The Politics of Reconstruction - Admission/Application Essay Example

Introduction The politics of America differ from those in other nations. The president who assumes office is either affiliated or opposing. The affiliated president is hard to sustain as compared to opposition president. This is due to each one of them depends on doing things in a different way compared to their successor. The president comes into office through the opposition to a pre-established regime or as a partner of the present ideology. What defines them include their personal ideologies, projects and completeness of the person in power. The citizen should assess the ideologies presented to have solutions to the available problems, whether the past solutions have become the problem themselves and whether the person willing to complete the ongoing problem has the solving mechanisms. The author argues that each president rose to power through four different cells that made them achievers or failures; these cells include the politics of disjunction, politics of reconstruction, preemption and articulation. Skowronek argues that the presidential politics follows four types of cells that define one as successful or a failure. The four cells include; politics of reconstruction, pre-emption, articulation and disjunction. The politics of reconstruction occurs when the person arises to power to an established regime to reestablishes commitments. On the process, they face the challenge of completion and end up failing to achieve their ideas. They fail to address the problems of the day as they adopt an irrelevant response to the problems. The presidents who fall under this cell include President Andrew Jackson who reigned from March 4th, 1829 to March 4th 1837. He was the 7th president from the Democratic Party. He came up with the “Jackson Democracy” that opposed the idea of government monopoly. Though he protected the rights of many, he supported the idea of slavery and Indian removal as he owned the slaves. Another president in this cell was President Millard Fillmore the reigned from July 9th 1850 to March 4th 1853 after the death of President Zachary Taylor. He continued to support the idea of keeping slavery out of the land. During his reign, he signed the Compromise and Fugitive Slave Act. Another president who came into power thorough this situation is Abraham Lincoln; a republican who reigned from March 4th 1861 to April 15th 1865. Lincoln is known for his brilliant oratory skills and charisma. He opposed expansion of slavery, and he successfully led the movement of secession of the southern slave state that led to American civil war. There is a strong correlation between great presidents and this cell; politics of reconstruction, as they come to power with the idea of restoration of the original value. Their success is helped by the many citizens who want change of things in-order to improve their living standards to improve. The politics of disjunction means those people who come into power to affiliate themselves with failed ideologies of their successors. They are the only presidents have managed to fuse power with authority to reestablish their own authority in their own terms. The presidents in this cell try to adopt the politics of the past that symbolizes them with the politics of failure. This isolates them from their political allies that render them to political impotent. They are the presidents with the largest degree of incompetency. The affected leader does not know the complexities behind the problems affecting the people, and if they try to resolve the problems, they get opposition for all that they propose, reducing them to be the presidents without the authority to direct the policy debates. This way, they become the subject of constructive opinions to be used by their opponents. The presidents who rose to power through this situation include President James Buchanan. He reigned from March 4th 1857 to March 4th 1861. He was serving as a president from London where he was a minister to U.K, and this made him lack up-to-date knowledge on the slavery crisis. He spent his time to ensuring that the North and the South had peace, but, he failed as the South succeeded to go on secession. Another president who rose to power through this situation is Franklin Pierce, a democrat who reigned from March 4th, 1853 to March 4th 1857. He came from the North but had sympathy for the Southerners. During his term, he made several divisive decisions that branded him one of the worst presidents America has had. This led him to be abandoned by his party not to be nominated in 1856. His reputation got a further damage when he supported the Confederacy during the civil war. The third president who rose to power through this cell is President John Quincy Adams who reigned from March 4th 1825 to March 4th 1829. He was both democratic and republican who presidency was not as successful as the 17 years he later served as a senator. He was strongly against slavery. He continued the republican reign. He subdivided the nation into programmatic parts generating fractions among his faithful. He tried to make himself relevant, as a president, to vain. He lacked authority to champion new ideas different from his successor. Adams being a nonstarter did not meet the people’s expectations. The politics of disjunction strongly correlates with failed presidents; this can be seen from the presidents who rose to power through this situation. They ended up failing totally and some of them got abandoned by their political parties. The politics of articulation is another cell suggested by Skowronek that stands for the leadership that comes to rectify the past mistakes made in the politics of disjunction and politics of reconstruction. The presidents who fall under this cell, spur politics with promises to continue the excellent work, this makes their offices sacred, a situation known as orthodoxy with an obligation to uphold the gospel and deliver obligations in an agreed manner. The main objective of politics of articulation is to come up with relevant ways to solve the past regime’s problems in a fresh manner. Most leaders did not allow distractions to stop them from achieving their agenda. They do everything without considering what others think, causing people to debate on the issue of them being sacred. This push to ensure their agenda made most of them not to request for re-election. The presidents who rose to power through this cell include James Monroe who reigned from March 4th 1817 to March 4th 1825. He was the last of the founding fathers. He came up with the Monroe Doctrine n 1823 that stated that U.S would not allow European intervention in America. The other president who rose to power under this cell was President James Polk who reigned from March 4th 1845 to March 4th 1849. He was a democrat and a prominent leader of the Jacksonian democracy who ensured his agenda got implantation during his tenure. The third president who rose to power through this situation was Martin Van Buren who reigned from March 4th 1839 to March 4th 1841. He developed Jacksonian Democracy. He reigned during the economic hardship period of 1837 called the panic. His opponents rebranded him “Martin Van Ruin.” Monroe worked hard to ensure continuity, perseverance and consensus, but he achieved nothing of any importance. In the end, his call of innovation without repudiation prompted those he sought to help to turn against him. The last cell is the pre-emption that falls under the opposition category of presidency. Like all the other opposition leaders, they have the independency to act on the set commitment but with limited authority from political, ideological and institutional background. They design programs to aggravate interest cleavages and factional discontent within the main coalition. This way they broaden the support base and end the departure from received formulas. The opportunities for this situation are many; including both the political and ideological. In this program, the presidents become the channel of change. The president works in a manner that does not wholesomely reconstruct the nation nor does it put him on the failure’s list. They rise to own their own legacy in their party and the opposition. The presidents who rose to power through this situation set out unique standards that may take years for any other president to achieve. A good example outside the first 16 president is the 30th president; Calvin Coolidge who performed more than any affiliated leader in six years. He worked out a scheme to transform his republican party to preserve his commitment in his own term. He shook the top party management and changed the congress in a great manner. Among the first 16 presidents, those who arose to power through this situation include Thomas Jefferson who was in power from March 4th to March 1809. He can be remembered for being among the writers of the “Declaration of Independence” and a founding father. During his reign, he wished that America will one day become an Empire of Liberty. The other president is James Madison. Madison is nicknamed the father of the constitution as he wrote the US bill of rights. These writing skills placed the US constitution as one of the best written legal document; later used by other nations as a model for their constitution. The last president who rose to power through this situation was Andrew Jackson who reigned from March 4th, 1829 to March 4th 1837. He was the 7th president from the Democratic Party. He came up with the “Jackson Democracy” that opposed the idea of government monopoly. Though he protected the rights of many, he supported the idea of slavery and Indian removal as he owned the slaves. In conclusion, each president who ruled in America rose to power through one of the cells mentioned discussed by Skowronek. They worked with ideologies they saw could make them better than the previous leadership. They either ended up failures or succeeded, these ideas revealed the personality of the presidents exposing them to their opponent’s attack. Some leaders become ineffective to an extent of their faithful turning against them, got branded worst presidents ever and did not defend their seats. On the other hand, some leaders worked smart and achieved their objectives and goals to the people. Their come up with innovations that helped the people, defended their rights, cut unemployment rates and improved the economy. These achievements placed their names among the great leaders. Work cited Skowronek S. “The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton” Revised Edition. 1993. Print Read More