Antebellum

United States, 1789–1861. Draft, not yet reviewed

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 from France nearly doubled the territory of the United States. The Erie Canal accelerated the settlement of the Great Lakes region, the westward expansion of the United States, and the economic ascendancy of New York state. Dispute with Mexico over Texas led to the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). Beginning with South Carolina, 11 slave-state governments voted to secede from the United States in 1860–1861, joining to create the Confederate States of America.

Seat of power: Washington, D.C.

Rulers

George Washington

President of the United States, 1789–1797

Washington was unanimously elected the first U.S. president by the Electoral College in 1789 and 1792. He established a strong, well-financed national government while remaining impartial in the fierce rivalry that emerged within his cabinet between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

Portrait of George Washington: Gilbert Stuart, Public domain, file

John Adams

President of the United States, 1797–1801

Adams's term was dominated by the issue of the French Revolutionary Wars, and his insistence on American neutrality led to fierce criticism from both the Jeffersonian Republicans and from some in his own party, led by his rival Alexander Hamilton. Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts and built up the Army and Navy in an undeclared naval war with France.

Portrait of John Adams: Gilbert Stuart, Public domain, file

Thomas Jefferson

President of the United States, 1801–1809

Jefferson promoted a western expansionist policy with the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the nation's geographic size. In 1807, Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act to defend the nation's industries from British threats to U.S. shipping, limit foreign trade, and stimulate the birth of American manufacturing.

Portrait of Thomas Jefferson: Rembrandt Peale, Public domain, file

James Madison

President of the United States, 1809–1817

Madison led the United States into the War of 1812. He presided over the creation of the Second Bank of the United States and the enactment of the protective Tariff of 1816.

Portrait of James Madison: John Vanderlyn, Public domain, file

James Monroe

President of the United States, 1817–1825

In 1823, Monroe announced the United States' opposition to any European intervention in the recently independent countries of the Americas with the Monroe Doctrine, which became a landmark in American foreign policy. In the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty with Spain, the United States secured Florida and established its western border with New Spain.

Portrait of James Monroe: Samuel Finley Breese Morse, Public domain, file

John Quincy Adams

President of the United States, 1825–1829

Adams championed an ambitious agenda that included federally funded infrastructure projects, the establishment of a national university, and engagement with the countries of Latin America, but the conservative Congress refused to pass many of his initiatives. Jackson soundly defeated Adams in the 1828 presidential election.

Portrait of John Quincy Adams: Mathew Brady, Public domain, file

Andrew Jackson

President of the United States, 1829–1837

In 1830, he signed the Indian Removal Act. The act, which has been described as ethnic cleansing, displaced tens of thousands of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands east of the Mississippi River. In 1835, Jackson became the only U.S. president to pay off the national debt.

Portrait of Andrew Jackson: Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl, Public domain, file

Martin Van Buren

President of the United States, 1837–1841

His popularity soon eroded because of his response to the Panic of 1837. His presidency was further marred by the costly Second Seminole War and his refusal to admit Texas to the Union as a slave state.

Portrait of Martin Van Buren: Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain, file

John Tyler

President of the United States, 1841–1845

Tyler became the first vice president to succeed to the presidency. He signed into law some of the Whig-controlled Congress's bills, but he was a strict constructionist and vetoed the party's bills to create a national bank and raise tariff rates. Tyler was the first president to have his veto of legislation overridden by Congress.

Portrait of John Tyler: George Peter Alexander Healy, Public domain, file

William Henry Harrison

President of the United States, 1841–1841

He died 31 days into his term, making him the shortest serving president and the first president to die in office. Harrison is remembered for actions in his earlier career, including his Indian treaties, and for his inventive election campaign tactics.

Portrait of William Henry Harrison: Albert Gallatin Hoit, Public domain, file

James K. Polk

President of the United States, 1845–1849

Polk reached a settlement with Great Britain over the disputed Oregon Country, with the territory for the most part divided along the 49th parallel. He oversaw U.S. victory in the Mexican–American War, resulting in Mexico's cession of the entirety of the American Southwest.

Portrait of James K. Polk: James_Polk.jpg: Brady, Mathew B., 1823 (ca.)-1896, photographer. derivative work: Superwikifan (talk), Public domain, file

Zachary Taylor

President of the United States, 1849–1850

His top priority as president was to preserve the Union. Taylor became the first president to be elected without having previously held political office. He died 16 months into his term from a stomach disease.

Portrait of Zachary Taylor: Zachary_Taylor_half_plate_daguerreotype_c1843-45.png: unknown, possibly Maguire of New Orleans derivative work: Beao, Public domain, file

Millard Fillmore

President of the United States, 1850–1853

Fillmore was instrumental in passing the Compromise of 1850, which led to a brief truce in the battle over the expansion of slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, expediting the return of escaped slaves to those who claimed ownership, was a controversial part of the compromise.

Portrait of Millard Fillmore: Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain, file

Franklin Pierce

President of the United States, 1853–1857

He alienated anti-slavery groups by signing the Kansas–Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act. Pierce signed the Gadsden Purchase of land from Mexico and led a failed attempt to acquire Cuba from Spain.

Portrait of Franklin Pierce: Mathew Benjamin Brady / Adam Cuerden, Public domain, file

James Buchanan

President of the United States, 1857–1861

A Democrat from Pennsylvania, he upheld a pro-slavery interpretation of the Constitution that did little to reverse the sectional crisis between the North and South. In his final months in office, seven Southern states seceded, forming the Confederacy.

Portrait of James Buchanan: From Brady daguerreotype (Mathew Brady) (1822-1896), Public domain, file

Culture

The construction of the Erie Canal was a landmark civil engineering achievement in the early history of the United States.
In the late 18th century, American settlers began to expand westward in larger numbers, many with a sense of manifest destiny.
Support for slavery had strengthened in Southern states, with widespread use of inventions such as the cotton gin (1793) having made slavery immensely profitable for Southern elites. Spurred by an active abolitionist movement, states in the North enacted laws to prohibit slavery within their boundaries.
As Americans expanded further into territory inhabited by Native Americans, the federal government implemented policies of Indian removal or assimilation. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 resulted in the Trail of Tears (1830–1850), in which an estimated 60,000 Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River were forcibly removed and displaced to lands far to the west, causing 13,200 to 16,700 deaths along the forced march.

Picture

The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie.

Image: Joshua Karn, CC BY-SA 3.0, file

Sources

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.