Exits and Entrances
Exits and Entrances
All the World is a Stage, and the United States is merely the orchestra pit.
It’s graduation season. Congratulations to all the graduates who are graduating!
I graduated from college twenty-six years ago, which means I graduated from high school thirty years ago. I graduated both on time because I understood the basic concepts of math.
Due to my wild popularity in college, I gave a short speech at the end of my senior year to all of us dorks who ran student government. Since I was also an actor then, I seized the opportunity to paraphrase Shakespeare’s famous speech All the World’s a Stage from his play As You Like It.
I remember it being terrible and didn’t come across as well as I had written earlier. It was long-winded and difficult to follow at times. But the premise still stands—we have our exits and entrances.
This brings us to the next round of presidential elections. We see a political party exit the national scene, and we welcome a new party. They both experienced the same outcome.
Let's dive in.
31: The Presidential Election of 1816
Election Date: November 1 – December 4, 1816
The Candidates:
James Madison kept with the tradition of being a two-term president and retired. The Democratic-Republicans were rolling with sixteen years in charge of the presidency, and to keep that tradition going, they nominated James Monroe, another Virginian and Secretary of State.
The Federalists also stayed with tradition and ran Rufus King, a name you should remember since he was the vice president nominee in 1808.
Major Issue of the Day:
The War of 1812 concluded in 1814, and we still don’t know who won, but then again, no one lost.
We did have to rebuild the White House.
The Winner:
The Democrats-Republicans.
The Federalist Party graduated to irrelevance after this election. They would never field a candidate again.
Congrats Graduates!
The States in the Electoral College:
19. Indiana joined the party since the election of 1812. It would not be until 2024 when Caitlin Clark joined the Indiana Fever of the WNBA, that we paid this much attention to the Hoosier state.
The 2021 OKH Presidential Ranking:
Monroe comes in at 14. It’s probably the correct place for him. Not too high, not too low. I’m just getting around to knowing the difference between him and Madison since I read this book.
Why Did I Rank it Here:
No one talks about the election of 1816. It should be happy I gave it this much attention.
When someone graduates, that means a brand-new student arrives. When they arrive, they have no idea what’s going on. For example, where are the bathrooms, the cafeteria, and their locker combination? Kids still have lockers, right?
Politicians who didn’t like the Democratic-Republicans decided to form their own party—the Whigs. And boy, did they make a first impression. Beginning with the name – Whigs. Which is British. Which had to go over well with lots of people who weren’t British.
Let’s dive in.
30: The Presidential Election of 1836
Election Date: November 3 - December 7, 1936
The Candidates:
Andrew Jackson wanted to extend his presidency, and rather than do it himself, he pushed his trusted vice president, Martin Van Buren, who secured the nomination.
The newly formed Whig Party wanted to ensure that all new members felt welcome, so they ran 400 guys simultaneously. Only one of them stood out: William Henry Harrison.
Major Issue of the Day:
A lot was going on.
Mexicans killed a bunch of Americans, including Davey Crockett, at the Alamo, setting the stage for a war in the not-too-distant future.
Texas became a Republic, which wouldn’t be a bad idea to return to.
President Jackson kept fighting the ghost of Alexander Hamilton and the Bank of the United States. He fired his first two Secretaries of the Treasury, who didn’t like this idea. Somehow, during all of this, Jackson balanced the federal budget.
For some reason, we were still at odds with France over some debts from the war that hadn’t been declared and took place thirty years earlier.
The Winner:
Old Hickory. Andrew Jackson got his third term and a chance to tell his enemies to buzzer off—if he ever used that term.
The States in the Electoral College:
26. Two states entered the union after the 1832 election, with Arkansas and Michigan going to Van Buren. The funny thing about Michigan is that it didn’t become a state until 1837, but they cast votes anyway. As someone from Ohio, it doesn’t surprise me that Michigan took advantage of a system and cheated.
The Electoral College had 294 members, and the winner needed 148 votes.
The Whigs got stuffed into a locker on their first day of school. Harrison did the best of the four guys who officially were on the ballot by taking seven states. A guy named Hugh took two. Hugh’s VP nominee was John Tyler, and we all know what he did five years later. Daniel Webster took a state, and a guy named Magnum took another. This left Van Buren to clean up with 15 states and 50% of the vote.
The 2021 OKH Presidential Ranking:
Van Buren comes in at number 28. There is nothing noteworthy about the guy. Some would even say he was just okay. But not Okay—as in Okay History, where Okay is a positive term.
Why Did I Rank it Here:
I love the opening act from the Whigs. It was quite a debut. Maybe I should have ranked this one higher, but the result was the 28th-best president out of 45. So, I feel like I’m being generous.
What do you think? Come up on stage and share your thoughts.
What a crazy week it’s been.
Our Supreme Court Justices continue with their unethical ways – this time when it comes to waving flags. Trump was found guilty and won’t be able to vote for himself as a convicted felon. I need to write about this – especially if any of you have a question about it. We live in a crazy world.
Have a good weekend, everyone. And thanks for being here. I’ll see you on Monday.
Okay,
Chris
