How the First 10 US Presidents Helped Shape the Role of the Nation’s Top Office

Term: 1789-1797, Party: none

During his two terms as president, the U.S. government was in its infancy, and George Washington was critical in guiding the new government through its organization. He oversaw the passage of the first 10 amendments, called the Bill of Rights, to the United States Constitution. He established a Cabinet of presidential advisers and appointed the first Supreme Court and district court judges.

In foreign affairs, Washington signed the Jay Treaty in 1795. It was an attempt to defuse mounting tensions over British military posts along America’s northern and western borders and to prevent another costly war between the United States and Great Britain.

The Constitution did not place term limits on the presidency, though Washington set the precedent for the two-term limit we have today when he voluntarily stepped down after his second term.

Political parties did not yet exist when Washington was elected president. Over the course of his presidency, however, Washington observed a growing partisan divide between Federalist and Anti-Federalist Cabinet members. They quarreled on key issues such as the establishment of a national bank. He worried that party affiliations would harm U.S. politics. In his Farewell Address, Washington cautioned against “the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party.”

Term: 1797-1801, Party: Federalist

John Adams was the only Federalist president ever elected, and the first U.S. president to inhabit the White House. Adams’ election marked the emergence of America’s first political party system. In the election of 1796, Adams, a Federalist, defeated Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican. As a Federalist, Adams favored a broad interpretation of the Constitution with a strong federal government.

Adams wasn’t afraid to make principled yet unpopular moves. After the Jay Treaty, the United States faced naval hostilities from France. Though the Federalists favored declaring war on France, Adams brokered a peace deal that his party did not support. The move likely cost him reelection but steered the U.S. away from yet another costly war it was unprepared to fight.

Term: 1801-1809, Party: Democratic-Republican

Thomas Jefferson oversaw the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase—a massive tract of land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains—during his first term in office. Purchased from France in 1803, the new land doubled the size of the United States. Later that year, Jefferson sponsored the Lewis and Clark Expedition through the newly acquired western territory.

Much of Jefferson’s second term was occupied with trying to maintain neutrality between France and Great Britain and keep the United States out of European wars.

Term: 1809-1817, Party: Democratic-Republican

The defining event of James Madison’s presidency was the War of 1812. In response to British attempts to restrict U.S. trade and the Royal Navy’s impressment of American seamen, James Madison signed a declaration of war against Great Britain on June 18, 1812.

The United States suffered many costly losses during the three-year conflict, including the burning of the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., in 1814. But there were some victories too, including the Battle of New Orleans.

Term: 1817-1825, Party: Democratic-Republican

James Monroe’s presidency is often called the “era of good feelings.” A newfound spirit of patriotism had swept the country after successful campaigns by American troops to repel superior British forces at New York, Baltimore and New Orleans during the War of 1812. After his election, Monroe embarked on a goodwill tour that strove to downplay partisan politics and focused instead on national unity.

In 1820, Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise, which paired the entrance into the union of Missouri, a slave state, with Maine, a free state. It also banned slavery in the remaining Louisiana Purchase lands located north of the 36º 30’ latitude.

James Monroe’s famous 1823 address to Congress, which became known as the Monroe Doctrine, warned European powers that the United States would not tolerate further colonization in the Americas. This doctrine would become a cornerstone of American foreign policy.

Term: 1825-1829, Party: National Republican

Son of former U.S. President John Adams, John Quincy Adams’ presidency marked a return to partisan politics.

After Andrew Jackson won a plurality—but not a majority—of electoral votes in 1824, the decision moved to the House of Representatives, which selected John Quincy Adams as president over Jackson, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans. The narrow victory caused a split in the Democratic-Republican Party (formally called the Republican Party) that Adams couldn’t overcome. He was a proponent of universal education and the development of arts and sciences, though most of his political initiatives failed to find support in a divided Congress.

During his presidency, he did, however, oversee the completion of the Erie Canal—a 363-mile waterway that opened much of the Midwest to shipping.

Term: 1829-1837, Party: Democrat

Andrew Jackson was the first “frontier president.” Unlike previous presidents from wealthy, well-educated families, Andrew Jackson grew up in relative poverty in a log cabin in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee. He had little formal education but rose to national fame after leading the U.S. to victory in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812.

Andrew Jackson is considered a founder of the modern-day Democratic Party. After a bitter loss to John Quincy Adams in the 1824 presidential election, Jackson and his followers broke away from the Democratic-Republican Party and formed a new party called the Democrats. (His opponents began to call themselves Whigs.)

He was a controversial figure. He supported states’ rights and slavery’s expansion into new western territories. Andrew Jackson used the power of presidential veto more than any previous president. He vetoed 12 bills, more than the first six presidents combined.

One of the most consequential pieces of legislation to pass during Jackson’s two terms was the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which authorized the federal government to forcibly remove Native American tribes from existing states east of the Mississippi River. The difficult and deadly journey that Native Americans were forced to take is known as the Trail of Tears.

Term: 1837-1841, Party: Democrat

Martin Van Buren has the distinction of being the first U.S. president to be born an American citizen. All presidents before him had been born in colonial America, subjects of the British Crown.

Van Buren’s one-term presidency was marked by the financial Panic of 1837, which resulted in a severe economic depression, the deepest in U.S. history to that point. While some historians often blame Andrew Jackson’s poor economic policies for starting the panic, the deepening financial crisis damaged Van Buren’s popularity.

Term: 1841, Party: Whig

William Henry Harrison’s presidency was the shortest in U.S. history—just 32 days. He developed an illness shortly after his inauguration on March 4, 1841. Harrison died a month later on April 4, 1841. He was the first U.S. president to die in office. Doctors at the time diagnosed pneumonia, though some modern historians have questioned that conclusion.

Term: 1841-1845, Party: Whig

Vice President John Tyler became U.S. president upon Harrison’s death. He was the first vice president to succeed to the presidency without an election and the first U.S. president to face impeachment.

Members of his own party attempted to impeach the president after he vetoed two bills that would have fulfilled Harrison’s campaign promises of establishing a central national bank. The impeachment effort was unsuccessful, though Tyler was expelled from the Whig Party.

Other major events of Tyler’s presidency included the annexation of Texas and the Treaty of Wangxia, the first formal trade treaty signed between the United States and China.