Favorite US President - 1837-1861

[UrbScotty]

Poll question: Favorite US President - 1837-1861

(D)-Democrat; (W)-Whig

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. I voted for Pierce.

Not because he was a good President (he wasn't); because, in a letter home to his wife from Veracruz, he wrote about getting high and said marijuana was the only damned thing that was any good about the Mexican-American War. Gotta like that. (And you DID say "favourite"...)

[terrya]

9. Pierce is a distant relative of the current resident in the White House

Oh his mother's side. Barbara Bush was Barbara Pierce when she married George H.W. Bush.

I guess it's not TOO surprising that Chimpy is related to an alcoholic and drug user (most definitely NOT that there's anything wrong with marijuana. :-))

Terry

[pop goes the weasel]

2. Why are people voting for Polk?

He was an early version of W. He dragged the country into an unnecessary war in order to promote the interests of his slave-driving friends. And Pierce willfully ignored the expressed interests of the voters of Kansas in order to gain a territorial legislature and state constitution friendly to those same slave-holders, thus ensuring continued bloodshed in that territory over the issue of slavery's expansion. Only Taylor, in 1850, promised to have the backbone to stand up to the Southern oligarchs and their big money by vetoing the compromise bills of 1850, and for his pains, he died under very questionable circumstances.

[Bertha Venation]

3. Good question. Polk : Mexican War = W : Iraq 2003-4

Among other things :puke:

[Kamika]

8. Because he was in DIE HARD 3!

He just got my vote too.

He's Willis approved

[Snow]

4. Holy cow! look at that string of losers......

and I thought the late 1900's was bad.

[UrbScotty]

7. Yep. (nt)

[terrya]

10. Well, 1864 -1884 wasn't a high point in the Presidency, either.

Andrew Johnson. Ulysses Grant. Rutherford B. Hayes. James Garfield. Chester Alan Arthur.

Not exactly distinguished.

Terry

[UrbScotty]

19. Well, Johnson was, in the GOP's mind.

[youngred]

20. all those republicans

tsk tsk.

Johnson wasn't bad, he just was a moderate in a party of radicals following on the footsteps of one of the nation's greatest

[starroute]

16. On the other hand, the presidents had very little power then

The country was growing fast, things were pretty decentralized, and most of the power was in the hands of either the states or the Congress.

The great names from that general period are those of people like Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, both of whom died in 1852, and both of whom tried but failed to win the presidency.

[MattNC]

5. not exactly

the golden age of the Presidency

[tinrobot]

6. Fillmore...

Last of the whigs...

...and proud of it!

[JohnLocke]

11. W.H. Harrison

Keep the ball rollin' y'll.
Too bad he died.

[tkmorris]

13. OK I gotta know.

What do you find appealing about Old Tippecanoe?

[JohnLocke]

15. He had the longest inaugeration speech, caught a cold during it and died.

That's cool.

[MrSlayer]

12. Whatever happened to the Whig party anyway?

I always found that highly amusing as a child.

[Kamika]

14. I think wigs got out of fashion

It seriously started to get out of fashion at the turn of the century

[Bucky]

18. John Adams's election theme song was "Dude look like a lady" by Aerosmith

Sadly Adams even in his wig looked like a stunningly ugly lady, so he was limited to one term, defeated by Jefferson, who, in a dress, would have made for a pretty hot chick in that Allison Janney sort of way.

[youngred]

21. They couldn't balance the N Whigs and S Whigs

and died out with the advent of the new progressive Republican party

[Bucky]

17. Abe Lincoln's fave was Filmore. Abe gave props to Millard in 1861.

Millard was also the only one who was right on the slavery issue during those years--so it's not an accident that he had to Veep his way into the Oval Office. And the dude was a Unitarian.