dorky
Eleven down, thirty-two to go. It seems to me that eleven was probably too big a chunk of presidents to consider in one evaluation, so from now on I'll take them five or six at a time. Behind the cut below are brief point form summaries of the next six Presidents on the list, followed by the poll itself.
Please remember that the higher the number grade you give, the better you think that President was. The scale I recommend using is: give a 1 for the "worst president ever", a 5 for someone on the bad side of average, a 6 for someone on the good side of average, and a 10 for "best President ever."
The next six Presidents to be ranked will be Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Thank you for indulging me in this.
12. Zachary Taylor
*Successful General in the Mexican War, he died 16 months into his term
*Although himself a slaveholder, he refused to veto the Wimot Proposal (which prohibited slavery in new territories north of the Missouri Compromise line)
*Strengthened relations between the US and Great Britain through the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
13. Millard Fillmore
*Supported the Compromise of 1850 which permitted new territories other than California to become slave states
*Passed the Fugitive Slave Act which required norther states to return runaway slaves
*Opened up trade with Japan, through the expedition of Commodore Perry
*Continued a policy of non-intervention in European affairs despite pressure to change this policy
14. Franklin Pierce
*Replaced the Missouri Compromise with the Kansas-Nebraska Act which allowed settlers in new territories to decide by popular vote whether or not they would allow slavery in their territory
*The Gadsden Purchase bought portions of modern day Arizona and New Mexico from Mexico
*Enforced the Fugitive Slave Act
*Unsuccessfully attempted to buy Cuba from Spain (the motion was defeated because northerners believed that Cuba would become a source for the importing of slaves)
15. James Buchanan
*Took no action when southern states declared succession from the union
*Influenced the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision, which held that Congress had no power to exclude slavery in the territories
*Attempted to replace Brigham Young as Governor of the Utah territory, causing the "Utah War"
*Presided over the Panic of 1857 which especially hurt the manufacturing industry
16. Abraham Lincoln
*President during the Civil War. Closely superised the war operations himself
*Signed the Emancipation Proclamation and promoted the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery
*Exercised unprecedented war powers, including the arrest and detention without trial of thousands of suspected secessionists
*His Gettysburg Address is the perhaps most quoted piece of American oratory
*Assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in the second month of his second term
17. Andrew Johnson
*First President to be impeached
*Supported the reintegration of southern states into the Union without regard for the rights of freed slaves
*Vetoed a civil rights bill passed by congress
*Granted unconditional amnesty to all Confederate soldiers
And now the poll. Please rate the following six Presidents on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst president ever, 5 being on the bad side of average, 6 being on the good side of average and 10 being the best president ever:
Zachary Taylor
Mean: 5.56 Median: 5 Std. Dev 1.64
1
0(0.0%)
2
0(0.0%)
3
1(11.1%)
4
1(11.1%)
5
3(33.3%)
6
2(22.2%)
7
1(11.1%)
8
0(0.0%)
9
1(11.1%)
10
0(0.0%)
Millard Fillmore
Mean: 3.10 Median: 3 Std. Dev 1.70
1
0(0.0%)
2
4(40.0%)
3
5(50.0%)
4
0(0.0%)
5
0(0.0%)
6
0(0.0%)
7
0(0.0%)
8
1(10.0%)
9
0(0.0%)
10
0(0.0%)
Franklin Pierce
Mean: 2.30 Median: 2 Std. Dev 0.78
1
1(10.0%)
2
6(60.0%)
3
2(20.0%)
4
1(10.0%)
5
0(0.0%)
6
0(0.0%)
7
0(0.0%)
8
0(0.0%)
9
0(0.0%)
10
0(0.0%)
James Buchanan
Mean: 2.00 Median: 1.5 Std. Dev 1.48
1
5(50.0%)
2
3(30.0%)
3
1(10.0%)
4
0(0.0%)
5
0(0.0%)
6
1(10.0%)
7
0(0.0%)
8
0(0.0%)
9
0(0.0%)
10
0(0.0%)
Abraham Lincoln
Mean: 8.30 Median: 8.5 Std. Dev 2.24
1
0(0.0%)
2
0(0.0%)
3
0(0.0%)
4
1(10.0%)
5
1(10.0%)
6
0(0.0%)
7
2(20.0%)
8
0(0.0%)
9
0(0.0%)
10
6(60.0%)
Andrew Johnson
Mean: 2.80 Median: 2.5 Std. Dev 1.78
1
4(40.0%)
2
1(10.0%)
3
1(10.0%)
4
2(20.0%)
5
1(10.0%)
6
1(10.0%)
7
0(0.0%)
8
0(0.0%)
9
0(0.0%)
10
0(0.0%)
