The first six presidents

[°Leprechaun]

I wonder how this will go.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Adams' presidency is the closest the US came to becoming an authoritarian regime (although that might change after 2024... sigh...). He's easily one of the worst Presidents period.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Worst Presidency would be Adams, worst as a person would be Jefferson.

[Libertas Vel Mors]

Without a doubt Adams

[TDAS04]

Without a doubt Adams

Either Adams or James M.

[°Leprechaun]

Without a doubt Adams

Either Adams or James M.

which jm?

[RINO Tom]

Worst Presidency would be Adams, worst as a person would be Jefferson.

This.  Even if you like the guy, I think it's hard to argue that Adams had the "worst" Presidency of these guys.  Personally, I think historians are unfairly harsh on Madison and tend to compare him to his fellow Virginians in this era and he looks worse because of it.

[LabourJersey]

Worst Presidency would be Adams, worst as a person would be Jefferson.

This.  Even if you like the guy, I think it's hard to argue that Adams had the "worst" Presidency of these guys.  Personally, I think historians are unfairly harsh on Madison and tend to compare him to his fellow Virginians in this era and he looks worse because of it.

Why do you think historians treat Madison harshly? The War of 1812 came close to being an abject disaster for the United States, and we won only "won" that war more out of luck than anything else. Madison ought to shoulder some of the blame for that, along with the War Hawks like Henry Clay.

I still think Adams was the worst President of the era but Madison was a poor wartime leader for sure.

[The Mikado]

Worst Presidency would be Adams, worst as a person would be Jefferson.

This.  Even if you like the guy, I think it's hard to argue that Adams had the "worst" Presidency of these guys.  Personally, I think historians are unfairly harsh on Madison and tend to compare him to his fellow Virginians in this era and he looks worse because of it.

Being the only president to have the nation's capital sacked under his watch will always be a really really hard mark for Madison.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Worst Presidency would be Adams, worst as a person would be Jefferson.

This.  Even if you like the guy, I think it's hard to argue that Adams had the "worst" Presidency of these guys.  Personally, I think historians are unfairly harsh on Madison and tend to compare him to his fellow Virginians in this era and he looks worse because of it.

Why do you think historians treat Madison harshly? The War of 1812 came close to being an abject disaster for the United States, and we won only "won" that war more out of luck than anything else. Madison ought to shoulder some of the blame for that, along with the War Hawks like Henry Clay.

I still think Adams was the worst President of the era but Madison was a poor wartime leader for sure.

The US did have some legitimate grievances against the British at that point to be fair. Impressment and the forts come to mind. Any European power at the time would have certainly demanded better treatment or gone to war to get it.

As for the US military's performance, the resistance to a standing Army meant that the military tradition in terms of leadership of large (for the time, a couple thousand) units was minimal and anyone who had that experience from the Revolution was dead or too old.

This is not unique to the War of 1812, Lincoln cycled through many bad commanders. Washington had to deal with a number of crappy ones in the Revolution until he finally got his people in key commands and so forth. At the beginning of World War II, the US sacked many of this division level commanders of the national guard to try and head this problem off at the past.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Worst Presidency would be Adams, worst as a person would be Jefferson.

This.  Even if you like the guy, I think it's hard to argue that Adams had the "worst" Presidency of these guys.  Personally, I think historians are unfairly harsh on Madison and tend to compare him to his fellow Virginians in this era and he looks worse because of it.

Being the only president to have the nation's capital sacked under his watch will always be a really really hard mark for Madison.

But this was not the first time that the US capital was taken by a hostile foreign power. That would be the British when they took Philadelphia in 1777, after Washington allowed himself to be outflanked at Brandywine.

[LabourJersey]

Worst Presidency would be Adams, worst as a person would be Jefferson.

This.  Even if you like the guy, I think it's hard to argue that Adams had the "worst" Presidency of these guys.  Personally, I think historians are unfairly harsh on Madison and tend to compare him to his fellow Virginians in this era and he looks worse because of it.

Being the only president to have the nation's capital sacked under his watch will always be a really really hard mark for Madison.

But this was not the first time that the US capital was taken by a hostile foreign power. That would be the British when they took Philadelphia in 1777, after Washington allowed himself to be outflanked at Brandywine.

I wouldn't consider the British to have been a "foreign" power in 1777.