This article will help students to learn the names and order and dates of office of American Presidents, as well as facts about the office of President.
Do you know the Presidents? Which President was nicknamed “Honest Abe?” Which had the middle name of Rudolph? Which President oversaw the building of the Panama Canal? Which one helped pass child labor laws? There are many fascinating facts about our American Presidents.
Candidates for the office of President must be at least thirty-five and an American citizen who has lived in the country for fourteen years or more. Presidents are elected for terms of four years. Article XXII of the Constitution, passed in 1951, says a President may not be elected to more than two terms.
The American Presidents (in order and with years of office)
- George Washington 1789-1797
- John Adams 1797-1801
- Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809
- James Madison 1809-1817
- James Monroe 1817-1825
- John Quincy Adams 1829-1837
- Andrew Jackson 1829-1837
- Martin Van Buren 18-1841
- William Henry Harrison 1841
- John Tyler 1841-1845
- James Knox Polk 1845-1849
- Zachary Taylor 1849-1850
- Milliard Fillmore 1850-1853
- Franklin Pierce 1853-1857
- James Buchanan 1857-1861
- Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865
- Andrew Johnson 1865-1869
- Ulysses Simpson Grant 1869-1877
- Rutherford Birchard Hayes 1877-1881
- James Abram Garfield 1881
- Chester Alan Arthur 1881-1885
- Grover Cleveland 1885-1889
- Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893
- Grover Cleveland (second term)1893-1897
- William McKinley 1897-1901
- Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909
- William Howard Taft 1909-1913
- Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921
- Warren Gamaliel Harding 1921- 1923
- Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929
- Herbert Hoover 1929-1933
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933-1945
- Harry S Truman 1945-1953
- Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1961-1963
- Lyndon Baines Johnson 1963-1969
- Richard Milhous Nixon 1969-1974
- Gerald Rudolph Ford 1974-1977
- Jimmy (James Earl) Carter 1977-1981
- Ronald Wilson Reagan 1981-1989
- George Herbert Walker Bush 1989-1993
- Bill (William Jefferson Blythe) Clinton 1993-2001
- George Walker Bush 2001-2008
- ????????????? (In 2008 voters will be electing a new President. He will be number forty-four.)
Inauguration Oath
When taking office on January 20th of the year after election, or when taking over the office from the vice-presidential office, the President must swear to the oath of office: “ I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Learn the Presidents
A good project for students is to have them learn the Presidents in order, along with their dates of holding office.
- Practice with flash cards of the Presidents.
- Posters keep facts in view.
- Try a game of recognizing the Presidents from their pictures.
- Make a timeline.
- Write reports about favorite presidents.
- Try a spelling-bee style date and name competition.
Guess Who Game
Students take turns studying the basic facts on a President. In class, each student gives five clues as his fellow students try to guess the President. Use a bell to ring for a correct answer and a buzzer for wrong ones.
