Key Presidential Achievements

 

The Young Republic, 1788-1815

(1.) President George Washington, 1789-1797

Vice President - John Adams
Secretary of State - Thomas Jefferson
Secretary of Treasury - Alexander Hamilton

Judiciary Act, 1789
Tariff of 1789
Whiskey Rebellion, 1799
French Revolution - Citizen Genét, 1793
Jay Treaty with England, 1795
Pinckney Treaty with Spain, 1795
Farewell Address, 1796
First Bank of United States , 1791-1811

(2.) President John Adams, 1797-1801

Federalist
Vice President - Thomas Jefferson

XYZ Affair, 1797
Alien Act, Sedition Act, 1798
Naturalization Act
"Midnight Judges," 1801
Kentucky (Jefferson) and Virginia (Madison) Resolutions, 1798

(3.) President Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809

Democratic Republican
Vice Presidents - Aaron Burr & George Clinton
Secretary of State - James Madison

Marbury v. Madison, 1803
Louisiana Purchase, 1803
Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1805
12th Amendment, 1804
Embargo Act, 1807
Non-Intercourse Act, 1809

(4.) President James Madison, 1809-1817

Democratic Republican
Vice Presidents - George Clinton & Elbridge Gerry
Secretary of State - James Monroe

Macon Act, 1810
Berlin and Milan Decrees
Orders in Council
"War Hawks," 1811-1812
War of 1812
Hartford Convention, 1814
First Protective Tariff, 1816

Era of Good Feelings and the Era of the Common Man, 1815-1840

(5.) President James Monroe, 1817-1825

Democratic Republican
Vice President - Daniel Tompkins
Secretary of State - John Quincy Adams

McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819; Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 1819; Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824
Acquisition of Florida from Spain, 1819
Transcontinental or Adam-Oñis Treaty, 1819
Missouri Compromise, 1820
Monroe Doctrine, 1823
Sectional Tariff, 1824
Favorite Sons Election [Jackson, J. Q. Adams, Crawford, Clay], 1824

(6.) President John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829

National Republican
Vice President - John C. Calhoun
Secretary of State - Henry Clay

"Corrupt Bargain"
Erie Canal, 1825
Tariff of Abominations
Calhoun's Exposition and Protest, 1828

(7.) President Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837

Democrat
Vice President - John C. Calhoun & Martin Van Buren

Jacksonian Democracy
Tariffs of 1832 and 1833
The 2nd Bank of the United States (due to expire in 1836)
Formation of the Whig Party, 1832

(8.) President Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841

Democrat
Vice President - Richard M. Johnson

Panic of 1837
Specie Circular, no Bank of the United States
Unsound financing by state governments

Ante-Bellum Period, 1840-1860

(9.) President William Henry Harrison, 1841

Whig
Vice President - John Tyler
Secretary of State - Daniel Webster

(10.) President John Tyler, 1841-1845

Anti-Jackson Democrat ran as Vice President on Whig ticket
No Vice President
Secretary of State - Daniel Webster

Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842
Vetoes Clay's bill for 3rd Bank of the United States
Canadian Border set at 45th parallel

(11.) President James K. Polk, 1845-1849

original "dark horse" candidate
Democrat
Vice President - George Dallas

Manifest Destiny
Texas becomes a state, 1845
Oregon boundary settled, 1846
Mexican War, 1846-1848
Treaty of Guadeloupe-Hidalgo, 1848
Wilmot Proviso

(12.) President Zachary Taylor, 1849-1850

Whig
Vice President - Millard Fillmore

(13.) President Millard Fillmore, 1850-1853

Whig
No Vice President
Secretary of State - Daniel Webster

Compromise of 1850
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 1850 (Britain and U. S. agree not to expand in Central America if the canal is built)
Uncle Tom's Cabin, 1852

(14.) President Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857

Democrat
Vice President - William King

Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 1854
popular sovereignty
Japan opened to world trade, 1853
Underground Railroad
Bleeding Kansas
Ostend Manifesto, 1854

(15.) President James Buchanan, 1857-1861

Democrat
Vice President - John Breckinridge

Dred Scott decision, 1857
Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858