Presidential Eras and Key Historical Events

Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865)

• Civil War
• Ten Percent Plan: Allowed Southern states to rejoin the Union if 10% of voters swore loyalty and slavery was abolished.
• Shot by John Wilkes Booth
• Freedmen’s Bureau: Helped former slaves and poor whites with food, clothing, education, and job assistance.

Andrew Johnson (1865–1869)

• First president impeached by Radical Congress
• Refused to go along with Lincoln’s plans for Reconstruction

Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877)

William McKinley (1897–1901)

• Spanish-American War:
  • USS Maine explodes.
  • U.S. gains control of the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
• Assassinated; succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909)

• Trust buster
• Conservation
• Panama Canal:
  • Roosevelt wanted a canal through Panama to shorten travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by 8,000 miles, reducing shipping costs and allowing quick naval movement during war.
  • Colombia denied permission to build the canal, so Roosevelt helped Panama gain independence in exchange for control of the canal zone.
  • The canal opened in 1914.
• Roosevelt Corollary: