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For demlibs and misguided revisionists, maybe Trump
Posted on: May 3, 2017 at 07:56:01 CT
GA Tiger MU
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knew more than you thought about something else they whined about, and about the Civil War.
James Buchanan Was No Andrew Jackson
By James S. Robbins
President Trump delved into speculative history this week when he asserted that “had Andrew Jackson been a little bit later you wouldn’t have had the Civil War.” Mr. Trump’s critics pounced, calling his conjecture puzzling, ignorant and bizarre. But the president has a point.
President Jackson’s able handling of the Nullification Crisis in 1832-33 was a common topic of discussion when South Carolina seceded from the U.S. in December 1860. Jackson, through a combination of threats and persuasion, had convinced South Carolina to retract a law that purportedly allowed the state to nullify federal laws—in particular protective tariffs. The New York Times noted in 1860 that those who had been alive then “cannot fail to be impressed with the various points in common, and points of contrast, between the events of that period and those of the present day.”
The critical contrast was the man in the White House. Jackson was a daring military hero and frontiersman, brave and indomitable. When South Carolina fomented the Nullification Crisis mere weeks after his landslide re-election, Jackson swore to hold the Union together at any cost.
President James Buchanan, on the other hand, was a mild-mannered lawyer and diplomat. The secession crisis came when he was a lame duck, waiting for Abraham Lincoln to take office. Buchanan triangulated, saying secession was illegal but he was powerless to stop it. Consequently, six other states followed South Carolina in leaving the Union before Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861.
Some believed this could have been nipped in the bud if Old Hickory still had been in charge. As the crisis broke, the pro-Union Louisville (Ky.) Journal asked: “Will James Buchanan, who occupies the chair of Andrew Jackson, emulate the energy of the great Tennessean, or will he like a craven, cower before . . . the mad antics of those over excited fanatics?” Unfortunately, we know the answer.
Buchanan’s secretary of state, Lewis Cass, had a front-row seat for both crises. A former Army general, Cass was Jackson’s secretary of war during the Nullification Crisis and oversaw military preparations in case things went south in South Carolina. In 1860 he advised Buchanan to do exactly what Jackson had readied to do: beef up the presence of federal troops, move customs collection to the offshore forts, and send in warships to make the point. After Buchanan rejected his counsel, Cass resigned rather than see the Union dissolve on his watch. He probably wished he had his old boss back.
When Lincoln took office, he tried to reverse Buchanan’s disastrous course. He consulted Jackson’s proclamation against nullification when writing his inaugural address, which pleaded for patience and invoked the “mystic chords of memory” in hopes of swelling affection for the Union and avoiding civil war. But at that point conflict was inevitable. The crisis might not have gotten so far had James Buchanan been a tough leader like Andrew Jackson.
Mr. Robbins is author of “The Real Custer: From Boy General to Tragic Hero.”
Edited by GA Tiger at 07:57:04 on 05/03/17
James Buchanan Was No Andrew Jackson
By James S. Robbins
President Trump delved into speculative history this week when he asserted that “had Andrew Jackson been a little bit later you wouldn’t have had the Civil War.” Mr. Trump’s critics pounced, calling his conjecture puzzling, ignorant and bizarre. But the president has a point.
President Jackson’s able handling of the Nullification Crisis in 1832-33 was a common topic of discussion when South Carolina seceded from the U.S. in December 1860. Jackson, through a combination of threats and persuasion, had convinced South Carolina to retract a law that purportedly allowed the state to nullify federal laws—in particular protective tariffs. The New York Times noted in 1860 that those who had been alive then “cannot fail to be impressed with the various points in common, and points of contrast, between the events of that period and those of the present day.”
The critical contrast was the man in the White House. Jackson was a daring military hero and frontiersman, brave and indomitable. When South Carolina fomented the Nullification Crisis mere weeks after his landslide re-election, Jackson swore to hold the Union together at any cost.
President James Buchanan, on the other hand, was a mild-mannered lawyer and diplomat. The secession crisis came when he was a lame duck, waiting for Abraham Lincoln to take office. Buchanan triangulated, saying secession was illegal but he was powerless to stop it. Consequently, six other states followed South Carolina in leaving the Union before Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861.
Some believed this could have been nipped in the bud if Old Hickory still had been in charge. As the crisis broke, the pro-Union Louisville (Ky.) Journal asked: “Will James Buchanan, who occupies the chair of Andrew Jackson, emulate the energy of the great Tennessean, or will he like a craven, cower before . . . the mad antics of those over excited fanatics?” Unfortunately, we know the answer.
Buchanan’s secretary of state, Lewis Cass, had a front-row seat for both crises. A former Army general, Cass was Jackson’s secretary of war during the Nullification Crisis and oversaw military preparations in case things went south in South Carolina. In 1860 he advised Buchanan to do exactly what Jackson had readied to do: beef up the presence of federal troops, move customs collection to the offshore forts, and send in warships to make the point. After Buchanan rejected his counsel, Cass resigned rather than see the Union dissolve on his watch. He probably wished he had his old boss back.
When Lincoln took office, he tried to reverse Buchanan’s disastrous course. He consulted Jackson’s proclamation against nullification when writing his inaugural address, which pleaded for patience and invoked the “mystic chords of memory” in hopes of swelling affection for the Union and avoiding civil war. But at that point conflict was inevitable. The crisis might not have gotten so far had James Buchanan been a tough leader like Andrew Jackson.
Mr. Robbins is author of “The Real Custer: From Boy General to Tragic Hero.”
Edited by GA Tiger at 07:57:04 on 05/03/17
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For demlibs and misguided revisionists, maybe Trump - GA Tiger MU - 5/3 07:56:01
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