Category History

Chester A. Arthur emigrated from Northern Ireland to the U.S. with his father. During his youth, Arthur taught in a school to pay for college. During the Civil War he was in charge of supplies and food for Union soldiers from New York. After the war, he worked as a lawyer and helped many African Americans get fair treatment which made him popular.

Chester A. Arthur became the president of the country all of a sudden, after President Garfield was brutally assassinated. He took the presidential oath on 19 September 1881 and was sworn in as the 21st President of America. At first many people believed that he was unworthy of the office due to his lack of experience in shaping public policy. But he proved them wrong. Want to know what happened during his tenure?

The Arthur Administration enacted the first general Federal immigration law. Arthur approved a measure, in 1882 excluding paupers, criminals, and lunatics from entering the country. He also surprised people by doing something that no one expected. He worked to do away with the spoils system. Before becoming the president, he had supported the spoils system that we talked about in the previous pages. It was also during his final year as president that the United States acquired a naval station at Pearl Harbour in the Hawaiian Islands. Pearl Harbour, as we all know holds a significant place in world history.

Arthur surely won a place in the hearts of his people. Mark Twain wrote of him, ‘It would be hard indeed to better President Arthur’s administration.’ In the Republican convention of 1884, his name was proposed again for the presidential nomination despite the fact that he was suffering from a fatal ailment of the kidneys.

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Abraham Lincoln needs no introduction; he is perhaps the most famous American president. He became the 16th president of the United States in 1861. In 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared the slaves within the Confederacy free forever.

America was torn apart when Lincoln took office. But he made sure that the country was reunited by the end of his term. He was elected as the president in 1860. Seven states had left the U.S. and had formed the Confederate States of America by the time he took office in 1861. Four more states- Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee- joined the Confederacy soon after. Lincoln said he would fight to save the Union and he did live up to his word.

The rift began when rebels fired on Port Sumter, a U.S. military base. The civil war lasted for almost four years. On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. After a long and tragic civil war, Robert E. Lee the Confederate general, surrendered to U. S. General Ulysses S. Grant in 1865.

Lincoln played an influential role in building the Republican Party into a strong national organization. He also successfully brought in many Democrats to the cause of the Union.

Abraham Lincoln was born into a poor Kentucky family. His childhood was tough; he did not receive any formal education. But he taught himself to read and write. His hard work did not go in vain. As a young man, Lincoln became a successful lawyer and was elected to the Illinois state legislature and then to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Lincoln was shot on 14th April, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth, a staunch advocate of slavery. He died the following day.

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James Buchanan’s term as the president was marked by conflict between the Northern states and the Southern states.

Northerners wanted to stop slavery from spreading to new parts of the country, while some others known as abolitionists wanted to end slavery forever. Southerners were of the opinion that the new states and territories should be able to choose whether to allow slavery or not.

Buchanan’s term began when a historic case was filed by Dred Scott. Scott was an enslaved African-American man who sought freedom for himself, his wife, and two daughters. However, the court ruled that enslaved people were property and not citizens. The court said that slaves remained slaves anywhere.

Buchanan’s endorsement of the court’s decision created uproar amongst the Northerners. He also joined with Southern leaders in attempting to admit Kansas to the Union as a slave state. He thereby angered not only the Republicans but also many Northern Democrats. This became a very serious issue and the problem continued till the end of his tenure. Buchanan was succeeded by Abraham Lincoln.

Buchanan never married and remains the only bachelor president of the United States.

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In 1852, the members of the Democratic Party could not come to a common consensus regarding the presidential candidate and in the end, they chose Pierce. Franklin Pierce was the 14th president of the United States.

His tenure was marked with personal tragedies unmatched by any other American president.

Pierce was born in New Hampshire in 1804. He entered politics after completing his law degree. At the age of 24, he was elected to the New Hampshire legislature. He went on to become the Speaker in two years.

Pierce was relatively young when he was elected as the president. But this did not assure him much cheer. A few weeks before his inauguration, eleven-year old Bennie, his only surviving child, died in a railroad accident. His wife Jane Pierce never fully recovered from the shock of this tragic episode. She had never approved his candidacy either. Pierce began his term as a sad and tired man.

Pierce signed into law the Kansas-Nebraska Act; the Act said that settlers in Kansas and Nebraska could choose whether or not to allow slavery. This Act undid the antislavery part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The Democratic Party didn’t support his re-election at the end of his tenure.

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After the death of Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore became the president of the United States.

Fillmore had a hard childhood; he was born into a poor family in New York and his education did not last for more than a year. As a child, he had to work every day in the farms to earn a living. Later in his teenage, he went on to become a cloth maker. Though he had little formal schooling, he rose from poverty by diligent study to become a successful attorney.

He had served in the New York state government before being elected as Taylor’s vice president in 1848. He was also a U.S. Congressman for years.

As the vice president, Fillmore was largely ignored by Taylor. But, after the death of Taylor in July 1850, Fillmore became the president. Upon becoming the president, Fillmore supported laws to let California enter the Union as a free state. Fillmore ran unsuccessfully for president again in 1856.

He then gave up politics and died on March 8, 1874.

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Zachary Taylor was neither a politician, nor had he worked with the government. He didn’t even vote in the elections. But the public adored him. Wonder why? Zachary Taylor was a war hero. He was a general and national hero in the United States Army from the time of the Mexican-American War and the War of 1812. Taylor thought that it was a strange idea when his name came up for the presidential candidacy.

Taylor was a soldier at heart; he fought in the War of 1812 and in many battles against Indian tribes. But it was his success in battles against Mexico that gained him popularity and elevated him to the status of a hero. The Whigs saw a possibility in Taylor’s popularity and that is why he was nominated.

Taylor gained the nomination on the fourth ballot at the Whig Party convention in 1848. He defeated the Democratic candidate, Lewis Cass and went on to become the 12th president of America, something which he did not imagine, even in the wildest of dreams.

As the president, Taylor’s top priority was to preserve the Union. He was criticized for not making any progress on the most divisive issue in Congress, slavery. Taylor’s service was brief; he died sixteen months into his term. His vice-president Fillmore served the remainder of his term. Historians and scholars have ranked Taylor in the bottom quartile of U.S. presidents. This is of course partly due to his short term of office.

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James K. Polk was the 11th president of the United States. He was notable in many ways. Often called the ‘dark horse’, James K. Polk was the last strong president until the Civil War.

Polk entered politics as a young lawyer. He wanted Texas to be part of the Union. His views on Texas made him popular and paved his way to presidential candidacy. The annexation of Texas as a state however, resulted in a two-year war with Mexico.

November 7, 1844 was indeed a remarkable day in the history of the U.S. For the first time, the election for president was held on the same day across America. Needless to say, it was Polk’s day.

Polk was a strong leader and his tenure was marked by territorial gains as well as administrative innovations. The country expanded westward and a new department, the Department of the Interior, was created.

Polk established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. He also authorized the setting up of the Smithsonian Institution, a national foundation for all areas of science.

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John Tyler had to take over the position of the president in one of the most unexpected turn of events, after the death of Harrison. Tyler served as the vice president under Harrison. He is also the first vice president to succeed to the presidency after the death of his predecessor.

Born in Virginia, Tyler grew up believing that the Constitution was of supreme importance. He was popular as a U.S. Congressman, governor and senator, and this was the reason he was chosen to run for the position of the vice president. Though loved as vice president, no one expected Tyler to become the president of the country.

Being the president was not easy for Tyler. The first ever impeachment resolution against a president was introduced in the House of Representatives when Tyler vetoed a tariff bill. A committee headed by Representative John Quincy Adams reported that the president had misused the veto power. However, the resolution failed.

He was rejected by the Democrats and Whigs alike because he refused allegiance to the programme of party leader Andrew Jackson. After this, Tyler functioned as a political independent.

Letitia Christian Tyler, Tyler’s wife was the first president’s wife to die in the White House. She died in 1842. After Letitia’s death, he married again, thus becoming the first president to marry while in office. This happened in 1844.

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William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of America was famous for many things. He was 68 at the time of his swearing-in ceremony and the oldest president to be elected at the time. His campaign slogan, ‘Tippecanoe and Tyler Too’ is known as one of the most famous campaign slogans in American history.

William Henry Harrison served the shortest tenure as the president in the history of the United Stated and was the first to die in the office. Harrison could barely make it for a month; he died on the 32nd day of his tenure. Harrison was born in Virginia like many other American presidents. He wanted to become a doctor, but had to leave his studies halfway after his father’s death.

He later joined the army to earn a living. He became interested in politics during his time in the army. What brought him to the national limelight was the Indian campaign that he won while serving as the territorial commander.

This led to his contesting in the 1840 elections, taking office in March 1841. Despite the cold weather, Harrison gave a long speech outdoors. Within a month, he was affected with a cold that developed into pneumonia. He died on 4th April, 1841.

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Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of America was called Little Magician by the people. He certainly did not make a rabbit vanish, but he was a friendly, cheerful person who knew how to work with people and how to get things done.

As a young lawyer, Martin showed an active interest in politics and law. By 1827, Martin Van Buren had emerged as a principal northern leader. President Andrew Jackson appointed him as the Secretary of State.

Van Buren was chosen for the position of vice president during Jackson’s second term. He was elected as president in 1836 with Jackson’s support.

Shortly after Martin Van Buren was sworn in as president, the country was in the midst of turmoil. It was 1837; the banks all over the country started failing. Many people lost their jobs. For about five years, the United States was affected by the worst depression so far in its history.

People started blaming Van Buren for the bad times. Though he tried his best to get the country back on its feet, he failed. He finally left office in 1841 after many attempts to save the country.

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