BEST President in U.S. History...

just what did he do as President that made him so good as President?
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I said what I thought he did great in post #42.

As president Jefferson put into practice the ideas of liberty and good government he espoused.

During his presidency internal taxes were reduced; the military budget was cut; the Alien and Sedition Acts were permitted to lapse; and plans were made to extinguish the public debt. Simplicity and frugality became the hallmarks of Jefferson's administration.

Does a President have to radically increase the size and scope of government, trample on the constitution, reduce the level of personal freedom, institute socialist programs and engage in costly, bloody war to be considered great? That doesn't make them great in my eyes.
 
Ladies and gentleman, i am proud to be the first to cast my vote for that distinguished American President, who kicked England's butt at the Battle of New Orleans, who fought a duel to defend his wife's honor and who was the first President of the Common Man, Andrew Jackson.
 
#1---Truman-----saved many American lives(most likely my Father's for one) with the 2 bombs into Japan. Also believed the Buck stops here.
#2---- Teddy R.---- he was much a man and a great POTUS.

Near the bottom is FDR,the first Socialist POTUS plus did everything he could to get the USA into WW2.
 
Leif either you are joking or you hate the founding fathers. Which is it? Lincoln and F.D.R. gave us the federal tyranny that we enjoy today.

The best president was either Washington or Jefferson.

I still can't get over someone thinking F.D.R. was the best. The best at what? Getting americans on a tyrannical federal "government" to babysit and control them and take their money? Wow. F.D.R. overthrew the constitution no matter how you look at it.
 
Jefferson's greatest accomplishment was easily the Louisiana Purchase. For $15 Million, we got over 512 million acres of land.

Many people said that the purchase was totally illegal under the Constitution to make. But Jefferson knew that if he waited for a Constitutional Amendment, his chance to make the deal with France would be lost.

What many do not know is that our government was so poor back then that it could not even come up with this money. We instead had to borrow it from England at an annual interest rate of 6%.

So Jefferson actually put the nation into debt, in order to grab the land.

History has since shown what outstanding vision he had in doing this. A more conservative President would most likely have not attempted the purchase.

.
 
I stand by what I said. We do not live in a federal tyranny.
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I agree, Leif. And apparently so do all the people who call our country "tyrannical" but still continue to live here day after day. It's telling that even those who seethe with hatred for our elected government and their fellow citizens who actually participate in it still think that we're the best place in the world to be. They never leave in search of more freedom, do they?


Note also on Jefferson, he's the President that created our standing Navy and sent it off to fight our first overseas war in the Mediterranean. Both of these acts fly in the face of what people today like to tell us that Jefferson believed, but the truth is, when it came down to it Jefferson intended that America have a government which was expected to respect individual rights but also to trump them in the name of the greater good whenever it becomes necessary.
 
If the test is whether the president performed his duty as originally intended (in the Constitution), then the the answer is Herbert Hoover. Does that make him the best president? No. In my subjective opinion, was he the best president? No. What am I saying? I don't know, other than the criteria set forth by the person who started this thread are somewhat unhelpful.

BTW, my subjective favorite would probably be Reagan. However, it can hardly be said, despite his ideals, that he strickly conformed to role of a president as suggested by the framers. However, he tried to get us back to the ideals of our founding document, he kept the country safe, and injected a much needed sense of national pride and he restored our standing in the world. He was a great leader. Hoover was a failure. Go figure.
 
Within my lifetime?

Well, with the exception of one California actor, in my ENTIRE LIFE, this country has only ever been ruled by men from one of two wealthy families.

Which political party do I favor, you may ask? How should I know!?! I have only ever known leadership from one of two political FAMILIES!

Think on that, if you will...
 
Andrew Jackson, honored combat veteran,

1) advocated rotation of government jobs among the qualified so there would be no lifetime bureaucrats,

2) fought against the rise of powerful banks,

3) actually used his veto power to curb government excesses,

4) fought to protect US interests against the free trade power bloc,

5) took a bullet in the chest protecting his wife's honor,

6) then killed the man who shot him.

Compared to him the rest were weinerdogs. Small yappy weinerdogs. :rolleyes:
 
Who's to say that the war (or at least secession) wouldn't have happened anyway? There had already been violence in Kansas and the whole John Brown thing.[
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Why would it ? The skirmishes in Kansas were extremely small potatoes compared to Lincoln's War.
 
In my lifetime, Reagan.
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I don't really have opinions regarding presidents earlier than my birth simply because it is all hearsay. I wasn't around then and don't have any perspective on what was accomplished because I wasn't there to see what was going on. Ronald Reagan changed our country, as well as the world as we know it, in a positive way, as much as any one man could. I believe that is partly because he wasn't a career politician or lawyer...just an American, with good sound ideas of what it took to be American and how America should fit in the world at that time. what I would give for another RR to come along about now...
 
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