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The Spectacle Blog
Discuss amongst yourselves. This stuff makes me verklempt.
View all comments (7) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/04/12/the-very-basics-of-modern-amer
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jweaks| 4.12.12 @ 2:20PM
Aye, we need that and more.
Vern Crisler | 4.12.12 @ 3:57PM
Excellent list. I would add: Who were Ferdinand and Isabella? I've asked several of my co-workers and none of them knew, even though F & I were featured in a Bugs Bunny cartoon long ago.
Isabella and Ferdinand represent both the greatness and the contradictions of Renaissance kings and queens. Studying their lives and reign can tell one a lot about the need for, and the subsequent growth of, liberty -- and its embodiment in the Declaration and Constitution.
Also: What was the cause of the Civil War? Who started the Civil War? What was Lincoln's view? Was Lincoln an Abolitionist?
Also: Who was William Jennings Bryan and what did he believe?
Occam's Tool| 4.12.12 @ 8:20PM
The first seven Presidents: from memory---here we go: Washington, Adams, Jefferson (easy so far), Madison, Monroe, (a bit harder), John Q Adams , Jackson.
JQA was the tough one, really. And eight was Martin Van Buren...all gotten from memory---I didn't check any names until AFTER I put them down.
Occam's Tool| 4.12.12 @ 8:32PM
But, let's go through the thousand year presidents---who is likely to be remembered 1000 years from now---who is the Augustus, and who is the Romulus Augustulus (1st and last emperors of the Western Roman Empire):
Washington---yes. Adams---more for the founding father part than as Pres. Jefferson---like Adams, really.
Then, Jackson: Yes. Great image, and he da man. From Jackson until Lincoln only one stands out, and that is Polk, but not a thousand year guy, as most people don't remember his incredibly competent administration today. A Tiberius, except for the perversions.
Lincoln, of course. Then no one until TR. Then no one until FDR. (WW will be forgotten, as he was a scumbag). Truman for dropping the bomb. Reagan for ending the Cold War successfully. Obama for being elected as a Minority (not for his dreadful Presidency).
But of those, the very top rank historically, other than the asterix of Obama (like Roger Maris: one great season, otherwise nothing much---that's why his museum is in cases in a shopping mall in Fargo): Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, TR, FDR, Truman, Reagan. 7 out of 44. About 15%.
That's about right. Look at the number of oustanding Emperors of the Roman Empire. After Marcus Antonius and 181 BC, there was only 1 in the remaining years of the Western Empire, if I recall.
Bigfoot| 4.13.12 @ 1:18AM
Jefferson more than Adams, for the Declaration and its immortal opening words. Then Madison, author of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, coauthor of the Federalist Papers, winner of the War of 1812, who more than any other defined what the United States would be and what its founding principles actually meant. An underrtated statesman because he is in the midst of so many others, but he may have been the greatest of them all for his mind and his competence in establishing the new nation. Certainly greater than at least 5 of those you have listed.
Vern Crisler | 4.13.12 @ 1:51AM
Well, Madison didn't do it all by himself, of course. But yes, he's next to Washington in importance, sharing credit with Jefferson, too.
Interesting question to ask. Did Madison really win the War of 1812? Did America win it? Also: Did Madison approve of a central bank for America?
gafas de sol armani | 4.13.12 @ 6:36AM
great!