US History - 46 Presidents for Memorization

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George Washington

1st President of the United States; commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution (1732-1799)

John Adams

Second President of the United States, in office during the XYZ Affair; wanted to keep United States neutral; supported the Alien and Sedition Acts

Thomas Jefferson

Third President of the United States, wrote the declaration of independence.

James Madison

"Father of the Constitution," Federalist leader, and fourth President of the United States.

James Monroe

The fifth President of the United States (1817-1825). His administration was marked by the Tariff of 1816, Rush-Bagot Agreement with Britain (1817), acquisition of Florida (1819), the Missouri Compromise (1820), and the profession of the Monroe Doctrine (1823).

John Quincy Adams

Sixth president of the United States He was in favor of funding national research and he appointed Henry Clay as his Secretary of State. During his presidency the National Republicans were formed in support of him.

Andrew Jackson

The seventh President of the United States (1829-1837), who as a general in the War of 1812 defeated the British at New Orleans (1815). As president he opposed the Bank of America, objected to the right of individual states to nullify disagreeable federal laws, and increased the presidential powers.

Martin Van Buren

Eighth President. Served 1837-1841. Presidency was marred by an economic depression resulting from the policies of his predecessor, Andrew Jackson. The Panic of 1837 dogged his administration. The first president to be born a U.S. citizen, and the only president to speak English as a second language (Dutch being the primary language spoken in his childhood home).

William Henry Harrison

Ninth President. Served from March 4 to April 4, 1841, famously dying after 31 days in office. A hero of the War of 1812, specifically the Battle of Tippecanoe, his lively campaign saw the Whigs cart model log cabins to towns and distribute hard cider to boast of his "poor" background. His "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too" ticket easily defeated Van Buren in 1840. However, he gave his Inaugural Address on a cold, rainy day and neglected to wear a warm coat. He contracted pneumonia and died.

John Tyler

Tenth President. Served April 4, 1841 to 1845. A Virginian Whig, Was that first vice president to ascend to the presidency upon the death of the incumbent. This act set the precedent that all future vice presidents would follow, as the issue was something of a legal gray area constitutionally. Sought the annexation of Texas but was unable to secure it. Nicknamed His Accidency.

James K. Polk

Eleventh president of the United States who was committed to westward expansion

Zachary Taylor

The twelfth president of the United States from 1849 to 1850. He was a general and hero in the Mexican War. He was elected to the presidency in 1848, representing the Whig party. He died suddenly in 1850.

Milliard Fillmore

Thirteenth president; became president after Zachary Taylor died; opposition to both expansion of slavery and various abolitionist activities->driving away both supporter

Franklin Pierce

The fourteenth President of the United States from 1853 to 1857. A Democrat from New Hampshire, he was acceptable to Southern Democrats because he supported the Fugitive Slave Law.

James Buchanan

The fifteenth President of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He tried to maintain a balance between proslavery and antislavery factions, but his moderate views angered radicals in both North and South, and he was unable to forestall the secession of South Carolina to December 20, 1860. During his term: "Bleeding Kansas" (1856), Caning of Senator Sumner (1856), Lecompton Constitution (1857), Dred Scott case (1857) (p. 255)

Abraham Lincoln

16th President of the United States saved the Union during the Civil War and emancipated the slaves; was assassinated by Booth (1809-1865)

Andrew Johnson

17th President of the United States, A Southerner form Tennessee, as V.P. when Lincoln was killed, he became president. He opposed radical Republicans who passed Reconstruction Acts over his veto. The first U.S. president to be impeached, he survived the Senate removal by only one vote. He was a very weak president.

Ulysses S. Grant

An American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869-1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War.

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th president of the united states, was famous for being part of the Hayes-Tilden election in which electoral votes were contested in 4 states, most corrupt election in US history.

James Garfield

the 20th President of the US; he died two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration.

Chester A. Arthur

Twenty-first President. Served 1881-1885, but only assumed office after President Garfield's assassination. Mainly remembered for the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which encouraged a merit-based system for the civil service. Declined to run for reelection in 1884 due to poor health. He died in November 1886 from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Grover Cleveland

Twenty-second and twenty-fourth President. Only president to serve non-consecutive terms, in 1885-1889 and 1893-1897. The first Democratic Party president since before the Civil War. Supported the gold standard. His second term was defined by the Panic of 1983, which caused a severe depression. Sent federal troops in to break up the Pullman Strike. His resolution of the Venezuelan crisis of 1895 began the reconciliation between the United States and British Empire.

Benjamin Harrison

23rd President; Republican, poor leader, introduced the McKinley Tariff and increased federal spending to a billion dollars.

Grover Cleveland (2nd Term)

24th U.S. President. 1893-1897. Democratic Panic of 1893 Worst depression in American History until the Great Depression

William McKinley

25th president responsible for Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and the Annexation of Hawaii, imperialism. Is assassinated by an anarchist

Theodore Roosevelt

1858-1919. 26th President. Increased size of Navy, "Great White Fleet". Added Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine. "Big Stick" policy. Received Nobel Peace Prize for mediation of end of Russo-Japanese war. Later arbitrated split of Morocco between Germany and France.

William Taft

27th president of the U.S.; he angered progressives by moving cautiously toward reforms and by supporting the Payne-Aldrich Tariff; he lost Roosevelt's support and was defeated for a second term.

Woodrow Wilson

28th president of the United States, known for World War I leadership, created Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, Clayton Antitrust Act, progressive income tax, lower tariffs, women's suffrage (reluctantly), Treaty of Versailles, sought 14 points post-war plan, League of Nations (but failed to win U.S. ratification), won Nobel Peace Prize

Warren G. Harding

Twenty-ninth president of the United States; his policies favored business, but his administration was known for scandals.

Calvin Coolidge

Thirtieth President. Served 1923-1929. Assumed the presidency following Warren G. Harding's death. Elected in 1924. Nicknamed "Silent Cal" for his tight-lipped nature. He was a small-government conservative and supported laissez-faire economics. Unsuccessfully called on Congress to make lynching a federal crime.

Herbert Hoover

Thirty-first president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1929 to 1933 during the start of the Great Depression.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd US President - He began New Deal programs to help the nation out of the Great Depression, and he was the nation's leader during most of WWII

Harry Truman

33rd President of the United States. Led the U.S. to victory in WWII making the ultimate decision to use atomic weapons for the first time. Shaped U.S. foreign policy regarding the Soviet Union after the war.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

34th President. Was the leader of the Allied forces in Europe during WW2--leader of troops in Africa and commander in DDay invasion-elected president-president during integration of Little Rock Central High School

John F. Kennedy

35th President of the US. President of the US during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Thirty-sixth President. Senate Majority Leader 1955-1961. Vice President 1961-1963. Assumed the presidency upon the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Oversaw the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, as well as a series of landmark domestic legislation known as the Great Society. Escalated the Vietnam War. Declined to run for reelection in 1968. A domestic policy maestro but a foreign policy.

Richard Nixon

The 37th President of the United States; the only president to resign from office

Gerald Rudolph Ford

38th President 1974-1977 Republican

Jimmy Carter

39th President of the U.S. Created the Department of Energy and the Depatment of Education. He was criticized for his return of the Panama Canal Zone, and because of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, he enacted an embargo on grain shipments to USSR and boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and his last year in office was marked by the takeover of the American embassy in Iran, fuel shortages, and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, which caused him to lose to Ronald Regan in the next election.

Ronald Reagan

Fortieth president of the United States, a Republican, who served from 1981 to 1989. Reagan led the nation through the end of the Cold War and his leadership led to a national shift toward political conservatism.

George Bush

41st President, 1989-1993

Bill Clinton

42nd President advocated economic and healthcare reform; second president to be impeached

Barack Obama

43rd President of the U.S.; Democrat; first African American president of the US, health care bill; Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster; economy: huge stimulus package to combat the great recession, is removing troops from Iraq, strengthened numbers in Afghanistan; repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell; New Start treaty with Russia

George W. Bush

43rd president of the US who began a campaign toward energy self-sufficiency and against terrorism in 2001

Donald Trump

45th President

Joe Biden

46th President of the United States, democratic party