U.S.+Presidents

John Hanson was a man that was actually the first president of the United States. Most people think that George Washington was the first president and that is true. What isn't true is that George Washington was the first president of the United States overall, from the time before and after the new Constitution was written. Washington was the first president //under the new Constitution.// John Hanson was the very first president of the United States between the time of the Revolutionary War, to the forming of the Constitution.
 * [|John Hanson]**

John Hanson is not as remembered as George Washington because the government was weak when he was president. If the government was weak, then his position in power was weak. He didn't have as much power as presidents did after the Constitution was written. If he had had that power, then he would be remembered as the first president of the United States.


 * __[|George Washington]__**[[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/George-Washington.jpg/189px-George-Washington.jpg width="182" height="239" align="right" caption="George Washington" link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:George-Washington.jpg"]]

George Washington was born in 1732 on February 22nd. He was born in the state of Virginia. During his youth George Washington was pursuing a career as a planter. One reason George Washington was such a great president was that he was always honest in his youth as well when he was an adult. To read the story about George Washington and the cherry tree, [|click here.] An interesting fact about George Washington was the he had the smallpox when he was sixteen and that left him scarred for life. He married widow Martha Dandridge Custis in 1959. Though he never had any children of his own, he helped raise two of his wives children, John Parke Custis and Martha Custis. After John's death in the war, Washington adopted his step-son's two children, his grandchildren, as his own.

He was a general for the British in the French and Indian War. It gave him lots of experience in fighting techniques and greatly helped him in the Revolutionary War, where he was a general for the colonists. His troops trusted him and greatly respected him. The British way to fight was to stand in lines and take turns shooting at people. That was considered to be the proper way to fight in Europe. When George Washington served in the British army, he suffered one major defeat from that fighting style. He then learned from his mistakes, unlike the rest of the British army.

After the Revolutionary War, all that George Washington wanted was to go home to [|Mount Vernon] and stay there for the rest of his life. He did not want to be the President of the United States. But George Washington had always put his country before himself and if he was wanted as the first President of the United States under the new Constitution, then he felt that it was his duty to serve his country. He was the logical choice for the first president because of a couple of reasons. One reason was the he was the general that had led the Americans to victory over the British in the Revolutionary War. Another reason was that he was the president of the Constitutional Convention and that gained him a lot of respect. Also, just the fact that his country came before his personal interests was a very noble thing for Washington to put as one of his priorities.

__**Washington's Presidency**__

George Washington was the first man to set up a cabinet. His [|cabinet] was made up of all of the secretaries of departments that kept the United States running. They were his closest advisers, as well as his Vice President, John Adams. As President, George Washington set up many presidential traditions that are still used today. In example, because George Washington was so well respected, when he entered a room, people stood up and clapped. when some of them wanted to bow, Washington said no. He didn't want the traditions of a monarchy to be used in this new government, such as bowing to royalty, but he wanted the government to be shown some respect, which was all right that everyone would stand when the President came in the room.

George Washington's first key event in showing power in the government was the [|Whiskey Rebellion]. He supported the Whiskey tax. When farmers wouldn't obey the laws, then George Washington asserted his power as the president and enforced that law by sending troops to make sure that this law was passed. By this, he supported the fact the the federal government is number one and to be respected.

There was no limit to how many terms a president could serve. George Washington, however, recognized that if he served for more that two terms, it would seem like he had become the king of the United States. Washington was against that because he saw what happened with monarchies in England and that is what they fought against in the Revolutionary War--having a king rule over them. George Washington established the tradition that a president only served two terms. Every other president, save that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, served no more than two terms. President F.D. Roosevelt most likely would have stayed with that tradition if it had not been for the war.

__**Washington's Farewell**__

This is one of the most famous documents in United States History. It was written by George Washington before he stepped down from the office of president. He was 65 years old when he gave this speech, a very old age at that time.

In this farewell, George Washington warned the future presidents against two main things. One of these things was that the United States should not make any foreign alliances; rather, they should remain neutral. He quoted, " //it is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.//" This was a very good proposition at the time because the United States, if they were pulled into a war against another country because they had a foreign alliance with one country, they would not be able to afford a war at that time.

Today, we have foreign alliances. Sometimes they are bad. We were pulled into two world wars because of alliances with another country. But other times, alliances are good. Trading may become easier with two countries that are friendly with each other rather than two countries that are at war with each other.

The other thing that George Washington warned against was the forming of political parties. He saw this as something that could be destructive to the United States. That in itself was not a very realistic proposal. Today, we have political parties. They help us decide our presidential candidates. People that believe the same things often pull closer together and not every one believes the same things. Still, George Washington was trying to think in the American people's best interests.

He was the first president under the new Constitution. George Washington died on December 14, 1799 from a throat infection.


 * __[|John Adams]__**[[image:214px-Johnadamsvp.flipped.jpg width="182" height="211" align="right" caption="John Adams"]]

John Adams was born in 1735 on October 30th. He was born in Massachusetts. He attended Harvard College at the age of sixteen. His father wanted greatly to see his son as a minister.

He graduated in 1755 and taught a school in Worcester for a few years. He decided after years of thinking about it that he would become a lawyer.

In 1764, he married Abigail Smith. She was the daughter of a Congregational minister. One of his children, who was to be a future President of the U.S., was named John Quincy Adams.

John Adams was the first to oppose the Stamp Act. The Boston Massacre lead him to defend the soldiers involved. John Adams was afraid this would hurt his reputation, but he agreed to defend them. The soldiers were then charged of manslaughter instead of murder.

John Adams was sent by Massachusetts to the first and second [|Continental Congress]. When the Declaration of Independence was written,

For more information, visit http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/

__**[|Thomas Jefferson]**__ Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 and died on July 4 1826. He is most famous for being the main author the Declaration of Independence. He was the third president of the United States. He served two terms from March 4 1801 to March 4 1809. In those two terms he made many achievements. He established the Louisiana Purchase, which added 530 million acres (or 820,000 square miles) of land to the United States. They bought it from France for a total of 23 million dollars. That nearly doubled the size of the United States.

Other than being the third president of the United States of America, he also was the vice president of the United States from 1797-1781, the United States Secretary of State from 1789-1783, and the governor of Virginia from 1779-1781. He attended The College of William and Mary for two years form 1760 to 1762 and studied mathematics, metaphysics, and philosophy. He was the founder of the University of Virginia. The making of the college started in 1819 and it finally opened in 1825.

His was married to Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. They had five children named: Martha Jefferson Randolph, Jane Randolph, Mary Wayles, Lucy Elizabeth, and Lucy Elizabeth.

Also, under the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson there were many Foreign Policy Challenges, including the Barbary Pirates, and Neutral Rights. The Barbary Pirates were pirates from the early 1800’s. They intentionally intervened with American commerce. Not only did they intervene with American commerce but other countries as well.

The states that were joined with the Barbary Pirates were Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco. These states were to plunder every ship that sailed across the Mediterranean Sea. Countries that wanted to sail across the Sea would have to pay tribute (protection money) to safely sail across the sea. The United States paid tribute. Jefferson wanted to stop the Barbary Pirates from doing this. Tripoli started war with the U.S. to get more tributes.

In 1804, the Americans started getting the war in their favor. Lieutenant Stephen Decator had sailed to the Mediterranean Sea. Tripoli had been waiting their and captured Lieut. Stephen and his ship the //Philadelphia////.//

In 1805, the river of Tripoli signed a treaty for the safety of American ships sailing across the Mediterranean, though, ten years later they finally stopped plundering American ships.

The British and French were the ones who were mostly disobeying America’s Neutral Rights. France owned much of Europe and Britain controlled the seas. France and Great Britain were both very big enemies. Britain began to blockade (close off the coast) of the United States to stop American ships carrying goods on their way to France.

Acts interfered with the freedom of the seas-the right of neutral merchant ships in peace or war to move in any waters except those belonging to a country. Britain forced Americans into their Navy.

June 1807, Britain’s ship, //Leopard//, had attacked the American ship, //Chesapeake//. Britain had the “right” to search for deserters (soldiers or sailors who run away from their duty). Americans refused to let them search. The //Leopard// opened fire, killing three Americans, and wounding 18. Four American soldiers were accused of deserters.


 * [|James Madison]**[[image:John_Madison.gif width="162" height="233" align="right" caption="James Madison"]]

James Madison was born on March 16th, 1751 in Port Conway, Virginia. He grew up in Orange County, Virginia and ended up going to school at Princeton.

He was one of the three writers of the federalist essays (Alexander Hamilton and John Jay were the other two). He was referred to as the “Father of the Constitution” sometimes, but we all know that many great minds combined to create it. He later got into Congress and helped write the Bill of Rights.

He was elected the 4th president of the United States and served from 1809-1817.

He died on June 28th, 1836 in Montipelier, Virginia.

__**[|James Monroe]**__

James Monroe was the fifth president of the United States who served from 1817-1825. He was a Republican.

One of the things that is most remembered about James Monroe is the "Monroe Doctrine." The Monroe doctrine was a statement made by President Monroe that was directed to Europe. It was a warning that said that Europe couldn't think of the Americas as "a land for future colonization." They weren't allowed to come to the Americas and start colonizing in lands that belonged to the United States or somewhere else and then claim it as their own. They must stay away from the Americas.

This doctrine wasn't well respected by the European countries but the American people were very proud of this statement. A sense of nationalism was growing in the people. They were proud that their home was starting to be recognized as an independent country.


 * [|John Quincy Adams]** [[image:205px-John_Quincy_Adams.jpg width="181" height="218" align="right" caption="John Quincy Adams"]]

John Quincy Adams was born July 11, 1767, in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts to John and Abigale Smith Adams. He married Louisa Johnson in 1797 and had three children, George Washington Adams, Louisa Catherine Adams and John Adams. He graduated from Harvard as a lawyer in 1787. Political appointments included:


 * Secretary to U.S. Minister to Russia, 1781
 * Minister to the Netherlands, 1794
 * Minister to Prussia, 1797-1801
 * United States Senator, 1803-08
 * Minister to Russia, 1809-11
 * Peace Commissioner at Treaty of Ghent, 1814
 * Secretary of State, 1817-25
 * Member of U.S. House of Representatives, 1831-48

John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States and served from 1825-1829. John Quincy Adams was one of the four people running for President in 1824. No single candidate had the majority needed so the election between the top three candidates went to the House of Representatives. John made a deal with the candidate that had been eliminated, who's name was Henry Clay. The deal was that Clay would convince the people in the House of Representatives that would have voted for him to vote for John and in return John would make Clay the secretary of State. John Quincy Adams was not a very popular President and as a result, he lost to Jackson in 1828.

Born in a log cabin on the western frontier of Tennessee, Andrew Jackson was the 7th president of the United States. Jackson was a first-generation American. In 1824, he was one of the four presidential candidates. The election ended up going to the House of Representatives and Jackson lost to [|John Quincy Adams]. The result of the 1824 election caused the split of the Republican Party. Adams became the leader of the National Republicans and Jackson became the leader of the Democratic Republicans, who later became Democrats. For the next four years, Jackson worked on gaining popularity for the 1828 election. He easily won the election and used his power in a way no president had before. He served from 1829–1837.
 * [|Andrew Jackson]**

Jackson was elected in the election of 1828. He ran for president in 1824 as well as 1828, but during the election, there was said to be a corrupt bargain between Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams. Jackson had received the greatest amount of popular votes but still lost to Adams. After the election, he set out for revenge against Adams and Clay.

Adams was a fairly unpopular president because of the conflict over the corrupt bargain, and in the election of 1828, Jackson received the most votes by a long shot.

__**Jackson’s Inauguration**__

Once Jackson moved into the White House, he opened the door to his followers from the West. Westerners were known to have increasingly wild behavior because the laws were not enforced here and the land was still developing. By the end of the party, the White House was thoroughly damaged and the citizens were horrified when they heard of the event. The Westerners were drunk and had literally been jumping off the railings and swinging from the chandeliers.

__**Jackson’s Ideas-The New Age**__

During Jackson’s term, he sued such ideas as suffrage, and “rotating in office.” This was the idea of rotating political followers between the government jobs, or according to William Marcy, senator of New York, “to the victor belongs the spoils.” Jackson believed in using all of his power and was thought to be a strenuous executive. In fact, during his term, he vetoed 12 bills for “political reasons.”

Jackson established a tariff, although it angered the south. The south soon came up with the idea of nullification, which was the right of the states to declare a new bill null and void. John C. Calhoun also agreed with this idea: he wrote the book __South Carolina Exposition and Protest__. This was a threat to Jackson’s power, so he came up with a compromise: Clay would pass a lower rate tariff, and the Senate passed the “Force Bill.” The Force Bill allowed Jackson to use the navy and the army to uphold federal law. The South accepted the compromise.

Another of Jackson’s compromises was the Maysville Road Veto. This concerned a bill passed by Congress to buy a $150, 000 stock with the Maysville Road Company. Jackson vetoed the bill, upsetting the West. Jackson also believed in a limited power of the bank. He set out to destroy the Second Bank of the United States because he thought paper money was worthless. Congress then produced the Renewal Bill. Clay thought that if Jackson vetoed this bill, he would be even more unpopular. Despite Clay’s assumption, Jackson vetoed the bill and was still reelected for a second term as president. To accomplish his goal of destroying the bank and demolishing its power, Jackson removed the Federal government deposits from the National bank and instead put them in various state banks. These banks were called pet banks. They printed their own bank notes but ignored their amount of specie. Specie was the amount of gold and silver coins. The bank notes helped increase land speculation, or buying land to sell at a large profit. Then, on July 1836, Jackson approved the “Specie Circular,” which stated that only land owners could us paper money and everyone else had to use gold or silver. This eventually led to a depression. After Jackson’s resignation, his ideas were still used by other presidents.


 * [|Martin Van Buren]**[[image:184px-Martin_Van_Buren.jpg width="182" height="243" align="right" caption="Martin Van Buren"]]

Martin Van Buren was born December 5, 1782 in Kinderhook, New York. He married Hannah Hoes and had five children. He attended Kinderhook Academy with a law degree. He was a lawyer.

Martin was the eighth president of the United States and served from 1833-1837. President Jackson liked Van Buren and made him the secretary of state. Van Buren's believes were almost the same as President Jackson and Van Buren refused to reestablish a national bank. The result was a depression that caused a lot of businesses to fail. Van Buren failed to get re-elected in 1840.

Martin Van Buren said that the two happiest days of his life were his entrance into the office of President and his surrender of the office. While his political opponents were glad to see him go – they nicknamed him “Martin Van Ruin” - many Americans were not.

William Henry Harrison was born February 9, 1773. He was the 9th President of the United States and served from March 4,1847-April 4, 1847. He started his career at Hampden-Sydney College where he studied history and then studied medicine at Richmond. In 1871, he wanted to become an Army Officer. He switched to that position and stayed there for most of his life.He served as the first Governor of the Indian Territory and later as a U.S. Representative and Senator from Ohio. He was nicknamed Tippercanoe for leading U>S. forces against American Indians at the Battle of Tippercanoe in 1811. He was a general in the War of 1812. His most noteworthy victory was at the Battle of the Thames.
 * [|William Henry Harrison]**

When Harrison took office in 1841 at the age of 68, he was the oldest man to become President. This record stood for 140 years, until Ronald Reagan was inaugurated in 1981 at the age of 69. Harrison died thirty-one days into his term giving him the honors of having the briefest presidency in the history of the office. He was also the first U.S. President to die while in office.

John Tyler, Jr. was born March 29, 1790. He was the tenth President of the United States serving from 1841-1845. He was elected as Vice President for William Henry Harrison. His term as Vice President began on March 4, 1841. One month later, on April 4th, he became President when Harrison died. There was a question as to the process of succession. Some thought he should continue to use Vice President for his title and be the "acting" President. He ended up taking the presidential oath of office and becaem the first U.S. vice president to assume the office of presidnet upon the death of his predecessor. He is most known for the annexation of the Republic of Texas in 1845. He was also the first president born after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
 * [|John Tyler]**

James K. Polk was the eleventh President of the United States and served from 1845 – 1849. He was referring to by many as “The first Dark Horse”, because of his strong leader skills, and of his democratic values. He was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He went to school at the University of North Carolina. His first act in politics was when he served in the Tennessee legislature, and befriended Andrew Jackson. He was a strong public speaker, so it was not surprising for him to be state representative for Tennessee and the governor of Tennessee, all before he became president. He was known for his foreign policy, and was able to trick enemies into defeat. He has been the only president who did not seek re-election; he died three months after his term ended.
 * [|James K. Polk]**

Zachary Taylor was born in Virginia in the year of 1784. At a young age, he was taken to Kentucky and was raised on a plantation. As an adult, he was an officer in the Army. He lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and became a plantation owner in Mississippi. Zachary Taylor was policing frontiers against Indians for 25 years. He won many important victories at Monterrey and Buena Vista during the Mexican War. He was in the Army for 40 years, which made him a strong nationalist. His unusually long term in the Army seemed to appeal to the Northerners. The fact that he owned no slaves also seemed to influence the Southerners to view him favorably. The Whigs picked him to run against a Democrat named, Lewis Cass, who was in favor of letting the residents of certain territories make their own decisions regarding slavery. Property owners could decide whether or not they wanted slavery, when the new state constitutions were written. To stop the quarrels over slavery in new areas, Zachary Taylor told the people in New Mexico and California to pass constitution and apply for statehood. It was the hope of the people to avoid the territorial stage altogether. People from the south were extremely angry, since no state constitution was going to allow slavery. Some members of congress were depressed, because the President was assuming their policy-making rights. Zachary Taylor’s solution disregarded many other issues, such as: the northern disliking of the slave market running in the District of Columbia and the southern demands for a more stringent fugitive slave law. In February 1850, Taylor had held a heated conference with southern leaders who threatened secession. He told them that he would enforce the laws if he had to. He also said that he would be the one to lead them. Later on, he took place in ceremonies at The Washington Monument on July 4th, 1850. Five days later, he became ill and died.
 * [|Zachary Taylor]**

[|Millard Filmore]

Millard Fillmore was the thirteenth president of the United States of America. He served from July 9, 1850 to March 4, 1853. He was the last person from the Whig party to serve a term as president. He never was elected president, he only got to the presidency when Zachary Taylor died of a heat stroke. After he served his term, he failed to get the nomination to run for president in the Whig party. He was born on January 7, 1900 in a log cabin, and he died at the age of 74 on March 8, 1974. As a child, he worked on his farm. He eventually married his teacher, Abigail Powers who he had two children with: Millard powers Fillmore and Mary Abigail Fillmore. He knew that he needed an education, so he started to teach himself by reading his dictionary. He never went to college but he did attend New Hope Academy. He worked as a lawyer. As he lived in the White House, he was the first president to have a bathtub and a library in the White House. In 1846, he founded Buffalo University in Buffalo, New York.

[|“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”] These were the words of our beloved 16th president who served from 1861 to 1865.
 * [|Abraham Lincoln]**

Abraham Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1809, in a log cabin in Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky to Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Abraham had an older sister, Sarah, and a younger brother, Thomas, who died in infancy. In 1816 the Lincolns moved to Indiana. In 1830 the Lincolns left Indiana for Illinois.

Lincoln ran unsuccessfully for the Illinois legislature in 1832. Two years later he was elected to the lower house for the first of four successive terms (until 1841) as a Whig. As a Whig, Lincoln supported the Second Bank of the United States, the Illinois State Bank.

Encouraged by Whig legislator John Todd Stuart, Lincoln became a lawyer in 1836, and in 1837 he moved to Springfield, where he became Stuart's law partner. As a lawyer he and his partners had appeared in the supreme court over 400 times. He courted and married Mary Todd. They had four sons: Robert Todd, Edward Baker, William Wallace, and Thomas "Tad", Mary Todd Lincoln was a Presbyterian, but her husband was never a church member.

Abraham Lincoln was the president of our country from 1861-1865. During this time he was fighting against the issue of slavery. Just before he was elected, South Carolina and six of the southern states (later a total of 11 had dropped out) seceded from the union, and had already formed the confederate states. For this Lincoln wrote the Inaugural Address. This, Lincoln hoped, would convince people that the Union could not be broken. He wanted a peaceful solution, but was ready to fight rather than seeing the nation divided permanently. However, on April 12 southerners opened fire and the war began. This war was known as the Civil War. The war lasted from 1860-1865, and was the bloodiest war in the History of the United States. When the war was over, all was not yet well. Everything had been destroyed, and needed rebuilding.

Abraham Lincoln guided his country through the most devastating experience in its national history--the CIVIL WAR. He is considered by many historians to have been the greatest American president. He died in April 15 1865, he had been assassinated.

Ulysses S. Grant or his real name at birth, Hiram Ulysses Grant was born April 27, 1822. He was the eighteenth President of the United States and an American General serving from 1869-1877. Because of his great campaign, he secured control over the Mississippi and turned the Civil War in more favor of the Northern States. When he was the general of the federal armies he aimed attacks on the Southern States in order to impede them on carrying on the war.
 * [|Ulysses S. Grant]**

Some interesting facts about grant were that he was elected as a Republican. And he served for a full two terms. Andrew Jackson was the last person to do this before Grant. He also stopped some violence in the [|Ku Klux Klan.] He was a great man with many accomplishments.


 * [|James A. Garfield]**

James A. Garfield. The 20th president of the United States serving from March 1881 to September 1881. He was born on November 19, 1831. He lived in Ohio and did farm work. He was also the last president to be born in a log cabin. When James was two years, old his father died so he lived the rest of his life with a single parent.

Education: Garfield was a disciple of Christ. That’s where he got the majority of his teaching. Garfield's speaking experience came from being a lay preacher. He had two years of college at Williams College and graduated with Honors.  Life: On November 11, 1858, Garfield married Lucretia Rudolph. They had five sons and two daughters. In 1859, Garfield ran as a Republican for the Ohio state senate. In 1861, Garfield became a lawyer. Later in 1861, the Civil War started and Garfield was enrolled in the military. His military services ended when he was elected into the House of Representatives. In 1880 he became part of the Senate. He was inaugurated in 1881.


 * [|Chester A. Arthur]**

[|Chester A. Arthur]succeeded President Garfield after he died from a fatal gunshot. He served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. Chester was the son of an Irish preacher by the name of William Arthur. His mother was Malvina Stone. He was born in Fairfield, Vermont in 1829. He eventually moved with his family to New York where he lived during most of his childhood. Chester went to the Union College in New York. He eventually became the official of principal at a school called North Pownal Academy. He studied law and became a professional lawyer, which could have been used much to his advantage during the election. He married Ellen Lewis Herndon. They had a son William Lewis Herndon Arthur. Before Arthur was appointed president, his wife died of pneumonia.

Arthur was chosen for political reasons, but when in office, refused to allow Stalwarts take over the government offices and “supported civil service reform.” He signed an act called the Pendleton Act, which stated that government jobs could only be filled by certain tests and “competitive examinations.” This act was signed in 1833.


 * [|Grover Cleveland]**

Grover Cleveland was born on March 18, 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey. He was born the son of a Presbyterian minister. His father was Richard Falley Cleveland, and his mother's name was Ann Neal. Cleveland also, like Chester Arthur, moved to New York. He spent a sum of his life in Fayetteville, New York. He then became a student at Fayetteville Academy. Also alike to Arthur, he became admitted as a professional lawyer. His jobs included a respected sheriff as well as the Mayor of Buffalo and New York.

In 1884, the democratic candidate was Grover Cleveland, who was elected the 22nd (serving from 1885-1889) and 24th president (serving from 1893-1897). This was the first election since 1856 that the Democrats had returned into power. Cleveland brought many changes to the country. Ge reduced the purchasing of millions of acres of land and brought it back under the government control. Also, he approached the issue of lowering the tariffs set on goods, and signed the Interstate Commerce Act. This supported the reproduction of railroads for transportation. He also passed the Hatch Act which allowed the national government to have and extra sum of money to support farmers. Despite these supportative changes, he was criticized by both parties. Some believed he was using the system of "government regulation" to often or that he was becoming too liberal. In his first term, he was rejected by many and deserted by many citizens. They turned against him; successfully passing Acts and Tariffs which they knew he would never agree to. During his second term, he sent a specified representative to the new-found island of Hawaii. He wanted to make a compromise with Hawaii to become part of the United States, but they refused.

Despite Grover's first rejections during his first term, he definitely proved to be a unique and proffessional president. In fact, he was begged by many to accept a third term, but he gently declined, seeing that his age and health were not stellar.

William McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio, by the date of January 29, 1843. He had eight brothers and sisters. Unlike other presidents, William remained in one main home country; Ohio. Eventually he became known as the "Idol of Ohio." He was a Methodist and married Ida Saxton. His two children were named Ida and Katherine, but neither survived. He also joined the Union and helped fight off smaller Confederate troops. He studied at Allegheny College. William and Nacy McKinley were his parents. He attended Albany Law School in NY, and was admitted as a proffesional lawyer.Later on he became a Republican choice for the House of Representatives. He also became the governor of Ohio.
 * [|William McKinley]**

[|William McKinlely] was the Republican choice for president in 1896. He was the 25th president of the United States serving from 1897 to 1901. During his term, he helped improve the economy. Agricultural failure in the European countries concluded in farm prices rising, and gold was found (in Alaska). Also, the fight over the Philippines started with McKinley's decision to include it in the United States. He agreed with the Republican party to raise the tariff. He made some effort into diminishing the mistreatment of African-American raced people. He was assassinated by Seon Czolgosz.

**[|Theodore Roosevelt]**

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.was born October 26, 1858 in New York, New York. He was also known as T.R., and to the public (but never to friends and intimates) as Teddy and was the twenty-sixth President of the United States and served from 1901-1909. He became President of the United States at the age of 42.

He served in many roles including [|Governor of New York], historian, naturalist, explorer, author, and soldier. He is most famous for his personality: his energy, his vast range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" persona. He went to Harvard College and graduated in 1880, with a degree in well being a lawyer. His was also an author. He wrote a few books called, The Winning of the West, America and the World War, and more (these books were written after he was in office) On October 27, 1880 right after he got out of college he got married to Alice Hathaway Lee.

Throughout childhood Edith and "Teedie" had a special relationship. She was often Theodore's companion for summer outings at Oyster Bay, Long Island, though not by any means his only female companion. She was afterall three years his junior. But it was the name "Edith" that Theodore painted on the transom of his little rowboat the summer he was 16 and she a mere 13!

Some of Theodore's [|children] and where they died were Theodore Roosevelt, JR., born. September 13, 1887, Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, Long Island; died. July 12, 1944, Normandy, France. Kermit Roosevelt, Born. October 10, 1889, Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York; died. June 4, 1943, Fort Richardson, Alaska. Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, born. April 9, 1894, Washington, DC; died. October 13, 1979, Palm Springs/Hobe Sound, Florida. Quentin Roosevelt, born. November 19, 1897, Washington, DC; died. July 14, 1918, Cambrai, France**.**

The marriage only lasted till 1884 because of the death of Alice. On December 2,1886 Roosevelt got married again to Edith Kermit Carow she was the first lady in the White House. Between the two wives there was 6 children. Roosevelt became president in 1901 and served till 1909. He belonged to the Republican party when he served his term in office. Roosevelt lead the nation from the Civil War to the turn of twenties. He expanded the nation’s power of the executive office while he was in office. The cause of his death was because of his son’s death. It left him very sad and put him into depression. He died less than a year after his son’s death on January 6, 1919 in Oyster Bay, New York.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30th, 1882 and lived until April 12th, 1945. He married Eleanor Roosevelt. The two of them were already cousins before they were married. He was preceded by Herbert Hoover, but then elected the 32nd President of the United States of America on March 4th, 1933. He is the only President in history to serve more than two terms. In fact, he served for four (March 4th, 1933 – April 12th, 1945). This caused politics to create the Fifth Party System.
 * [|Franklin D. Roosevelt]**

One of the many reasons why he was voted President four times was because he knew how to take care of everyone during the Great Depression. He provided relief for people without jobs and the rest of the economy by creating the New Deal. He also made the Social Security System. Also, because he was President during a time of war during World War II, the people wanted to reelect the same president so they wouldn't have to go under the pressure of switching presidents.

During World War II, he provided key strategies to counter attack against the [|Nazis]. The Americans would eventually win the war. Roosevelt died on April 12th, 1945, at the beginning of his fourth term of office. He was 63 when he passed.

Dwight David Eisenhower was the United States 34th president. He was a Republican; he was born in October 14, 1890, Denison, Texas. He was married to a women named Mary Geneva Doud. She was born in Boone, Iowa November 14, 1869. Mary Geneva Doud died in Water Reed Army Hospital, Washington, DC on October 31, 1979. Dwight won the election of 1953 he was not re-elected for president in 1961. He died March 28, 1969, Washington, D.C. and was buried in Abilene, Kansas. His term of office was 1953-1961.
 * [|Dwight Eisenhower]**

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the 35th president. He was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29, 1917. He was a graduate from Harvard. He also went into the navy. In 1943 his boat was hit and sunk by the Japanese destroyers. Despite his major injuries, Kennedy led the survivors through the water to safety to the shore. In 1953 he married Jacqueline Bouvier in September.
 * [|John F. Kennedy]**


 * __During his Presidency__**

John F Kennedy was the youngest man to run for office. He was also the youngest to die. One of the major things that Kennedy had to face was the civil rights movement. When Kennedy was [|killed] in Dallas, Texas at 12:30 on November 21,1963, he left behind a lot of work for his vice president his vice president had to handle the federal aid to education and Medicare. All of those thing remain held up in Congress. He left all of these things to President Johnson. Johnson worked all these things through the more complainative congress of 1964 and 1965.

Lyndon Johnson was the thirty-sixth president serving from 1963 to 1969.
 * [|Lyndon Johnson]**

born near Johnson City, Texas on August 27, 1908. His father was Sam Ealy Johnson. He was the oldest out of his siblings. His mother was Rebekah Baines Johnson. His father was a farmer and served five terms in the legislature of Texas. His mother was very serious about education. Johnson went to a public school like most kids, and got his B.S. from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos. H then taught grade school for a year and then he moved to Washington. In November 17, 1934 he married Claudia Taylor, also known as “Lady Bird”. They had two daughters Luci Baines who was born in 1947, and Lynda Bird who was born in 1944.

Richard Nixon was the thirty-seventh President of the United States serving from 1969 to 1974.
 * [|Richard Nixon]**

He was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. His mother was Hannah Nixon and his father was Francis F., Richard had four brothers. In high school he was a debater, and he went to Duke University of Law in North Carolina he graduated third in his class of 1937. He became a lawyer and then after five years he joined the navy in 1946. Nixon was a air transport officer in the Pacific Ocean. IN 1960 Nixon race for president but Kennedy beat him, but in 1968 he won the presidential election.

Gerald Rudolph Ford was a very inspiring president. He started serving our country in 1974 as the 38th president. But even before he was president, he served for eight years in the position of the Republican Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. Gerald Ford is from Grand Rapids Michigan. People even named the Grand Rapids airport after him.
 * __[|Gerald Ford]__**

He was elected to Congress in 1948. An interesting fact about him was that he was the first person to be appointed to be the Vice President under the 25th amendment. He also became president because the president at that time was Richard Nixon and he resigned. For a person to be president is a great honor. But for a person to be president but not elected and serve for three years is a great accomplishment. In doing so this made him a great person.

When he was president he started to make a closer move towards the [|Cold War]. One of his decisions, which made an effect today, was granting presidential pardon to Richard Nixon for partaking in the [|Watergate scandal]. Ford was an event-impacting president but was defeated by the democrat Jimmy Carter in 1777.


 * Jimmy Carter**

[|Jimmy Carter], the 39th President of the United States was born on October 1st, 1924 in Plains, Georgia. Before he was elected President in 1977, he served in the Georgia Senate and was the Governor of Georgia. He attended colleges such as the United States Naval Academy and Georgia Tech University.

During his presidency, he had many problems to deal with. Some of those include: fuel shortages, holding of hostages in Iran (which also included a failed rescue attempt), and an invasion in Afghanistan. The Department of Energy and the Department of Education were created during his administration. It was very difficult for him to establish reasonable fuel prices and was unsuccessful at relying on American, not foreign fuels. During his 4th year, he could not rescue the Americans being held hostage in Iran; which made him very unpopular.

After his presidency, he wrote 27 books and was a member of the Habitat for Humanity program. He also created groups to help global health and human rights. He also settled peace negotiations with foreign countries. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and served from 1981 to 1989.
 * [|Ronald Reagan]**

To some, they think that Ronald Reagan was one of the greatest presidents that the United States has ever had. But, that is only opinion. I think, from what I have heard and read, that he was a great president.

Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. He went to high school, and then moved onto Eureka College. He spent his time studying economics and sociology. He also played for his college’s football team and was apart of their drama productions. Finally, his hard work in his extra-curricular activities and sports paid off, and he became a radio sports announcer, and acted in 53 films, starting in the year of 1937. [|Click here]

He then started a family, and had two kids with his first wife and actor, [|Jane Wyman]. Unfortunately, she died in 2001. In 1952 he got married to his second wife, [|Nancy Davis] who was also an actress, and they also had two children together.

He became president of the Screen Actors guild, but seemed to have arguments about some of the political views that were in some of the movies that he took part in. He was also a television host and toured the country. He then was elected twice to be the governor of California in 1966-1970.

He finally ran for president after all his other accomplishments. He ran as Republican president, and won in 1980 against President Jimmy Carter. He got a totally of 489 electoral votes, when Jimmy Carter only got 49. Just to refresh out memories, a president needs 270 or more electoral votes to get voted into office. That number is just one over half of the 538 total electoral votes in the electoral college.

He took office in 1981, and not long after he took office was he shot by an assassin. Thankfully, he quickly recovered, and by doing that, his popularity among the people went up. Unfortunately, he died in 2006. He had Alzheimer’s.

George Herbert Walker Bush was born on June 12, 1924. He was raised in Massachusetts, but later moved to Greenwich, Connecticut. There, he was educated at the Greenwich Country Day School. He went to college at Yale University and played baseball there. He was the captain of the team and he lead the team to the first College World Series.
 * [|George H.W. Bush]**

In December of 1944, Bush married [|Barbara Pierce], and was blessed with six children: George Herbert Walker Bush, Pauline Robinson Bush, John Ellis Bush, Neil Mallon Bush, Marvin Bush, Dorothy Bush. He was accepted into the U.S. Military on his 18th Birthday.

He was the Vice President for [|Ronald Reagan].

George H.W. Bush was the forty-first President of the U.S. He served as President from 1989 until 1993. He chose J. Danforth Quayle. Many people questioned his ability to run for Vice President. In fact, [|Richard Nixon] announced to the public that Quayle was no "mental midget".

With Bush's success in the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the Persian Gulf War made him a strong candidate for reelection. However, many Americans were dissatisfied with how he handled things. This is where Bill Clinton made his "move".
 * [|Bill Clinton]**

Bill Clinton gradually pulled ahead in the election of 1992. His strategy was to bring down Bush, so he could pull ahead. His strategy was very well put together. He accused Bush's administration for ignoring hardships that the economic recession had placed on poor, homeless, and middle-class Americans. He also accused the Reagan-Bush economic program for helping only rich people get richer. He wanted to bring more rights to African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, women, and physical challenged people. He told America that the Republican party was insensitive to the needs and desires of the "lower-class" Americans. He promised that the Democratic administration would give all those "lower-class" Americans their Constitutional rights that they deserve.

On November 3, 1992, Bill Clinton was elected the 42nd President of the United States. Although he had less than one half of the popular vote, he won the vote in the electoral college. He chose the Tennessee Senator Al Gore for his Vice-President. Clinton who was 46 and Gore who was 44, symbolized the "baby boom" generation for many Americans. (The baby boom was the name for this generation. Every generation has its own specific name.)

The results of the this presidential election lead to some voting trends. Bill Clinton brought back a number of voting blocs (groups of people with common interests), that old President had left behind. He held on to most of the black vote. He also, brought back some Democrats that had turned their vote to Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984.

George W. Bush is the forty-third president of the United States for the republican party. He took office on January 20, 2000 and is still in office. His Vice President during both of his terms was [|Dick Cheney]. Before he was the president, he was also the 46th governor of Texas and he served from January 17, 1995 to December 21, 2000.
 * [|George W. Bush]**

He was born on January 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut. He grew up with three brothers and two sisters: Marvin, Neil, and Jed, Dorothy and Robin. Robin died at the age of three with leukemia. His father is George H.W. Bush, who was a former president, and his mother is Barbara Bush.

He attended Phillips Academy in Massachusetts. There, he played baseball, and his senior year he was the head cheerleader. He attended Yale University in his father’s footsteps. He got his master’s degree in history in 1968.

Also, in the year of 1968, George W. Bush was accepted into the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.

After college, Bush worked for his family’s oil businesses. During this time, he was introduced to Laura Walsh, a schoolteacher and librarian. They got married and settled in Midland, Texas. Bush and his family moved to Washington, D.C., to work on his father’s campaign for the U.S. President. His father won the election of 1989.

In 1978, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives. He later, “co-owned” the Texas Ranger baseball team before he ran for Governor of Texas.


 * Presidents ||  ||   || Political Party ||
 * George Washington ||  ||   || None ||
 * John Adams ||  ||   || Federalist ||
 * Thomas Jefferson ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * James Madison ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * James Monroe ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * John Quincy Adams ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Andrew Jackson ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * Martin Van Buren ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * William Harrison ||  ||   || Whig ||
 * John Tyler ||  ||   || Whig ||
 * James K. Polk ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * Zachary Taylor ||  ||   || Whig ||
 * Millard Filmore ||  ||   || Whig ||
 * Franklin Peirce ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * James Buchanan ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Abraham Lincoln ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Andrew Johnson ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * Ulysses S. Grant ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Rutherford B. Hayes ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * James A. Garfield ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Chester A. Arthur ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Grover Cleveland ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * William McKinley ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Theodore Roosevelt ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * William H. Taft ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Woodrow Wilson ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * Warren G. Harding ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Calvin Coolidge ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Herbert Hoover ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Franklin D. Roosevelt ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * Harry Truman ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * Dwight Eisenhower ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * John F. Kennedy ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * Lyndon Johnson ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * Richard Nixon ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Gerald Ford ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Jimmy Carter ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * Ronald Reagan ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * George H. W. Bush ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * Bill Clinton ||  ||   || Democrat ||
 * George W. Bush ||  ||   || Republican ||
 * George W. Bush ||  ||   || Republican ||