US Presidents Study Guide

George Washington

1st President (Federalist, Virginia) who presided over the Revolutionary War, signed the Naturalization Act of 1790 and Slave Trade Act of 1794, created the U.S. Mint and first bank, was the only Founding Father to free his slaves, established cabinet positions, and gave the shortest inaugural speech at 135 words.

John Adams

2nd President (Federalist, Massachusetts) who opposed the Stamp Act (1765), helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War, served on the Declaration of Independence committee, and died on July 4, 1826.

Thomas Jefferson

3rd President (Democratic-Republican, Virginia) who wrote the Declaration of Independence, acquired the Louisiana Territory (827,000 sq. miles for $15 million), sent Lewis and Clark to explore, banned slave trading, and died on July 4, 1826.

James Madison

4th President (Democratic-Republican, Virginia) known as the Father of the Constitution, who began writing the Federalist Papers, introduced the Bill of Rights, and led the country during the War of 1812.

James Monroe

5th President (Democratic-Republican, Virginia) who articulated the Monroe Doctrine as the nation's first foreign policy, signed the Treaty of 1818 and Missouri Compromise, and died on July 4, 1831.

John Quincy Adams

6th President (Democratic-Republican, Massachusetts) and son of John Adams who passed the Tariff of 1816, oversaw completion of the Erie Canal, acquired Florida and Oregon from Spain, and argued in the 1840 Armistad trial defending kidnapped Africans.

Andrew Jackson

7th President (Democrat, South Carolina, "Old Hickory") who led the Battle of New Orleans, signed the Indian Removal Act leading to the Trail of Tears (20,000 Cherokees forced removal), signed the Treaty of New Echota (1835), and erased the National Debt.

Martin Van Buren

8th President (Democrat, New York) who responded to the Panic of 1837, signed the independent Treasury Act, engaged in conflict with the Seminole Tribe, and enforced the Trail of Tears in winter resulting in ~5,000 Cherokee deaths.

William Henry Harrison

9th President (Whig, Virginia), war hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe Creek who gave the longest Inaugural Address (1 hr 45 min) without a coat or hat and became the shortest-serving president in U.S. history after dying 1 month later of pneumonia.

John Tyler

10th President (Whig, Virginia, "The Accidental President") who was the first Vice President to take office before the death of his predecessor, annexed Texas (1845), acquired Florida (1845 27th state), and signed the Treaty of Wanghia.

James Knox Polk

11th President (Democrat, North Carolina) obsessed with westward expansion (grew territory by >1/3), who led the Mexican-American War, annexed Texas (28th state), and paid $15M for expansion to the Pacific Ocean.

Zachary Taylor

12th President (Whig, Virginia, "Old Rough and Ready") who served as commander in the Mexican War, signed the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, and died after 16 months from gastroenteritis after eating cherries on July 4th.

Millard Fillmore

13th President (Whig, New York) who upheld the Compromise of 1850 (including the Fugitive Slave Act) and established a trade link with Japan.

Franklin Pierce

14th President (Democrat, New Hampshire) who gave a 3,319-word Inaugural Address from memory, signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, made the Gadsden Purchase ($10M from Mexico), and authored the Ostend Manifesto.

James Buchanan

15th President (Democrat, Pennsylvania, "Ten-Cent Jimmy"), a bachelor who supported the Dred Scott Decision, promoted the failed Lecompton Constitution, and published the first presidential memoir.

Abraham Lincoln

16th President (Republican, Kentucky) who signed the Homestead Act, created the Department of Agriculture, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865.

Andrew Johnson

17th President (Democrat, North Carolina) who took office after Lincoln's assassination, defied the Tenure of Office Act, became the subject of the first U.S. impeachment (acquitted by 1 vote), and purchased Alaska from Russia (Seward's Folly).

Ulysses S. Grant

18th President (Republican, Ohio), 1st 4-Star General after Washington, who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, established Yellowstone Park, and suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus against the KKK.

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th President (Republican, Ohio) who reached the Compromise of 1877, vetoed the Chinese Immigration Act, and initiated the Easter Egg Roll tradition on the White House lawn.

James A. Garfield

20th President (Republican, Ohio), the 1st ambidextrous president, who was shot by Charles Guiteau after serving 199 days in office.

Chester A. Arthur

21st President (Republican, Vermont) who passed the Pendleton Civil Service Act, signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, and rebuilt the U.S. Navy.

Grover Cleveland

22nd & 24th President (Democrat, NY), the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms, who handled the Pullman Strike and modernized the U.S. Navy.

William Howard Taft

27th President (Republican, Ohio) who served as Solicitor General and governor of the Philippines, weighed 330 lbs, was later appointed to the Supreme Court, introduced trust-busting, and passed the 16th Amendment (Income Tax).

Woodrow Wilson

28th President (Democrat, Virginia) who presented his Fourteen Point Plan, advocated for the League of Nations, signed the Treaty of Versailles (1919), won the Nobel Prize, and signed the Federal Reserve Act.

John Calvin Coolidge

30th President (Republican, Vermont) who maintained a laissez-faire policy during the Roaring Twenties, signed the Indian Citizenship Act, Immigration Act, and Kellogg-Briand Pact.

Herbert Hoover

31st President (Republican, Iowa) who presided during the Stock Market Crash (Oct 29, 1929) leading into the Great Depression, and allocated $116M in public works funding.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

32nd President (Democrat, NY, elected 4 times) who enacted the New Deal during the Great Depression, led the U.S. into World War II, met with the Big Three at the Yalta Conference, and famously stated, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Harry S. Truman

33rd President (Democrat, Missouri) who oversaw the collapse of Nazi Germany, victory at Okinawa, dropping of atomic bombs, founding of the United Nations and NATO, the Potsdam Conference, and the Marshall Plan.

Dwight David Eisenhower

34th President (Republican, Texas), a 4-Star General who led Operation Overlord, created NASA, signed the Federal Highway Act, enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1957, and launched Project Mercury.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

35th President (Democrat, Massachusetts), the youngest President ever elected, who created the Peace Corps, led through