About a year ago I wrote a piece for The Daily Caller entitled “The Five Most Underrated Presidents”
in which I argued that John Tyler is the best president in American
history. With the election over, I thought I’d revisit this idea by
writing a piece about the most overrated American executives. Most of
these men are near the top — typically in the top five — of “historical” American presidential rankings. So, they have to be great, right? Wrong.
Most of the polls are biased in favor of American presidents who personify the active, “bully-pulpit” blueprint Americans seem to think the Constitution established. That is the problem. With the exception of Washington (and even he had an episode or two where his actions were questionable constitutionally) and Jefferson, most of the men at the top of these rankings blatantly and knowingly violated the Constitution during their presidencies. Is that what Americans want? Do we want elected kings with limitless power? With that in mind, here are the top five most overrated presidents in American history:
1. Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln is typically regarded as the most important man in American history and his aggregate score places him higher than George Washington in virtually all “historical rankings.” With the Steven Spielberg film ready to hit theaters this week and with Barack Obama (see number five) openly claiming that he is the next Lincoln, perhaps it would be better for Americans to understand the real Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln was called a dictator and a tyrant by many Northerners for his blatant abuse of the Constitution. Among his detractors were former president Franklin Pierce, famous American authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, abolitionist Lysander Spooner and a host of newspapermen and congressmen who viewed his unconstitutional acts — suspending habeas corpus, blockading Southern ports, sending soldiers into battle without a declaration of war — with disdain. And, as African-American historian Lerone Bennett, Jr. has shown, Lincoln was hardly the savior of black America.
Most of the polls are biased in favor of American presidents who personify the active, “bully-pulpit” blueprint Americans seem to think the Constitution established. That is the problem. With the exception of Washington (and even he had an episode or two where his actions were questionable constitutionally) and Jefferson, most of the men at the top of these rankings blatantly and knowingly violated the Constitution during their presidencies. Is that what Americans want? Do we want elected kings with limitless power? With that in mind, here are the top five most overrated presidents in American history:
1. Abraham Lincoln: Lincoln is typically regarded as the most important man in American history and his aggregate score places him higher than George Washington in virtually all “historical rankings.” With the Steven Spielberg film ready to hit theaters this week and with Barack Obama (see number five) openly claiming that he is the next Lincoln, perhaps it would be better for Americans to understand the real Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln was called a dictator and a tyrant by many Northerners for his blatant abuse of the Constitution. Among his detractors were former president Franklin Pierce, famous American authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, abolitionist Lysander Spooner and a host of newspapermen and congressmen who viewed his unconstitutional acts — suspending habeas corpus, blockading Southern ports, sending soldiers into battle without a declaration of war — with disdain. And, as African-American historian Lerone Bennett, Jr. has shown, Lincoln was hardly the savior of black America.
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