Early Life Zachary Taylor was born on November 24, 1784 near Gordonsville, Virginia. His parents,

James K. Polk was born on November 2, 1795 in North Carolina, but quickly moved to Tennessee soon after. This is where Polk entered the world of politics by being elected into the Tennessee House of Representatives as a democrat, in 1823. Polk also became Governor of Tennessee in 1839, but that only lasted for one term, even though he ran for reelection in both 1841 and 1843. Suddenly, in 1844 Polk became the “compromise candidate” (History.com Staff) for the Democratic Party during the 1845 election. This was due to Polk seeming to appear at the top of the nominee list out if nowhere and since he was not well known in the states to begin with, he became known as “The Dark Horse Candidate” (History.com Staff)1. During the election Polk ended

Zachary Taylor, elected in 1849, only served sixteen months in office as president of the United States. Zachary Taylor was a commemorated war general for his roles within the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, Seminole Wars, and the Mexican War. Yet, it was only after the Mexican War did he get public recognition and received a nomination by the Whig Party for president. Taylor never officially finished his education and never seemed to particularly care for politics. Besides his own election, he had never voted and he did not even vote for himself. Taylor was a peculiar candidate, he had no political experience whatsoever and to be potentially be a president shocked many. Fortunately for him, former president Martin Van Buren caused a split of votes between himself and Lewis Cass. He also happened to be slave owner, which appealed to many Southerners. It wasn’t until he was elected that his ideals were revealed. Due to his time with the army, he had a strong nationalist ideology as his main goal was to preserve the unity of the Union. Taylor supported slavery, yet the idea of expanding slavery was not apart of his agenda.

Ulysses S. Grant       On April 27, 1822 a boy was born to Jesse Root Grant and Hannah Simpson Grant in the small town of Point Pleasant, Ohio. They named their son Hiram Ulysses Grant. In 1823 the family moved to a town nearby called Georgetown, Ohio, where Ulysses’ father owned a tannery and some farmland. Grant had two brothers and three sisters born in Georgetown.

With the assassination of President Lincoln, the presidency fell upon an old-fashioned southerner named Andrew Johnson. Although an honest and honorable man, Andrew Johnson was one of the most unfortunate Presidents. Over time there has been a controversial debate as to whether Johnson deserved to be impeached, or if it was an unconstitutional attempt by Congress to infringe upon the president's authority. The impeachment of Andrew Johnson was politically motivated. The spirit of the Jacksonian democracy inspired Andrew Johnson. In 1857, Johnson was then elected to represent Tennessee in the US Senate. "While serving in the Senate, Johnson became an advocate of the Homestead Bill, which was opposed by most Southern Democrats and their

The involvement the president should have with congress is critical due to balance of power. President Taylor not sending a clear message to congress is significant due to the importance of congress and the president invoking each other's thoughts and collaborating. Although Taylor did bar slavery, he was not in office for long enough in order to impact our nation greatly, which led to his elimination. I also disqualified John Tyler who was the tenth head of state of our nation. In 1841, John Tyler vetoed a bill in which would establish a National Bank of the United States with branches in numerous states. The Whigs were dissatisfied with this decision which prompted them to expel him from their party and led to the resignation of his cabinet as a whole. Tyler also vetoed a tariff bill which led to the first impeachment resolution of a president to begin. The House of representatives believed he was abusing his veto power. Although the resolution failed, it made it evident that he abused his executive rights and did not allow the power to be distributed between the three branches. These factors influenced my decision to conclude that Tyler did not meet my criteria

To begin with, John Tyler was born in Charles City, Virginia on March 29, 1790. His particular birthplace was on a big plantation called Greenway where he spent his first years. As a child, John was gentle and polite, but could be strong and stubborn when he desired to. His parents, John Tyler Sr. and Mary Marot Armistead Tyler both took care of John and his siblings until they were old enough to care for themselves. As a child, John enjoyed writing poetry and playing the violin in his spare time in order to keep himself occupied.

The election was between James Madison, a Democratic-Republican running for his second term, and Dewitt Clinton, a Federalist. Madison had won the election of 1808 by a landslide, but his support had weakened some during his presidency. Just before being nominated a second time for the election of 1812, President Madison had declared war. His supporters and party wanted to drive the British from Canada and rid West Florida of the Spanish. This war would later become known as the War of 1812. Clinton and the Federalist did not support this war and tried to use this against Madison during the election. They attacked Madison for entering the war to begin with, but at the same time, they also criticized him for not putting much emphasis or energy into the war. They were saying he entered a war unnecessarily, and then fought a very weak war. However, Madison won the election of 1812, showing that the Federalist’s support throughout the United States was dwindling greatly. Madison would become the first wartime

     Andrew Johnson, the 17th president, was born in Raleigh, North Carolina on December 29th, 1808. At the young age of three years old, Andrew’s father. Jacob Johnson passed away while drowning in an attempt to save the life of Editor Henderson from the Raleigh Gazette in 1812. Andrew’s mother, Mary Johnson, worked hard as a seamstress and washerwoman in order to support Andrew and his three brothers, and her; but she was unable to afford to send them to school. From the age of 14 until 16 he worked as an apprentice to a tailor but talked to his mother and stepfather about moving and starting a new life. He then opened a tailor shop in Greenville, Tennessee, married Eliza McCardle on May 17, 1827 and

Andrew Jackson of Tennessee and William Crawford former sectary of war and treasury of state. Candidates fought and campaigned for the presidential seat that although Jackson won the popular vote also no candidate won a majority in the Electoral College. Like the 1828 presidential elections, the final two candidates where Jackson and Adams; the vote was to be decided by the house of representatives. Henry Clay who was the presiding chief speaker at that time made a corrupt bargain with John Quincy Adams, which made John Q Adams win the election, however, he made Henry Clay the secretary of states. Adams victory caused dispute between Adams supporters and Jackson’s supporters, which gave John Quincy Adams a terrible presidency due to `the hostility he experienced from the Jacksonians in

James K. Polk, denying the nod to former president Martin Van Buren, who was moderately antislavery. The Whigs nominated Henry Clay, who changed his stand on supporting the annexation of Texas during the campaign. James G. Birney headed the third party ticket for the Liberty Party and took enough votes from Clay-especially in New York State-to enable a Polk victory.

President Buchanan was born on April 23, 1791 to Irish immigrant parents near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania. Buchanan has several siblings. He was the 2nd oldest of 11. The siblings name was Mary, Jane Buchanan Lane, Maria Buchanan Magaw/Yates, Sarah Buchanan Huston, Elizabeth E. Buchanan, Harriet Buchanan Henry, John, William Speer, George Washington, and Edward Young. He was the only president that did not marry, some people thought he was gay. Before he was on the office in 1819, he was engaged to Ann Caroline Coleman during 1769-1819. Ann

Polk was a slave owning southerner dedicated to the Democratic party. In 1844, he was a "dark horse" candidate for president, and he won the election. Polk favored American expansion, especially advocating the annexation of Texas, California, and Oregon. He was a friend and follower of Andrew Jackson. He opposed Clay's American System, instead advocating lower tariff, separation of the treasury and the federal government from the banking system. He was a nationalist who believed in Manifest

2.The whigs ran Zachary Taylor as a war hero winning him the election of 1848, because he promised to not

branch, those who opposed him referred to him as King Andrew, and the party got their name since Whigs were usually associated with opposing the King. The Democrats argued that the policies of the Whigs only benefited the upper class of people and imposed on states' rights (www.encyclopedia.com). The Whigs lost to the Democrats that year, but in 1840 they succeeded in getting William Henry Harrison elected President. In 1844 the Whig candidate, Henry Clay, lost to James Polk, but in the next election Zachary Taylor won for the Whigs. The Whigs usually nominated a military hero as their candidate in order to gain support. The Whigs supported a protective tariff, the creation of a new Bank of the United States, using the money from land sales to help states with internal improvements, and were

With Sarah by his side he had many campaign victories. Being a supporter of Andrew Jackson’s democratic policies at age twenty-nine he was elected to the U.S. Congress. From 1825-39 James was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and was serving as its speaker (Evisum Inc). After serving as speaker he became Governor of Tennessee in 1839-1841. In 1844 Democrats were having a difficult time getting 2/3 of the vote to nominate a presidential candidate, Polk who was running for the position of vice president, became nominated for the presidential candidate (Kelly). The focus on the campaign was to annex Texas which Polk was for the idea versus Clay who opposed the idea. Clay opposing the idea led Polk to victory.