The Presidents' War Quotes

“The better part of one’s life consists of their friendships.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“war is a continuation of politics by other means. The converse is also true. In a democratic society, it is politics, itself a sublimation of war, that ultimately determines the initiation, objectives, and termination of armed conflict.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“Mr. Hay, what is the use of growing old? You learn something of men and things but never until too late to use it.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“The Confederate States of America were now twice the size of any nation in Europe (Russia excepted), made up of nine million people, including three and a half million slaves. As General Beauregard put it, “No people ever warred for independence with more relative advantages than the Confederates,” citing the well-organized central government, existing state governments, mountains, rivers, and other natural defenses.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“But unsolicited advice is often deemed officious if not offensive, and therefore is quite as likely to do harm as good.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“The American Civil War had begun. It had happened because of a failure of the three official branches of government. Congress had repealed the Missouri Compromise and failed to adopt measures to keep the peace in its place. The Supreme Court had gone far beyond what was needed to resolve a case, attempting to remove the most controversial issues in the country from the political arena, while siding with the most extreme position. Antebellum presidents had too often been inert when action was required.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“Americans have viewed their former presidents almost like a fourth branch of government.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“Tyler introduced a measure to radically alter the Senate, requiring a majority of slave state senators before any action could be taken; for a majority of slave state senators to remove any officer of the executive branch; and for a method for states to formally leave the Union.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“Lincoln confessed that leaving Springfield was affecting him more deeply than anyone could imagine, a sadness felt more acutely because of a stubborn premonition that he would never return alive.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“The Texas declaration clauses read: “We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“Not one, however, made any attempt to obtain an introduction to Mr. Pierce, whom they suffered to enter the room unwelcomed, and almost unobserved, and some few were rude enough to turn their backs upon him, in so unmistakable and offensive a manner that it could not fail to attract his notice.” Pierce “took an early opportunity” to make his exit. Mackay was astounded; in such social environs with such refined guests, he had never seen such a thing. Was this how Americans treated their ex-presidents?”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“Throughout his life, honors he had sought, honors he had not sought, were his, often at a younger age than anyone before him. Now, when he needed his magic the most, he was despised, abandoned, isolated, and utterly unable to control events around him, the first and only elected president in American history to be denied re-nomination by his own party. The last redoubt of Pierce supporters may have been within his own cabinet, the only one to remain intact over a four-year term.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“We shall again be able not to declare, that ‘all States as States, are equal,’ nor yet that ‘all citizens as citizens are equal,’ but to renew the broader, better declaration, including both these and much more, that ‘all men are created equal.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“The House censured Brooks, who resigned but was again elected, resuming his seat seven weeks after the attack. Every southern member of Congress, “without conspicuous exception,” defended Brooks, who had beaten a trapped, unarmed man with a cane until it broke, and nearly killed him. Sumner would be incapacitated for three years, but re-elected by the Massachusetts legislature despite his absence.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“I can never consent to being dictated to as to what I shall or shall not do. I, as President, shall be responsible for my administration.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“The Whigs were euphoric. The reign of the Jacksonians was over and they had elected a president of their own, and with him massive majorities in both chambers of Congress. But their joy would be short-lived. For all the rallies, the marches, the speeches, the brilliant sloganeering, the long-sought hard-fought victory of the opponents of Andrew Jackson would be for nothing.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“The Whigs portrayed Harrison as a log-cabin-dwelling, coonskin-cap-wearing, hard-cider-drinking frontier farmer. The opposite was true. Harrison was from one of the oldest and most prosperous families in Virginia, and his log cabin was in reality a mansion in Indiana.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“The Whigs, who came together from divergent backgrounds and for different reasons, facing a badly wounded foe, did not attempt to put together a platform.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“Tyler had been the vice presidential nominee of the southern Whigs in 1836, carrying four states. Now, to balance the ticket with a states’ rights supporter and Clay man, he was the vice presidential nominee of the national party.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“the first national economic collapse. The state banks, flush with federal deposits, were instructed to lend it freely, leading to runaway land speculation.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“The Whigs nominated four regional candidates, hoping to send the election to the House of Representatives, but Van Buren prevailed, winning the presidency in the election of 1836.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“regard as nothing place and office, when either is to be attained or held at the sacrifice of honor.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“Tyler, who believed that senators were ambassadors of their states, would not defy his instructions. Nor would he vote against his conscience. If directed to lift the censure, he would resign.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“Unhappy southern members and their allies in Congress proposed a “gag rule,” which would prevent these petitions from being printed, read, or referred to a committee. Pierce was on the committee that drafted this proposal and denounced abolitionists on the House floor.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“Jackson would also receive what was probably the first presidential death threat the following year, over his refusal to pardon two men: “You damned old scoundrel . . . I will cut your throat while you are sleeping,” and a later sentence that ended with the phrase “burnt at the stake in Washington.” Its author was an actor, destined for less notoriety than his son, Junius Brutus Booth.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“Jackson raised his cane to strike him as he was tackled to the ground.* “The old General sprung at him like a tiger,” Tyler recalled, “and manifested as much fearlessness as one could possibly have done.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“By that summer the fragmented opposition groups became known as the Whigs, after the English political faction that opposed monarchial rule, and a new era of political parties was born.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“While attending the carding machines,” he would later recall, “I used to place the dictionary on the desk—by which I passed every two minutes in feeding the machine and removing the rolls—and in this way I would have a moment in which to look at a word and read its definition and could then fix it in my memory.” As an adult, the boy who practiced with his dictionary would own a personal library of more than four thousand volumes.”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them

“By the end of his first year in office, Jackson was permanently estranged from Calhoun and had settled on Van Buren as his successor”
― Chris DeRose, The Presidents' War: Six American Presidents and the Civil War That Divided Them