The men who led America: Presidents throughout history

George Washington

First President of the United States

(1789 – 1797)

• “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for ‘tis better to be alone than in bad company.”
• Born Feb. 22, 1723.
• Founding Father and First President of the United States.
• Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.
• Set precedent for republicanism, peaceful transfer of power, use of the title “Mr. President” and the two-term tradition.

John Adams

Second President of the United States

(1797 – 1801)

• “To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do.”
• Born Oct. 30, 1735.
• Founding Father and First Vice-President of the United States.
• Advocated for the right to counsel and the presumption of innocence.
• First United States ambassador to Great Britain.

Thomas Jefferson

Third President of the United States

(1801 – 1809)

• “If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy.”
• Born Apr. 13, 1743.
• Founding Father and First Secretary of State of the United States.
• Primary author of the Declaration of Independence.
• Advocated for natural and individual rights, such as freedom of thought, speech and religion.

James Madison

Fourth President of the United States

(1809 – 1817)

• “The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.”
• Founding Father.
• Known as “Father of the Constitution” for primary drafting and promoting of the Constitution of the United States.
• One of the authors of the Federalist Papers.
• Led the United States into the War of 1812.

James Monroe

Fifth President of the United States

(1817 – 1825)

• “Our country may be likened to a new house. We lack many things, but we possess the most precious of all – liberty!”
• The last Founding Father to serve as President.
• Helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase.
• Served as James Madison’s Secretary of State and Secretary of War at the same time.
• Signed the Missouri Compromise.

John Quincy Adams

Sixth President of the United States

(1825 – 1829)

• “To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so, is something worse.”
• The eldest son of John Adams.
• Served as Secretary of State, minister to Great Britain, Prussia and Russia and senator for Massachusetts.
• Under his presidency, the Democratic-Republican Party split in two.
• Negotiated the Adams-Onis Treaty transferring Florida to the United States.

Andrew Jackson

Seventh President of the United States

(1829 – 1837)

• “Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.”
• National hero for victories like the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, the Battle of New Orleans and the First Seminole War.
• Served as Florida’s first territorial governor.
• Dismantled the Second Bank of the United States, which he viewed as a fourth branch of the government run by the elite.
• The only president to pay off the national debt.

Martin Van Buren

Eighth President of the United States

(1837 – 1841)

• “It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.”
• Co-founded the Democratic Party with Andrew Jackson.
• The only president to speak English as a second language, Dutch was his first.
• Oversaw the financial crisis known as the Panic of 1837.
• Refused to admit Texas to the Union as a slave state.

• “Times change, and we change with them.”
• The last president to be born before the U.S. Declaration of Independence was written.
• Was nicknamed “Old Tippecanoe.”
• First president to die in office.
• Shortest serving president in U.S. history (only served 30 days).

John Tyler

10th President of the United States

(1841 – 1845)

• “I can never consent to being dictated to.”
• First vice president to succeed to the presidency.
• Set the Tyler Precedent by immediately taking the presidential oath of office after William Henry Harrison’s death.
• Was nicknamed “His Accidency” by the Whig party, which expelled him.
• The first president to have his veto of legislation overridden by Congress.