Chris DeRose > Quotes

“Perhaps modern esteem for these figures serves as a reminder that, though statesmen may have to struggle mightily to advance their cause, and though they may lose on an issue or come out on the wrong side in the judgment of history, their principled determination is sufficient to win them a place in people's hearts, long after they are gone.”
― Chris DeRose, Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation

“For the first and not the last time in American history, a measure was adopted when the leader of the opposing party led the charge for it. The modern cliché is “Only Nixon could go to China”—only such a strong anti-communist could regularize relations with that country.”
― Chris DeRose, Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation

“Britain was playing on the same weakness in America, punishing American exporters in the confidence that all thirteen states, behaving as separate actors, could not retaliate. Spain was also busy pitting Northern and Southern states against each other in its attempt to wrest the Mississippi from America. One characteristic of the failed governments Madison studied, from the Achaean League to the Belgic Confederacy, was paralysis. They were unable to get things done. The Achaeans required the agreement of ten of twelve members, and the Belgic Confederacy required unanimous consent. The Belgic Confederacy consisted of fifty-two independent cities and seven provinces. Thus foreign powers and enemies needed to co-opt only one city or province out of fifty-nine to get their way.3 It was exactly what both Madison and Monroe had continually experienced in Congress.”
― Chris DeRose, Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation

“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

“All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a SUPERINTENDING Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?”
― Chris DeRose, Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation

“Madison had been elected to the First Congress by only 336 votes. It was in that Congress that the Bill of Rights was passed, cementing the people’s confidence in the new federal government. And the Constitution was saved. All because of one election.”
― Chris DeRose, Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation

“I confess that there are several parts of the Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. For, having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others....”
― Chris DeRose, Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation

“Madison believed that taxes were an evil that should be instituted only to prevent a greater evil—such as the failure of a country to protect its citizens or honor its financial obligations.”
― Chris DeRose, Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation

“It is noteworthy that the Southern states were such strong defenders of national power at the Constitutional Convention. Having recently been conquered by the British, living in constant tension with various Indian tribes, and sharing a substantial border with hostile European powers, the South chose the plan that would best serve its interests. Only a strong, well-financed government could deter and repel hostile enemies.”
― Chris DeRose, Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation

“Madison, thirty-seven, was the primary author of the Constitution and one of the greatest political thinkers of his day. Monroe, thirty, was an established attorney with a record in combat that could hardly be equaled anywhere on the continent.”
― Chris DeRose, Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, The Bill of Rights, and The Election that Saved a Nation

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“Beginning with Van Buren himself, the heirs to Jackson saw the role of president as conciliator-in-chief, containing the elements that threatened the Union, often by concessions made to southern interests.”
― 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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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