Presidents

William Henry
Harrison (1841)
John Tyler
(1841-1845)

James K. Polk
(1845-1849)

Zachary Taylor
(1849-1850)

Millard Fillmore
(1850-1853)

Franklin Pierce
(1853-1857)

Events Occurred During Presidency

Morse invents the telegraph:
John L. OSullivan declares Manifest Destiny: A
term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century
period of American expansion that the United States not
only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to
coast.
Starts the administration of the Accidental
presidency:
Mexican War begins: marked the first U.S. armed conflict
chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided
and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionistminded administration of U.S.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: The Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, ended the MexicanAmerican War in favor of the United States. The treaty
added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States
territory.
California gold rush:
Texas enters the Union:
Hero of Buena Vista becomes President: During the
Mexican War, Taylor and his reduced army of about 6,000
defeated General Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna's army of
20,000 in a two-day battle.
California is admitted to the Union:
Uncle Toms Cabin published:
Compromise of 1850: The Compromise was actually a
series of bills passed mainly to address issues related to
slavery. The bills provided for slavery to be decided by
popular sovereignty in the admission of new states,
prohibited the slave trade in the District of Columbia,
settled a Texas boundary dispute, and established a
stricter fugitive slave act.
Kansas-Nebraska Act: Created the territories of Kansas
and Nebraska, opening new lands for settlement, and had
the effect of repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by
allowing white male settlers in those territories to
determine through popular sovereignty whether they

James
Buchanan
(1857-1861)

Abraham
Lincoln (18611865)

would allow slavery within each territory.

John Browns raid: On October 16, 1859, John Brown led
a small army of 18 men into the small town of Harpers
Ferry, Virginia. His plan was to instigate a major slave
rebellion in the South. He would seize the arms and
ammunition in the federal arsenal, arm slaves in the area
and move south along the Appalachian Mountains,
attracting slaves to his cause. He had no rations. He had
no escape route. His plan was doomed from the very
beginning. But it did succeed to deepen the divide
between the North and South.
Gadsden Purchase: An agreement between the United
States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United
States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670
square mile portion of Mexico. Gadsdens Purchase
provided the land necessary for a southern
transcontinental railroad and attempted to resolve conflicts
that lingered after the Mexican-American War.
Dred Scott decision is made: United States Supreme
Court issues a decision in the Dred Scott case, affirming
the right of slave owners to take their slaves into the
Western territories, thereby negating the doctrine of
popular sovereignty and severely undermining the
platform of the newly created Republican Party.
Secession of South Carolina:
Confederate States of America created:
Emancipation Proclamation: After the Union victory at
Antietam, he issued a preliminary Emancipation
Proclamation, declaring that as of January 1, 1863, all
slaves in the rebellious states (not in Union) shall be then,
thenceforward, and forever free. While the Emancipation
Proclamation did not free a single slave, it was an
important turning point in the war, transforming the fight
to preserve the nation into a battle for human freedom.
Morrill Land Grand act: The grant was originally set up
to establish an institution is each state that would educate
people in agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts,
and other professions that were practical at the time.
Surrender at Appomattox Court House: One of the last
battles of the American Civil War. It was the final

engagement of Confederate Army general Robert E. Lee's

Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the
Union Army under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Lee, having
abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia,
after the ten-month Siege of Petersburg.
Spot resolutions: Abraham Lincoln, then a U.S.
Representative from Illinois, was highly skeptical of Polk's
claims and started introducing a series of "spot
resolutions" in Congress challenging Polk's claim and
requesting the President to provide Congress with the
exact spot where blood was spilled on American soil.
First Battle of Bull Run: On July 21, 1861, Union and
Confederate ar clashed near Manassas Junction, Virginia, in
the first major land battle of the American Civil War. Known
as the First Battle of Bull Run (or Manassas), the
engagement began when about 35,000 Union troops
marched from the federal capital in Washington, D.C. to
strike a Confederate force of 20,000 along a small river
known as Bull Run. After fighting on the defensive for most
of the day, the rebels rallied and were able to break the
Union right flank, sending the Federals into a chaotic
retreat towards Washington. The Confederate victory gave
the South a surge of confidence and shocked many in the
North, who realized the war would not be won as easily as
they had hoped.
Freedmens Bureau established: Established in 1865
by Congress to help former black slaves and poor whites in
the South in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War. The
Freedmens Bureau provided food, housing and medical
aid, established schools and offered legal assistance. It
also attempted to settle former slaves on Confederate
lands confiscated or abandoned during the war.
Battle of Antietam: On September 17, 1862, Generals
Robert E. Lee and George McClellan faced off near
Antietam creek in Sharpsburg, Maryland, in the first battle
of the American Civil War to be fought on northern soil.
Though McClellan failed to utilize his numerical superiority
to crush Lees army, he was able to check the Confederate
advance into the north. After a string of Union defeats, this
tactical victory provided Abraham Lincoln the political

cover he needed to issue his Emancipation Proclamation.

Though the result of the battle was inconclusive, it remains
the bloodiest single day in American history, with more
than 22,000 casualties.
Andrew Johnson Purchase of Alaska: United States reached an
(1865-1869)
agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of
$7.2 million.
Black Codes passed: In the United States, the Black
Codes were laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and
1866, after the Civil War. These laws had the intent and the
effect of restricting African Americans' freedom and of
compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low
wages or debt.
Tenure of Office Act: The bill prohibited the president
from removing officials appointed by and with the advice of
the Senate without senatorial approval.
Ulysses S.
Battle of Little Big Horn: When gold was discovered in
Grant (1869the Black Hills Indian Reservation in South Dakota, whites
1877)
invaded the Indians' lands and drove them on the warpath.
The war culminated in June 1876, when Colonel George A.
Custer and all his men were killed by Sioux Indians at the
Battle of Little Bighorn (Custer's Last Stand) in southern
Montana.
Knights of Labor is organized: The Knights promoted
the social and cultural uplift of the workingman, rejected
Socialism and radicalism, demanded the eight-hour day,
and promoted the producers ethic of republicanism.
15th amendment ratified (African American men
right to vote):
Rutherford B.
Construction of Panama Canal:
Hayes (1877Compromise of 1877: The Compromise of 1877 was a
1881)
purported informal, unwritten deal that settled the
intensely disputed 1876 U.S. presidential election, pulled
federal troops out of state politics in the South, and ended
the Reconstruction Era.
Compromise of 1877 ends Reconstruction:
James A.
Garfield (1881)
Chester Arthur

Second president is assassinated:

Chinese Exclusion Act: It was one of the most significant

(1881-1885)

Benjamin
Harrison (18891893)

Grover
Cleveland
(1885-1889)
(1893-1897)
(only President
to serve two
nonconsecutive
terms)

restrictions on free immigration in US history, prohibiting

all immigration of Chinese laborers.
Pendleton Act: The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
was passed to regulate and improve the civil service of the
United States. The purpose of the Pendleton Act was to
break the Spoils System which had become the 'custom
and practice' of presidential administrations.
Gospel of Wealth published: The Gospel of Wealth was
a softer and more palatable version of Social Darwinism.
The advocates linked wealth with responsibility, arguing
that those with great material possessions had equally
great obligations to society.
Turners Frontier Thesis: American historian who said
that humanity would continue to progress as long as there
was new land to move into. The American frontier was the
line of most rapid "Americanization" and the place where
democracy flourished.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act: The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was
the first Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business
practices.
How the Other Half Lives published:
Plessy V. Ferguson decision: Was a landmark United
States Supreme Court decision upholding the
constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation
in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but
equal".
Cross of Gold speech: In the address, Bryan supported
bimetallism or "free silver", which he believed would bring
the nation prosperity. He decried the gold standard,
concluding the speech, "you shall not crucify mankind
upon a cross of gold". Bryan's address helped catapult him
to the Democratic Party's presidential nomination; it is
considered one of the greatest political speeches in
American history.
Pullman strike: The conflict began in Pullman, Chicago,
on May 11 when nearly 4,000 factory employees of the
Pullman Company began a wildcat strike in response to
recent reductions in wages.
Interstate Commerce Act: Created an Interstate
Commerce Commission to oversee the conduct of the

railroad industry. With this act, the railroads became the

first industry subject to Federal regulation.
Haymarket Square riot in Chicago: On May 4, 1886, a
labor protest rally near Chicagos Haymarket Square
turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. At
least eight people died as a result of the violence that day.
The Haymarket Riot was viewed a setback for the
organized labor movement in America, which was fighting
for such rights as the eight-hour workday.
William
USS Maine sunk:
McKinley (1897- Open Door Policy: The policy proposed to keep China
1901)
open to trade with all countries on an equal basis; thus, no
international power would have total control of the country.
The policy called upon foreign powers, within their spheres
of influence, to refrain from interfering with any treaty port
or any vested interest, to permit Chinese authorities to
collect tariffs on an equal basis, and to show no favors to
their own nationals in the matter of harbor dues or railroad
charges.
Spanish American War begins: Was a conflict between
the United States and Spain that ended Spanish colonial
rule in the Americas and resulted in U.S. acquisition of
territories in the western Pacific and Latin America. The
war originated in the Cuban struggle for independence
from Spain, which began in February 1895.
Treaty of Paris 1898: The Treaty of Paris of 1783,
negotiated between the United States and Great Britain,
ended the revolutionary war and recognized American
independence.
Platt amendment: The Platt Amendment was a treaty
between the U.S. and Cuba that attempted to protect
Cuba's independence from foreign intervention. It
permitted extensive U.S. involvement in Cuban
international and domestic affairs for the enforcement of
Cuban independence.
Anti-Imperialist League formed: Formed to fight U.S.
annexation of the Philippines, citing a variety of reasons
ranging from the economic to the legal to the racial to the
moral.
Theodore
Anthracite Coal Strike: Was an effort by the United Mine

Roosevelt
(1901-1909)

William Howard
Taft (19091913)

Woodrow
Wilson (19131921)

Workers to get higher waves, shorter hours, and

recognition of their union.
Big Stick diplomacy: Refers to U.S. President Theodore
Roosevelts foreign policy: "speak softly, and carry a big
stick." Roosevelt described his style of foreign policy as
"the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive
action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis".
Financial panic:
Meat Inspection Act: Prohibited the sale of adulterated
or misbranded livestock and derived products as food and
ensured that livestock were slaughtered and processed
under sanitary conditions.
Muller v. Oregon: Was a landmark decision in United
States Supreme Court history, as it justifies both sex
discrimination and usage of labor laws during the time
period. The case upheld Oregon state restrictions on the
working hours of women as justified by the special state
interest in protecting women's health.
Dollar diplomacy: The effort of the United States to
further its aims in Latin America and East Asia through use
of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made to
foreign countries.
Amendments 16 (Congress right to impose a Federal
tax income) and 17 (Direct Election of U.S Senators)
ratified:
NAACP established: Founded in 1909, the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) was one of the earliest and most influential civil
rights organization in the United States. During its early
years, the NAACP focused on legal strategies designed to
confront the critical civil rights issues of the day. They
called for federal anti-lynching laws and coordinated a
series of challenges to state-sponsored segregation in
public schools, an effort that led to the landmark 1954
Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education,
which declared the doctrine of separate but equal to be
unconstitutional.
Zimmerman note: Was a 1917 diplomatic proposal from
the German Empire offering a military alliance with Mexico,
in the event of the United States entering World War I

Warren G.
Harding (19211923)

against Germany. The proposal was intercepted and

decoded by British intelligence.
Amendments 18 (Prohibition of alcohol) and 19
(Womens right to vote) ratified:
Federal Reserve Act: Is an Act of Congress that created
and established the Federal Reserve System, the central
banking system of the United States of America, and
granted it the legal authority to issue U.S. Dollars and
dollars as legal tender.
Fourteen Points: The "Fourteen Points" was a statement
given on January 8, 1918 by United States President
Woodrow Wilson declaring that World War I was being
fought for a moral cause and calling for postwar peace in
Europe.
Federal Trade Commission established: Its principal
mission is the promotion of consumer protection and the
elimination and prevention of anticompetitive business
practices, such as coercive monopoly.
Prohibition begins:
Underwood tariff: Its purpose was to reduce levies on
manufactured and semi-manufactured goods and to
eliminate duties on most raw materials. To compensate for
the loss of revenue, the act also levied a graduated income
tax on U.S. residents.
Sinking of the Lusitania:
Great Migration begins (African Americans): The
Great Migration was the movement of 6 million African
Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the
urban Northeast, Midwest, and West that occurred
between 1910 and 1970.
Teapot Dome scandal: The Teapot Dome scandal of the
1920s involved national security, big oil companies and
bribery and corruption at the highest levels of the
government of the United States. During the
administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of
the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum
reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming and two other
locations in California to private oil companies at low rates
without competitive bidding, accepting the bribes.
Harlem Renaissance begins:

Calvin Coolidge
(1923-1929)

Herbert Hoover
(1929-1933)

Franklin
Roosevelt
(1933-1945)
(only President
to have served
four terms)

Scopes trail: The Scopes Trial is one of the best known in

American history because it symbolizes the conflict
between science and theology, faith and reason, individual
liberty and majority rule. The object of intense publicity,
the trial was seen as a clash between religion and science.
Kellogg-Briand Pact: The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an
agreement to outlaw war signed on August 27, 1928.
Sometimes called the Pact of Paris for the city in which it
was signed, the pact was one of many international efforts
to prevent another World War, but it had little effect in
stopping the rising militarism of the 1930s or preventing
World War II.
Dawes Plan: Proposed by the Dawes Committee, chaired
by Charles G. Dawes) was an attempt in 1924 to solve the
reparations problem, which had bedeviled international
politics following World War I and the Treaty of Versailles.
Hawley-Smoot tariff: The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of June
1930 raised US tariffs to historically high levels. This piece
of legislation was originally intended to help protect
domestic farmers against agricultural imports.
Beginning of the Great Depression: The Great
Depression (1929-39) was the deepest and longest-lasting
economic downturn in the history of the Western
industrialized world. In the United States, the Great
Depression began soon after the stock market crash of
October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and
wiped out millions of investors.
Bonus Army marchers: The Bonus Army was the popular
name of an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers17,000
World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups
who gathered in Washington, D.C., in the spring and
summer of 1932 to demand cash-payment redemption of
their service certificates.
National Bank Holiday proclaimed: It prevented a run
on the banks and stabilized the economic situation to start
on the long road to recovery. In effect Roosevelt took the
socialist measure of nationalizing the banks.
Koremastu v. US: Early in World War II, on February 19,
1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order
9066, granting the U.S. military the power to ban tens of

thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry from

areas deemed critical to domestic security. Promptly
exercising the power so bestowed, the military then issued
an order banning "all persons of Japanese ancestry, both
alien and non-alien" from a designated coastal area
stretching from Washington State to southern Arizona, and
hastily set up internment camps to hold the Japanese
Americans for the duration of the war. In defiance of the
order, Fred Korematsu, an American-born citizen of
Japanese descent, refused to leave his home in San
Leandro, California. Duly convicted, he appealed, and in
1944 his case reached the Supreme Court.
Good Neighbor policy announced: The intention of the
new policy was to mend relations with Latin American
countries.
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor:
Tennessee Valley Authority: Created the Tennessee
Valley Authority to oversee the construction of dams to
control flooding, improve navigation, and create cheap
electric power in the Tennessee Valley basin.
Prohibition repealed:
Court packing plan: A move by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt to increase the size of the Supreme Court and
then bring in several new justices who would change the
balance of opinion on the Court. Roosevelt proposed to
pack the Court in the 1930s, when several conservative
justices were inclined to declare parts of his program, the
New Deal, unconstitutional.
Programs such as the CCC and the WPA are put
into effect: The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a
public work relief program that operated from 1933 to
1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men
from relief families as part of the New Deal. The Works
Progress Administration (renamed in 1939 as the Work
Projects Administration; WPA) was the largest and most
ambitious American New Deal agency, employing millions
of unemployed people (mostly unskilled men) to carry out
public works projects, including the construction of public
buildings and roads.
Begins the first of four presidential terms (last one

not completed):