But it was pretty clear.
I now intend to refute every point I made yesterday, and redefend Chester Arthur's honor.
"It all starts off with his time as the Collector of the Port of New York. He made a salary higher than that of the president, but you know that a good portion of it never stayed with him but went instead to the Republicans and the Conkling machine."
Well, that's all true. I'm not too proud of Collector Arthur. However, it is said that even during this time, the peak of his corruption, Arthur looked out for the people working under him in the Port of New York. So while he was as much a part of the political machinery as anyone, he was still a decent man.
"He was far more corrupt than Grant's administration had been. All he ever did was work more stubbornly than the Republicans of today to continue the spoils system and allow jobs to continue on patronage. When he was Garfield's VP, he constantly fought against the president's work. Arthur wasn't looking for the nation's interests, he was looking only for Roscoe Conkling's favor."
He was a pretty awful Vice President. He reminds me of John Calhoun almost, so in conflict with his President. I can't say he was looking only for Roscoe Conkling's favor, as Conkling never wanted him to take the job at all, but he was supremely Stalwart against the views of Half-Breed Garfield.
"Then think about the time he spent as president. He found out that he was dying of Bright's disease so he probably decided it was time for him to leave a better impression of himself for history. That's when he worked to end the spoils system. He knew it could never benefit him again. Dead men get no patronage. (Surely Arthur made some dead men vote for Stalwarts in his day, though.)"
Hey, who cares why he worked to end the spoils system? Honestly, I don't believe it's due to the Bright's disease. I think he realized, as he is oft (by standards of Gilded Age presidents) quoted that he was one man and the POTUS was another. He saw the greatness of the office and worked to live up to it.
"But he also allowed a bill that completely banned naturalization and immigration of Chinese people for 10 years, subject to extension? You can't tell me that's a good bill in any way. It's discrimination, mandated by the government. Reconstruction ended two presidents ago, with Hayes, the man who fired Arthur from the Port of New York due to corruption, and now Arthur works to help support a new racial divide forming? Just because the blacks have been freed doesn't mean the country needs a new set of hated people."
Arthur first vetoed the Chinese Exclusion Act. It called for a 20 year renewable banning of immigration and naturalization for the Chinese people. This veto brought the 20 years down to 10. I've never been able to figure out why Arthur signed this version. In my opinion, the best course of action would have been a second veto. Perhaps he knew the nation's hatred of the Chinese was great and that the veto would be overridden, but still let it become law without your signature, at least. But Arthur clearly wasn't the racist one here, due to the initial veto. He had worked for civil rights of blacks as a lawyer before the Civil War, he wasn't likely to turn around and discriminate against another race.
"When you really consider it, Chester A. Arthur was a horrible man, and by far one of the worst presidents of all time.
Hell, he probably wasn't even a real American. Probably born in freaking Canada."
There's so much greatness of Chester Arthur. His years as teacher, as brigadier (acting Quartermaster) general, his turnaround from corruption as president. As for him being one of the worst presidents of all time, some may argue that. I personally find him to be generally underrated and actually a really good president for the times he was in.
I must admit however, I'm not yet convinced that he was actually born in America.
No comments:
Post a Comment