This year, Franklin Roosevelt was ranked first, with Abraham Lincoln ranking second, George Washington third, Theodore Roosevelt fourth, and Thomas Jefferson rounding out the list at fifth.
So I get FDR, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt, they did actual things. What the hell did Washington and Jefferson even do? All I remember is that Washington set the informal two term limit and Jefferson really liked agrarianism (and something about banks??). Did they do anything important enough to warrant such high rankings or is this another example of US hagiographic civil religion?
Jefferson, at least, was president during a time of rapid formation of the US state as we know it today, and oversaw some of those decisions himself. Establishing the US military academy, the Louisiana Purchase, the Supreme Court case that established judicial overview of executive branch actions, Library of Congress, stuff like that.
Like 65% of it is hagiography, though. He was mostly just a highly consequential presidency, not necessarily a morally good one. Guy had some of the earliest tax cutting brainworms at the federal level, and established the early forms of American attitudes towards foreigners and American natives of "assimilate or be exterminated", as a pretext for seizing native territories, or at least strong-arming them into accepting US credit lines as with the right to remain on their land as collateral.
So I get FDR, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt, they did actual things. What the hell did Washington and Jefferson even do? All I remember is that Washington set the informal two term limit and Jefferson really liked agrarianism (and something about banks??). Did they do anything important enough to warrant such high rankings or is this another example of US hagiographic civil religion?
Get deified.
Jefferson, at least, was president during a time of rapid formation of the US state as we know it today, and oversaw some of those decisions himself. Establishing the US military academy, the Louisiana Purchase, the Supreme Court case that established judicial overview of executive branch actions, Library of Congress, stuff like that.
Like 65% of it is hagiography, though. He was mostly just a highly consequential presidency, not necessarily a morally good one. Guy had some of the earliest tax cutting brainworms at the federal level, and established the early forms of American attitudes towards foreigners and American natives of "assimilate or be exterminated", as a pretext for seizing native territories, or at least strong-arming them into accepting US credit lines as with the right to remain on their land as collateral.
Jefferson worked tirelessly to ensure the American people would never suffer the unjust tyranny of a federal post office
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:amerikkka-clap:
They were two of the most notable founding fathers.
Washington lead the army.
Jefferson was really good with words.
They were men.
They were white.
Hundreds of years later the idiots in DC gave Washington yet another accolade....