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Chapter 25 The President No One Wanted
Chapter 25 The President No One Wanted
"How the hell can you be so obsessed with Texas that you forget about how ruined our economy is?"- Senator Daniel Webster to House Speaker James Polk 1838
"All going according to plan."- Senator Henry Clay 1841
"Thank God! Now I can finally get back to running my bar."- President Richard Mentor Johnson 1841
Today the office of the Vice-Presidency is considered an important position in both the United States and Texas that only being elected to the Presidency itself can ever eclipse. The Vice-President is considered to be the number two man (or woman) that is essential to the function of the nation by being head of the Senate and being chief representative of the President in all foreign and domestic affairs. It is always important for the Vice President to be healthy and well protected due to the fact that at any moment the President can die or become incapacitated for office, requiring the VP to take charge and lead the nation in the former leaders absence. The effectiveness of each Vice Presidency has varied through each administration with many stand in VP's who were only chosen to balance out the ticket for votes, and active VP's who gain power in government and through their actions become leading politicians who can gain the office of the Presidency through their own merit in a future election. In 1838 both Vice Presidents Johnson and Lamar were strong examples of this with Johnson being the former and Lamar the latter respectively. While thankfully Houston was never assassinated or attained a life-threatening illness in his Presidency, the man agreed in his memoirs that had he died as President then Lamar, despite his political fallouts with Houston, would've been more than fit to lead the Republic as the successive President. The same thought was never given to Richard Mentor Johnson who was chosen to bring in the southern wing of the Democratic Party and when in Washington was never given a single amount of political responsibility. The Democrats would soon see the error of their ways when on April 15th, 1838, President Van Buren was killed by an assassin from South Carolina and in the hours after the assassination, Johnson was sworn in as President. Technically there was no official rule in the Constitution for the succession of office upon the death of the President as the American founding fathers had overlooked this in the writing of Article 1. While it seems common sense today to have a backup plan for the leader of your nation, back then no thought had been given to the possibility of a Presidential death as all previous office holders were healthy and had completed their terms. Indeed the Constitution was extremely vague when addressing this, only stating that should the President die, become disabled, or be removed from power while in office, the powers and duties of the President are thereby transferred to the Vice President. The American politicians at the time did not know whether or not that meant the Vice President would directly assume the Presidency or merely act as standing President while new elections took place. Speaker James Polk was the first to take action by calling Chief Justice Roger Taney to the White House at midnight and have Johnson swear the Presidential oath. Many of the Whig Party cried foul and declared that Johnson had illegally obtained office and should step down from the presidency. These criticisms climaxed in the Supreme Court with the case Clay Vs. United States where Senator Henry Clay sued the executive government for the supposed illegal action. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Johnson and stated that his succession to Office was legal and that the Vice President shall assume the Presidency under the President's incapacitation as stated in the Constitution. The Presidential succession was later solidified with the passing of the 13th amendment in 1840 which remained Johnson's greatest achievement in office. For now the American people while not satisfied were content with the new President.
Throughout Johnson's presidency the man had come under intense criticism and attack by the Whig Party, with Jackson and Van Buren gone Johnson was the next step to victory and the Whigs weren't going to have him win another victory for the democrats. Though the man in the past was a war hero for his actions against the Creek and was likewise a competent and popular congressmen, the public instead directed its attention to Johnson's time as Vice President, which wasn't really much on paper. Like Van Buren the Whigs lambasted Johnson for the poor job on the economy and why he never did anything about it, granted Johnson was never really given a task in relation to the country but it was far more embarrassing to say my boss didn't trust me to do something rather than being seen as a lazy bum. It didn't help Johnson in the least that once the Panic started he was given a nine month leave to go back to his tavern in Kentucky and make sure all his finances are in order, something the Whigs exploited constantly by calling him an uncaring drunkard. At first Johnson tried to get much passed in the beginning with the Democratic congress but the southern wing of the party absolutely refused to work with him. The reason being that in the past Johnson actually had a common law marriage with one of his slaves, an octoroon slave named Julia Chinn. Johnson actually treated Julia as an equal by sharing control of his plantation with her as well as recognizing their two daughters as his own. This marriage had been known for several years and was tolerated in his electoral district, but the rest of the south saw this as a complete abomination. Despite the fact that Johnson never once advocated for abolition the south was fearful that this president would ruin the country by letting slaves become citizens and have rights. Thus in the north Johnson was portrayed as a careless drunk, while in the South he was seen as an immoral abolitionist. When the Whigs came into power the situation only got worse economically as the Whig Party called for the refounding of the national bank and the cutting back of paper circulation. Johnson being a Jacksonian Democrat, absolutely refused to go along with these demands and was supported by the Democrats who still saw that Jackson did nothing wrong. Making a 2 year stand off on Capitol hill that would not cease until the election of Harrison. While Johnson did attempt to alleviate the nations economy these efforts would often be a double edged sword, as he sought to eliminate the depression by spending large federal funds on infrastructure projects and extending circulation. While this may have cut down on unemployment a bit it did drive the nation's debt and inflation to new highs. This was not to say though that Johnson found no success in the country. Johnson's presidency is often remembered fondly in the northwest for being the first President to have widespread support in opening up the Oregon territory. Johnson was also the first President to campaign for prison reform after witnessing the harsh conditions that convicts go through while supporting the end of debtor imprisonment. Most controversially, Johnson decided to continue the Indian removal as well as aggressively pursue the Seminole War by sending more federal troops to Florida in order to encourage white settlement to increase the process of statehood. When Indians in Seqouyah started to defect to Texas, Johnson ordered federal agents to turn a blind eye as "It would be Texas's problem now". In the manner of slavery Johnson did little to change the status as he was already under immense pressure from the Southern Democrats. One notable exception was the case of the Amistad where Johnson continually advocated for the freedom of the captured slaves as they were enslaved illegally due to the ban on the African slave trade. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the slaves in January 1841 and Johnson's last act in office was to see these men be granted safe passage to Liberia. Finally Johnson solved the issue of Presidential security by founding the Presidential Guard, an elite unit of bodyguards who would protect the President and other high level politicians at all times while in Washington, around the country, or abroad.
View attachment 290012
The elite U.S Presidential Guard on duty. Painting of La Amistad. One of the most controversial issues during the Johnson administration.
When it came to foreign policy the Johnson administration had little to focus on since Europe was at peace and the United States hadn't extended its influence to Asia or Latin America fully yet. It would be in North America where the issue of expansion dominated the Johnson administration. For the past two years many within the southern wing of the Democratic party had been crying for the annexation of Texas to commence. These congressmen were worried that with potential states for slavery under the Missouri compromise running out that the south would be contained and that slavery would be eventually abolished. The Democrats cited that Texas already had a large population of Americans within its borders that would be willing to enter into statehood and that the acquisition of California would provide the United States with a strong presence on the Pacific coast where trade could be established with Asia. In the beginning of the Van Buren term the movement was gaining strength and with Sam Houston being a Unionist it looked as though Texas would enter the United States. Then the Panic happened which made all possible negotiations put on hold for the moment due to the need to prioritize the economy, then the movement died entirely with Van Buren's assassination. Though Johnson was a slave owning southerner who was greatly pro-annexation of Texas, his inexperience in the executive office and nonexistent influence within congress turned many congressmen away from the issue of Texas. Indeed this was used against Johnson in propaganda by the Whigs where political cartoons would depict Johnson as a greedy plantation aristocrat whose concern was over the expansion of slavery over the welfare of the common people, despite Johnson's liberal stances on slavery. Seeing that the Texas movement was growing highly unpopular in the United States, Johnson decided to drop the matter altogether in 1839 when the Whig Party managed to gain control of both houses of Congress. A choice which enraged the south at what was seemingly a halt of slavery, one which would start the regional tensions leading to the Civil War. This decision would later be reflected on the Texas side in the 1841 elections. With the issue of Texas having been nullified, Johnson turned his attention in foreign policy to the highly disputed Oregon territory. In the treaty of 1818 the border between Canada and the United States was settled at the 49th parallel but the Oregon territory was left under the terms of a joint occupation. For years this was accepted though recently thousands of Americans had been moving into the region since the 1830's. The fact that the United States had given up on Texas meant that Oregon was the only way the United States would gain access to the pacific. While a compromise could've been made for the territory, congress was absolutely stubborn in refusing to go below the 54.5 N. In order to gain votes for the north in reelection, Johnson passed a series of acts that would sponsor increased settlement of Oregon as well as the normalization of territorial government in Oregon. To supplement these claims Johnson ordered the construction of 5 forts and the sending of 7500 men of the U.S Army to guard and defend the territories (at least under the 49th). The Oregon Acts found widespread bipartisan support as the Northern Democrats and Whigs saw the area as American territory that needed to be protected from the British behemoth at all costs. While southerners though ill content that Oregon received support rather than Texas, saw the economic potential in Pacific territory that could sell cotton and other cash crops to Asia. London looked at these measures with immense alarm and decided to pass its own acts to compete with American colonization of the area. These actions would later result in the Oregon War during the Harrison presidency.
Oregon Country. At the time under joint occupation of U.S and Great Britain.
When time came for the election in 1840 the odds did not look good for the Democratic Party. The economy was still in shambles and Johnson's popularity was at a low with only 32%. At the time there were few well known contenders among the Democrats who could successfully challenge the Whigs many knew that any attempt would only end in a loss as the party was still unpopular for the economic situation. So the Democratic Party saw it fit for Johnson to run for re-election so that any loss would result in him becoming an scape goat and for any challenger to be free to step up to the primaries in 1844. On the Whig side the party chose war hero William Henry Harrison as the man was the most successful of the candidates during the last election and was seen by the party as a strong contender for office with his common man/frontier image versus that of the aristocratic Johnson. For his vice-president Harrison chose Daniel Webster who was a strong orator in congress, loyal to the party, and would bring end the New England delegates. Webster was more than happy to accept as Johnson's presidency proved just how important the office of Vice President had become. During the election the Whigs campaigned with a fervor that was never seen before, attacking Johnson on all his political and personal faults. There was little mention of the economy on the campaign trail with the Whigs focusing on the image of an incompetent Johnson who was to blame for America's troubles. For someone who was clearly in the losing side, Johnson still put up an effort and went throughout the east coast, trying to show his accomplishments to the people and saying that the economy would get fixed under a second term. When election day came in the electoral vote was a clear victory for Harrison with 215 votes to Johnson's 79. What was oddly uprising was the close popular vote with Harrison only managing to win 53.7& of the vote, it seemed like some people did like Johnson after all. While many would seem depressed at losing the election, Johnson was actually happy as he could finally leave Washington, satisfied that he did well in an election and managed to achieve some good as President. He would spend the rest of his days running his bar in Kentucky that he named "The President's Pub", which today is a successful franchise that has spread all throughout the United States. With Harrison's victory came the rise of a new era in United States politics, the Whig Era.
A/N: Credit for the high quality wikibox goes to user Herricks. Edited electoral map by Cool-Eh
"How the hell can you be so obsessed with Texas that you forget about how ruined our economy is?"- Senator Daniel Webster to House Speaker James Polk 1838
"All going according to plan."- Senator Henry Clay 1841
"Thank God! Now I can finally get back to running my bar."- President Richard Mentor Johnson 1841
Today the office of the Vice-Presidency is considered an important position in both the United States and Texas that only being elected to the Presidency itself can ever eclipse. The Vice-President is considered to be the number two man (or woman) that is essential to the function of the nation by being head of the Senate and being chief representative of the President in all foreign and domestic affairs. It is always important for the Vice President to be healthy and well protected due to the fact that at any moment the President can die or become incapacitated for office, requiring the VP to take charge and lead the nation in the former leaders absence. The effectiveness of each Vice Presidency has varied through each administration with many stand in VP's who were only chosen to balance out the ticket for votes, and active VP's who gain power in government and through their actions become leading politicians who can gain the office of the Presidency through their own merit in a future election. In 1838 both Vice Presidents Johnson and Lamar were strong examples of this with Johnson being the former and Lamar the latter respectively. While thankfully Houston was never assassinated or attained a life-threatening illness in his Presidency, the man agreed in his memoirs that had he died as President then Lamar, despite his political fallouts with Houston, would've been more than fit to lead the Republic as the successive President. The same thought was never given to Richard Mentor Johnson who was chosen to bring in the southern wing of the Democratic Party and when in Washington was never given a single amount of political responsibility. The Democrats would soon see the error of their ways when on April 15th, 1838, President Van Buren was killed by an assassin from South Carolina and in the hours after the assassination, Johnson was sworn in as President. Technically there was no official rule in the Constitution for the succession of office upon the death of the President as the American founding fathers had overlooked this in the writing of Article 1. While it seems common sense today to have a backup plan for the leader of your nation, back then no thought had been given to the possibility of a Presidential death as all previous office holders were healthy and had completed their terms. Indeed the Constitution was extremely vague when addressing this, only stating that should the President die, become disabled, or be removed from power while in office, the powers and duties of the President are thereby transferred to the Vice President. The American politicians at the time did not know whether or not that meant the Vice President would directly assume the Presidency or merely act as standing President while new elections took place. Speaker James Polk was the first to take action by calling Chief Justice Roger Taney to the White House at midnight and have Johnson swear the Presidential oath. Many of the Whig Party cried foul and declared that Johnson had illegally obtained office and should step down from the presidency. These criticisms climaxed in the Supreme Court with the case Clay Vs. United States where Senator Henry Clay sued the executive government for the supposed illegal action. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Johnson and stated that his succession to Office was legal and that the Vice President shall assume the Presidency under the President's incapacitation as stated in the Constitution. The Presidential succession was later solidified with the passing of the 13th amendment in 1840 which remained Johnson's greatest achievement in office. For now the American people while not satisfied were content with the new President.
Throughout Johnson's presidency the man had come under intense criticism and attack by the Whig Party, with Jackson and Van Buren gone Johnson was the next step to victory and the Whigs weren't going to have him win another victory for the democrats. Though the man in the past was a war hero for his actions against the Creek and was likewise a competent and popular congressmen, the public instead directed its attention to Johnson's time as Vice President, which wasn't really much on paper. Like Van Buren the Whigs lambasted Johnson for the poor job on the economy and why he never did anything about it, granted Johnson was never really given a task in relation to the country but it was far more embarrassing to say my boss didn't trust me to do something rather than being seen as a lazy bum. It didn't help Johnson in the least that once the Panic started he was given a nine month leave to go back to his tavern in Kentucky and make sure all his finances are in order, something the Whigs exploited constantly by calling him an uncaring drunkard. At first Johnson tried to get much passed in the beginning with the Democratic congress but the southern wing of the party absolutely refused to work with him. The reason being that in the past Johnson actually had a common law marriage with one of his slaves, an octoroon slave named Julia Chinn. Johnson actually treated Julia as an equal by sharing control of his plantation with her as well as recognizing their two daughters as his own. This marriage had been known for several years and was tolerated in his electoral district, but the rest of the south saw this as a complete abomination. Despite the fact that Johnson never once advocated for abolition the south was fearful that this president would ruin the country by letting slaves become citizens and have rights. Thus in the north Johnson was portrayed as a careless drunk, while in the South he was seen as an immoral abolitionist. When the Whigs came into power the situation only got worse economically as the Whig Party called for the refounding of the national bank and the cutting back of paper circulation. Johnson being a Jacksonian Democrat, absolutely refused to go along with these demands and was supported by the Democrats who still saw that Jackson did nothing wrong. Making a 2 year stand off on Capitol hill that would not cease until the election of Harrison. While Johnson did attempt to alleviate the nations economy these efforts would often be a double edged sword, as he sought to eliminate the depression by spending large federal funds on infrastructure projects and extending circulation. While this may have cut down on unemployment a bit it did drive the nation's debt and inflation to new highs. This was not to say though that Johnson found no success in the country. Johnson's presidency is often remembered fondly in the northwest for being the first President to have widespread support in opening up the Oregon territory. Johnson was also the first President to campaign for prison reform after witnessing the harsh conditions that convicts go through while supporting the end of debtor imprisonment. Most controversially, Johnson decided to continue the Indian removal as well as aggressively pursue the Seminole War by sending more federal troops to Florida in order to encourage white settlement to increase the process of statehood. When Indians in Seqouyah started to defect to Texas, Johnson ordered federal agents to turn a blind eye as "It would be Texas's problem now". In the manner of slavery Johnson did little to change the status as he was already under immense pressure from the Southern Democrats. One notable exception was the case of the Amistad where Johnson continually advocated for the freedom of the captured slaves as they were enslaved illegally due to the ban on the African slave trade. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the slaves in January 1841 and Johnson's last act in office was to see these men be granted safe passage to Liberia. Finally Johnson solved the issue of Presidential security by founding the Presidential Guard, an elite unit of bodyguards who would protect the President and other high level politicians at all times while in Washington, around the country, or abroad.
View attachment 290012
The elite U.S Presidential Guard on duty. Painting of La Amistad. One of the most controversial issues during the Johnson administration.
When it came to foreign policy the Johnson administration had little to focus on since Europe was at peace and the United States hadn't extended its influence to Asia or Latin America fully yet. It would be in North America where the issue of expansion dominated the Johnson administration. For the past two years many within the southern wing of the Democratic party had been crying for the annexation of Texas to commence. These congressmen were worried that with potential states for slavery under the Missouri compromise running out that the south would be contained and that slavery would be eventually abolished. The Democrats cited that Texas already had a large population of Americans within its borders that would be willing to enter into statehood and that the acquisition of California would provide the United States with a strong presence on the Pacific coast where trade could be established with Asia. In the beginning of the Van Buren term the movement was gaining strength and with Sam Houston being a Unionist it looked as though Texas would enter the United States. Then the Panic happened which made all possible negotiations put on hold for the moment due to the need to prioritize the economy, then the movement died entirely with Van Buren's assassination. Though Johnson was a slave owning southerner who was greatly pro-annexation of Texas, his inexperience in the executive office and nonexistent influence within congress turned many congressmen away from the issue of Texas. Indeed this was used against Johnson in propaganda by the Whigs where political cartoons would depict Johnson as a greedy plantation aristocrat whose concern was over the expansion of slavery over the welfare of the common people, despite Johnson's liberal stances on slavery. Seeing that the Texas movement was growing highly unpopular in the United States, Johnson decided to drop the matter altogether in 1839 when the Whig Party managed to gain control of both houses of Congress. A choice which enraged the south at what was seemingly a halt of slavery, one which would start the regional tensions leading to the Civil War. This decision would later be reflected on the Texas side in the 1841 elections. With the issue of Texas having been nullified, Johnson turned his attention in foreign policy to the highly disputed Oregon territory. In the treaty of 1818 the border between Canada and the United States was settled at the 49th parallel but the Oregon territory was left under the terms of a joint occupation. For years this was accepted though recently thousands of Americans had been moving into the region since the 1830's. The fact that the United States had given up on Texas meant that Oregon was the only way the United States would gain access to the pacific. While a compromise could've been made for the territory, congress was absolutely stubborn in refusing to go below the 54.5 N. In order to gain votes for the north in reelection, Johnson passed a series of acts that would sponsor increased settlement of Oregon as well as the normalization of territorial government in Oregon. To supplement these claims Johnson ordered the construction of 5 forts and the sending of 7500 men of the U.S Army to guard and defend the territories (at least under the 49th). The Oregon Acts found widespread bipartisan support as the Northern Democrats and Whigs saw the area as American territory that needed to be protected from the British behemoth at all costs. While southerners though ill content that Oregon received support rather than Texas, saw the economic potential in Pacific territory that could sell cotton and other cash crops to Asia. London looked at these measures with immense alarm and decided to pass its own acts to compete with American colonization of the area. These actions would later result in the Oregon War during the Harrison presidency.
Oregon Country. At the time under joint occupation of U.S and Great Britain.
When time came for the election in 1840 the odds did not look good for the Democratic Party. The economy was still in shambles and Johnson's popularity was at a low with only 32%. At the time there were few well known contenders among the Democrats who could successfully challenge the Whigs many knew that any attempt would only end in a loss as the party was still unpopular for the economic situation. So the Democratic Party saw it fit for Johnson to run for re-election so that any loss would result in him becoming an scape goat and for any challenger to be free to step up to the primaries in 1844. On the Whig side the party chose war hero William Henry Harrison as the man was the most successful of the candidates during the last election and was seen by the party as a strong contender for office with his common man/frontier image versus that of the aristocratic Johnson. For his vice-president Harrison chose Daniel Webster who was a strong orator in congress, loyal to the party, and would bring end the New England delegates. Webster was more than happy to accept as Johnson's presidency proved just how important the office of Vice President had become. During the election the Whigs campaigned with a fervor that was never seen before, attacking Johnson on all his political and personal faults. There was little mention of the economy on the campaign trail with the Whigs focusing on the image of an incompetent Johnson who was to blame for America's troubles. For someone who was clearly in the losing side, Johnson still put up an effort and went throughout the east coast, trying to show his accomplishments to the people and saying that the economy would get fixed under a second term. When election day came in the electoral vote was a clear victory for Harrison with 215 votes to Johnson's 79. What was oddly uprising was the close popular vote with Harrison only managing to win 53.7& of the vote, it seemed like some people did like Johnson after all. While many would seem depressed at losing the election, Johnson was actually happy as he could finally leave Washington, satisfied that he did well in an election and managed to achieve some good as President. He would spend the rest of his days running his bar in Kentucky that he named "The President's Pub", which today is a successful franchise that has spread all throughout the United States. With Harrison's victory came the rise of a new era in United States politics, the Whig Era.
A/N: Credit for the high quality wikibox goes to user Herricks. Edited electoral map by Cool-Eh
- Kaiser Chris
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