Presidential Reviews
1. George Washington- No Party- Term (1789-1797)
Vice President- John Adams
Highlights1789: Judiciary Act; Tariff of 1789
1791: Bill of Rights ratified; National Bank established
1793: French Revolution
1794: Whiskey Rebellion; Battle of Fallen Timbers
1795: Pickney’s Treaty; Jay’s Treaty; Proclamation of Neutrality; Farewell
Address
2. John Adams- Federalists- Term (1797-1801)
Vice President- Thomas Jefferson
Highlights1798: XYZ Affair; Alien & Sedition Acts; Naturalization Act; Kentucky &
Virginia Resolution
1800: Federal Government moves to Washington D.C.
1801: John Marshall named Chief Justice; Midnight Judges
3. Thomas Jefferson- Democratic-Republican- Term (1801-1809)
Vice President- Aaron Burr (1801-1805), George Clinton (1805-1809)
Highlights1803: Louisiana Purchase; Marbury v. Madison
1804: Non Intercourse Act; 12th Amendment
1804-1806: Lewis and Clark Expedition
1807: Chesapeake incident; Embargo Act
4. James Madison- Democratic-Republican- Term (1809-1817)
Vice President- George Clinton (D. 1812);Elbridge Gerry (1813-D. 1814)
Highlights1811: Battle of Tippecanoe
1812: War of 1812
1814: Hartford Convention
1816: Second Bank of US chartered; First protective tariff
1810: Macon’s Bill Number 2; Berlin and Milan Degrees; Orders in Council
War Hawks
5. James Monroe- Democratic-Republican- Term (1817-1825)
Vice President- Daniel D. Tompkins
Highlights1819: Florida purchased from Spain; McCulloch vs. Maryland; Dartmouth
College vs. Woodward
1820: Missouri Compromise
1823: Monroe Doctrine Proclaimed
1824: Gibbons v. Ogden; Sectional Tariff; Favorite sons election- Jackson,
Adams, Crawford, and Clay
6. John Q. Adams- Democratic-Republican- Term (1825-1829)
Vice President- John C. Calhoun
Highlights1825: Erie Canal
1828: “Tariff of Abomination” enacted; Calhoun’s exposition and protest
7. Andrew Jackson- Democrat- Term (1829-1837)
Vice President- John C. Calhoun (1829 Resigned in 1832); Martin Van Buren (1833-1837)
Highlights1830: Hayne-Webster debate; Indian Removal Act
1831: Nat Turner leads slave revolt
1832: Second bank of the US; Tariff of 1832; Formation of the Whig Party
1833: Tariff of 1833
8. Martin Van Buren- Democrat- Term (1837-1841)
Vice President- Richard M. Johnson
Highlights1837: Panic of 1837 begins depression
1838: Cherokees endure Trail of Tears
9. William H. Harrison- Whig- Term (1841)
Vice President- John Tyler
Highlights- Longest inaugural address got sick and died 31 days later
10. John Tyler- Whig- Term (1841-1845)
Vice President- None
Highlights1842: Webster-Ashburton Treaty
1845: Annexation of Texas approved
1845: March 3- The last day of his term Congress was finally able for the
first time over-ride a presidential veto; Veto Bank of US; Canadian border
45 parallel
11. James K. Polk- Democrat- Term (1845-1849)
Vice President- George M. Dallas
Highlights1846: Oregon Boundary Settlement; Mexican War; Wilmot Proviso
1848: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; Seneca Falls Women’s Rights
Convention
12. Zachary Taylor- Whig- Term (1849-1850)
Vice President- Millard Filmore
Highlights1849: California Gold Rush
1850: Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
13. Millard Fillmore- Whig- Term (1850-1853)
Vice President- None
Highlights1850: Great Compromise
1852: Matthew Perry sent to open trade negotiations with Japan; Uncle
Tom’s Cabin
14. Franklin Pierce- Democrat- Term (1853-1857)
Vice President- William R. King
Highlights1853: Gadsden Purchase; Japan opened to World Trade
1854: Kansas- Nebraska Act
15. James Buchanan- Democrat- Term (1857-1861)
Vice President- John C. Breckinridge
Highlights1857: Dred Scott Decision
1858: Lincoln Douglass debates
1859: John Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry
1861: Confederate States of America formed
16. Abraham Lincoln- Republican- Term (1861-1865)
Vice President- Hannibal Hamlin (1861-1865); Andrew Johnson (1865)
Highlights1861: Civil War begins
1862: Homestead Act; Morill Land Grant Act
1863: Emancipation Proclamation; Battle of Gettysburg
1865: Lee surrenders at Appomattox; Lincoln’s assassination
17. Andrew Johnson- Democrat- Term (1865-1869)
Vice President- None
Highlights1865: Thirteenth Amendment ratified
1867: Alaska purchased from Russia, Reconstruction Act; Tenure of Office
Act
1868: Fourteenth Amendment ratified; Impeachment trial, formation of
the KKK; Adoption of the Black Codes; Fifteenth Amendment ratified
18.Ulysses S. Grant- Republican- Term (1869-1877)
Vice President- Schuyler Colfax (1869-1873); Henry Wilson (1873-1875)
Highlights1869: Transcontinental railroad completed
1872: Credit Moblier Scandal
1873: Panic of 1873 begins depression
1876: Custer’s last stand; Tweed Ring-Whiskey Ring
19. Rutherford B. Hayes- Republican- Term (1877-1881)
Vice President- William A. Wheeler
Highlights1877: First nationwide railroad strike
1878: Bland-Allison Act; Troops withdrawn from the South
20. James A. Garfield- Republican- Term (1881)
Vice President- Chester A. Arthur
Highlights- Shot by a disappointed office seeker (Died six months after inauguration)
21. Chester A. Arthur- Republican- Term (1881-1885)
Vice President- None
Highlights1882: Chinese Exclusion Act
1883: Pendleton Act
22. Grover Cleveland- Democrat- Term (1885-1889)
Vice President- Thomas A. Hendricks
Highlights1886: Haymarket Riot; Knights of Labor; Washburn v. Illinois; Interstate
commerce
1887: Dawes Act
23. Benjamin Harrison- Republican- Term (1889-1893)
Vice President- Morton
Highlights1889: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington become
states
1890: Sherman Anti-Trust Act; Idaho and Wyoming become states;
McKinley Tariff
1892: Populist Party Platform
24. Grover Cleveland- Democrat- Term (1893-1897)
Vice President- Adlai E. Stevenson (1893-1897)
Highlights1893: Panic of 1893 begins depression; Hawaiian incident
1894: Pullman Strike; Wilson Gorman Tariff Act; Tariff of 1894
1895: Venezuela Boundary Affair
25. William McKinley- Republican- Term (1897-1901)
Vice President- Garret A. Hobart (1897-1899); Theodore Roosevelt (1899-1901)
Highlights1897: Dingley Tariff Act
1898: Spanish-American War; Annexation of Hawaii
1900: Open Door Policy proclaimed; New Imperialism; Boxer Rebellion
1901: McKinley’s Assassination
26. Theodore Roosevelt- Republican- Term (1901-1909)
Vice President- Charles W. Fairbanks
Highlights1899: Hague Conferences
1902: Dominican Republic Crisis; Venezuelan Debt Controversy; Coal
Strike
1904: Panama Canal begun; Square Deal; Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine; Gentleman’s Agreement with Japan; Trust-busting
1905: Treaty of Portsmouth negotiated; Political Reform of Roosevelt’s
Era
27. William H. Taft- Republican- Term (1909-1913)
Vice President- James S. Sherman (1909-1912)
Highlights1909: Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act; Dollar Diplomacy
1913: Sixteenth Amendment ratified; Pinchot-Baliaghner Controversy
28. Woodrow Wilson- Democrat- Term (1913-1921)
Vice President- Thomas R. Marshall
Highlights1913: Federal Reserve Act; Underwood Tariff; Glassower Act; Federal
Reserve System; Seventeenth Amendment; Eighteenth Amendment;
Nineteenth Amendment
1914: Clayton Antitrust Act; Federal Trade Commission; Troops in
Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Virgin Islands, and Mexico
1915: Lusitania; New Freedom
1917: United States in WWI; Fourteen Points
1919: Treaty of Versailles
29. Warren G. Harding- Republican- Term (1921-1923)
Vice President- Calvin Coolidge
Highlights1921: Washington Naval Conference
1922: Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act
30. Calvin Coolidge- Republican- Term (1923-1929)
Vice President- Charles G. Dawes
Highlights1924: Teapot Dome Scandal exposed
1929: Kellog-Briand Pact
31. Herbert C. Hoover- Republican- Term (1929-1933)
Vice President- Charles Curtis
Highlights1929: Stock Market Crash; Great Depression begins; National Origins
Immigration Act
1930: Hawley-Smoot Tariff
1932: Reconstruction Finance Corporation Set-Up; Bonus Army march on
D.C.
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt- Democrat- Term (1933-1945)
Vice President- John Nance Garner (1933-1940); Henry G. Wallace (1941-1945); Harry S.
Truman
Highlights1933: New Deal legislation enacted
1935: WPA, Social Security Act
1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor; US enters WWII
1944: Allies invade Europe
33. Harry S. Truman- Democrat- Term (1945-1953)
Vice President- Alben W. Barkley
Highlights1945: Atomic bombs used against Japan; WWII ends
1947: Taft-Hartley Act
1948: Marshall Plan in effect; Berlin Airlift begins
1950: Korean War begins
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower- Republican- Term (1953-1961)
Vice President- Richard M. Nixon
Highlights1953: Korean War begins
1954: Brown v. Board of Education decision
1956: Suez Canal Crisis; Soviet invasion of Hungary
1958: First United States satellite launched
35. John F. Kennedy- Democrat- Term (1961-1963)
Vice President- Lyndon B. Johnson
Highlights1961: Bay of Pigs invasion; Berlin Wall erected
1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
1963: Civil Rights march on Washington; Limited Test Ban Treaty ratified;
Peace Corps; Kennedy assassinated
36. Lyndon B. Johnson- Democrat- Term ( 1963-1969)
Vice President- Hubert Humphrey
Highlights1964: Civil Rights Act of 1964; Tonkin Gulf Resolution; Wesberry vs.
Sanders; Anti-Poverty Act of 1964
1965: Voting Rights of 1965
1968: Tet Offensive in Vietnam; M. L. King and R. Kennedy assassinated
Cold War; Cuban Policy; Income Tax Cut; Elementary & Secondary Ed.,
Medicare; Great Society
37. Richard M. Nixon- Republican- Term (1969-1974)
Vice President- Spiro Agnew (1969-Resigned 1973); Gerald r. Ford (1973-1974)
Highlights1969: US Astronauts land on moon
1972: US recognizes communist China; Watergate break-in; “Imperial
President”; 26th Amendment; Warren Burger Chief Justice; Visit to China
& Russia; Wood-Stock; Salt; EPA Established; Kissinger and Shuttle
Diplomacy
1973: US Troops leave Vietnam; Agnew resigns; Pentagon papers
1974: Nixon resigns
38. Gerald R. Ford- Republican- Term (1974-1977)
Vice President- Nelson Rockefeller
Highlights1974: Ford pardons Richard Nixon
1975: Mayaguez incident; OPEC Crisis
39. James E. Carter- Democrat- Term (1977-1981)
Vice President- Walter Mondale
Highlights1978: Panama Canal Treaties ratified
979: Camp David accords; Iranians seize US hostages; Relations with
communist China; Three-Mile Island; Stagflation (Economic period where
unemployment is up and inflation is also up); Olympic Boycott; Seizure of
Afghanistan by Soviets
40. Ronald Reagan- Republican- Term (1981-1989)
Vice President- George H. Bush
Highlights1981; US Hostages freed in Iran
1982: Falkland Islands Crisis- US supports England
1983: US invades Grenada; 1500 marines sent to Beruit- Withdrawn in
1984
1984: Nicaragua; Sandra Day O’Conner appointed to the Supreme Court
1986: Iran-Contra Affair; “Supply Side Economics”
1987: Iran-Contra Hearings; Oliver Stone
1988: INF Treaty ratified
41. George H. Bush- Republican- Term (1989-1993)
Vice President- J. Danforth Quayle
Highlights1989: Communists lose power in Eastern Europe; Berlin Wall opened
(Reunification of Germany)
1990: US invades Panama; Savings and Loan Scandal
1991: Soviet Union dissolves; US and allies defeat Iraq and liberate
Kuwait
1992: Operation desert shield/storm
42. William J. Clinton- Democrat- Term (1993-2000)
Vice President- Al Gore
Highlights1993: In the first one hundred days of his presidency, Clinton signed a
Family Leave Act; Won Approval of a Deficit-Reduction Bill; And set up a
task force to develop a proposal for sweeping Health Care Reform
43. George W. Bush-Republican-Term (2000-2008)
44. Barack Obama-Democrat-Term (2008-current)