Democratic Presidents of the United States Quiz

Answer:

A brief summary of the achievements (and failures) of the 15 Democrats follows.

Andrew Jackson (7th president)
He was the first Democratic president, and served two terms from 1829 to 1837. During his presidency, he signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. In 1832, he issued the Nullification Proclamation to assert the supremacy of federal law and the preservation of the Union.

His most significant achievement was the complete elimination of the debt by using budget surpluses from the sale of public lands to reduce the debt. By 1837, the national debt had been reduced to zero, making it the only time in U.S. history that the country was debt-free.

Martin Van Buren (8th president)
He was key figure in the formation of the modern Democratic Party, serving as Andrew Jackson's vice-president from 1833 to 1837.

He served one term from 1837 to 1841. After he took office in 1837, he had to deal with the Panic of 1837, an economic crisis created by bank failures, large unemployment and collapse of credit. To overcome this crisis, he established the Independent Treasury System, a financial system to safeguard government funds and reduce the influence of private banks in handling federal money.

In 1844, his administration signed the Treaty of Wanghia with China to establish diplomatic and open up trade between the two nations.

James K. Polk (11th president)
He served one term from 1845 to 1849. During his presidency, the U.S. fought the Mexican War from 1946 to 1848. He oversaw a large territorial expansion: annexation of Texas after the Mexican War, added much of the Southwest and California, acquired the Oregon county from the UK.

Franklin Pierce (14th president)
He served one term from 1853 to 1857. During his presidency, the Gadsden Purchase was completed in 1853 to acquire new territory in southwest Arizona and New Mexico.

In 1854, the signing of the Treaty of Kanagawa allowed the U.S to open a consulate in Japan to allow trades between the two countries. In the same year, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was signed to resolve the issue of slavery. However, the Act failed miserably which led to the Civil War.

James Buchanan (15th president)
He served one term from 1857 to 1861. During his presidency, he intervened to assure the Supreme Court's majority ruling in the pro-slavery decision in the Dred Scott case. In 1858, the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution was drafted, he acceded to the Southern attempts to allow Kansas' entry into the Union as a slave state. His action angered the Republicans and the Northern Democrats.

Andrew Johnson (17th president)
After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, he assumed the presidency as he was the vice-president at that time. He served one term from 1865 to 1869. During his presidency, he implemented his own form of Presidential Reconstruction, a series of proclamations directing the seceded states to hold conventions and elections to reform their civil governments.

On February 24, 1868, he was the first president to be impeached after the House of Representatives passed a resolution for "high crimes and misdemeanors".

Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th president)
He became the first Democratic president after the Civil War, serving his term 1885 to 1889 and his second non-successive term from 1893 to 1897.

During his presidency, he was a formidable policymaker, but also garnered criticism. In 1894, he intervened in the Pullman Strike to keep the railroads moving, angering both Illinois Democrats and labor unions nationwide; his support of the gold standard and opposition to free silver alienated the agrarian wing of the Democratic Party.

Woodrow Wilson (28th president)
He served two terms from 1913 to 1921. He tried to keep the U.S. out of WWI to focus on domestic matters. In 1917, he approved the entry of the U.S. into WWI, as the Germans intensified submarine attacks on passenger and merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1919, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as the leading architect behind the League of Nations, which was established after WWI with the aim of ensuring future world peace - at which it was not successful.

He also presided over the ratification of the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote. Laws were implemented to prohibit child labor and also mandated an eight-hour workday for railroad workers.

Franklin D Roosevelt (32nd president)
He was the longest-serving US president who was in office from 1933 till his death on April 12, 1945.

From 1933 to 1936, his administration implemented the "New Deal" to provide relief to the unemployed and farmers while seeking economic recovery from the Depression Era. He also instituted major regulatory reforms related to finance, communications, and labor, and presided over the end of Prohibition.

In 1941, he declared against Japan following the attack of Pearl Harbor on December 6th. He played an active role as one the three principal leaders during WWII along with Winston Churchill and Stalin.

Harry S Truman (33rd president)
He succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt who passed away in 1945 and served until 1953.

In August 1945, he ordered the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulting in the Japanese surrender. In the same year, he witnessed the signing of the UN charters.

In 1948, he approved the "Marshall Plan" to aid Europe to economic recovery. The following year, the "Fair Deal" program was implemented to halt inflation. In 1950, he approved troops to fight in the Korean War (1950-1953) to stop the spread of communism in Asia.

John F Kennedy (35th president)
He served from 1961 until he was assassinated on November 22, 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald, thus becoming the fourth American president to be killed while in office.

During his term, he signed the first nuclear weapons treaty in 1963. The Peace Corps, Alliance for Progress with Latin America was established. He supported the continuation of the Apollo program with the goal of landing a man on the Moon before 1970.

Lyndon B Johnson (36th president)
As vice-president, he succeeded John F Kennedy who was assassinated in 1963 and served as president until 1969.

During his presidency, his administration implemented a major tax cut, the Clean Air Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 1965, the Social Security Amendments created two government-run healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid.

Jimmy Carter (39th president)
He served one term from 1977 to 1981. During his presidency, he pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders, created a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology.

In 1977, he signed the Panama Canal Treaty to relinquish American control over the canal by year 2000 and to guarantee its neutrality. In 1978, he witnessed the Camp David Accords peace agreement signed by Egyptian president Anwar Safat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin.

His administration handled the Iran Hostage Crisis for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981.

Bill Clinton (42nd president)
He served two terms from 1993 to 2001. During his presidency, the economy was booming. His most recognized achievement was to implement a balanced budget even achieved a surplus budget. From 1998 to 2000, the U.S. national debt was reduced $363 billion, the largest debt pay-down in American history.

His other achievements were: highest home ownership, lowest unemployment in 30 years, lowest crime rate in 26 years, lowest poverty rate in 20 years and lowest government spending in three decades.

Barack Obama (44th president)
He was the African-American president who served two terms from 2009 to 2017. During his administration, he signed many landmark bills into law. The main reforms include: the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.

In 2009, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples".