AP US History Presidents timeline: Difference between revisions

|Notes / Events/ Themes

|Washington

|<nowiki>- main goal: set precedents for presidency</nowiki>

>  establish executive authority

>  establish prestige and manner of the presidency, esp. public respect

 

 

 

>> deal to pay state debts cut in exchange for placement of DC in Maryland/VA

 

- Whiskey Rebellion (1794)

 

 

|Washington reelected

  >  French diplomat who tried to raise money & arms for French war w/ Britain

  >  Battle of Fallen Timbers, 1798, settled fights between US and native Indians  (supported by Britain) over Northwest Territory

  = prevented war

  >  Brits agreed to leave NW Territories

  >  US agreed to pay some war debts

  > 1796: House of Reps demanded White House documents from the  treaty, Washington refused,

 

  >  agreement w/ Spain for US access to Miss. River

 

> removal of Spanish forts on US land

 

 

 

 

|Other events/ Themes

|<nowiki>- Setting the example for future Presidents</nowiki>

 

 

 

|Adams

|<nowiki>- avoided war w/ France</nowiki>

>  XYZ Affair (1797-98)

>> US diplomats to France, which demanded a bribe, 3 French officials = M. X, Y, & Z

>  turned American public against France

>  US had naval clashes w/ French in “Quasi-War” but no declared or all-out war

- Alien & Sedition Acts (1798)

>  "scandalous and malicious writing"

>  anti-immigrants > esp. French

- Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions (1798-99)

>  states can declare a federal law unconstitutional

  = "nullification"

>  authored by Jefferson and Madison

- Midnight appointments: last minute appointments by Adams to fill offices with loyalists/federalists, one Marbury, doesn’t get his papers before Jefferson becomes president, sues the government for his position

- Marbury v. Madison (1803)

>  John Marshall rules that Marbury cannot take the position but only because the law his appointment was based upon, the Judiciary Act of 1789 is unconstitutional

= establishes judicial review

|Jefferson

> 1st  transition of power from one faction to another w/o violence

- 2 party system:

  > 12th amendment

  > electoral college

Louisiana Purchase (1802)

> Monroe sent to France (which acquired  Louisana from the Spanish)

> Jefferson based power to purchase on  executive powers of diplomacy

|Jefferson

|<nowiki>- British-French conflict:</nowiki>

> 1805 blockades start by Fr & Brit

> Brit start impressment of US sailors

> Embargo Act of 1807: US response to blockades, shut down trade

> New England economy collapse

> Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 reopened trade w/ other nations except Brit/Fr

|Madison

> Macon's Bill No. 2: reopened trade w/  Brt/Fr

  >> Fr agreed to trade w US, in exchange for US stopping trade w/ Briotain

  >> British step up embargo & impressment

> War Hawks want war to grab more territories, west, southwest and Canada

>> Clay & Calhoun leaders

> Indian wars in Northwest Territories

  >> Battle of Tippiconaoe  /Tecumseh

  >> American settlers want to push into Canada

|Madison

- ended Indian resistance to US expansion

  > westward push

- more US economic independence from Britain

- Jackson = war hero

- Nationalistic enthusiasm

- ruined Federalist party which had opposed the war

  > Hartford Convention (1814-15)

  >> federalists demanded changes in Constitution required 2/3ds vote for trade, new states, and limiting president to 1 term

- Madison supported:

> American System

  >> manufacturing increased during the War of 1812

> invest in federal roads and canals

> protective tariff

> 2nd national bank (1816)

|Monroe

- national pride following War of 1812, esp. 1815 Battle of New Orleans

- Monroe toured New England to show solidarity

- Monroe was a Democratic-Republican, but supported Nat Bank, tariffs & road building

- US acquired Florida from Spain (Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819)

- McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

> said states cannot tax federal bank

> asserted federal powres over states, i.e. Supremacy Clause

- Panic of 1819

> national bank tried to collect loans, very unpopular move

|Monroe

|<nowiki>- Monroe Doctrine (1823)</nowiki>

> Madison opposed British efforts to work w/ US to stop Spanish colonialism in Cent Amer

> Monroe state of the union message declared:

  >> US would not accept any new colonization efforts by Euopeans

  >> Europe not to interfere in Americas (including Russia bc Russia was tyring to colonize Alaska)

- Missouri Compromise (1820)

> 36/30 line

> maintain sectional balance between North and South in Senate

|John Quincy Adams

> most  states now allow selection fo E.C. electors by vote of the people

>>  demise of caucus system = selection of electors by party leaders

- disputed election 0f 1824

>  Jackson won plurality but not majority

>  election decided in House

  > “Corrupt Bargain”: Clay gave support to JQ Adams in exchange for Sec state appointment

> fought w/ House, which was held by Democrats

 

 

 

  >  promoted by Senator John C Calhoun re. the tariff

|Jackson

|<nowiki>- 1st president not born in Virginia or named Adams</nowiki>

  >> considered self-made man

- Jackson supporters from 1824 election became Democratic party

-  anti-nullification

 

  >> put federal money in other  banks

  >> paper money, supported "hard  currency" = gold and silver

(note: silver later seen as soft money after numerous mines discovered in late 1800s)

- spoils system: put supporters in federal jobs (mostly postal  service)

> universal white manhood suffrage << enacted by states, not Jackson, but part of Jacksonian revolution

> Jackson’s coalition included anti-slavery, .especially western settlers

- Indian Removal Act (1830) enforced by Jackson

|Jackson

  > Jefferson had sought assimilation

 

 

 

 

- Tariff of 1832

  > Congress considered a "Force  Bill" to send troops to enforce the tariff

  > compromise reached by Clay & Calhoun, lowered tariff rates

|Van Buren

|Van Buren continued Jackson economic policies, anti-national bank

 

 

> "Specie Circular" which ended land sales by Fed Gov on credit, now demanded "hard cash"

- Panic of 1837,  made Van Buren unpopular

|William Henry Harrison

> defeated Van Buren in 1840 election  

 

> became governor of Indiana territory in 1801

- 1st Whig President

- died of pneumonia

|John Tyler assumes office

|John Tyler = former Democrat, assumed office as Whig (VP to Harrison)

- as a Whig, Tyler's presidency stimied Henry Clay's presidential ambitions

|James K. Polk

- Oregon Treaty  (1846) w/ G.B. to settle border dispuute

  > “54/40 or Fight!”  << slogan to push Polk who didn't  want two wars, Mex & Britain, into settling the border issue w/ Canada

Mexican-American  War, 1846-48

- Texas  independence 1836, joined Union 1845

> Mexico refused, Polk put troops on  border, provoking attack, which he used to justify starting the war (declared  by Congress)

- Whigs: anti-war

  > Lincoln promoted "Spot" resolutions to ridicule Polk (show the “spot” where American blood had been shed) < didn’t go anywhere

> Wilmot Proviso, 1846

  >> no territory taken from Mexico  could have slavery

 

 

 

Effect on Slavery issue:

 

- “popular sovereignty”: pushed by Southerners to allow slavery into new territories < let the residents of territories decide

 

- renders Compromise of 1820 untenable

|Zachary Taylor

> first President never to have held prior office

- defended slavery

- opposed national bank, banks in general

|Millard Fillmore assumes office

> weak presidency  

> was anti-slavery but held that it was not a federal issue

> deal cut by Henry Clay

> passed as separate laws, including:

>> California admitted as free state

>> NM & Utah territories to allow “popular sovereignty” to decide slavery issue

>> Fugitive Slave Act

>> Texas border w/ New Mexico settled (land for NM, money for TX)

|Franklin Pierce

 

 

  >> goal was to expand U.S. slavery

>> northerners outraged

|James S. Buchanan

> had been  diplomat service so was not tainted by Compromise of 1850

- Financial Panic  of 1857 reduces Northern economic pressure on South but increases social  unrest

  >> does nothing to stop it,  especially after Lincoln’s election (Nov. 1860) up to leaving office in  March, 1861

> fit the profile of fronteir American:

- tall, poor, rail splitter, learned to read

- “Nothing that’s not wrong with the rest of the world: I have 3 walnuts and each wants 2.”

- served in Congress in 1847-1849 (1 term) and opposed the Mexican-American War

- ran for Senate in Illinois v. Stephen Douglas, thus the "Linocln-Douglas Debates"

> presidential career launched after his "Cooper-Union Speech" that stunned the New York establishment audience with his wisdom and rhetorical ability; in the speech Lincoln articulated his slavery position as personally against it, accepting it where presently existed and opposing any further expansion  

|<nowiki>- “western” Republican – from Illinois</nowiki>

- realist politician

- very effective orator

- never held high offices (only 1 term in House; not in a cabinet, not in the Senate)

- Lincoln-Douglas debates, 1858

> “Great debates”

> was for 1858 Senate election for Illinois

> incumbent is Democrat Stephen Douglas

  >> Douglas wins the election

   >> Lincoln wins the debates, prepares him for 1860 election

> Douglas argues for popular sovereignty

  = let people in states and territories decide for themselves

> Lincoln’s point

  >> slavery wrong, but didn’t argue against ending it, only containing it to where it already existed (South)

  >> sought to contain and not banish slavery

 >>  promoted various schemes to purchase slaves and send them back to Africa

>> in 1862 he stated:  

''“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.”''

 >>  changed stance on slavery during the Civil War, moving towards ending slavery

- Inaugural address, 1861, declared that his government had ''“no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the States where it exists.”''

> Lincoln had already issued a ban on slavery in territories and Wash DC, which included compensating slave owners for loss of “property”

 

 

 

 

 

> at end of war

  >> “to bind up the nation’s wounds”

See concepts chart for more on Lincoln’s war strategies

| - border state politician

 

>Lincoln wanted a Democrat on the ballot to appeal to pro-War democrats)

> ruled as a border state Democrat

- inherits Lincoln cabinet (presidential officers, secretaries

> Radical Republicans run Congress and Johnson’s cabinet

 >>  they object to his policies of leniency towards South

  >> override his veto of Civil Rights Act of 1866, which gave citizenship to freedmen (this is before 14^th  Amendment)

>> House impeached him for firing his Secretary of War

>> Senate failed to convict him by one vote, so he staid in office

- Alaska purchased from Russia, called “Seward’s Folly” (Sec. State Seward who negotiated the deal; people considered Alaska an empty territory…)

|<nowiki>- war hero, elected easily</nowiki>

- enforced reconstruction

- protected former slaves

- sought to destroy the Klu Klux Klan, mostly successful

|<nowiki>- lost popularity bc of corruption in his government</nowiki>

> Credit Mobiler scandal, 1872, rocked  Grant’s administration

>> railroad financing scheme via a  French bank was used for stock sales, implicating Vice President Colfax and  others in the administration.

> the scandal contributed to the Panic of  1873, which led to loss of public support

|<nowiki>- Republican, Civil War general, supporter of Reconstruction</nowiki>

- but was bound by the “Compromise of 1877” to remove troops from South, ending Reconstruction

- promoted “Civil Service reform,” which was to end jacksonian “spoils system” of appointing political supporters to public office (mostly Postal Service, but also others)

- Panic of 1873

- “Great Railroad Strike of 1877” – Hayes agreed to send federal troops to squash riots and strikes at governors’ request but never used them; it followed the precedent set by Washington’s “Whiskey rebellion” interventions

- Hayes arbitrated a war in South America and opposed British & French actions in central America, exercising Monroe Doctrine policies

- Hayes and his First Lady opposed alcohol (she was known as “Lemonade Lucy”) and did not serve it at White House, thus promoting temperance movement

- he pledged not to run for a 2^nd term, and instead supported his successor, Garfield

| - Republican, Civil War general

- promoted civil service reforms

- assassinated during his 1^st year as President by man who claimed he had been denied a political appointment

| - Panic of 1884 led to public discontent and election of Cleveland

|<nowiki>- only president to serve two, non-consecutive terms</nowiki>

- states right Democrat: “government that governs least governs best”

- campaigned as reformer, charging his Republican opponent, Blaine, with corruption

> Blaine lost support of Irish voters when his supporter denounced Democratic party as party of “Rum, Romanism and Rebellion” (alcohol, Catholicism and Confederacy)

> “Mugwumps” = Republican reformers who supported Cleveland over Blaine

- Cleveland signed Interstate Railroad Act, 1887, which created the “Interstate Commerce Commission” (ICC) to regulate railroad competition and “unfair practices”

> ICC becomes huge issue into 20^th  century regarding government control over railroads and other industries

| - Republican, grandson of President William Henry Harrison

- reformer, enacted meat inspection law, banned lotteries (considered gambling)

- Sherman Anti-Trust act passed > to fight monopolies

- “Billion Dollar Congress” – led to opposition to Harrison’s expansion of government, led to re-election of Cleveland who opposed gov. expansion

- “McKinley Tariff” : raised tariffs to 50% on most goods

  > McKinley was Republican House member who would become President I 1897

- Panic of 1890

|<nowiki>- campaigned on reducing the tariff rates</nowiki>

> also as alternative to Populist party, which was surging

- Wilson–Gorman Tariff, 1894, reduced rates, imposed income tax on high incomes (to make up for lost revenue from lower tariffs)

> Supreme Court invalidated the income tax as unconstitutional, 1895

>> 16^th Amendment in 1909 would allow for federal income tax

- Panic of 1893, bank failures, unemployment, severe downturn for rest of Cleveland administration

> Cleveland blamed for the panic

> federal gold reserves were depleted, fueling demand for hard money policies

|<nowiki>- raised tariffs via Dingley Tariff of 1897</nowiki>

> US takes Cuba, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam from Spain

- McKinley’s “Open Door Policy” = U.S. demand for access to Chinese market (dominated by the Europeans at this point)

- mixed legacy on race:

> McKinley visited Tuskegee Institute and Booker T. Washington (black educator and activist)

> but in an attempt to end “sectionalism” and appeal to southern voters by not criticizing the South, McKinley overlooked Southern actions against blacks

>> lost key black supporters as a result

|<nowiki>- McKinley hugely popular following Span-Am war, easily reelected</nowiki>

- opponent was Wm. Jennings Bryan again, who lost support due to strong economy and war popularity

- McKinley shot in 1901, succeeded by VP Theodore Roosevelt

|<nowiki>- NY Republican, known as “TR” and “Teddy”</nowiki>

- assumed office after McKinley assassination (by an anarchist)

- became famous fighting in Cuba during Spanish-American War (1898)

-  activist President, used the rhetorical powers of the office aggressively

>> he called it the “bully pulpit” (bully=great or cool; pulpit= place to speak from)

>> had love-hate relationship w/ press

>> called investigative journalists who promoted scandals “muckrakers”

- a Progressive on economic issues

> “Trust buster”

> promoted regulations of food, workplace,

> conservationist:

>> created National Park Service and National Forest Service

>> liked to be seen riding horseback & hunting (thus “Teddy Roosevelt” for a bear cub sent to him)

- pro-tariff (but stayed away from it for political reasons)

- aggressive foreign policy

> pushed for Panama Canal

> promoted strong Navy, which he sent on trip around the world “The White Fleet,” as the boats were painted white)

> “Roosevelt Corrollary” to the Monroe Doctrine = U.S. will intervene in domestic Latin American nations if they are unstable or a threat to US security

|<nowiki>- won landslide election, 1904</nowiki>

- governed more as progressive during 2^nd term

- promoted “commissions” to address various national issues

- in 1912 ran as independent candidate for the “Progressive Party” known as the “Bull Moose” party

> promoted agenda he called “New Nationalism” which referred to centralization of powers in federal government