Obituaries II – America’s First Seventeen Presidents

A total of seventeen men serve as Presidents between the first inauguration in 1789, the end of the Civil War, and the start of Reconstruction in 1865.

Fourteen win elections, while three others (Tyler, Fillmore and Johnson) ascend after their predecessor’s deaths in office (Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln).

Ten (or 59%) come from home states where slavery is practiced; seven (41%) where it is banned. But this ratio grossly underestimates the pro-slavery tilt within the Executive branch. Thus in only twelve (16%) of the 76 years from 1789 to 1865 is the President actively opposed to slavery (the two Adams and Lincoln).

In fact, twelve Presidents own enslaved persons sometime during their lifetimes, including eight while serving in the White House – the last being Taylor with roughly 300 captives in 1850.

All have longevity on their side, surpassing the average American’s 40 year lifespan, with ten reaching beyond 70, and John Adams surviving until ninety.

Remarkably, nine Presidents die in the five weeks between June 1 and July 9, with three (Jefferson, Adams, Monroe) passing on the July 4 anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Together they preside over the creation and rise of the new nation and then its eventual collapse over sectional conflicts on the future of slavery.

As in society at large, some Presidents perform heroic duties to shape and preserve the Union, while others emerge as abject failures in the end.

Historians rank Washington and Lincoln at the top of the list, with Buchanan and Pierce at the bottom.

Obituaries: First 17 U.S. Presidents

Anecdotes abound on these early Presidents. Here are a few:

• Washington’s lack of children quells fears of a monarchy in America.
• As a duty bound lawyer, John Adams represented eight British soldiers who killed five colonists in the 1770 Boston Massacre, securing acquittals for six.
• Jefferson is pilloried for his liaison with black mistress Sally Hemmings.
• Madison waits until 1840 before releasing his carefully edited note on the 1787 Constitutional Convention.
• Monroe’s Doctrine asserts US hegemony in North and South America.
• JQ Adams becomes the first of only two father-son presidencies (Bush 41/43).
• Jackson’s 1806 duel ends with his opponent dead and a bullet lodged near his heart that is inoperable and causes intense daily pain throughout his life.
• Van Buren speaks nothing but Dutch until learning English in grade school.
• As Governor of the Indiana Territory, Harrison tries unsuccessfully in 1803 to legalize slavery.
• Tyler is called “His Accidency” as the first VP to occupy the White House.
• Forensic pathologists believe that Polk’s early death, like that of Harrison, traces to drinking polluted water piped into the White House from the Potomac River.
• The popular war hero Taylor has no affiliation with the Whig Party when it selects him to head their ticket in 1848.
• Fillmore’s first wife was his school teacher in Buffalo when he was fifteen.
• Pierce’s reserved wife, Jane, faints when informed of his election.
• Buchanan is America’s only bachelor President, while nicknamed “Aunt Fancy” for his rumored gay relationship with Pierce’s VP, Rufus King.
• After a failed attempt to steal Lincoln’s corpse for ransom, his casket is opened on two separate occasions for observers to confirm his remains.