Did I mention Jefferson in a positive light? I also think he is an overrated president. Lincoln was using a power granted to him by the Constitution to save America. Jackson did it to steal land from people. I'm going with Lincoln, although I realize that the line Lincoln was straddling on the issue was contentious. The point about the Supreme Court, regardless, was made in reference to the idea that we are judging Jackson by "21st century morals" when people in his own time were stating this was immoral and illegal. I'm not criticizing Jackson for ignoring the Supreme Court, necessarily, I'm criticizing him for being a thief.
You guys must really hate the national park system too with taking a lot of individuals land for the greater good
He rid the country of its first entanglement with the National Bank. /thread **EDITED** I've helped you here, Huff. Steady. Tenny D
Grant's reputation has been making some kind of comeback in recent years in some quarters and was the victim of a decidedly pro-Southern historical domination of the early 20th century (The same one that distorted the standard history of the Reconstruction). Grant was, actually, very popular at the end of his second term and even considered for a third term. Grant, however, has one of the strongest records on civil rights of any president well into the 20th century, did a pretty good job with Indian relations, created the first civil service reform and was far less incompetent than he has been portrayed. If you want to get a bottom 5, there's not a chance in hell he'd be in there. In fact, if we are going to do that list, then it should be filled with some guys we haven't even mentioned, yet.
Once again.... Who in God's holy name cares about a presidents relation with a culture who never discovered the wheel ????
In cases of indescrpit ignorance of the law? Yes. In succession? **** no, retard. Aposing the secessions of states was unconstitutional.
They did have the wheel, genius, but how were they going to use it without beasts of burden? They had much more efficient methods of transportation that fit with the situation at hand.
Those "primitive" people had some very advanced societies littered throughout the Americas. The wheel had been around for a long time, but without much use in many of those societies for various reasons. Plus, the wheel is not the benchmark of an advanced society, necessarily.
Lincoln's suspension of habeus corpus was a willful, direct and intentional violation of the United States Constitution. In fact, then Chief Justice Taney issued a ruling to the effect that the President had no power to suspend it, whatsoever, but that he lacked the military might to enforce the decision. And later decisions supported Taney (not that Lincoln's scofflaw was seriously debated), wholeheartedly, and in unequivocally stating that the suspension of habeus corpus was left to Congress, alone. Say what you want, believe what you want, but Lincoln wiped his ass with the Constitution - the foundational document of the very country that he was trying to "save". And even better, his actions are only vindicated in hindsight, and because he won....simply due to superior military strength. So, be careful when extolling Lincoln in one sense, condemning someone else in another, or eschewing that "might doesn't make right".
The discussion over Lincoln's actions isn't as cut and dried as you make it out to be here and there is, unequivocally, the ability to suspend habeus corpus. The question has always been whether or not the president has the authority to do so. And, let's not lose sight of the fact that Lincoln had to act on a very real and serious, not to mention immediate threat to the capital in light of Union troops moving through Maryland. Lincoln did what he had to do as a great leader in making a decision to protect the Union, as opposed to Jackson, who merely "wiped his ass" with the Constitution in order to steal land from Cherokees, Creeks, et al, distribute it to lawless frontiersmen and pocket the sales of free stolen land to stuff federal coffers. Now, which one shows themselves to be a greater man and president? I'm not even making the argument that Jackson was bad, as you insinuate, because he violated and ignored a Supreme Court decision (Which, by the way, neither did Lincoln, technically.). There are plenty of real reasons to justify the view of Jackson as a terrible leader.
