US Presidents Overview PDF

In 1787, the Const itution was officia lly ratifie d into law. The Const itution replac ed the Articles of Confederation, partia lly becau se of the lack o~ a leader. So now the quest ion is, we have the.. Constitution, but who will lead us into the fl;,Jture2 The answer to the quest ion was ea...

In 1787, the Const itution was officia lly ratifie d into law. The Const itution replac ed the Articles of Confederation, partia lly becau se of the lack o~ a leader. So now the quest ion is, we have the.. Constitution, but who will lead us into the fl;,Jture2 The answer to the quest ion was easy: the new, and first president of the United States would be Geor9 e Washington. Washington had served as the leader_ of the Contin ental Army during 1he Amer ican Revolution, and ultima tely led us to victor y at the Battle of Yorktown. During the Constitutional Convention, Washington had served as presid ent over the comm ittee. It was a no brainer that Wash ington would lead the new country. While Washington served as presid ent of the United States, he set many precedents. A prece dent is a trediti on that we still follow today. A few exam ples of precedents that Washington set was havin g a truste d group of advisors called a cabinet. He also is the reason why we address a president as "Mr. President". While president, Washington dealt with many dome stic issues. A dome stic issue is a proble m that occurs inside of a country. Washington had to deal with issues with the econo my and taxing. Farmers rose up at the taxes placed on whiskey. This lead to an event called the Whiskey Rebellion. Washington rode in on a horse to squash the rebellion and was successful. Throughout the rest of his presidency, Washington dealt with issues like creati ng a nation al bank (thanks Alexander Hamilton!), creati ng a court system under the Judiciary Act of 1789, and shocked the American People by stepping away from the presidency after two years. After Washington stepped down, John Adam s was elected as the 2nd president of the United States. By this point, two political parties had formed, Adam s and the Federalists vs. the Democratic Republicans. Adams dealt with many issues overseas, including the XYZ Affair. France believed that the Americans were helping the British is their fight with France, angering the French. As a result, Adams sent delegates to help fix the situation, but instead France sent three agent s who demanded a bribe and loan for France. Adams angrily refused and in response passed the Alien and Sedition Acts. Through the Alien and Sedition Acts theI president could deport, send out of the country, any persons thought to be dangerous.  Democratic Republicans believed the Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutiona l and attempted to nullify, legally overturn, them with the help of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. After four years, Adams did not win re-election, so after one term, we say goodbye to President Adams and hello to Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republiqan, should sound familiar to us. He helped author the Declaration of Independence, and now will lead the us as the 3rd president of the US. Throughout his presidency, Jefferson did many things. The most notable was the buying of the Louisiana Purchase. For $15 million dollars, Jefferson purchased this large chunk of land from the French. Napoleon in France desperately needed money, and the us was happy to take it. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of US and lead to a great expansion of the us borders. Despite the major win for Jefferson, his presidency was remembered more so by his economic decision to place an Embargo, prohibiting trade with another country, against England. Unfortunately, the embargo was a disaster, and after Jefferson decided he would not run for a third term. When James Madison, our 4th president, took office, his one sole issue to deal with was the English. The English continued to kidnap and impress our sailors overseas. Eventually this will lead to what we call the 2nd War for Independence, a war between the US and the English. - Again. This War is known as the War of 1812, and it sprung the US into the industrial revolution (more on that later). After 3 years of fighting the War of 1812, the US was the victor again! After tyvo terms, Madison also decid~d to step away from the presidency, allowing James Monroe and the Era of Good Feelings to begin. Throughout James Monroe's presidency, we know this time period as the Era of Good Feelings. The US was feeling confident after defeating England, a world power, again in war. Monroe even created what we call the Monroe Doctrine, which essentially stated that European countries would not and could not interfere with North/South America. The US began rising as a world power. Despite the Good Feelings happening, the question of slavery loomed over the US still. In order to try and maintain a peace between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups. The decision was the Missouri Compromise. In the compromise, it was decided that Missouri would enter into the us as a slave state, and Maine would enter in as a free state. This would attempt to make sure the balance of power in government was still even. This though, is only a band aid for the situation. l