US Presidents George Washington to Present Flashcards
1st President
George Washington (no party). 1789-1797 (2 terms). Vice President: John Adams. Opponents: 1789: John Adams (no party). 1792: George Clinton (Democratic-Republican).
2nd President
John Adams (Federalist).
1797-1801 (1 term).
Vice President: Thomas Jefferson.
Opponent: Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican).
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were the last surviving members of the original signers of The Declaration of Independence when, on July 4th, 1826 they both passed away within hours of each other. July 4th, 1826 was also the 50th Anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence. James Monroe also died on July 4th (in 1831). And, Calvin Coolidge (John Calvin Coolidge Jr.), the 30th President was born on July 4th (in 1872).
John Adams was the first President to live in the White House - he and his wife Abigail moved into a cold, damp White House in November of 1800. Abigail hung the laundry up to dry in the East Room because she thought it would be bad manners to hang the President’s laundry outside.
3rd President
Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican).
1801-1809 (2 terms).
Vice Presidents:
1801-1805: Aaron Burr Jr.
1805-1809: George Clinton.
Opponents:
1800: John Adams (Federalist), incumbent.
1804: Charles Cotesworth (“C.C.”) Pinckney (Federalist).
Thomas Jefferson was considered to be the primary author of The Declaration of Independence.
4th President
James Madison Jr. (Democratic-Republican).
1809-1817 (2 terms).
Vice Presidents:
1809-1812: George Clinton (died in office on 04-20-1812).
1813-1814: Elbridge Gerry (died in office on 11-23-1814).
Opponents:
1808: Charles Cotesworth (“C.C.”) Pinckney (Federalist).
1812: DeWitt Clinton (Democratic-Republican/Federalist). While commonly labeled as the Federalist candidate, Clinton technically ran as a Democratic-Republican and was not nominated by the Federalist Party itself - the Federalist Party simply decided not to field a candidate. This did not prevent endorsements from state Federalist parties (such as Pennsylvania), but Clinton received the endorsement from the New York State Democratic-Republicans as well.
James Madison was known as “The Father of the Constitution”.
5th President
James Monroe (Democratic-Republican). 1817-1825 (2 terms). Vice President: Daniel D. Tompkins. Opponents: 1816: Rufus King (Federalist). 1820: Effectively uncontested (ran for President unopposed, the only one other than Washington to do so. A single elector from New Hampshire, William Plumer, cast a vote for John Quincy Adams, preventing a unanimous vote in the Electoral College).
6th President
John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican).
1825-1829 (1 term).
Vice President: John Caldwell Calhoun.
Opponent: Andrew Jackson (Democratic-Republican), William Harris Crawford (Democratic-Republican, Crawford faction), and Henry Clay Sr. (Democratic-Republican Clay faction). The United States presidential election of 1824 was the tenth quadrennial presidential election, held from Tuesday, October 26, to Thursday, December 2, 1824. In an election contested by four members of the Democratic-Republican Party, no candidate won a majority of the electoral vote, necessitating a contingent election in the House of Representatives under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution. On February 9, 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams as president. The 1824 presidential election was the first election in which the winner of the election lost the popular vote.
John Quincy Adams was the son of John and Abigail Adams.
After his service as President John Quincy Adams also served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 1831 to 1848.
7th President
Andrew Jackson (Democratic). 1829-1837 (2 terms). Vice Presidents: 1829-1832: John Caldwell Calhoun (resigned from office on 12-28-1832). 1833-1837: Martin Van Buren. Opponents: 1828: John Quincy Adams (National Republican), incumbent. 1832: Henry Clay (National Republican).
8th President
Martin Van Buren (Democratic).
1837-1841 (1 term).
Vice President: Richard Mentor Johnson.
Opponent: William Henry Harrison (Whig).
He was the last person elected as President who was previously a Vice President until Richard Milhous Nixon (George Herbert Walker Bush was also a Vice President who was then elected as President). John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were also VPs who were then elected as President (these were before the 12th Amendment).
9th President
William Henry Harrison (Whig).
1841 (died in office on April 4th, 1841 just 31 days into his term, the shortest Presidency in U.S. history).
Vice President: John Tyler.
Opponent: Martin Van Buren (Democratic), incumbent.
Harrison is the first of four Presidents who died of natural causes while in office - the other three are Zachary Taylor (1850), Warren Gamaliel Harding (1923), and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1945).
10th President
John Tyler (Whig until 09-13-1841, then Unaffiliated - he was expelled from the party).
1841-1845 (1 term - succeeded to Presidency after the death of William Henry Harrison on April 4th, 1841, just 31 days into his term).
Vice President: Office vacant.
Opponent: None (he did not run for President, but ascended to the Office after the death of Harrison).
He was the first Vice President to succeed to the Presidency without election.
11th President
James Knox Polk (Democratic).
1845-1849 (1 term).
Vice President: George Mifflin Dallas.
Opponent: Henry Clay (Whig).
12th President
Zachary Taylor (Whig).
1849-1850 (died in office on July 9th, 1850).
Vice President: Millard Fillmore.
Opponent: Lewis Cass (Democratic), and Martin Van Buren (Free Soil).
Taylor is the second of four Presidents who died of natural causes while in office - the other three are William Henry Harrison (1841), Warren Gamaliel Harding (1923), and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1945).
13th President
Millard Fillmore (Whig).
1850-1853 (1 term - succeeded to the Presidency after the death of Zachary Taylor on July 9th, 1850).
Vice President: Office vacant.
Opponent: None (he did not run for President, but ascended to the Office after the death of Taylor).
14th President
Franklin Pierce (Democratic).
1853-1857 (1 term).
Vice President: March 4th, 1853 until April 18th, 1853 it was William Rufus DeVane King (he died in office on 04-18-1853), after that the Office was vacant.
Opponent: Winfield Scott (Whig), and John Parker Hale (Free Soil).
15th President
James Buchanan (Democratic).
1857-1861 (1 term).
Vice President: John Cabell Breckinridge.
Opponent: John Charles Fremont (Republican). In 1856 John C. Fremont was the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. He was born in Savannah, Georgia on January 21st, 1813. Another opponent was Millard Fillmore (with the American Party - which originated in 1844 as the Native American Party but was renamed to The American Party in 1855, and it was commonly referred to as the Know Nothing movement).
James Buchanan was the only President not to be married while President (he remained single his entire life). Grover Cleveland was not married when he was elected as President, but married while he was President (he married Frances Folsom, who was 21, he was 49, on June 2nd, 1886).
16th President
Abraham Lincoln (Republican).
1861-1865 (2 terms, died in Office during his 2nd term on April 15th, 1865 - he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on Good Friday April 14th, 1865).
Vice Presidents:
1861-1865: Hannibal Hamlin (Republican).
March 4th to April 15th, 1865: Andrew Johnson (Democratic).
Opponent:
1860: John Cabell Breckinridge (Democratic - Southern), John Bell (Constitutional Union), and Stephen Arnold Douglas (Democratic - Northern).
1864: George Brinton McClellan (Democratic).
Abraham Lincoln is the first of four Presidents who were assassinated (all of them by gunshot), the other three were James Abram Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901), and John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1963).
17th President
Andrew Johnson (Democratic).
1865-1869 (1 term - succeeded to the Presidency after the death of Abraham Lincoln on April 15th, 1865).
Vice President: Office vacant.
Opponent: None (he did not run for President, he ascended to the Office after the death of Lincoln).
On March 2-3, 1868 The U.S. House of Representatives approved articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson, but on May 16th the Senate failed to convict Johnson on one of the articles, with the 35-19 vote in favor of conviction falling short of the necessary two-thirds majority by a single vote.
Johnson is one of only three Presidents against whom articles of impeachment have been reported to the full House for consideration. In 1974 it was Richard Milhous Nixon who resigned from office, rather than face certain impeachment and the prospect of being convicted at trial and removed from office. In 1999 Bill Clinton was impeached - he, like Johnson was acquitted from all charges following a Senate trial.
After his service as President Andrew Johnson also served as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee from March 4th, 1875 until July 31st, 1875 (he died on July 31st, 1875).
18th President
Ulysses Simpson Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant) (Republican).
1869-1877 (2 terms).
Vice Presidents:
1869-1873: Schuyler Colfax.
1873-1875: Henry Wilson (he died in office on 11-22-1875), after that the Office was vacant.
Opponents:
1868: Horatio Seymour (Democratic).
1872: Horace Greeley (Liberal Republican).
19th President
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (Republican).
1877-1881 (1 term).
Vice President: William Almon Wheeler.
Opponent: Samuel Jones Tilden (Democratic).
20th President
James Abram Garfield (Republican).
1881-1881 (1 term, died in Office during his 1st term on September 19th, 1881 - he was assassinated by Charles Julius Guiteau on July 2nd, 1881).
Vice President: Chester Alan Arthur.
Opponent: Winfield Scott Hancock (Democratic).
James Abram Garfield is the second of four Presidents who were assassinated (all of them by gunshot), the other three were Abraham Lincoln (1865), William McKinley (1901), and John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1963).
