U.S. Presidents & Landmark Events (1789-2017)

Vocabulary flashcards summarizing every U.S. president from Washington to Obama and key historical terms, laws, and crises referenced in the lecture notes.

George Washington

1st U.S. president (1789-1797); set government precedents, issued the Proclamation of Neutrality, crushed the Whiskey Rebellion, warned against parties & foreign alliances in his Farewell Address.

Whiskey Rebellion

1794 Pennsylvania uprising against a federal whiskey tax; Washington’s decisive military response proved the new government could enforce its laws.

John Adams

2nd president (1797-1801); Federalist, strengthened central gov., signed the controversial Alien & Sedition Acts.

Alien and Sedition Acts

1798 laws that lengthened naturalization, allowed deportation of ‘dangerous’ aliens, and criminalized government criticism; widely seen as violating free speech.

Thomas Jefferson

3rd president (1801-1809); championed limited gov. & states’ rights, completed the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, authored the First Inaugural Address promoting unity and civil liberties.

Louisiana Purchase

U.S. purchase of French territory west of the Mississippi in 1803, doubling national size and accelerating Manifest Destiny.

James Madison

4th president (1809-1817); led U.S. through the War of 1812, continued Jeffersonian limited-government ideals.

War of 1812

Conflict with Britain (1812-1815) over trade rights and impressment; fostered U.S. nationalism despite stalemate outcome.

James Monroe

5th president (1817-1825); promoted national unity, issued the Monroe Doctrine, presided over Missouri Compromise.

Monroe Doctrine

1823 policy warning European powers against colonizing/interfering in the Americas; cornerstone of U.S. hemispheric influence.

Missouri Compromise

1820 agreement: Missouri slave, Maine free; banned slavery north of 36°30′ in Louisiana Territory, preserving sectional balance.

John Quincy Adams

6th president (1825-1829); advocated internal improvements and education; election tainted by ‘Corrupt Bargain’ with Henry Clay.

Corrupt Bargain

Alleged 1824 deal in which Clay’s House support made Adams president, earning Clay the post of Secretary of State.

Andrew Jackson

7th president (1829-1837); expanded white male suffrage, fought the Bank, enforced Indian Removal, crushed Nullification Crisis.

Nullification Crisis

1832-1833 showdown when S. Carolina voided federal tariffs; Jackson threatened force, Clay’s compromise tariff ended crisis.

Indian Removal Act & Trail of Tears

1830 law forcing Southeastern tribes west; thousands died on the harsh ‘Trail of Tears’ relocation routes.

Martin Van Buren

8th president (1837-1841); stuck to laissez-faire policies during the Panic of 1837, continuing Jacksonian ideals.

Panic of 1837

Severe economic depression triggered by land speculation, specie policies, and crop failures; banks collapsed, unemployment soared.

William Henry Harrison

9th president (1841); died of pneumonia one month after inauguration, shortest presidency.

John Tyler

10th president (1841-1845); annexed Texas, set precedent that VP fully assumes presidential powers.

James K. Polk

11th president (1845-1849); led Mexican-American War, achieved Manifest Destiny by acquiring vast western lands.

Zachary Taylor

12th president (1849-1850); Mexican-War hero; died in office amid debate over slavery in territories.

Millard Fillmore

13th president (1850-1853); signed Compromise of 1850 including Fugitive Slave Act.

Franklin Pierce

14th president (1853-1857); backed Kansas-Nebraska Act, worsening sectional tensions.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 law allowing popular sovereignty on slavery in Kansas & Nebraska; repealed Missouri Compromise, sparked ‘Bleeding Kansas.’

James Buchanan

15th president (1857-1861); indecisive during secession crisis, nation drifted toward Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln

16th president (1861-1865); preserved Union during Civil War, issued Emancipation Proclamation, delivered Gettysburg Address.

Gettysburg Address

1863 Lincoln speech redefining the war as fight for equality & democracy: ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people.’

Emancipation Proclamation

1863 wartime order freeing slaves in rebelling states, shifting war goals and enabling Black enlistment.

Andrew Johnson

17th president (1865-1869); lenient Reconstruction, clashed with Radical Republicans, first impeached president (acquitted).

Ulysses S. Grant

18th president (1869-1877); enforced Reconstruction & civil rights, fought KKK; plagued by corruption, faced Panic of 1873.

Reconstruction

1865-1877 era rebuilding South, readmitting states, and securing rights for freedmen; ended by Compromise of 1877.

Rutherford B. Hayes

19th president (1877-1881); resolved 1876 election via Compromise of 1877, ending Reconstruction; began civil-service reform.

James A. Garfield

20th president (1881); assassinated after 4 months, spurred demand for merit-based civil service.

Chester A. Arthur

21st president (1881-1885); signed Pendleton Civil Service Act, approved Chinese Exclusion Act.

Grover Cleveland

22nd & 24th president (1885-1889, 1893-1897); only split terms; fought high tariffs, handled Pullman Strike, supported gold standard.

Benjamin Harrison

23rd president (1889-1893); signed Sherman Antitrust Act and McKinley Tariff, faced Homestead Strike.

Gilded Age

1877-1898 period of rapid industrialization, big business, stark wealth gaps, labor unrest, and political corruption.

William McKinley

25th president (1897-1901); backed high tariffs & Gold Standard, led U.S. in Spanish-American War; assassinated 1901.

Theodore Roosevelt

26th president (1901-1909); ‘Square Deal’ reforms, trust-buster, conservationist, began Panama Canal, mediated 1902 Coal Strike.

Muckrakers

Progressive-era journalists (e.g., Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell) who exposed corruption and spurred reforms.

Sherman Antitrust Act

1890 law outlawing monopolies & restraints of trade; used to break up Standard Oil (1911) and other trusts.

William Howard Taft

27th president (1909-1913); continued antitrust suits, later Chief Justice of Supreme Court.

Woodrow Wilson

28th president (1913-1921); Federal Reserve, FTC, led U.S. in WWI, proposed League of Nations in Fourteen Points.

Warren G. Harding

29th president (1921-1923); embraced isolationism; administration marred by Teapot Dome scandal; died in office.

Calvin Coolidge

30th president (1923-1929); championed limited gov. and business prosperity: ‘The business of America is business.’

Herbert Hoover

31st president (1929-1933); faced Great Depression, promoted ‘rugged individualism,’ oversaw Bonus Army eviction.

Bonus Army March

1932 protest by WWI vets demanding early bonus; dispersed by army, hurting Hoover’s image.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd president (1933-1945); New Deal programs, led U.S. in WWII, delivered ‘Four Freedoms’ and ‘fear itself’ speeches.

New Deal

FDR’s relief, recovery, and reform programs (AAA, WPA, Social Security) tackling Great Depression.

Harry S. Truman

33rd president (1945-1953); ended WWII with atomic bombs, launched Marshall Plan & Truman Doctrine, oversaw Berlin Airlift.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

34th president (1953-1961); Interstate Highway System, warned of military-industrial complex, Eisenhower Doctrine in Mid-East.

John F. Kennedy

35th president (1961-1963); New Frontier, faced Cuban Missile Crisis, advanced civil rights; assassinated 1963.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 superpower standoff over Soviet nukes in Cuba; resolved by naval ‘quarantine’ and mutual missile withdrawals.

Lyndon B. Johnson

36th president (1963-1969); ‘Great Society’ welfare & civil-rights laws, escalated Vietnam War, faced Tet Offensive.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Landmark law banning discrimination in public places, jobs, and federally funded programs; cornerstone of Civil Rights Movement.

Richard Nixon

37th president (1969-1974); Vietnamization, opened China, détente with USSR; resigned after Watergate Scandal.

Watergate Scandal

1972-1974 break-in & cover-up that exposed presidential abuses; Supreme Court forced release of tapes; led to Nixon’s resignation.

Gerald Ford

38th president (1974-1977); first unelected president; pardoned Nixon; faced stagflation and energy crisis.

Jimmy Carter

39th president (1977-1981); brokered Camp David Accords, faced Iran hostage crisis and economic woes.

Ronald Reagan

40th president (1981-1989); championed supply-side ‘Reaganomics,’ escalated Cold War then signed INF Treaty, urged ‘Tear Down This Wall.’

Iran-Contra Affair

1980s covert scheme: U.S. arms to Iran, profits diverted to Nicaraguan Contras despite congressional ban; damaged Reagan administration.

George H. W. Bush

41st president (1989-1993); managed end of Cold War, led Gulf War, signed ADA, promoted volunteerism ‘Points of Light.’

Bill Clinton

42nd president (1993-2001); balanced budgets, NAFTA, welfare reform, impeached over Lewinsky scandal but acquitted.

George W. Bush

43rd president (2001-2009); responded to 9/11, launched War on Terror in Afghanistan & Iraq, passed No Child Left Behind.

Barack Obama

44th president (2009-2017); steered recession recovery, enacted Affordable Care Act, ordered raid killing Osama bin Laden.

Affordable Care Act (ACA)

2010 law expanding health-insurance coverage, banning denial for pre-existing conditions, and creating health exchanges.

BCE / CE Dating

‘Before Common Era’ & ‘Common Era’ secular alternatives to BC/AD, used to avoid religious references in chronology.