American prezidents.doc

About American PresidentsIt is important to know about the people that have helped shape the United States as we know it today. Few individuals have directly contributed to the progression and expansion of the United States on such a scale as the forty-three U.S Presidents. Each President features a personal biography list with information such as date of birth, presidential party, educational background, hobbies, and even the name of their pets. American-P offers plenty of information for you to get acquainted which each United States President. Presidential Fun Facts Barack Obama is our 44rd president, but there actually have only been 43 presidents: Cleveland was elected for two nonconsecutive terms and is counted twice, as our 22nd and 24th president. The oldest president inaugurated was Reagan (age 69); the youngest was Kennedy (age 43). Theodore Roosevelt, however, was the youngest man to become president-he was 42 when he succeeded McKinley, who had been assassinated. The tallest president was Lincoln at 64; at 54, Madison was the shortest. James Buchanan was the only president never to marry. Eight Presidents died in office: William H. Harrison (after having served only one month), Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, F. Roosevelt, and Kennedy. George Washington FactsPresident No.: 1st Served: 1789-1797 First term: April 30, 1789 to March 4, 1793 Second term: March 4, 1793 to March 4, 1797 Party: Federalist Age on becoming President? 57 From: Virginia First Lady: Martha Washington Martha Washingtons maiden name:Martha Dandridge Custis Born on: February 22, 1732 Born in: Westmoreland County, Virginia Died on: December 14, 1799 Died in: Mount Vernon, Virginia Burial site: Washington burial vault, Mount Vernon, Virginia Children: 2 step, 2 adopted. Stepchildren: John Curtis (1754-81) and Martha Curtis (1755-73) Parents: Augustine and Mary Bell Washington Education: Did not attend college, but studied at home Jobs Before President: Planter, surveyor, farmer, soldier, general Previous government positions: Virginia House of Burgesses member, Continental Congress representative and Chairman of the Constitutional Convention Height: 6 feet, 2 inches Religion: Episcopalian Population at time George Washington was president: 3,929,214 Hobbies: Fishing, riding Pets: Horse named Nelson Transportation George Washington would have taken: Horse and carriage Communication Methods: Letter Timeline1732: George Washington is Born. 1759-74: Member of Virginia House of Burgesses. 1775: Continent Congress unanimously elect Washington to command Continental Army. 1776: December 26th Leads surprise attack on Trenton, New Jersey which swings war in revolutionaries favour. 1777: January 3rd. Successful attack on Princeton led by Washington. 1787: Chairman of Constitutional Convention. 1789-97: Washingtons tenure as President. 1793: In war between Britain and France declares American neutrality. 1794: Uses federal troops against the Whiskey Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania. 1799: Passes away. AdministrationThose who took part in George Washingtons administration are listed below. These cabinet members include some of the most famous of the American revolutionaries.Vice President:1789-97: John AdamsSecretary of State:1790-93: Thomas Jefferson1794-95: Edmund J. Randolph1795-97: Timothy PickeringSecretary of War:1789-94: Henry Knox1795: Timothy Pickering1796-97: James McHenrySecretary of the Treasury:1789-95: Alexander Hamilton1795-97: Oliver Wolcott, Jr.Attorney General:1789-94: Edmund J. Randolph1794-95: William Bradford1795-97: Charles LeePostmaster General:1789-91: Samuel Osgood1791-95: Timothy Pickering1795-97: Joseph HabershamSecretary of Foreign Affairs:1789: John JayGeorge Washington BiographyBorn on February 22, 1732, Washington was the first President and is best known as the Commander in Chief of the Colonial Army. If youre in a rush, just read our fact file. We also have speeches, quotations and pictures of Washington.Born on February 22, 1732 (by the Gregorian Calendar), Washington was known as the Father of His Country. He was an American general as well as the Commander in Chief of the colonial armies in the American Revolutionary War, then served as President of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and became the first President of the United States.George Washington was the President while securing Americas independence and is generally accepted as one of the most important Presidents in the history of our country. Washington voluntarily stepped down after 8 years in service to his country as President, handing the reins to John Adams.Early LifeWashington was raised by English parents, Augustine Washington (1693 1743) and Mary Ball Washington (1708 1789) on their Popes Creek Estate at Colonial Beach in Virginia, near Fredericksburg. During his younger years he surveyed the Shenandoah Valley, overcame smallpox in 1751 while in Barbados where Washington had travelled with his half brother Lawrence to help him overcome tuberculosis. Washington was initiated as a Freemason in Fredericksburg.In 1754, Washington began his service with the Virginia Militia as a colonel. He served in the Ohio Valley before being asked to aid the British Army during the French and Indian War. Before resigning his commission to marry in 1757, Washington organized the First Virginia Regiment.After 20 years, in 1774, of work and shrewd investment, Washington was asked to be a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congress, though he did not support independence until 1776.American Revolutionary WarThe Continental Congress named Washington the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, after which Washington drove the British out of Boston in 1776. Washington was then driven out of New York City, Long Island and into New Jersey.On Christmas Day, 1776, Washington lead a surprise attack on Trenton New Jersey, swinging the war back in the favor of the revolutionaries. This was followed up by another major victory at Princeton on January 3rd. Despite the moral boost of the victories, the particularly harsh winter lead to a large contraction in the size of Washingtons army to number as low as a thousand, through both lack of reenlistment and desertion. American victory was despite the brilliance of the victories not guaranteed at this stage. Washington set about a reorganisation of the army in response with both a carrot and stick method a carrot of promise of monetary reward for three-year enlistment or land for enlisting for the duration of the war, a stick of increasing punishment from 39 to 100 lashes in order to discourage desertion. This was effective and numbers quickly rose again to ten thousand under Washingtons direct command.Washington continued to battle effectively against the British, losing some battles but remaining an effective leader throughout, until he helped stopped the British attempts to quell the Revolution by joining American and French forces in Yorktown Virginia and successfully negotiating a surrender.After resigning as Commander in Chief, Washington presided over the American Constitutional Congress in 1787. Washingtons presence, more than his participation, was enough to encourage the Congress forward, after which he pushed for the adoption of the Constitution where, again, his very presence was enough to convince most states, including Virginia.PresidencyIn 1789, George Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States, the only man to ever achieve a unanimous election by the electoral college.During his service as President, Washington was, more than anything, a model of democracy to future presidents, setting precedents in many areas including a faith in civil, not military, rule and a focus on the will of the people above all things.Later LifeWashington relinquished the presidency to John Adams in March of 1797, at which time he returned to Mount Vernon where he spent time on his farming, turning an unprofitable farm into one of the largest distilleries in the United States which produced whiskey and fruit brandy. Two years later, on 13th July 1799, Adams appointed Washington Commander in Chief of the American army in any war that might break out with France, later that year, on December 14, Washington died.ReligionFrom a religious perspective, George Washington was a controversial figure. Like many of the founding fathers, he was a Deist believing in God, but not believing that God intervenes on a day to day basis. Before the Revolution, he served as a member of the laity of two Episcopal churches in Virginia.Many of Washingtons talks and personal affairs had to do with his deeply engrained religious and Masonic beliefs. Most of “Washingtons Prayers” are regarded by historians as having been edited or written by other authors entirely.Washington was an early supporter of religious pluralism. In 1775 he ordered that his troops not burn in the Pope in effigy on Guy Fawkes night. In 1790 he wrote that he envisioned a country “which gives bigotry no sanctionpersecution no assistance. May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.” This letter was seen by the Jewish community as a significant event; they felt that for the first time in millennia Jews would enjoy full human and political rights.Politics and LegacyThroughout his life, Washington was a proponent of democracy, fair treatment of slaves, and the will of the Freemasons, and organization in which he was heavily involved.The capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C., is named after him and he was very involved in the placement of the White House, the creation of the District of Columbia and the placement of the United States Military Academy.Numerous ships, the state of Washington and hundreds of schools are named after him, and his picture is on the one dollar bill and the quarter-dollar coin.George Washington set a precedent of valuing his office and continuously seeking the will of the people for every decision though sometimes he did choose what he felt was best for the country, to the point of having been the first President ever to use the Presidential veto. He is, to this day, revered as one of the greatest Presidents to ever serve, one of the most influential founding fathers and as a beacon of democracy in a time where military might was seen as more important than the will of the people.SpeechesGeorge Washington Inaugural Addresses 1789 Inaugural Address 1793 Inaugural Address George Washington State of the Union Addresses January 1790 State of the Union Address December 1790 State of the Union Address 1791 State of the Union Address 1792 State of the Union Address 1793 State of the Union Address 1794 State of the Union Address 1795 State of the Union Address 1796 State of the Union Address Other George Washington Speeches George Washington Farewell Address QuotesWe try our best to find citations for all sources we include below. Many quote sites fail to provide citations and therefore the quotations in question might not actually be verifiable. Here we only include ones we can find a source for.It is our true policy to street clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world.Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.We must consult Brother Jonathan.Put none but Americans on guard tonight.When we assumed the solider, we did not lay aside the citizen.It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.Happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitution of government. But the Constitution which at any times exists, til changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People, is sacredly obligatory upon all.Avoid the necessity of those overgrown Military establishments, which under any form of Government are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty.Observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.The Nation, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.It is well, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.There is nothing that gives a man consequence, and redners him fit for command, like a support that renders him independent of everybody but the State he serves.To place any dependence upon militia, is, assuredly, resting upon a broken staff.Without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive. And with it, everything honorable and glorious.If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.I heard the bullets whistle; and believe me, there is something charming in the sound.Wherever and whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty by close application thereto, it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more persons are employed therein.Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.True friendship is a plant of slow growth.The child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief.The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey established government.I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain (what I consider the most enviable of all titles) the character of an “Honest Man”.I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.In the Presence of Others Sing not to yourself with a humming Noise, nor Drum with your Fingers or Feet.Guard against the postures of pretend patriotism.My movements to the chair of government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.Let me now warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party.There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation.With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take my leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.Necessity, dire necessity, will, nay must, justify my attack.The land at the point is 20 or 25 feed above the common surface of the water; and a considerable bottom of flat, well-timbered land all around it, very convenient for building.We pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it.Men who are familiarized to danger, meet it without shrinking, whereas those who have never seen service often apprehend danger where no danger lies.We should never despair; our situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new exertions and proportion our efforts to the exigency of the t