US Presidents: Set A

George Washington

1789 -1797; no party; the Whiskey Rebellion; Jay's Treaty (created favorable trade relations with Britain); home = Mount Vernon

John Adams

1797-1801; Federalist; XYZ affair; passed the Alien and Sedition Acts; appointed John Marshall (Federalist) as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and numerous Federalist "midnight judges", 1st Vice President

James Madison

1809-1817; Democratic-Republican; War of 1812; let the charter of the First Bank of the United States expire, later chartered the 2nd Bank of the United States; home was Monpelier (in Virginia)

Thomas Jefferson

1801-1809; Democratic-Republican; Marbury v. Madison case; the Louisiana Purchase; Louis and Clark expedition; the Embargo Act; ending of the international slave trade to the US; establishment of West Point; home = Monticello (in Virginia); 1st Secretary of State; 2nd Vice President

James Monroe

1817 - 1825; Democratic-Republican; "The Era of Good Feelings"; the Missouri Compromise; the Monroe Doctrine; the acquisition of Florida from Spain; internal improvements such as the Cumberland Road

John Quincy Adams

1825-1829; Democratic-Republican; controversially chosen President by the House of Representatives; the creation of the Tariff of 1828 (known as the "Tariff of Abominations"); supported Alexander Hamilton's American system (tarriffs, national bank, and internal improvements); served in the House after being Presidents

Andrew Jackson

1829-1837; Democrat; nicknamed "Old Hickory"; general in the War of 1812; opposed the 2nd Bank of the United States; the Nullification Crisis caused by the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832; Indian removal; first attempt to assassinate a president; home = The Hermitage

Martin Van Buren

1837-1841; Democrat; notable events include the Panic of 1837 and the famous "Trail of Tears"; 1st president born in "The United States"

William Henry Harrison

1841; Whig; former general; his presidency was the shortest in American History (31 days); ran on the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," he became the first president to die in office

John Tyler

1841-1845; became president when William Henry Harrison died in 1841; elected VP as Whig but acted more like a Democrat; known as "His Accidency," was the first president that the House tried to impeach, and he annexed Texas at the end of his term

James K. Polk

1845-1849; Democrat; president during the Mexican-American War, created the Department of the Interior

Zachary Taylor

1849 -1850; Whig; "Old Rough-and-Ready"; Mexican-American War general; presidency dominated by the issue of the expansion of slavery; he died in 1850; replaced by VP Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore

1850-1853; Became president when Zachary Taylor died; Whig; the Compromise of 1850; tried to end Japanese isolation from trade with the US

Franklin Pierce

1853-1857; Democrat; the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (which led to "Bleeding Kansas") and the Gadsden Purchase

James Buchanan

1857-1861; Democrat; notable events during his presidency include Dred Scott v. Sanford case; the Panic of 1857, and the first shots of the Civil War fired at Fort Sumter; only president from Pennsylvania; only unmarried/ bachelor president

Abraham Lincoln

1861-1865; Republican; led the country during the Civil War; issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, famous for his 2nd Inaugural Address and his Gettysburg Address, tragically assassinated by John Wilkes Booth after the end of the war in Ford's Theater

Andrew Johnson

1865-1869; became president after Lincoln's assassination; Democrat; president during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, for which he advocated forgiveness and speed instead of strictness and revenge; impeached by the House, controlled by Radical Republicans; acquitted by only one vote

Ulysses S. Grant

1869 - 1877; Republican; although his administration was plagued with scandal (for example the Whiskey Ring), he was largely not responsible; the Panic of 1873; continued Reconstruction

Rutherford B. Hayes

1877-81; Republican; election was controversial; ended Reconstruction and enforcement of African American civil rights

James Garfield

1881; Republican; president for only 4 months before being assassinated by Charles Guiteau; promoted civil service reform

Chester A. Arthur

1881-1885; president after Garfield's assassination; Republican; signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act and the Chinese Exclusion Act into law, constructed a new steel navy ("Father of the Steel Navy")

Grover Cleveland

1885-1889 and 1893-1897; Democrat; first president to serve two non-consecutive terms; used his presidential veto power more than any president up to that time, argued for a gold standard for US currency, president during the Panic of 1893 and during the Pullman Strike; the only president to get married in the White House

Benjamin Harrison

1889-1893; Republican; signed the McKinley Tariff and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (which was not really enforced until Teddy Roosevelt came along); more states admitted during his presidency than any other except Washington's