Hail to the ChiefThe First Five American

Presidents

Agenda

• Warm-up: Freedoms and Rights• Five President Notes• Five President Posters• Homework: Enjoy your weekend

Objective:

• Content Objective: Students will review the Bill of Rights. Students will also learn about the first five presidents and discover their major accomplishments.

• Language Objective: Students will research and create Presidential Posters.

George WashingtonAs President

• Only President unanimously elected

• Federal Court System started while he was president

• Had no political party (political parties started while in office)

• Bill of Rights added to Constitution

• Only president to not live in Washington, D.C. – but plans for the city laid out while he was president.

• Set many precedents

George WashingtonIn the Revolution

• Nominated as commander in chief by John Adams

• Won and lost several early battles

• Excellent military leader• Accepted the British surrender

at Yorktown in 1781

• Born February 22, 1732 in Virginia

• Died December 14, 1799• Had no formal education• Fought in the French and

Indian War• Never had wooden teeth• Married Martha Custis and

gained a lot of land

John AdamsAs President

• Member of the Federalists (two political parties emerged while he was president)

• Had Problems with France• Thomas Jefferson was his

Vice President• First president to live in the

White House• Passed the Alien and

Sedition Acts

John Adams• Born October 22, 1735 in

Massachusetts• Grandparents landed at

Plymouth with the Pilgrims• Went to Harvard College• Defended the British soldiers

involved in the Boston Massacre• In the Continental Congresses

• Signed the Declaration of Independence

• During the Revolutionary War, served as an ambassador

• Served as George Washington’s Vice President

• Holds the record for casting the most tie-breaking votes in the Senate

• Lived longer than any other president (90 years, 247 days) – record broken in 2006

• Died on July 4, 1826

Agenda

• Warm-up: Freedoms and Rights• Five President Notes• Five President Posters• Homework: Enjoy your weekend

Thomas JeffersonAs President

• First president inaugurated in Washington, D.C.

• Purchased the Louisiana Territory from France ($11 million, 3 cents an acre)

• Sent Lewis and Clark to explore the new territory

• First president to shake visitors hands

• His Vice President, Aaron Burr, shot and killed a man in a duel

Thomas Jefferson• Born in Virginia 1758• Went to the College of William

& Mary• Served in the House of

Burgesses and the Continental Congresses

• Wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence

• During the Revolutionary War, served as an ambassador

• Wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

• George Washington’s Secretary of State

• John Adam’s Vice President• Founded the University of

Virginia• Loved architecture - designed

his home at Monticello and the Virginia State Capital building

• Died on the 4th of July (same day as John Adams)

James Madison• Served as President during

The War of 1812 (Washington, D.C. burned)

• First president to have served in Congress (Representative)

• Shortest president (5’ 4”)and the first to wear trousers

• Let the charter on the First National Bank expire

• 2 states joined the Union• Had two vice presidents die

while he was in office

James Madison

• Wrote the Virginia Plan for the Constitutional Convention

• Father of the Constitution• Wrote the Bill of Rights• Opposed Alexander Hamilton

and the National Bank• Democratic-Republican• Jefferson’s Secretary of State

• Born in Virginia 1751• Graduated from College of

New Jersey (now Princeton)• Portrait is on the $5000 bill• Died in June 1836

James MonroeAs President

• Issued the Monroe Doctrine – told Europe to stay out of the affairs in the Western Hemisphere

• First Senator to be president• Signed the Missouri

Compromise (made states in the South “slave” and states in the North “free”)

• 5 states joined the Union• Daughter was married at the

White House (first wedding there)

James Monroe• Fought in the Revolutionary

War wounded in the Battle of Trenton

• Pictured in painting Washington Crossing the Delaware

• Born in Virginia 1758• Graduated from the College

of William and Mary• Democratic-Republican• Cabinet member for James

Madison• Only president other than

Washington to have a capital city named after him (Monrovia, Liberia)

• Died on the 4th of July, five years after Jefferson and Adams

Agenda

• Warm-up: Freedoms and Rights• Five President Notes• Five President Posters• Homework: Enjoy your weekend