That, on balance, King Franklin the First was a great ruler of the United States.

First of all, King Franklin the First was a monarch and a king. monarch- a sole and absolute ruler of a state or nation . http://dictionary.reference.com... King Franklin I ruled with absolute power (there were absolutely no checks on his power); therefore, he was a monarch. king- a male sovereign or monarch; a man who holds by life tenure, and usually by hereditary right, the chief authority over a country and people. . http://dictionary.reference.com... King Franklin I was a male monarch who held that position until he died, was initially elected partly due to Theodore Roosevelt, a hereditary family member, and held chief authority over the people. So, he was a king. And, if he is not a king, then the resolution is obviously negated. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Let's see everything that FDR did that a good ruler would not do. -He took the dollar off of the gold standard in 1933. . http://www.huppi.com... -He established the unconstitutional National Recovery Administration in 1933. It wasn't ruled unconstitutional until 1935. . http://www.huppi.com... -He increased the top marginal income tax rate to 79 percent in 1936. It had been 25 percent 5 years earlier. By 1945, the top marginal income tax rate would be 91 percent. . http://www.huppi.com... -He established the unconstitutional Agricultural Adjustment Act in 1933. It wasn't ruled unconstitutional until 1936. . http://www.huppi.com... -He established the unconstitutional National Labour Relations Board in 1935. It wasn't ruled unconstitutional until 1937. . http://www.huppi.com... -He tripled the national debt from 40% of the GNP to 120% of the GNP during his presidency. . http://en.wikipedia.org... -Japanese-Americans were removed from their homes into internment camps during WWII. . http://www.mahalo.com... -He increased the corporate income tax to 95 percent. . http://www.americandaily.com... ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ IN RESPONSE TO MY OPPONENT'S CASE 1. King Roosevelt's policies actually slowed economic recovery. Rather than ending the depression in 1936, pro-labour and anti-competition laws dragged the depression on until 1943, when the draft finally brought unemployment down below the depression level. . http://newsroom.ucla.edu... "Cole and Ohanian calculate that NIRA and its aftermath account for 60 percent of the weak recovery. Without the policies, they contend that the Depression would have ended in 1936 instead of the year when they believe the slump actually ended: 1943. " . http://newsroom.ucla.edu... "Yet, despite these extraordinary achievements, Roosevelt's initiatives did not, in the end, lift the country out of the Great Depression. At no time in the first eight years of the New Deal did unemployment drop below 15 percent. At no time did economic activity reach levels comparable to those of a decade earlier; and, while there were periods when the economy seemed to be recovering, none of them lasted very long. And so this bold, active, and creative moment in our history proved to be a failure at its central task. " . http://www.tnr.com... Says Jim Powell, quoted in American Daily: "After Americans had suffered through a catastrophic contraction for three years (1929-1933), FDR supported policies like the National industrial Recovery Act that promoted further contraction. His executive orders helped enforce higher consumer prices when millions of Americans were unemployed and needed bargains. FDR approved the destruction of food when people were hungry. FDR signed into law higher taxes for everybody, so consumers had less money to spend, and employers had less money with which to hire people-during the worst depression in American history. New Deal labor laws empowered the most racist unions to exclude blacks and had the effect of making it illegal for many employers to hire blacks. " . http://www.americandaily.com... 2. It is well-known that King Franklin had intelligence regarding the potential Pearl Harbor attacks but refused to do anything about it so that he could convince America to go to war. (See timeline: . http://www.geocities.com...) (Other sources: . http://whatreallyhappened.com... . http://www.apfn.org... . http://www.fff.org...) Besides that, he handled World War II rather well. However, during this time the national debt tripled in relation to the GNP. During the whole of his presidency, the debt increased by over 1000 percent. . http://www.ahherald.com... "World War II added another digit to the nation's debt, which leaped from $43 billion to $259 billion from 1940 to 1945. " . http://www.thefreemanonline.org... So, while FDR handled the war well, he created a massive public debt that would forever be a burden on his country. 3. Being popular does not make a president "wonderful", "first-rate", or "very good". For example, Adolf Hitler had over twice as many votes as his runner-up in the 1933 elections (. http://www.gonschior.de...), while FDR had only 7 million votes (less than 20%) more than his runner-up in 1932 (. http://uselectionatlas.org...). So, if the ability to win an election by a large margin qualifies one to be great, then Hitler is 13 times greater than King Franklin I. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ So, let us review: -King Franklin I had many unconstitutional policies. -He almost quadrupled the top marginal income tax rate. -He increased the national debt by over 1000% during his presidency. -He took the dollar off of the gold standard. -He increased the corporate income tax to 95%. -He lengthened the Great Depression 7 years. -He sent thousands of Japanese-Americans to internment camps. These types of things do not make a ruler great. The resolution is negated.