America.
The country with the best leaders by far.
Oh wait....
*Intro* Number 5: Richard M. Nixon, 37th President.
Nixon is probably one of the most well-known bad Presidents, due to the Watergate scandal.
However, he remains low on this list due to the fact that he did do some good things as
President, mainly foreign relations things with China and the USSR.
However, in 1972, when he was trying to get reelected, five men were arrested breaking
into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington.
Nixon denied having anything to do with it for a while, even though there was evidence
and recordings against him.
Finally, in 1974, he resigned, admitting nothing.
Number 4: Andrew Johnson, 17th President.
Johnson took office after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and he had some big shoes
to fill.
He also had to deal with post-Civil War reconstruction of the US.
However, after adding the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (which freed those slaves
that hadn't been by the Emancipation Proclamation), he didn't get very far with helping the freed
African-Americans.
Congress , or at least the part of Congress known as the "Radical Republicans," wanted
to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866, but Johnson vetoed it.
Why?
Because he was racist.
You heard me.
Abraham Lincoln's successor was a racist.
Congress managed to still get the bill made into a law, but this was just the beginning.
Johnson kept vetoing bills, and Congress kept overriding his choices.
Finally, it reached a boiling point when Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton in
early 1868.
The House of Representatives responded by voting for his impeachment, because the firing
of Stanton went against the Office Act.
This law said that the President couldn't remove certain government officials without
the Senate's go-ahead.
Johnson wasn't convicted, but he was denied renomination.
Number 3: Andrew Jackson, 7th President.
Jackson's most notable action that gets him on this list is the Indian Removal Act of
1830, which forced Native Americans to move off their land.
This eventually also led to the horrible Trail of Tears in 1838 and 39, which forced over
15,000 Cherokees to march from Georgia, their homeland, all the way to Oklahoma.
Not surprisingly, around 4,000 of them died along the way.
For comparison, about 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks.
Another bad thing Jackson did was trying to shut down the Second Bank of the United States,
which lead to an economic crisis in 1837 that lasted a decade.
Unfortunately, the blame for this is often put upon Martin van Buren, whose presidency
was just starting in 1837, even though the root of the problem were Jackson's policies.
Number 2: John Adams, 2nd President.
George Washington's vice-president makes this list not for crimes against Native Americans,
Congress, or the opposite political party, but against Americans and their basic constitutional
rights.
Because he refused to declare war on France, there was what became known as War Fever in
the US from people who wanted war with France.
(By the way, the reason America didn't like France was because France was encouraging
pirates to attack American ships.)
During this fever, Adams signed 4 laws in 1798: The Alien Act, the Alien Enemies Act,
the Naturalization Act, and the Sedition Act.
The Alien Acts gave the president the ability to deport or imprison foreigners especially
during wartime.
The Naturalization Act made it a lot harder for immigrants to become US citizens.
And the Sedition Act made it illegal to criticize the US government.
This made it a lot harder for other parties to say anything about Adams, and directly
violated the First Amendment, which gives freedom of speech.
That's like saying: You can say anything in the world you like...unless
it's something bad about me.
Also, being a bitter man, when he lost the next election to Thomas Jefferson, he made
the so-called Midnight Appointments, in which, at the last minute, he appointed a ton of
Federalist judges in the court, just to frustrate Jefferson.
Need I say more?
And Number 1: Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President.
This President taught the nation that just because you're a brilliant general doesn't
mean you're a good leader.
Grant followed up Andrew Johnson, which meant he also received all the Reconstruction problems.
Grant also was very bad at making decisions, and others took advantage of this.
While he was honest, those he appointed were not, and used tax payments for their own interests.
His time in office was scarred by scandal upon scandal upon scandal from corrupt government
officials.
In 1873 the stock market crashed, leading to an economic depression that lasted 5 years.
In short, Grant started off his term badly with small corruptions that eventually destroyed
his whole presidency.
Kind of reminds me of this scene from Phineas and Ferb.
Well, those were my pics for the top 5 worst presidents of the US.
If you have a different opinion, be sure to tell me in the comments instead of disliking
this video.
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