 1782 in Kinderhook New York. He was the first president not to have ancestry with the British, instead he was Dutch. His father owned a tavern that politicians would visit on their way between New York City and Albany. This is how he became interested in politics. Buren had no college education, instead, his parents sent him to the local law office as a clerk. After he had learned law, he became a democratic Republican. Eventually Jackson became interested in Buren and when he became president, he appointed Buren to be secretary of state, also known as the stepping stone to the presidency. Buren build the democratic party at this time and also became close friends with Jackson as well as his advisor. When Jackson finished his second term, Buren took his place as president. He took office as a Democrat with Richard Johnson as his vice president. During his Presidency he encountered the Panic of 1837 and the border problems between America and Great Britain. Martin Van Buren left a legacy with what he decided to do with out national money. He took the money out of the state banks and put it all into the National Treasury, which he founded. He also created the Democratic Party, one of the longest lasting parties. I think that from the train wreck that Jackson caused, Van Buren helped build a great country from the wreckage.(241)
ReplyDeleteI chose Martin Van Buren, our 8th president. Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, New York on December 5, 1782. His parents were actually Dutch, and English was his second language. He went to a local one-room schoolhouse in Kinderhook, but never went to college. He did help in a lawyer’s office as a law clerk. He later became a lawyer. During Andrew Jackson’s first term Van Buren served as his Secretary of State, and during Jackson’s second term he served as vice president. Jackson decided not to run for a third term, so Van Buren took his place. He was basically Jackson’s “hand-picked successor.” He was elected in the 1836 election with Richard Johnson as his running mate. Van Buren represented the Democratic party. His presidency is most defined by the Panic of 1837. The stock market crashed and put America in a depression. His haters called him “Martin Van Ruin” because of the crash. It mostly occurred because of the Bank issues during Jackson’s presidency. Van Buren decided to form a treasury because he didn’t like the idea of keeping America’s money in state banks. Also, he continued carrying out the Indian Removal Act forcing many Native Americans against their will to Oklahoma or “Indian Territory.” He also didn’t allow Texas to become a state to ease tensions. William Henry Harrison and the Whigs defeated Van Buren in the 1840 election. He died from a heart attack on July 24, 1862 when he was 79. Martin Van Buren helped America by helping establishing the Democratic Party. He also helped by forming the Treasury. He wasn’t president during the best conditions, but he tried to make the most of it and I think he did pretty good at it. {290}
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William Henry Harrison was the 9th president and was born in 1733. In Hampden- Sydney College he studied classics and history. He then studied medicine at Richmond but in the same year in 1791 he changed his interests.He decided to join the First Infantry of the Regular Army. He resigned in 1798 and became the Secretary of the Northwest territory. He was also the Northwest’s first delegate in Congress. His fame started when he marched a thousand soldiers and disrupted Tecumseh’s Confederacy in the Battle of Tippecanoe.His fame continued in the War of 1812 where his troops defeated a Indian/ British troop and killed Tecumseh in the Battle of Thames. After the war the Whigs decided to nominate him to run for president against Martin Van Buren. The Whigs ran the log cabin campaign where it made Harrison look like a simple frontier Indian fighter. Which in real life he was born as a Virginia aristocrat. He won in 1840 by a landslide and gave the longest inauguration speech which was two hours long. He ended up dying a month later in office on April 4,1841 from pneumonia. He was the first president that died in office, and sense he was only in office a month he didn’t have time to leave a big legacy. I do believe though that if he lived to serve longer the Whig party might have not gone under as early as it did.(242)
ReplyDeleteI chose to research John Tyler, he did not run, for he was Vice President to William Henry Harrison who passed away. He also did not have a running party; however, he did have a party, Whig. While he was growing in politics he was taught that the Constitution should be strongly enforced. He went to college at College of William and Mary, where he started to focus on law. As president Tyler signed a tariff act, settled the Canadian border ordeal, and helped Texas get added to the Union. As president, he also made an act that made some southern states secede. He eventually joined them and died as a Confederate House of Representative member.
ReplyDeleteIt is sort of hard to draw a connection between John Tyler’s presidency and our government today but I will certainly try. Well, first Tyler and Obama both studied law and went to college so essentially both came lawyers before becoming president. Both were also born in America (sorry Ms. Harrison but this is all I can come up with ) They both also served at least one term. My sources say that the government today and Tyler both supported a strong federal government, which doesn’t make sense but, Okay :P.
Well I choose John Tyler, our 10th president. He was known as ‘His Accidency’ only because he was the first Vice President to become President after William Henry Harrison died after just a month of being in office. Tyler was born in Virginia on March 29, 1790. He attended William and Mary collage and studied law. Later in 1816 he was elected to serve in House of Representatives which he did so until 1821. After serving in the House he became the governor of Virginia. Tyler joined the states’ rights Southerners who banded together with Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and the newly formed Whig Party. Because of this Tyler was nominated for Vice President in 1840 hoping that he would support state righters in the south. He became Vice President but barely a month into office President William Henry Harrison died. Tyler immediately took the job and even gave an inaugural address. He served only one term mostly because his party, the Whigs, ditched him halfway through his presidency ultimately because he vetoed the bill that established the National Bank and several branches in the states. In 1861, when the southern states seceded, Tyler lead the compromise movement, but failing he decided to work to build the Southern Confederacy. But unfortunately in 1862, he died still on the Confederate House of Representatives. John Tyler was really only remembered for being an accident or was never supposed to be president. I think that Tyler was put in a very difficult position as president, but what president wasn’t put in hard position?! I don’t think he treated his party the way they were expecting him to be which is why he got kicked out. Unfortunately, Tyler’s presidency was very memorable in a good way. He lost his party which seemed to cost him a second term. (304)
ReplyDeleteI chose to do James K. Polk because I don’t know very much about him and I would like to know more. After reading about James, I discovered that he was the first dark horse candidate and the last of the Jacksonians. He was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina in 1975. James went to college in North Carolina and graduated in 1818. He decided that he wanted to be a lawyer. And as a young lawyer in Tennessee, he became friends with Andrew Jackson, which explains why he would be a Jacksonian. He soon became the governor of Tennessee. He was all about the expansion movement, and was jeered by the whigs saying “Who is James K Polk?” But little did they know he would soon become the nation’s 11th president. Before he became president, Congress passed a joint resolution offering annexation to Texas. He was now taking a stand on Oregon, which brought the possibility of war with Great Britian. Fortunately, neither of them wanted war. After many attempts at peace, Britian settled for the 49th parallel except for the southern tip of Vancouver in 1846. Polk sent an envoy offer to Mexico of up to $20,000,000 and also settlement of damage claims owed to Americans. In return we would get California and the New Mexico country. But to his advantage, his envoy was not received, so to add pressure he sent Gen. Zachary Taylor. But the Mexicans fought for their independence. Congress decided to declare war, and supported the military operations. The Americans won the war because The Mexicans ceded in 1848. Polk added a vast area to the United States. His healthe failed him from hard work and he died in 1849. To sum this up, I will say that the financial decisions back then compared to our present day financial decisions, It would appear that our government was more thrifty back then. We seem to have made better decisions with our money and not spend it so carelessly. James seems to think about what he does with our money more than we do now. We still think about these choices but we are in so much debt that its hard to believe that we don’t just give away a bunch of money. I think that our government has a few lessons to learn from our old government, and that even though I didn’t know much about him, I think he was a generally good president. (410)
ReplyDeleteI chose to do Marin Van Buren, our 8th president. He was born in Kinderhook, New York on December 5, 1782. His parents were actually Dutch. He never went to college, but he went to a local one- room schoolhouse in Kinderhook. He helped as a lawyer clerk and later became a lawyer. During Jackson’s first term, he served as his Secretary of State and during his second term, he served as the vice president. When Jackson decided not to go a third term, Van Buren took his place. He was elected in the 1836 election and Richard Johnson was his running mate. Van Buren represented the Democratic Party. His presidency was known as the Panic of 1837. The Panic of 1837 was when the stock market crashed and had put America in a depression. People who did not like him called him “Martin Van Ruin” because of the crash. The crash was mostly because of what Jackson did with the Bank during his presidency. Van Buren formed a treasury because he did not like having the money in state banks. He also continued the Indian Removal Act. Van Buren was defeated in the election of 1840 by William Henry Harrison and the Whigs. On July 24, 1862, he died from a heart attack. He helped America by creating the Democratic Party, and we still use this party today. Even though he served his presidency during a hard time in America, he still did good managing it and being a good leader. (253)
ReplyDeleteI chose James K. Polk because I did a project on him when I was younger.
ReplyDeleteJames Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. When he was young we moved to Tennessee. He went to collage at the U.S. Naval Academy. When he was starting his political life he joined the militia. In 1824 he ran for president but was beat. He was a leading democrat, Speaker of the House of Representatives and governor of Tennessee. Some big things he did as president was gain Oregon and part of California into America. He also reduced the tariffs.
His presidency was the strongest until Abraham Lincoln was president. His lasting impression is found in Oregon and California. There are also many signs about his life in Tennessee. I believe he was a good president and did many good things in office.(141)
I chose William Henry Harrison who was born in 1773. He was the 9th president of the United States. His running mate in 1841 was John Tyler. Their campaign slogan was "Tippecanoe and Tyler too". He was born in Virginia to an aristocratic family. He went to Hampden-Sydney College and studied history. Then he moved to Richmond to study medicine. He was the only president to ever study medicine. After school he decided to join the army for 7 years. He then, in 1798 decided to start a political career. John Adams put Harrison basically in charge of the northwest territory. While he was there Tecumseh attacked him along with a group of native Americans. In 1840 the Whigs added a new party to the elections and he was the first Whig president ever. He died 32 days later after his inauguration from pneumonia. Tippecanoe, who he got the slogan from from a earlier battle, said that any president elected in a year that ended with an 0 would die. This curse effected Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, and William Henry Harrison. (211)
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ReplyDeleteThe 9th president of the United States was William Henry Harrison coming directly after our 8th president, Martin Van Buren. Martin Van Buren was not liked too much by the citizen of America, so while running as a candidate, the Whigs displayed William Henry Harrison as a much more of the typical "common man," sipping on cider in a country log cabin. Although, he was actually the son of a rich Virginian aristocrat, the Whigs made him appear as a simple bumpkin to gain favor with the public, thus gaining more votes. He began college at Hampden-Sydney college,studying classics and history. But the same year he started college, he switched interests and became part of the army. As for his presidency, it didn't go so well. As most of us now know, he died during his first month as president. Since he didn't do much of anything during that short time period, the only thing I can relate him to in today's government is how his campaign was run: people will say things that aren't true when they are running for a position in politics, just to gain votes
ReplyDeleteWilliam Henry Harrison had two different jobs before he became president. His first job was a Virginia planter. He after that studied history and math in a college called Hampden-Sydney College. He then started learning about medicine. He is the only president to study medicine. After that he changed his career drastically and joined the military. He is known for beating Tecumseh and the Native American resistance. When he came from the war, the Whigs called on him to be the first candidate to be president represented by the Whigs. They chose him because he most represented Andrew Jackson and his military legacy. Harrison won with a majority of 150,000, but had 234 to 60 in the Electoral College. He wanted to prove himself and gave a 2 hour inaugural address, but caught a cold that turned into pneumonia. He died after only one month in office. This made him the first president to die in office. (158)
ReplyDeleteI have chosen John Tyler the 10th president. His nickname as president was “His Accidency” because of how he became president. He was born in Virginia on March 29, 1790. He went to the College of William and Mary and studied law. He served in the House of Representatives in the years of 1816 and 1821. He opposed the Missouri Compromise, which was the making of Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state, when he was in the House of Representatives. After the house he became the Governor of Virginia and later became a senator. He joined a group called states’ rights which became the Whig party to oppose Jackson. He was nominated as the Vice president for William Henry Harrison to get votes from the south. Sadly Harrison died and Tyler took over. Tyler vetoed the bill of establishing the National bank twice. After this the Whigs expelled him and his cabinet left. He did many good things that were of help to the Americans, but the Whigs’ act of expelling him made him lose a second term. He tried to lead a compromise movement but failed. He died in 1862 as a person in the Confederate House of Representatives. His time as president shows how people change their point of views very often. His way of becoming president was very unique because it was the first time that it happened. His time as president shows us that the small decisions that you make may affect you greatly later on. (253)
ReplyDeleteJohn Tyler lived March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862. He was the tenth President of the United States. He was from Virginia. He was elected Vice President in 1840. He became President because of the death of the President, William Henry Harrison. He believed in States Rights. The Whigs expelled him from their party. He was know as William Henry Harrison's accidentcy. He served without a Vice President because he refused to choose one. He was originally a democrat, until his run against Jackson and Van Buren took place. He came from a wealthy family. He was the first President born after the Constitution.
ReplyDeleteHe believed in anti slavery just like America today. He supported industrial growth. The United States today also does. Even though he had the beliefs of a Whig, he was still expelled from the Whig Party because he vetoed so many of their decisions. This later led to the Whig Party no longer existing any more. (160)_
William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the united states of America. Harrison was born in Berkeley in 1773. he was an Indian fighter in his early life. He was not just a dumb brute though. He was the sectary of the northwest territory. He was the first congressman from the territory. He was also the Governor of the Indiana territory for twelve years. The Whig party in need of a war hero nominated him to be the President. His running mate was john Tyler. Harrison died after a month in office. He was the first President to die in office.(102)
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