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21st President of the United States | |
| Predecessor | Levi P. Morton |
| Successor | William McKinley |
| Vice President | Daniel W. Voorhees |
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U.S. Representative from Kentucky | |
| Predecessor | Thomas Jones |
| Successor | William Dickerson |
| Born | September 5, 1834 Campbell County, Kentucky, US |
| Died | July 31, 1910 (aged 75) New York City, US |
| Spouse | Mary Goodson |
| Political Party | Democratic |
John Griffin Carlisle (September 5, 1834 – July 31, 1910) was an American politician who served as the 21st President of the United States. He was the first president from a border state since the end of the Civil War.
Early Life[]
Political Career[]
Carlisle served as the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky before being elected to the House of Representatives in 1876. He was quickly noticed and rose to become a major figure in the party, becoming the Leader of the House Democratic Caucus and Speaker of the House in 1883. This prominent role led to his rise in national politics, and he became a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 1888.
The major issue surrounding the 1888 presidential election was corruption and civil service reform. President Levi P. Morton had accomplished much of his party's agenda, but he also led one of the most corrupt administrations in United States history. The Democrats, who had previously been associated with massive corruption during their 16 year period of dominance after the war, now decided to take a firm stand in favor of reform in government. One of the problems with this strategy was finding candidates who had not been involved in corruption scandals of their own. Carlisle was one of the few prominent Democrats who had remained clean of corruption charges, but he remained a bit of a dark horse candidate due to his status as a Southerner. National politicians were still unsure if a Southerner could win on a national stage just 23 years after the war had ended, but the vast corruption present in Democratic politics over that time left them little choice. On the 3rd ballot, Carlisle won the nomination by a slim margin.
Carlisle ran an aggressive campaign against corruption, but many historians believe that this election was more of a loss by his opponent, Russell A. Alger, than a victory by Carlisle. Alger ran a very traditional campaign, making few appearances outside his hometown. This led to him taking on an aloof and distant image among voters. Carlisle was able to take advantage of this and overcome his Southerness, winning the presidency by a slim 14 electoral votes.
Presidency[]
The new president was always very determined to overcome any perceived pro-Confederate sympathies that the American people might see in him. While the main focus of his presidency was civil service reform, President Carlisle made a point to pass anti-Confederate laws and to use a very anti-Confederate rhetoric in his speeches. Confederate President Augustus Hill Garland was content to ignore these supposedly hostile actions, but his successor was not so level headed.
Civil service reform finally passed in 1890, fulfilling Carlisle's main mission as president. In 1892, John Tyler Morgan took office as President of the Confederate States. Carlisle immediately made a speech outside the White House that mentioned the new president by name and warned him to focus his so called "expansionism" to the South. This later-famous speech provoked the fiery new CS president into returning the favor, sparking a war of words between the two men that would last for the rest of the year. Carlisle's words, initially only intended to bring him favor in an election year, ended up bringing the neighboring countries to the brink of war.
One of the weapons Carlisle used in his fight against the CS was a trade embargo, an embargo that was returned in full force by the Confederacy. This trade war considerably hurt the economies of both nations, as they were both each other's biggest trading partners. The embargo partially led to the Panic of '93, an economic crash that would not be fully felt until after Carlisle left office. While many people at the time blamed his successor, historians now mostly blame Carlisle for fostering one of the worst economic shocks in the country's history.
As Carlisle continued to focus considerable energy to the South, he also had to put some focus on his reelection. The prospect of war quickly came to dominate the campaign. His National American opponent, William McKinley, presented himself as being staunchly anti-war. The American people were forced to choose whether they wanted to get revenge on the Confederacy or avoid another bloody war. Their loyalties were truly tested just a few days before the election, as a measure to declare war on the US came just a few votes from passing in the Confederate Congress. This caused a minor panic in the country, and people seemed to realize that they did not want a war after all. Carlisle lost the election by a large margin.
Post-Presidency[]
When Carlisle returned home, he was neither hated nor extremely popular. He was just seen as a president that did what the people elected him to do, but went too far on other fronts. Ironically, Carlisle's attempts to be seen as anti-Confederacy hurt him far more than it helped his image.
Carlisle eventually moved to New York City and opened up a law practice there. He was disturbed by the rise of William Jennings Bryan and the progressive faction of the Democratic Party, though he held no real desire to return to the national political scene. He never accepted blame for the Panic of '93, as he thought it was more likely to have been caused by outside sources than his tariffs. Carlisle died in 1910 and was buried in Kentucky.
Legacy[]
John G. Carlisle is most remembered for nearly starting a second war between the US and the Confederacy. His legacy, then, is mixed. He did accomplish his primary goal of passing civil service reform and cleaning up the government. On the other hand, his warmongering led to a long economic panic and almost led to a war. Historians still debate whether he should have gone to war or not. If the US had annexed the Confederacy in the 1890's, some argue, many of the violent problems of the 20th Century could have been avoided entirely. Others say that it would have killed too many and caused too much strife to be worth it. There is no way to know, but it is an especially popular idea to play with in the alternate history community.
Carlisle is respected more in his home state of Kentucky, but even there he has some detractors. Some people in the modern day claim that he betrayed his Southern heritage by being so aggressive towards the Confederacy. Nonetheless, he has more than a few monuments around his home area.
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