If the above names are all you can remember, then you are part of a large minority just as ignorant of US history as many Americans appear to be of European history. Of course you will know a great deal about Barack Obama, even personal details , not always wisely drip-fed by his wife to a global audience of open-mouthed admirers convulsed with Beatlemanialike adoration. Bliss,health and prosperity are in the offing for God's own country – but I digress.
There have been 44 US presidents so far, so lets look at the first half of the 19th century when the newly founded republic started to grow rapidly and progressed to become a super power over the next 150 years.
Ever heard of JOHN ADAMS (1797-1801), the second US president and first vice president (to George Washington ) ? A New England lawyer and one of the Founding Fathers of the USA he tu rned diplomat and served as a minister to Great Britain (not easy after American independence) and Denmark, and he was too the author of scholarly works on the American constitution. As president his greatest merit was preserving his country's neutrality during the years of tension and war between Great Britain and France when many Americans were bitterly hostile to the former but the French expected an alliance for their support during the American War of Independence. Skilfully and wisely Adams stayed on the side-lines, the perhaps inevitable conflict with Great Britain thus postponed for years allowing him to concentrate on domestic matters. As the founder of a famous dynasty of diplomats,historians and scholars he was the first president to see his son , John Quincy, sworn in as president in 1825.
In complete contrast the 7th president ANDREW JACKSON (1829-37) was a Southerner who lived the American dream “from log cabin to White House” and by no means the only one to do so. Not for nothing called “ Old Hickory”, craggy in mind and body, he was nearly illiterate into early adulthood but turned out to be a backwoodsman of great military ability. In 1815 his defeat of a British army in the battle of New Orleans made him a national hero. During this last war between Britain and the USA ,regarded as an fraternal conflict ,and little mentioned until recently, an embarrassing episode occurred. The presidential mansion in Washington put to the torch by British soldiers was freshly painted to hide ugly burn marks and is now better known as “The White House”. As president he personified the “man of the people” ideal who used his strong personality, his charisma and folksy charm to fight for common sense and fairness in home affairs over currency matters and internal tariffs.
Also a Southerner was the 11th president JAMES K POLK (1845-49) who claimed distant kinship to John Knox, the Scottish religious reformer. He is justly described as t h e expansionist president who firmly believed the USA should become a continental power by fulfilling its “manifest destiny” of expanding across the vast North American land mass at that time still largely unexplored and subject to rival claims from other powers. He dreamt of “the stars and stripes” fluttering from “sea to shining sea”. His wish list was daunting : Texas, New Mexico and California ,which were under Mexican sovereignty, and in the Northwest the huge Oregon country, jointly occupied by Britain and the USA. He obtained the desired areas. After a successful war with Mexico half a million square miles were acquired and a peaceful border settlement along the 49th parallel finalised the border with Canada, incidentally the longest in the world. He also made preparatory moves towards the realisation of the connection between the Atlantic and the Pacific,the future Panama Canal.
The 13th presidency under MILLARD FILLMORE (1850-53) proved to be indeed unlucky. Although he too rose from log cabin to the White House he was not able to control or even influence events that would later lead to the Civil War. The 1850s foreshadowed that calamitous event and it would have required a genius to square this circle: since slavery was permitted in the Constitution how could it be abolished without consent ? He deserves some credit for the 1850 Compromise meant to pacify both slave owners and abolitionists. California was to be admitted to the union as a free state but the new territories of Utah and New Mexico would have no restrictions on slavery. Two things should not be forgotten : he sent Commander Perry and his squadron to Japan to open up the country to trade ; during his presidency one of the most influential political novels ever, if not a literary master piece ,was published. “Uncle Tom's Cabin” did more to aid abolition of slavery than any politician.
His successor FRANKLIN PIERCE (1853-7), the 14th president and another New Englander inherited a poisoned chalice but deserves credit for expanding the union with the so-called Gadsden Purchase, some land bought from Mexico to allow the building of a commercially important direct rail link between Texas and California. Another project, the purchase of Cuba from Spain, fell through. He would not be the last president to become entangled with Cuba. Doomed to failure was the Kansas – Nebraska Act meant to replace the so-called Missouri Compromise, which had established a line beyond which -Missouri excepted- slavery was outlawed. Nebraskans were allowed to vote “no” but in Kansas pro and anti-slavery factions unleashed a violent conflict which as “Bleeding Kansas” brought the Civil War a step nearer.
So much for to-day. There are others, and more successes and failures. Just like in our time.
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