Derek Nastasi
We are heading into President’s Day, a national holiday that we have to make up because of the three cancelled days of school. It's a day where we celebrate the men that have served in the most powerful position in the country. People may usually think of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, JFK, Obama, or Trump but there are some that we may not have known what their accomplishments include and have slipped our collective memory. One of those forgotten leaders was Chester A. Arthur.
No one really knows him at all, and he's one of those 1800’s presidents that no one can memorize unless you sang that one presidents’ song. Arthur was the 20th vice president under President James Garfield but when Garfield got shot and assassinated in 1881, Arthur took over as 21st president of the U.S. and served until 1885.
Arthur was born in Fairfield, Vermont in 1829 of English and Welsh descent. He grew up in upstate New York and was a lawyer, where his political affiliation was under the Whig Party until 1854. He also served as quartermaster (officer in charge of supplies) of the New York State Militia during the Civil War. After the war(and of course the Union’s victory), he became more involved with Republican politics and rose in the ranks of New York Senator Roscoe Conkling’s political machine. Due to increased popularity, he was appointed as the Collector of the Port of New York by Ulysses S. Grant. President Rutherford B. Hayes, a fellow Republican, actually fired him from the job. However, in 1880, after the Republican Party was losing political control, they called Arthur back and he was nominated for the candidate of vice president under James Garfield.
After Garfield’s assassination, he became president, but he was not respected by everyone in his party because of the two factions that existed at the time. When Arthur was in office he was above faction and possibly the republican party itself at the time, according to whitehouse.com. Arthur’s administration passed the first federal immigration law ever in 1882 which denied paupers,criminals and lunatics from coming into the country, which would probably be looked upon as controversial nowadays. He was responsible for the passing of The Tariff Act of 1883 which lowered tariff rates and would have been something that the Democrats would have done at the time even though Arthur was a Republican. After his term ended, Arthur ran again in 1884, but he was sick and had had a cerebral hemorrhage. Yet, that didn't stop Chester. He won the presidential race in 1884. He only served up until March 4, 1885 when he openly retired due to his health; Vice-president Grover Cleveland then took over the office. Arthur may have been the only president in history to retire on purpose before his term ended. He died only a year later in 1886.
So now you know a bit about probably the most unknown president in U.S. history. I encourage you to research a bit about past politicians and how politics works in this country because it is very useful to know when voting. Its knowledge that everyone will use no matter what career and it is important to make sure you are being treated fairly as a citizen by authority. Happy Presidents’ Day!