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APUSH President Review

There are 10 presidents you need to know on the AP Test: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Ronald Reagan.

Read the handout and answer the questions that follow

George Washington-1st president

George Washington was the 1st president of the United States. While he was president there were no political parties. Following his presidency, the Federalist Party and Democratic-Republican Party will emerge. Washington had some of the brightest members as the first cabinet. Thomas Jefferson served as Secretary of State, Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of Treasury, and Henry Knox as Secretary of War. A huge sectional issue that emerged while Washington was president was the assumption of debt by the federal government from the states. A compromise is reached called the Compromise of 1790 where the capital gets moved from New York City/Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.

One of the biggest foreign policy dilemmas of Washington’s presidency was when France declared war on Great Britain. Washington strongly believed against foreign entanglements and alliances. He issued a Neutrality Proclamation that stated the United States would stay neutral regarding this war. Washington received a great deal of criticism for going beyond his presidential power.

President Washington had some challenges domestically as well. There was a rebellion in Pennsylvania over tax on whiskey. This rebellion was called the Whiskey Rebellion. President Washington responded to this rebellion by marching troops into Pennsylvania to put down the rebellion. Washington’s actions demonstrated the power of the federal government.

George Washington stepped down after 2 terms in office. Many presidents that followed Washington held this tradition of only serving 2 terms in office. This tradition is challenged when Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to 4 terms as president.

George Washington is well known for his Farewell Address. In this address, George Washington warned against political parties and foreign entanglements and alliances.

John Adams- 2nd president

John Adams was from the Federalist political party and had numerous foreign policy and domestic issues while president. The Quasi War took place with France where American ship captains were authorized to attack and capture armed French ships. Adams encouraged Congress to pass the Alien and Sedition Acts to limit the influence of the Democratic - Republican Party. The Alien aspect of this legislation allowed the president to deport any immigrants considered dangerous to the United States. The Sedition acts made it illegal for newspapers to criticize the president or Congress. The response was the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions written by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson where nullification was introduced. This concept stated that if the Federal government passed laws that violated the U.S. Constitution then states did not have to follow them.

Thomas Jefferson- 3rd U.S. President

Thomas Jefferson’s election in 1800 is frequently called the Revolution of 1800 because this was the first time political power was peacefully transferred from one political party to another political party. John Adams lost the election and was part of the Federalist Party and Thomas Jefferson won and was part of the Democratic-Republican Party. Many of President Jefferson’s problems involved foreign policy issues was France and Great Britain harassing American ships because of the Napoleonic Wars. President Jefferson attempted to resolve this situation through the Embargo Act of 1807 which prohibited American merchant ships to any foreign port. Shipbuilders on New England were hit harshly by this law.

One of President Jefferson’s greatest achievements was the purchase of Louisiana Territory from France which doubled the size of the United States. President Jefferson had a constitutional dilemma regarding this decision because he believed in strictly interpreting the U.S. Constitution and there was not a provision for the purchase of territory. President Jefferson abandoned his strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution because of the huge benefit this purchase would have for the United States.

Another famous Virginian from the Democratic-Republican was elected after Thomas Jefferson served 2 terms in office, James Madison. Madison was famous for being the father of the U.S. Constitution. He took many notes at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and was responsible for the Virginia Plan, which became the basis for much of U.S. government. James Madison was also president during the War of 1812. This was a conflict between the United States and Great Britain over shipping.

Andrew Jackson- 7th president

Andrew Jackson was elected in 1828 during the age of the common man. The property qualification had been dropped and more white males were voting. There was also an increase in campaigning including parades and interest groups that would support a particular candidate. President Jackson was responsible for the Indian Removal Act (1830), which forced the resettlement of Native Americans. He was also president during the Nullification Crisis where South Carolina was protesting the tariff of 1832. He resolved this issue but caused a financial crisis when he killed the Second Bank of the United States. This was the national banking system created under the Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, who served in President Washington’s cabinet.

Abraham Lincoln-16th president

Lincoln was elected in 1860 and served as president during a time of crisis where the question of the union was in the minds of most Americans. The issue that divided the nation were the following: slavery, states’ rights, and tariffs. Huge sectional differences emerged between the North and the South.

The North was against slavery but for high tariffs. The South was for slavery but against high tariffs and believed states’ should have more rights. Lincoln’s cabinet was full of intellectuals and many were formal rivals. One example was William Seward who was Lincoln’s Secretary of State.

As president, Lincoln’s greatest goal was to preserve the union. Lincoln’s first crisis was delivered by Major Robert Anderson regarding securing Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The military conflict at Fort Sumter started the Civil War between the Union and the Confederacy. The Civil War completely defined Lincoln’s presidency. As president, Lincoln taught himself military strategy. One reason Lincoln was so interested in military strategy is he had problems with generals being willing to fight and win against the Confederacy. This will all change with Ulysses S. Grant. One of the biggest challenges Lincoln had with generals was George B. McClellan who will eventually run against Lincoln in 1864. Lincoln realized after the Battle of Shiloh that the Civil War was going to be a total war. This term means that civilians could be a target and the goal was complete destruction with the hopes of surrender. This type of war strategy was found in William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea.

Following the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln felt he had his great Union victory and could issue the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves only in rebelling states. The goal of the Emancipation Proclamation was to get African Americans to join the Union Army and to discourage foreign involvement in the Confederacy particularly from Great Britain and France.

By 1862, the Union had successes in the West but not in the East but this changed in 1863 with the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg. This was a major turning point in the war because the Confederacy was on the defensive and lost numerous soldiers in the battle.

In 1864, Lincoln was dealing with a fierce campaign for re-election against his former general, George McClellan. Many that were advising Lincoln begged him to recognize the Confederacy and issue an armistice to end the Civil War. However, Lincoln refused to back down. Lincoln won re-election many historians believe because of the successful military campaigns in Georgia by William Tecumseh Sherman.

On April 9th, 1865 Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses Grant at Appomattox, Virginia. Lincoln wanted to structure reconstruction (plan in which the Confederacy would come back into the Union) with this phrase, “malice towards none, charity for all.” Unfortunately, Lincoln’s attitude would not prevail because Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 15th, 1865.

Woodrow Wilson -28th president

Woodrow Wilson was the first Democrat after a series of Republican presidents- William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft. Wilson wanted to improve conditions for America’s poor. Wilson got Congress to agree to his ideas through the power of his oratory.

Woodrow Wilson felt America was tied up by special interest groups. He wanted to fix this and make America fairer. He resolved this problem by convincing Congress to pass the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. This established the Federal Reserve System.

For much of President Wilson’s presidency, he kept the United States out of World War I. However, in 1917, the U.S. declared war on Germany over unrestricted submarine warfare, the Zimmerman Note, and worries that Great Britain was going to fall to Germany. The U.S. involvement in World War I represented a change in foreign policy because since President Washington the United States had stayed out of European affairs and now Wilson was charging into involvement with Europe.

President Woodrow Wilson drafted the Fourteen Points as a peace plan for World War I. A major aspect of this plan was the League of Nations. The U.S. never joins the League of Nations because the Republican controlled Senate did not like Article X that required defense of member nations. Wilson refused to compromise.

Franklin D. Roosevelt- 32nd

Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in 1932 during the early stages of the Great Depression. Roosevelt helped the psychological needs of Americans during the Great Depression. He accomplished this through the fireside chats conducted over the radio.

The first issue that President Roosevelt tackled was the banking crisis. Roosevelt shut down the banks and went on the radio to give a fireside chat. In this address, Roosevelt encouraged Americans to put their money back into the banks. The banks re-opened the next day and people lined up to put money in the banks.

One of President Roosevelt’s greatest challenges while trying to deal with the Great Depression was the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court began to issue decisions that stated aspects of the New Deal were unconstitutional. For example, the NRA and the AAA were struck down as unconstitutional.

Roosevelt tried adding 6 new justices to the Supreme Court. This never happens and Franklin Roosevelt criticized him for being a dictator.

While Franklin Roosevelt was dealing with the Great Depression the foreign policy of the United States was isolationist. However, in 1937, Franklin Roosevelt gave his famous Quarantine Speech where he criticized Japanese aggression in China. This speech demonstrated President Roosevelt’s desire to move America from isolationist foreign policy to interventionism. Eventually, the United States will abandon isolationism when the United States is invaded by Japan at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941.

Later historians criticized Roosevelt for approving Executive Order 9066, which approved Japanese internment. Japanese Americans on the West Coast were relocated to detention camps because there was fear of sabotage and spying.

Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the presidency by looking to the president in times of crisis particularly help in solving Americans’ problems.

Lyndon B. Johnson- 36

Lyndon B. Johnson became president after President Kennedy’s assassination. One of his programs will be the Great Society, which was a war on poverty. Johnson expanded the federal government. He made it so more middle class families could send children to college through work study programs.

Lyndon B. Johnson did a great deal for the civil rights movement. President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed public segregation. Also, he signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and poll taxes.

One of the greatest issues of President Johnson’s administration was foreign policy. Johnson escalated American troops in Vietnam with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. He was hotly criticized for Vietnam. A famous protest cry was, “Hey LBJ how many kids did you kill today?” The intense protesting over American involvement in Vietnam caused Johnson not to run for re-election in 1968.

Ronald Reagan – 40th

Ronald Reagan an actor and former governor of California was elected to the presidency after the unpopular presidency of Jimmy Carter. Reagan’s greatest strength as president was being a great communicator. He was comfortable with the media and was able to get his ideals before the American people.

Reagan had a very confrontational relationship with the Soviet Union. He increased military spending, which eventually caused the collapse of the Soviet Union. President Reagan called the Soviet Union the “evil empire”. Key to his administration’s foreign policy initiatives was the Reagan Doctrine under which America provided aid to anticommunist movements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America . In 1983, Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative

(SDI) , a plan to develop space-based weapons to protect America from attacks by Soviet missiles.

Ronald Reagan is well known for beginning the Reagan Revolution. President Reagan tried to roll back the size and scope of the federal government. Also, he increased military defense spending. A key aspect of the Reagan Revolution was given tax breaks to the wealthy.

President Reagan drew a great deal of political strength from the New Right and the Moral Majority. The New Right were politically active religious conservative individuals who became more vocal in the 1980’s. The New Right criticized feminism, opposed abortion, and promoted family values. The Moral Majority was a political organization founded by Reverend Jerry Falwell, an evangelical minister who preached against abortion, feminism, and the spread of gay rights.

1. Which of the following was a member of Washington’s cabinet?

A. Henry Clay B. Stephen Douglass C. Andrew Jackson D. Thomas Jefferson

2. Besides race considerations, what was President Lincoln’s big goal with the Emancipation Proclamation?

A. Dealing with the tariff issue B. Hoping it would help his re-election campaign in 1864C. Discourage Great Britain and France from assisting the Confederacy D. Giving more rights to states

3. How did President Wilson try to limit the power of special interests in the United States?

A. Entering World War I B. Drafting the Fourteen Points C. Convincing Congress to pass the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 D. Signing into law the Sherman Anti-Trust Act

4. What speech demonstrated that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was moving away from isolationism?

A. Four Freedoms Speech B. Pearl Harbor Speech C. Quarantine Speech D. New Deal Speech

5. What issue caused President Lyndon B. Johnson to become very unpopular?

A. Korean War B. Vietnam War C. Civil Rights Movement D. Cuban Missile Crisis

6. How did President Reagan refer to the Soviet Union?

A. Good Neighbor B. Evil Empire C. American Protectorate D. Menace Rival

There have been some continuities within the American presidency and some huge changes from George Washington to Ronald Reagan. In about 7-10 sentences discussed the continuities from the 10 presidents mentioned and the changes. Was there more continuity or more change?