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U.S. Presidents (1779 - 1861)



1789 - April 30 - George Washington (1732–1799) became 1st President of the United States
On April 30, 1789, in a deep, low voice, George Washington gave his first speech as president of the United States. This speech is now known as the first presidential inaugural address. He spoke to a ... Read MORE...
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1797 - March 4 - John Adams (1735-1826) becomes 2nd President of the United States
The presidential election was the first contested election in the United States. When the final tabulation of votes arrived at the senate, ironically it was Adams who opened the envelope as he was... Read MORE...
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1801 - March 4 - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) becomes 3rd President of the United States
On February 17, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected president of the United States, but there was more to it than beating his opponent. When Thomas Jefferson ran for president, he beat his opponent,... Read MORE...
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1809 - March 4 - James Madison (1751-1836) becomes 4th President of the United States
In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson as president, defeating Charles C. Pinckney. His wife, Dolley Payne Todd, whom he married in 1794, brought a new social sparkle to the executive mansion. In the... Read MORE...
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1817 - March 4 - James Monroe (1758-1831) becomes 5th President of the United States
Elected president in 1816 over the Federalist Rufus King, and reelected without opposition in 1820, Monroe, the last of the Virginia dynasty, pursued the course of systematic tranquilization that won ... Read MORE...
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1825 - March 4 - John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) becomes 6th President of the United States
When no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes in 1824, Adams, with the support of Henry Clay, was elected by the House in 1825 over Andrew Jackson, who had the original... Read MORE...
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1829 - March 4 - Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) becomes 7th President of the United States.
As president, Jackson greatly expanded the power and prestige of the presidential office and carried through an unprecedented program of domestic reform, vetoing the bill to extend the United States... Read MORE...
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1837 - March 4 - Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) becomes 8th President of the United States
In 1832, Van Buren became vice president; in 1836, president. The Panic of 1837 overshadowed his term. He attributed it to the overexpansion of the credit and favored the establishment of an... Read MORE...
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1841 - March 4 - William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) becomes 9th President of the United States - dies one month after assuming the office.
Nominated for president in 1835 as a military hero whom the conservative politicians hoped to be able to control, he ran surprisingly well against Van Buren in 1836. Four years later, he defeated Van ... Read MORE...
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1841 - April 4 - John Tyler (1790-1862) becomes 10th President of the United States.
Elected vice president on the Whig ticket in 1840, Tyler succeeded to the presidency on Harrison's death. His strict-constructionist views soon caused a split with the Henry Clay wing of the Whig... Read MORE...
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1845 - March 4 - James K. Polk (1795-1849) becomes 11th President of the United States
When James K. Polk accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency, he was not very well known. The Whig opposition party played on his obscurity, sniping, "Who is James K. Polk?" An... Read MORE...
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1849 - March 4 - Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) becomes 12th President of the United States. He dies in office after 16 months.
During the revival of the slavery controversy, which was to result in the Compromise of 1850, Taylor began to take an increasingly firm stand against appeasing the South; but he died in Washington on ... Read MORE...
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1850 - July 9 - Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) becomes 13th President of the United States
As president, Fillmore associated himself with the pro-Southern Whigs, supporting the Compromise of 1850. Defeated for the Whig nomination in 1852, he ran for president in 1856 as candidate of the... Read MORE...
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1853 - March 4 - Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) becomes 14th President of the United States
As president, Pierce followed a course of appeasing the South at home and of playing with schemes of territorial expansion abroad. The failure of his foreign and domestic policies prevented his... Read MORE...
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1857 - March 4 - James Buchanan (1791-1868) becomes 15th President of the United States - the only bachelor to be President.
He was elected president in 1856, defeating John C. Frémont, the Republican candidate, and former President Millard Fillmore of the American Party. The growing crisis over slavery presented Buchanan... Read MORE...
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