I'm sorry if anyone is disappointed by the lack of Presidential Super Tournament in this post, but I had the most interesting conversation with a friend today about pre-Civil War presidents.
I mentioned that I liked Millard Fillmore for his dedication to preserving the Union, even if he wasn't wholly successful. (Of course, Fillmore is another blog.) My friend then said he didn't understand why wanting to preserve the Union was necessarily a good thing in a president. This point really struck me.
Think about it. Preserving the Union at all costs is an infringement on states' rights. States' rights vs. federal rights has been the main issue of American government from the founding, and we decide in modern times that states' rights in this case is the wrong side, and thus preserving the Union is a positive point on American presidents. Thus we say James Buchanan is a poor president (worst, according to my... sadly unupdated... list), because he did nothing to preserve the Union, and we say Abraham Lincoln is a good president (best, according to my list, because he went to war to save the Union).
As these thoughts rushed through my mind, I replied, "So if the United States lost the Civil War, we'd remember Abraham Lincoln as our worst president and James Buchanan as the best!"
Chew on that one for a while.
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Not necessarily. Buchanan took the wrong side in the greatest moral issue of his day, working really hard to subvert the other side (see the Lecompton Constitution, his interference in Dred Scott). And then, to seal his fate with me, rather than squash secession at its outset when it was weak (WWAJD?), he not only allowed it to progress (thus encouraging rebellion) he allowed his SoW to transfer arms and munitions to Southern arsenals, which gave the Confederacy the means to fight a protracted war against the North. The direct result of this near-treasonous behavior was 600,000 dead Americans. As long as slavery and dead young men are considered to be bad things, James Buchanan will be considered a terrible president.
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