United StatesPresidents

Eleventh ~ Twentieth

James Knox Polk11th President1845 -1849

“Young Hickory”

• Vice President: George M. Dallas

• State Represented: Tennessee• Extended nation’s boundaries to Pacific

Ocean after Mexican War

• First “dark horse” (little Known) candidate to win office

• Speaker of the House

Zachary Taylor12th President1849 -1850 (16 months)

“Old Rough and Ready”• Vice President: Millard Fillmore• State Represented: Louisiana• Hero of the Mexican War – 40 yr. military career• Never voted until his election• His horse, Whitey, grazed on the White House

lawn• Died in office after 16 months, after Fourth of

July celebration (cause unknown)

Millard Fillmore13th President1850 -1853

“The Accidental President”• Vice President: None• State Represented: New York• Became President upon Zachary Taylor’s death• Compromise of 1850 delayed war between

states for ten years• Married his teacher, Abigail Powers (who

started the presidential library in what is now the Oval Office)

Franklin Pierce14th President1853-1857

“Young Hickory of Granite Hills”• Vice President: William Rufus DeVane King

• State Represented: New Hampshire

• Youngest President at that time – age 48

• Rose to General in the Mexican War

• Chose to say “I solemnly affirm” instead of “I solemnly swear” during presidential oath

James Buchanan15th President1857-1861

“The Sage of Wheatland”

• Vice President: John C. Breckinridge

• State Represented: Pennsylvania

• Only President never to have married

• Ran as the “Save the Union” candidate

• One eye was near-sighted, the other far-sighted

Abraham Lincoln16th President1861-1865

“Honest Abe” & “The Great Emancipator”• Vice President: Hannibal Hamlin; Andrew Johnson

• State Represented: Illinois

• Six Weeks into 1st term, attack on Fort Sumter --- begins the War between states (Civil War)

• Issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves

Abraham Lincoln16th President1861-1865

• Assassinated at start of second term

• Tallest President at 6’4”

• Portrait on 5-dollar bill & penny

• Faced carved on Mount Rushmore

• First Republican President

Andrew Johnson17th President1865-1869

“The Father of the Homestead Act”

• Vice President: None

• State Represented: Tennessee

• Became President upon Lincoln’s death

• First President to be impeached by the House

• Under Johnson, U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia

Ulysses Simpson Grant18th President1869-1877

“The Hero of Appomattox”• Vice Presidents: Schuyler Colfax; Henry Wilson

• State Represented: Ohio• Commander of U.S. Army• First President to have two living parents upon

taking office• Portrait on 50-dollar bill• Changed name from Hiram – to avoid H.U.G.

initials

Rutherford Birchard Hayes

19th President1877-1881“The Dark-Horse President”

• Vice President: William Almon Wheeler

• State Represented: Ohio

• First time “Secret Service” assigned for presidential protection

• Signed bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court

• Ended Reconstruction in the South

James Abram Garfield20th President

1881 (6 ½ months)

“The Preacher President”

• Vice President: Chester Alan Arthur

• State Represented: Ohio

• First left-handed president

• Campaigned in English & Spanish

• Worked on the Erie Canal as a boy

• Second President to be assassinated