Early Presidents Trivia

1. From 1840 to 1960, seven of eight presidents died in office after being first elected in a year ending in zero. The only exception in that pattern occurred during the nineteenth century. Which president is the exception?

From Quiz Hailing the Chief in the Nineteenth Century

Answer: Zachary Taylor

Throughout the nineteenth century, four presidents died in office either by natural causes or by assassination. However, three of them were first elected twenty years apart, in 1840, 1860 and 1880, respectively. In April 1841, thirty-two days after his inauguration as president, William Henry Harrison dies of Pneumonia. Elected to a second term in November 1864, Abraham Lincoln becomes the first president to be assassinated while attending Ford's theatre in April 1865. In July 1881, James A. Garfield becomes the second president to be assassinated after being elected in November 1880. Lincoln and Garfield were both assassinated by John Wilkes Booth and Charles Julius Guiteau, respectively. Elected in November 1848, Zachery Taylor was the only exception to this rule after Taylor dies of Gastroenteritis sixteen months into his term in July 1850. The twentieth century very much kept the pattern alive when William McKinley (elected in November 1900), Warren G. Harding (elected in November 1920), Franklin D. Roosevelt (elected in November 1940) and John F. Kennedy (elected in November 1960) all died in office.

From Quiz Presidential Trivia or Trivial Presidents

Answer: Only one

First President of the United States from 1789 until 1797, Washington led America through its birth struggles as a nation during the Revolutionary War with England from 1775 to 1783. He lost his first adult tooth in his early twenties and the rest quickly followed. He had several sets of false teeth made during his life, all of which caused him great discomfort. None were made from wood as commonly believed. Instead they were made, of all things, from a combination of elephant and hippopotamus ivory, and from (shudder) other human teeth, and bits of horse and donkey teeth - and that's no hee-haw.

From Quiz Early American Presidents

Answer: Braintree, Mass

President Adams was born in Braintree on October 30, 1735.

From Quiz Early Presidents

Answer: 8

From Quiz Facts About Our Early Presidents

Answer: he could have assumed the title 'King'

What to call the new leader of the new nation came under much debate. Since monarchies were the common form of government at the time, there was a strong movement to crown Washington 'King of America' (reigning as a constitutional monarch of {course);} Washington's lack of vanity prohibited this plan.

From Quiz Presidential Name Game

Answer: George Washington

Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, which revolutionized the production of cotton. Honest George Washington was president.

From Quiz Hailing the Chief in the Nineteenth Century

Answer: John Tyler

Elected to the Vice Presidency in the 1840 election, John Tyler ran as the running mate of Whig candidate William Henry Harrison. Inaugurated in March 1841, Harrison delivers an inaugural address on a day of extremely dire weather without the appropriate clothing. Thirty-two days later, Harrison becomes the first president to die in office, dying of pneumonia. Following Harrison's death, much confusion followed regarding presidential succession, due to the vagueness of the constitutional provisions regarding presidential succession. Vice President John Tyler was therefore left to set precedent - whether the vice president assumed the Presidency itself, or become acting president. Insisting on the former, Tyler was eventually accepted by Congress as the tenth president after much debate. Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson and Chester A. Arthur all succeeded to the Presidency in the same fashion as Tyler - being the running mates of Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln and James A. Garfield in the 1848, 1864 and 1880 elections, respectively.

From Quiz Presidential Trivia or Trivial Presidents

Answer: "A silly and wicked game"

In fact, his party did all the campaigning for him, but, make no mistake, Adams was a good man and a fine President. No scandal was ever attached to him during his time as leader of the nation. However he wasn't one to suffer the life of politics in silence and had a rather stubborn and combative nature which he describes as follows: "I refused to suffer in silence. I sighed, I sobbed and groaned, and sometimes screeched and screamed. And I must confess, to my shame and sorrow, that I sometimes swore." I think that's highly amusing.

From Quiz US Presidential Trivia, 1-10

Answer: There was no Leap Day in 1800

Leap Years are every four years, except for years that end in "00" and are not divisible by 400. Hence, there was no Feb 29, 1800. Thomas Jefferson's Inauguration was on March 4, 1801. The change of date of Inauguration Day from March 4 to January 20 did not take effect until 1937. The only other occurrence of no leap day was in 1900; President McKinley served into his second term before being assassinated.

From Quiz 19th Century American Presidents

Answer: Whig

After the Civil War, the remnants of this party were basically absorbed into the Republican Party.

From Quiz Early American Presidents

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson later resigned in 1793.

From Quiz Facts About Our Early Presidents

Answer: Andrew Johnson

One of the few achievements of Johnson's presidency, 'Seward's folly' proved to be far more valuable than its (at the time) staggering purchase price.

From Quiz Facts About Our Early Presidents

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson's proposal regarding the elimination of slavery in all future states was defeated by just one vote. The bitter Jefferson wrote, 'The voice of a single individual would have prevented this abominable crime from spreading itself over the new country. Thus we see the fate of millions of unborn hanging on the tongue of one {man;} even Heaven was silent at that awful moment.'

From Quiz Hailing the Chief in the Nineteenth Century

Answer: James K. Polk

Inaugurated in March 1845, James K. Polk becomes the first president to not seek a second term as one of his campaign promises during the 1844 election. Following George Washington's retirement from the office in March 1797 and a peaceful transition of power was established thereafter, every president until Polk sought a second term in office (with the obvious exception of William Henry Harrison). John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Martin Van Buren were all defeated for re-election in 1800, 1828 and 1840 against Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison, respectively. Franklin Pierce sought the Democratic nomination for a second term in the 1856 election but fails to receive it in favour of James Buchanan.

From Quiz US Presidential Trivia, 1-10

Answer: Adams and Jefferson were from different political parties

Because of the rules of the Electoral College at the time, all electors were given two votes, with the highest two vote-getters becoming President and Vice President respectively. After all the votes were tallied in the election of 1796, John Adams, the Federalist, received the most votes; but his running mate, Thomas Pinckney, received fewer votes than Thomas Jefferson, who headed the Democratic-Republican ticket. This crisis was not corrected prior to the election of 1800, which became a Constitutional crisis, that election being thrown into the House of Representatives to determine the President. The 12th Amendment to the Constitution called for separate votes in the Electoral College for both President and Vice President.

From Quiz 19th Century American Presidents

Answer: William Rufus King

King never assumed his duties as Vice President. He was ill with tuberculosis and was recovering in Cuba when he was sworn into office. He returned to his home in Alabama and soon thereafter died.

From Quiz Early American Presidents

Answer: Princeton

While at Princeton, Madison studied history, government and law.

From Quiz Early Presidents

Answer: Andrew Johnson

From Quiz Presidential Name Game

Answer: Andrew Jackson

Elected to the presidency during one of American history's nastiest elections in 1828, Andrew Jackson, a son of the western frontier and icon of the ascendancy of the 'common man' in American politics, served two terms as president, after which he retired to Hermitage, his plantation in Tennessee. The campaign of 1828 was marred by bitterness and mud-slinging with Jackson's wife being accused of bigamy!

From Quiz US Presidential Trivia, 1-10

Answer: They both died while serving as Vice President

George Clinton (from New York) served as Vice President for Thomas Jefferson's second term of office and as James Madison's first term of office before passing in 1812. The seat remained unfilled until after the election of 1812, when Elbridge Gerry (from Massachusetts) became the Vice President. He died about 18 months into his term, and would not be replaced until the election of 1816. Both men were Governors (not Senators) of their respective states, and neither signed the Constitution (both were unhappy that the Bill of Rights was not part of the original Constitution).

From Quiz Early American Presidents

Answer: Democratic-Republican

Jefferson founded the Demorcratic-Republican Party.

From Quiz Early Presidents

Answer: John Q. Adams

John Q. Adams never let any reporters interview him, so one morning a woman reporter stole his clothes from him while he was skinny dipping. She demanded that he let her interview him before he could get back his clothes. All I can say is she got one of the only interviews from him while he was in office.

From Quiz Facts About Our Early Presidents

Answer: James Madison

Madison assumed the presidency at a time of {crisis;} both Great Britain and France were riding roughshod over American rights as they fought the Napolenic Wars. Madison asked Congress for a declaration of war against Great Britain on June 1, 1812, which narrowly passed. The Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814, ended the war as Madison approached the end of his second term.

From Quiz Presidential Name Game

Answer: John Tyler

In 1844 Samuel Morse invented the telegraph - its first message, 'What God Hath Wrought', was transmitted from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. John Tyler was just finishing up his first and only term as president - soon to be replaced by James Polk - another one-timer, in 1845.

From Quiz Presidential Trivia or Trivial Presidents

Answer: To emphasise the separation of church and state

Adams of course was the son of the second President of America, and (like his father) far-sighted and brilliant, but also stubborn and inclined to argue. He also refused to play the game of politics by drawing allies to his side. Sadly, it is the personality of this fine man that, more often than not, proved a talking point for his colleagues, rather than his sterling achievements and endeavours whilst in office. As President he proposed very many far-sighted aims for the country, such as modernisation, educational advances, economic growth and strong government. However, his personal nature was his greatest enemy, and even his allies failed to support him to bring most of his plans to fruition. He was also deeply troubled by, and a leading opponent of, slavery, predicting that the country would be brought to grief over the issue. As Secretary of State, he helped bring about the Monroe Doctrine and, all in all, historians agree he was one of America's greatest diplomats. How sad that his worth would only be recognised long after his death.

From Quiz US Presidential Trivia, 1-10

Answer: Major

James Monroe was wounded in the shoulder in the Battle of Trenton. In the famous painting, "Washington Crossing the Delaware" he is portrayed as the flag-bearer.

From Quiz Early American Presidents

Answer: surveyor

Washington was an expert surveyor and an excellent horseman.

From Quiz Facts About Our Early Presidents

Answer: Grover Cleveland

As if being an executioner wasn't enough, Cleveland was responsible for the most sensational bombshell in campaign history (to date, that is). Just 10 days after his nomination, a Buffalo newspaper reported that, 11 years earlier, Cleveland fathered an illegitimate child. The charge was true. During the campaign, chants of, 'Ma, Ma, where's my Pa? Gone to the White House, ha! ha! ha!' became, 'Hurrah for Maria, hurrah for the kid! We voted for Grover, and we're darn glad we did!' as Cleveland's election was assured.

From Quiz Facts About Our Early Presidents

Answer: John Quincy Adams

Despite Adams' long career in foreign service, he showed little tact in his dealings with his government peers. As he wrote, 'I am a man of reserved, cold, austere and forbidding manners; a gloomy misanthropist, an unsocial savage.'

From Quiz Presidential Name Game

Answer: Franklin Pierce

The Republican party was founded in 1854 after the Whig Party lost favor among northern and western voters after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. We did not get a republican president until 1861, however.

This is category 13744

= Top 5% Rated Quiz, Top 10% Rated Quiz, Top 20% Rated Quiz, A Well Rated Quiz
= added recently, = Editor's Pick = FunTrivia Editor = Gold Member
Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.