The only president between Washington and Lincoln that was worth a damn. FF, one of the underrated greats.
Polk?
He's speaking on a subjective basis. Morally, Adams was most in the right of his contemporaries. However, in terms of a president's objective "greatness", one would have to consider their success in passing their agenda and maintaining popular support, both of which Polk ranks high with. Adams, on the other hand, while easily ranked as one of the best men to hold the office of the presidency in his time and era, was nonetheless a failure as a president.
Yeah, Polk was far more
effective, I just think he was effective in the service of evil ends- that is, I am not going to like anyone who wages a naked war of conquest for the more-or-less express purpose of adding more slave territory to the Union. Whereas Adams was an abolitionist, which
really does automatically make him the best President of that era even if he couldn't get much done. (And I do happen to prefer his other positions, as well.)
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