* 12th President

Zachary Taylor
(1849-1850)
b. 1784 Orange County, Virginia d. 1850 Washington, D.C.

Refusing to pay postage due, he did not accept the letter that contained his nomination to the Presidency by the Whig party.

* 11th President

James Knox Polk
(1845-1849)
b. Mecklenburg County, North Carolina d. 1849 Nashville, Tennessee

Asked Congress for a declaration of war with Mexico. The U.S. won the war, fixing the border with Mexico at the Rio Grande; thus, the United States acquired more than 500,000 square miles in the Southwest, the largest land acquisition since the Louisiana Purchase.

* 10th President

John Tyler
(1841-1845)
b. 1790 Charles City County, Virginia d. 1862 Richmond, Virginia

He was born in 1790 and his grandson is alive in 2005.

* 9th President

William Henry Harrison
(1841)
b.1773 Charles City County, Virginia d. 1841 Washington, D.C.

He gave the longest inaugural address and served the shortest term.

* 8th President

Martin Van Buren
(1837-1841)
b. 1782 Kinderhook, New York d. 1862 Kinderhook, New York

He was the first president born an American citizen. All earlier presidents were born as British subjects.
"There is a power in public opinion in this country which will not tolerate an incompetent or unworthy man to hold in his weak or wicked hand the lives and fortunes of his fellow citizens.”

* 7th President

Andrew Jackson
(1829-1837)

Birth Place: Waxhaw settlement, South Carolina
Children: Adopted one of his wife’s nephews as an infant in 1809 and named him Andrew Jackson, Jr.
The first “common man” and westerner to become president; the only president to have an era of history named after him: The Jacksonian Age.

* 6th President

John Quincy Adams
(1825-1829)
b. 1767 Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts d. 1848 Washington, D.C.

Studied in the Netherlands at age 11, went on a diplomatic mission to Russia as a language interpreter at age 14 and negotiated a treaty with Sweden at age 15.
Fluent in Latin, Greek, French, Dutch, Spanish and English.
Only president to have a pet alligator.

* 5th President

James Monroe
(1817-1825)
b. 1758 Westmoreland County, Virginia d. 1831 New York City, New York

Established the Monroe Doctrine, which closed America to colonization by foreign nations.

* 4th President

James Madison, Jr.
1809-1817)
b. 1751 King George County, Virginia d. 1836 Montpelier, Virginia

Helped frame the Bill of Rights.
Central concept of government was the “separation of powers," a system of checks and balances which pervades the U.S. Constitution.

* 3rd President

Thomas Jefferson
(1801-1809)
b.1743 Goochland (now Albemarle) County, Virginia d. 1826 Monticello, Virginia

Author of the Declaration of Independence
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
Father of the University of Virginia.

* 2nd President

John Adams
(1797-1801)
b. 1735 Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts d. 1826 Quincy, Massachusetts

* Political adversary of Thomas Jefferson; later in life they became close friends.
* Both died on July 4th of 1826, 50 years to the day after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

* 1st President

George Washington
(1789-1797)
b.1732 Westmoreland County, Virginia
d.1799 Mount Vernon, Virginia

Father of our Country.
He refused to be King.

* 13th President

Millard Fillmore
(1850-1853)
b. 1800 Cayuga County, New York d. 1874 Buffalo, New York

He was an indentured servant to a cloth maker and finally bought his freedom for $30.00.

* 14th President

Franklin Pierce
(1853-1857)
b. 1804 Hillsborough, New Hampshire d. 1869 Concord, New Hampshire

Delivered entire 3,319 word inaugural address from memory without notes. He changed the phrase in his inaugural oath from “I solemnly swear” to “I solemnly affirm”

*15th President

James Buchanan
(1857-1861)
b. 1791 Mercersburg, Pennsylvania d. 1868 Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Purchased slaves in Washington, D.C. and freed them in Pennsylvania.

* 16th President

Abraham Lincoln
(1861-1865) b. 1809 Hardin (now Larue) County, Kentucky d. 1865 Washington, D.C.

”With malice toward none, with charity for all…let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds..to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

* 17th President

Andrew Johnson
(1865-1869) b. 1808 Raleigh, North Carolina d. 1875 Carter County, Tennessee

Born and raised in extreme poverty; an indentured servant, he ran away at the age of 15. A reward was offered for his return. He never attended school; his wife tutored him in reading and writing. He was a tailor by trade and became president of the United States

* 18th President

Ulysses Simpson Grant
(1869-1877)
b. 1822 Point Pleasant, Ohio d. 1885 Mount McGregor, New York

Threatened armed force against any state denying the rights of blacks to vote and sent troops into the field to assist federal officials arresting members of organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan.

* 19th President

Rutherford Birchard Hayes
(1877-1881)
b. 1822 Delaware, Ohio d. 1893 Fremont, Ohio

Won the presidency by one electoral vote even though he lost the popular vote by approximately 250,000 votes.

* 20th President

James Abram Garfield
b. 1831 Cuyahoga County, Ohio d. 1881 Washington, D.C.

He wrote Latin with one hand and Greek with the other, both at the same time.
Last president born in a log cabin.

* 21st President

Chester Alan Arthur
(1881-1885)
b. 1829 North Fairfield, Vermont d. 1886 New York City, New York

Enacted the first federal immigration law to keep criminals and insane people from coming into the United States from other countries.

* 22nd President

Stephen Grover Cleveland
(1885-1889)
b. 1837 Caldwell, New Jersey d. 1908 Princeton, New Jersey

Only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.

* 23rd President

Benjamin Harrison
(1889-1893)
b. 1791 Mercersburg, Pennsylvania d. 1868 Lancaster, Pennsylvania

The family’s history of public service is one of the most impressive in U.S. history.
His great-grandfather signed the Declaration of Independence and his grandfather was the ninth president of the U.S.

* 24th President

Stephen Grover Cleveland
(1885-1889)
b. 1837 Caldwell, New Jersey d. 1908 Princeton, New Jersey

Only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.