"Worst American President of the 19th Century" Topic

Norman D. Landings has it right, since the question was "American" Presidents.

Lopez (Francisco, not Carlos) got 90% of the adult male population of his country killed, according to some sources.

Given that I have written two books on the War of the Triple Alliance, I am shamefaced at not having come up with this myself.

McKinley. Put the final nails into the coffin of the ideals of the revolution and turned the country into just another imperial power with completely unjustified wars of conquest in Hawaii and the Philipines.

all of them

Buchanan, Grant at least tried to be a good President where as Buchanan didn't even try.
Grant has been much maligned by certain historians.

I'll go with Buchanan as well, though Pierce and Fillmore were bad.

I think Grant gets a bad rap, as does Johnson.

McKinley was a product of his times. Not that it makes him a good President, but the imperialism was a given then.

Jackson was… complicated. He fought Indians, put them on the Trail of Tears, and defied the Supreme Court. He also raised an orphaned Indian child as his son, and threatened to hang every man in South Carolina if they seceded, defying federal authority over the Tariff of Abominations. Complicated.

I enjoy that folks recall that Mexico is part of North America.

We could nominate Mirabeau B. Lamar, for his willingness to kill every INdian in Texas. But he established public schools and attempted to secure European recognition of Texas rather than annexation by the United States.

Or Anson Jones. He let us get annexed.

Mirabeau B. Lamar- any relation to Hedley?