Reference Library

George Washington commanded the Continental Army through the Revolutionary War and was unanimously chosen as the first President under the Constitution.

John Adams was a leading revolutionary lawyer, the principal advocate for independence in the Continental Congress, and a diplomat who helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris.

Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence and served as the third President, completing the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and doubling the nation's territory.

James Madison, the 'Father of the Constitution,' was the principal architect of the Virginia Plan, a co-author of The Federalist Papers, and the drafter of the Bill of Rights.

James Monroe was the last of the Revolutionary generation to serve as President, and his two terms were marked by the 'Era of Good Feelings' of diminished party conflict.

John Quincy Adams, son of the second President, was a diplomat, senator, and Secretary of State who shaped the Monroe Doctrine and negotiated the Adams–Onís Treaty.

Andrew Jackson rose from frontier poverty to military fame at the Battle of New Orleans and became the seventh President as a self-styled champion of the common man.

Martin Van Buren organized the modern Democratic Party machine in New York and served as Jackson's Vice President before winning the presidency in 1836.

William Henry Harrison was a career soldier and hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe who won the presidency in 1840 with the slogan 'Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.' He delivered the longest inaugural address in American history in cold, rainy weather and died of pneumonia just thirty-one days later, becoming the first President to die in office.

John Tyler became the first Vice President elevated by the death of a President, and he insisted that he was President in full rather than merely acting.

James K.

Zachary Taylor was a career Army officer who won the presidency as a Whig in 1848 after victories at Palo Alto, Monterrey, and Buena Vista in the Mexican–American War.

Millard Fillmore succeeded Zachary Taylor and signed the Compromise of 1850, a package of laws that admitted California as a free state, organized Utah and New Mexico territories, and included the Fugitive Slave Act.

Franklin Pierce was a Northern Democrat whose presidency was consumed by the slavery crisis.

James Buchanan was the only bachelor President and the last president before the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union through the Civil War, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and secured passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery.

Andrew Johnson became the seventeenth President after Lincoln's assassination and was the first to be impeached.

Ulysses S.

Rutherford B.

James A.

Chester A.

Grover Cleveland is the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms, making him both the 22nd and 24th President.

Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison, was a Indiana senator and Union brigadier general who signed the Sherman Antitrust Act, the first federal law against monopolies.

William McKinley led the United States into empire through the Spanish–American War and annexed Hawaii.

Theodore Roosevelt became the youngest President in American history after McKinley's assassination and reshaped the modern presidency.

William Howard Taft was Theodore Roosevelt's chosen successor, a former judge who preferred the judiciary to the presidency.

Woodrow Wilson was a Princeton political scientist and Progressive governor of New Jersey who led the United States through World War I and championed the League of Nations.

Warren G.

Calvin Coolidge, 'Silent Cal,' was a laconic New Englander who became President upon Harding's death and won election in his own right in 1924.

Herbert Hoover was a brilliant mining engineer and humanitarian whose presidency was overwhelmed by the Great Depression, which began seven months after his inauguration.

Franklin D.

Harry S.

Dwight D.

John F.

Lyndon B.

Richard Nixon opened relations with Communist China, signed arms limitation treaties, and created the Environmental Protection Agency and OSHA.

Gerald Ford was the only President never elected to national office, assuming the presidency under the 25th Amendment after Nixon's resignation and choosing Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President.

Jimmy Carter was a Georgia peanut farmer and naval officer whose one-term presidency delivered the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, normalized relations with China, and returned the Panama Canal to Panama.

Ronald Reagan was a former Hollywood actor and two-term governor of California who reshaped the Republican Party and American politics.

George H.

Bill Clinton was a two-term Democrat whose 'Third Way' politics produced four consecutive federal budget surpluses, welfare reform, and the Family and Medical Leave Act.

George W.

Barack Obama was the first Black President and a two-term Democrat whose signature achievement was the Affordable Care Act, extending health coverage to tens of millions.

Donald Trump was the first President elected to non-consecutive terms since Grover Cleveland and the only President twice impeached by the House.

Joe Biden was the oldest person ever inaugurated as President and a veteran Delaware senator who served as Vice President under Barack Obama.