Rob Lopresti

Ranking the Presidents

"I like the Walrus best," said Alice: because he was a little sorry for the poor oysters."
"He ate more than the Carpenter, though," said Tweedledee.
"You see, he held his handkerchief in front, so that
the Carpenter couldn't see how many he took: contrariwise."
"That was mean!" Alice said indignantly.
"Then I like the Carpenter best -- if he didn't eat so many as the Walrus."
"But he ate as many as he could get," said Tweedledum.
-Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking-Glass

Throughout this website I have tried to stick to the objective facts, except for the page titled WereThey Just Men of their Time?
One problem with objectivity is that it treats Andrew Jackson and Ulysses Grant as equal: both slave owners. Ditto with James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln, both non-owners.

On this page I try to distinguish between different levels of commitment to slavery or anti-slavery. The categories are arbitrary, subjective, and my own.

CATEGORY PRESIDENTS EXPLANATION

1. Slave-trader Andrew Jackson
Many presidents who owned slaves found it abhorrent to sell one, even if they needed the money. Lincoln observed that many slaveowners would not shake the hand of a slave-trader -- a man who bought and sold slaves for profit. But for some years Jackson made part of his living doing just that.

2. Lifetime commitment to slaveownership Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
James K. Polk
Zachary Taylor
John Tyler Each of these presidents owned slaves for all of their adult lives. Some owned over a hundred, some owned only a few, but all owned "as many as they could get."

3. Lifetime only George Washington
Washington differs from category 2 only by arranging in his will that his slaves be freed when he and his wife died.

4. Interrupted slaveowners William Henry
Harrison
Andrew Johnson
Harrison owned slaves until he moved to the (free) Northwest Territory. He converted his slaves to indentured servants and urged Congress to permit slavery in the territory. Later in life he claimed to have belonged to an abolitionist organization as a youth ; still later he claimed it was just a humane society. (Basically his view on slavery seemed to change with who he was speaking to, similar to some modern politicians.)
Johnson was a Democratic pro-union Senator from Confederate Tennessee. Rebel forces confiscated his slaves and at that point things get murky. Some reports say they were given back. Johnson says that at least some them came back on their own and he treated them as free employees from then on. If he had any slaves left he certainly freed them when, as Military Governor of Tennessee, he freed all of the slaves in the state in 1864.

5. Minimal slaveownership Martin Van Buren
Ulysses S. Grant
Van Buren inherited slaves. Twenty years before he became president his only slave ran away. When the slave was caught eight years later he offered him for sale.
Grant apparently never bought or sold slaves but his wife received some from her father, and he used the labor of other of his father-in-law's slaves. We have a certificate signed by Grant freeing a slave.

6. Technically non-slaveowner James Buchanan
Buchanan certainly thought he was not a slaveowner. In fact, when running for the Senate he bought his brother-in-law's slaves and freed them so that no one could say there were slaves in the family. But when he "freed" them he actually converted them to indentured servants who had to work for him for seven years in one case, and 23 years in the case of a child.

7. Accidental non-slaveowner Franklin Pierce
Pierce was from a free state and owned no slaves but he defended the rights of southerners to do so.

8. Passive anti-slavery John Adams
Millard Fillmore
While he called it "an evil of colossal magnitude," most of Adams' arguments against slavery seemed to be pragmatic ones: he didn't want slaves in his country for the same reason he didn't want gunpowder in his kitchen. Too dangerous. He didn't take any action about it.
Fillmore said he despised slavery, but as president he felt he had a constitutional duty to defend it.

9. Active anti-slavery John Quincy Adams
Abraham Lincoln
Adams did nothing about slavery while president (in fact, he did almost nothing useful about anything while president). However, he later ran for Congress (the only ex-president to do so successfully), from which battled against slavery for many years.
Lincoln was consistently anti-slavery, though not always pro-abolitionist. The South expected him to move against slavery and that is one of the reasons they seceded. Lincoln felt constituionally justified in freeing the slaves in the rebel states as a war measure. He did not attempt to free the slaves in Northern territory.

Return to home page

CATEGORY	PRESIDENTS	EXPLANATION
1. Slave-trader	Andrew Jackson	Many presidents who owned slaves found it abhorrent to sell one, even if they needed the money. Lincoln observed that many slaveowners would not shake the hand of a slave-trader -- a man who bought and sold slaves for profit. But for some years Jackson made part of his living doing just that.
2. Lifetime commitment to slaveownership	Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe James K. Polk Zachary Taylor John Tyler	Each of these presidents owned slaves for all of their adult lives. Some owned over a hundred, some owned only a few, but all owned "as many as they could get."
3. Lifetime only	George Washington	Washington differs from category 2 only by arranging in his will that his slaves be freed when he and his wife died.
4. Interrupted slaveowners	William Henry Harrison Andrew Johnson	Harrison owned slaves until he moved to the (free) Northwest Territory. He converted his slaves to indentured servants and urged Congress to permit slavery in the territory. Later in life he claimed to have belonged to an abolitionist organization as a youth ; still later he claimed it was just a humane society. (Basically his view on slavery seemed to change with who he was speaking to, similar to some modern politicians.) Johnson was a Democratic pro-union Senator from Confederate Tennessee. Rebel forces confiscated his slaves and at that point things get murky. Some reports say they were given back. Johnson says that at least some them came back on their own and he treated them as free employees from then on. If he had any slaves left he certainly freed them when, as Military Governor of Tennessee, he freed all of the slaves in the state in 1864.
5. Minimal slaveownership	Martin Van Buren Ulysses S. Grant	Van Buren inherited slaves. Twenty years before he became president his only slave ran away. When the slave was caught eight years later he offered him for sale. Grant apparently never bought or sold slaves but his wife received some from her father, and he used the labor of other of his father-in-law's slaves. We have a certificate signed by Grant freeing a slave.
6. Technically non-slaveowner	James Buchanan	Buchanan certainly thought he was not a slaveowner. In fact, when running for the Senate he bought his brother-in-law's slaves and freed them so that no one could say there were slaves in the family. But when he "freed" them he actually converted them to indentured servants who had to work for him for seven years in one case, and 23 years in the case of a child.
7. Accidental non-slaveowner	Franklin Pierce	Pierce was from a free state and owned no slaves but he defended the rights of southerners to do so.
8. Passive anti-slavery	John Adams Millard Fillmore	While he called it "an evil of colossal magnitude," most of Adams' arguments against slavery seemed to be pragmatic ones: he didn't want slaves in his country for the same reason he didn't want gunpowder in his kitchen. Too dangerous. He didn't take any action about it. Fillmore said he despised slavery, but as president he felt he had a constitutional duty to defend it.
9. Active anti-slavery	John Quincy Adams Abraham Lincoln	Adams did nothing about slavery while president (in fact, he did almost nothing useful about anything while president). However, he later ran for Congress (the only ex-president to do so successfully), from which battled against slavery for many years. Lincoln was consistently anti-slavery, though not always pro-abolitionist. The South expected him to move against slavery and that is one of the reasons they seceded. Lincoln felt constituionally justified in freeing the slaves in the rebel states as a war measure. He did not attempt to free the slaves in Northern territory.