With President’s Day coming up, people can look at the past to see what presidents have sacrificed, in order to give us a better tomorrow. Each president has done something to better or worsen the country. Many have different thoughts on the presidents, and some don’t know anything about them at all. However, presidents day is a day to celebrate something a president did. A few history teachers, Mr. Hernandez, and Mrs. McAndrews, explain their knowledge of some of the first presidents. 

Mrs. McAndrews, a social studies teacher at HHS says, “One thing they did was create the constitution, they did their homework coming up with a plan to keep all branches in check. This helps to spread out the power so one branch doesn’t overpower the other. They set certain precedents, like George Washington, only served two terms, giving the chance to someone else. Many of our presidents served in government capacities before running for president thus giving them experience”. “However, they didn’t get rid of slavery from the beginning, they tabled the idea to appease the southern states.” “They didn’t resolve the issue, they ended up going to war over the issue 70 years later. They we get the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments which solidified  the ending of slavery, voting and citizenship. Yet women and Native Americans were still left out”. McAndrews tells us that, “Abraham Lincoln changed the course of this country seeing that the enslavement of humans was wrong.” She goes on to say, “His decisions caused a war because many didn’t agree with him”. Mrs. McAndrews doesn’t think there is a president that should get more recognition, as she says, “Not really, I think we should all learn more about them to understand why they ran for president and what they wanted to do as president. They all did good things and bad things.” However, she does believe that some presidents should and should not be celebrated, when she says, “Yes and No.  They sign up for a very hard job. That should be honored. They give their lives over to this country, their lives will never be the same again.  Constant scrutiny, comparison. But no, we also have to remember they are human, fallible humans.  They aren’t perfect, they don’t have all the answers or the expertise. They will make mistakes, sometimes those mistakes affect us and our lives”. 

Mr. Hernandez, another history teacher at HHS claims, “Abraham Lincoln had done a few good things, like the emancipation proclamation, which was the document that freed all slaves”. “However, it wasn’t just Abraham. I’m going to say that FDR, or Franklin D Roosevelt, sought us through a crisis in America. He solved the Great Depression, the worst economic trouble the U.S has been through. He also beat back the forces of Nazi Germany and the imperial forces of Japan through leadership. Without him, we would not be here where we are today”. As Hernandez is explaining the greatness of a few presidents, he claims that, “Woodrow Wilson, in the early 1900’s, got us through a lot of change, and would lead through the first world war, fighting against the central powers, and emerged victorious”. “All presidents should be studied. We have a lot to learn from them and how they have gotten us to where we are. None of them are perfect, but through learning, it is up to us to decide who we want to celebrate.