A Presidential Lineup Trivia Quiz

The second president was John Adams who served from 1797 to 1801 and was also the first incumbent president to lose an election. He was also the first to run against the same candidate (Thomas Jefferson) twice. Finally, he was the first president to never veto a bill.

One of his most notable acts was signing the Alien and Sedition Acts, a series of four laws: Aliens Friends Act, Aliens Enemies Act, Naturalization Act, and Sedition Act. The most enforced of these four laws was the Sedition Act, which stated that people could be fined or imprisoned for making false statements against the government or employees of the government. This act was believed to be the reason why Adams lost re-election and why the Federalists lost their majority in both houses of Congress, never to regain them.

Adams was also president during the XYZ Affair. Great Britain and France were at war, and France considered an invasion of the United States. This was because the United States and England had signed the Jay Treaty which eased tensions between the two countries and settle disputes regarding the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Since England and France were at war, France was angry at this, believing the United States to be pro-England and anti-France. Adams sent three diplomats to diffuse the tension between the United States and France. The delegates Adams sent meet with French diplomats, known only as X, Y, and Z. The French demanded bribes from America, and the negotiations didn't progress. Although war was not official declared, there was an unofficial naval war called the Quasi War which lasted from 1798 to 1800 and ended with the Treaty of Mortefontaine.

A lesser-known fact about John Adams's presidency was that he signed a bill establishing the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., which houses the largest collection of documents in the country.

The United States' third president was Thomas Jefferson, who served from 1801 to 1809. Jefferson was the first president to have previously lost a presidential election (the 1796 election against John Adams). He was also the first president to have two different vice presidents: Aaron Burr during his term and George Clinton during his second term. His 1801 inauguration was also the first time the president had been inaugurated in Washington D.C. as well as the first time the Marines performed at a presidential inauguration.

One of Jefferson's most notable accomplishments was the Louisiana Purchase. The initial idea was to buy just New Orleans for $10,000,000. This was because New Orleans consisted of a port that would be useful for shipping purposes, but France had blocked America from using it. Jefferson sent James Monroe (then-future 5th president) and Robert Livingston (one of five people part of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence) to convince Napoleon, the emperor of France at the time, to sell America the land. Napoleon initially wanted to expand French territories in the United States, but France was at war with Haiti, making them seem unlikely. To fight the war, Napoleon needed money: a lot of it and very quickly. Rather than selling just New Orleans, Napoleon decided to sell the entire Louisiana Territory (which included not just Louisiana but fourteen other states as well) for $15,000,000 or $0.03 an acre. The United States accepted this agreement.

Jefferson was initially unsure of how to proceed from a Constitutional standpoint. Although it did allow new states to be added, Jefferson did not believe the Constitution allowed for the purchasing of land. As a strict constitutionalist, Jefferson believed he had to interpret the Constitution as it was originally meant, so he wrote an amendment to the Constitution that he would send to Congress, so it could through the ratification process. However, his Secretary of State James Madison pointed out that buying land was allowed so long as it was done as a treaty. Jefferson submitted the Louisiana Purchase as a treaty to the Senate and it barely passed the 2/3 majority needed to ratify a treaty.

A lesser-known fact regarding the Jefferson presidency was that he signed legislation in 1802 that established West Point. Although Jefferson was against a standing military, he was not anti-military, and he believed the United States needed a formal place to train its hopeful military applicants.

Martin van Buren, who served from 1837 to 1841, was the eighth president of the United States. He was one of a few presidents to run against the same candidate (William Henry Harrison) twice. In 1848, he ran for president as a third party candidate as a member of the Free Soil party, formed on the issue of prohibiting the expansion of slavery, and thus became the first former president to run for president. Born in 1782, he was the first president to be born after the United States declared independence from Great Britain as well as the first president who spoke a language other than English as a first language (he spoke Dutch).

During his predecessor Andrew Jackson's presidency, the national debt was paid off, but uncertainty of the surplus, along with an executive order that required land to be bought with gold and silver but not paper money, led to the Panic of 1837, which occurred during van Buren's presidency. van Buren refused to get the government involved believing the states should work it out themselves. The panic would end when the van Buren signed an act establishing the Independent Treasury. This act meant the government could store its money in its own vault rather than a state or a national bank.

A lesser-known fact about van Buren's presidency was his role in the Aroostook War - although there was no actual shooting. There was dispute over the boundary between New Brunswick and Maine. Both sides kept making decisions on where the boundary was, which the other side rejected. Van Buren met with the British minister where they came up with an agreement: Aroostook would be divided between the two of them based on which area held the best interest for each of them. The treaty itself would not be ratified until 1842, when James Polk was president.

The 13th president was Millard Fillmore, who held the role from 1850 to 1853, following the death of Zachary Taylor. He was the last of four presidents to become a member of the Whig party before its collapse in 1856. He also did not keep any of Taylor's Cabinet members, an unusual move for someone who ascended to the presidency because of death of his predecessor.

About three months into his term, Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Act into law. This act stated that slaves were to be returned to their masters, even if they fled to a different state even a free state. Penalties were given to people who aided in the escape of slaves.

A lesser-known fact about Fillmore's presidency was him signing act that created the San Francisco Mint. The Gold Rush of 1849 meant that miners would find a lot of gold, but they needed to convert it to cash. The San Francisco Mint would allow such a thing to take place.

The 14th president of the United States was Franklin Pierce, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was disliked by his party that he decided not to even attempt to run for a second term in office. When Pierce took his oath of office, he said "solemnly affirm" rather than "solemnly swear", which was thought to be because Pierce believed his faith prevented him from swearing to anyone but God. He also had the unique distinction of keeping his entire cabinet throughout his presidency. (His vice president, William R. King died a month into office, but the vice president wasn't considered a cabinet position.)

During Pierce's administration, in 1854, the Ostend Manifesto was leaked to the press. This manifesto stated that it was Pierce's desire to take control of Cuba away from Spain, even going as far as to declare war with Spain if it refused. Cuba would be admitted to the United States as a slave state. This national angered the anti-slavery crowd, particular those in the north. The name Ostend came from a city in Belgium where this manifesto was written. It was believed that James Buchanan, who at the time was the United States minister to the United Kingdom, was the author of this manifesto at the insistence of Secretary of State William L. Marcy.

A lesser-known fact about his presidency was his veto of a bill that allowed the government to grant land to states for the benefit of those deemed mentally insane. Pierce's veto message stated that although he had sympathy towards the insane and hoped they got the necessary treatment, he did not believe that the Constitution granted him the power to deal with them.

Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th president of the United States, holding that position for two terms, from 1869 to 1877. He was the second president who had no political experience prior to becoming president (the first being Zachary Taylor). In 1880, four years after being out of office, Grant seriously considered running for a third term, but the nomination went to Congressman James A. Garfield.

Grant, unlike his predecessor Andrew Johnson, was pro-Reconstruction and signed bills ensuring black people weren't discriminated based on race. In 1875, Grant signed a law declaring all public places must accommodate everyone regardless of skin color. This decision was overturned in the 1883 Supreme Court case Plessy vs. Ferguson (which itself was overturned by the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown vs. Board of Education). He also signed the Enforcement Act suspended writ of habeas corpus when it came to stopping members of the Ku Klux Klan. In fact, it was this act that helped put an end to the first iteration of the white supremacy group.

However, there was also corruption in the Grant administration, although Grant had nothing to do with it and in fact didn't know about it. The Whiskey Ring was formed with the intent of having whiskey distillers bribe government officials in an attempt to avoid taxes. The money would then be distributed among the government officials. After it was made public, thanks to the investigation of Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow, $3 million were recovered and 110 people were convicted.

A lesser-known fact regarding Grant's presidency was that he was the first president to suggest a line-item veto amendment to the Constitution. This type of veto would allow the president to sign part of a bill and veto the other part. Grant noticed members of Congress had attached riders (additions to a bill, usually to help them or their district) to appropriation bills. This amendment however did not come to pass.

Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd president of the United States, serving from 1889 to 1893, between Grover Cleveland's two non-consecutive terms as president. Harrison was the grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, as well as the great-grandson of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, also named Benjamin Harrison. President Harrison was the third person to lose the popular vote but win the presidency (Harrison had 233 electoral votes vs. Grover Cleveland's 168 electoral votes) and the fourth president to run against the same candidate (Grover Cleveland) twice.

Harrison signed the Judiciary Act of 1891 which reorganized how circuit courts operated. Prior to this act, justices of the circuit courts rode around their area of the country to hear cases. After the act was signed, circuit courts had their own permeant building, and the people came to them.

A lesser-known event that happened during the presidency of Benjamin Harrison was when he signed a bill that would create an immigration station on Ellis Island in New York, although it wouldn't be opened until about ten years afterwards.

Theodore Roosevelt (who preferred being called Theodore or TR over Teddy, a nickname he hated) was the 26th president of the United States, beginning in 1901 upon the assassination of William McKinley and ending in 1909. Roosevelt was the first president to ascended to the presidency to win reelection to a full term. Roosevelt also ran for a second full term in 1912 as a third party candidate as a member of the Bull Moose Party. This was because of his disappointment in his hand-picked successor William Howard Taft. As governor of New York, he had an ambitious agenda particularly regarding immigration that some in the Republican Party disliked, so they convinced McKinley to make Roosevelt vice president, assuming he'd be powerless and would never become president in his own right. This didn't work out when McKinley was assassinated.

As the Russo-Japanese War was ending, it was decided to have President Roosevelt be the mediator between the two sides when it came to the Treaty of Portsmouth. For his role as mediator, Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize, the first president to do so. It was also Roosevelt who signed a law establishing an eight-hour work day and regulated the food industry, which also resulted in the creation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A lesser-known fact about Roosevelt's presidency was that, due to his stance on conservation, he never had a Christmas tree in the White House.

The 30th president of the United States was Calvin Coolidge, whose presidency lasted from August 2, 1923, starting with the death of Warren G. Harding, to 1929. When Coolidge ran for his first full term, he did not actively campaign yet still won, which hadn't happened since the 1840s, the time that campaigning for the presidency became something candidates did. The main reason for Coolidge not campaigning was due to the recent death of his son, Calvin Coolidge Jr.

Coolidge was known for his fiscal policies. He, with the help of his Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, persuaded Congress to reduce the top tax rate from 57% to 25%. Coolidge was also able to reduce the national debt each of the six year he was in office. He also did not sign any bills for farming subsidies or money to assist victims of flooding, believing that was beyond the scope of the presidency.

Despite his nickname of "Silent Cal", Coolidge was not as quiet as he might have seemed. He helped revolutionize the radio as a form of communication for the president (similar to Franklin Roosevelt with the radio and perhaps even Donald Trump with social media); his 1923 State of the Union was the first given over the radio and his 1924 inauguration was the first presented over the radio, given the average American their first chance to hear these events.

One lesser-known fact about the Coolidge presidency was that it was Coolidge who selected Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lincoln to be the four presidents who would be carved onto Mount Rushmore.

The 34th president of the United States was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who held the post from 1953 to 1961. Both times he ran for president, he had the same Democratic competitor, Adlai Stevenson II. Eisenhower was approached by both Republicans and Democrats to be their nominee in 1948, but he declined. They tried again in 1952, and this time Eisenhower chose the Republican Party, because he said that after 16 years of Democrats in control, it was time for a change. Also, he was the first president to appoint a black person to an executive position in the White House (E. Frederic Morrow, Administrative Officer for Special Projects).

Eisenhower held the presidency during a time when fears of Communism became common across America. He identified Communism with secularism, so he (with the help of Congress) introduced religious elements including adding "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, establishing the National Prayer Breakfast, and adding "In God We Trust" to paper money.

Eisenhower also helped expand the power of the vice presidency by keeping his vice president Richard Nixon in the loop and gave him diplomatic assignments to ensure if anything were to happen to Eisenhower, then Nixon would be prepared to take over. This was based on Eisenhower's knowledge on how uniformed Truman was on major issues (like the atomic bomb project) when he ascended to the presidency. During his farewell speech, Eisenhower warned of the influence of the military industrial complex (that is, the relationship between the military and the defense industry supplying it) and of the danger of public policy of a scientific technological elite.

A lesser-known fact about Eisenhower's tenure was that he signed the first civil rights bill into law in about 80 years, albeit a watered-down version of his proposed idea, since Congress was in control of Democrats, a lot of whom were segregationists.