James A. Garfield's Life

James Abram Garfield was born on November 19, 1831 in Orange, Ohio. He was the last President to be born in a log cabin. His father died when he was two; he had three brothers and three sisters. Since they had to work to support their family, they could only attend school 3 months out of the whole year. He loved to read. At age sixteen Garfield left home and joined the Navy in Cleveland, Ohio. He had to go back home when he contracted malaria. He attended Williams College in Massachusetts. He graduated and became a teacher at Hiram College where he was once a student. On eyear later he became President of Hiram College. James A. Garfield married Lucretia Rudolph in 1858 and they had five children. He was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1859 where he served for two years. Garfield volunteered for the Union Army in 1861. He fought bravely in the Civil War battles and Shiloh and Chickamauga. He resigned in 1863 with the rank of major general, when President Abraham Lincoln asked him to serve in Congress. In December 1863, at age thirty-two, he entered the United State House of Representatives. He served as a legislator for seventeen years until he was elected 20th President of the United States in 1881. Garfield was the first President to use a telephone. During his administration that happened to be only six and a half months, the great railroad expansion reached Texas. On July 2, 1881 James Garfield was assassinated by Charles Julius Guiteau while waiting for a train. Although he survived the inital wound of the bullet, it could not be removed and he died of complications two months and seventeen days later on September 19, 1881. Note: Garfield was President from March 4, 1881 through September 19, 1881 and the Vice President was Chester Alan Arthur.

Rutherford B. Hayes' Life

Rutherford Birchard Hayes was born on October 4, 1822 in Delaware, Ohio. His father died when he was born. He was educated at home and attended private schools. In 1838 he enrolled Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. He graduated in 1842 and went on to Harvard Law School. He graduated in 1845 and was admitted to the Ohio bar. Rutherford B. Hayes married Lucy Webb in 1852 and they had eight children. In 1857 he was elected City Solicitor of Cincinnati. When the Civil War he joined the Union Army. He was elected to Congress in 1864 but refused to leave the battlefield. Haves advanced to the rank of brevetted major general. He was reelected to Congress in 1866 and served only one year because he was elected Governor of Ohio in 1867. He remained in office until 1871 when his term ended. He returned to Spiegel Grove, Ohio where he practiced law and worked to develop public libraries. He ran again for Governor of Ohio in 1876 and won. He was nominated Republican candidate for President against Samuel B. Tilden that same year. Hayes won in a close election that was disputed for four months and ultimately decided by an electoral commission. During his administration Hayes removed all federal troops from the South ending Reconstruction- the period after the Civil War during which the southern states were reorganized and made part of the Union once again. He tried to prevent civil service reform. He did not want to serve a second term and returned to his farm in Spiegel Grove, Ohio where he devoted his time to philanthropic activities. He died in Fremont, Ohio on January 17, 1893. Note: Hayes was President form 1877 through 1881 and the Vice president was William Almon Wheeler.

Ulysses S. Grant's Life

Ulysses Simpson Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio. He was born to a pioneer family and he was agile with horses. He attended schools in Georgetown, Ohio. In 1839 he received an appointed to West Point Academy, he graduated as a first lieutenant but he did not like the Army and wanted to join the cavalry but there were no openings. He fought in the Mexican-American War from 1846 until 1848 when the war ended. Ulysses S. Grant married Julia Dent and they had four kids. In 1854 he resigned from the Army. He tried farming and real estate and failed. He became a partner in a family leather business in Galena, Illinois. He returned to join the military when the Civil War broke out in 1861 as colonel of the 21st Illinois Volunteer Regiment. He captured Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863 giving the Union control of the Mississippi River. Lincoln promoted him to lieutenant general and commander of the Union armies. Grant accepted Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865 in Appomattox, Virginia. The Congress appointed Grant full General- the first man to reach this rank since George Washington. He served briefly as secretary of war. Grant was a popular leader after the Civil War. He was elected President in 1869 and served two terms. During his administration the 15th Amendment was ratified giving African Americans the right to vote. The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell during Grant's presidency. Grant went home to McGregor, New York where he left the White House to write his memoirs. He died on July 23, 1885, one week after he completed his memoirs. Note: Ulysses Simpson Grant was President from 1869 through 1877 and the Vice Presidents were Schuyler Colfax and Henry Wilson.

Andrew Johnson's Life

Andrew Johnson was born on December 29, 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina. His father died when Andrew was three, so his mother and big brother worked to support themselves. He did not attend a day of school and at age seventeen he was sent to apprentice with a tailor where he learned to read. In 1826 his family moved to Greenville, Tennessee. The next year Andrew Johnson married Eliza McCardle; she taught him how to write. He opened his own tailor shop where young men in the town frequently stopped by to debate politics and public affairs. He was elected mayor of Greenville in 1830 and served three years. Johnson was elected to the Tennessee legislature for two nonconsecutive two terms: from 1835-1837 and from 1839-1843. He served in the House of Representatives for ten years until he was elected Governor of Tennessee in 1853. After serving one term he was voted into office as a U.S. senator until he was elected Military Governor of Tennessee during the Civil War. In 1864 Johnson was elected Vice President under President Abraham Lincoln. He took the oath of office as President on April 15, 1865 after Lincoln was assassinated. In 1868 he was impeached by the United States House of Representatives, accused of breaking the law by dismissing the Secretary of Law, Edwin Stanton. He was acquitted in the impeachment trial in 1869. He finished his term as President and returned to Tennessee. He was elected to the Senate in 1874 and died of a stroke a year later on July 31, 1875. Note: Andrew Johnson was President from 1865 through 1869 and since he was completing Lincoln's term, there was no Vice President.

Abraham Lincoln's Life

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. His parents were uneducated pioneers. His father, Thomas Lincoln, thought there were better opportunities elsewhere, so the Lincolns migrated 100 miles to Indiana. Lincoln helped his father, who was a farmer. His mother died when he was nine and his father remarried. He attended school and loved to read, although because of his high-pitched voice he said the word "there" "thar" and said the word "get" "git." He was a master of the English language by reading every book he could hold. He practiced law in Springfield, Illinois and he was very popular in the court circuit. Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd in 1842 and they had four boys. Edward Lincoln, the family's second child, died when he was four. Lincoln was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He ran for the Senate and lost. He was elected President of the United States and guided the nation during the Civil War. It was his aim to preserve the union of the states. The Emancipation Proclamation was one of the most important features of his presidency. It did not free the slaves, but it gave all Americans the same rights under the Constitution. The Gettysburg Address was another important document. More than 60,000 soldiers died in a three-day-battle in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; he tried to bring the nation together in their grief. William, the family's third child, died in the White House when he was 11. Lincoln was elected to a second term in 1864 and in the Civil War ended in Appomattox, Virginia when Confederate General Robert Edward Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses Simpson Grant who was later the eighteenth President of the United States on April 9, 1865. The peace treaty was signed on April 11, 1865. Three days later Lincoln was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth of Virginia, at Ford's Theater while watching a play. He died from the gunshot wound the next day on April 15, 1865 in Petersen's boarding house across from the theater. Note: Abraham Lincoln was President from 1861 thorugh 1865 and the Vice Presidents were Hannibal Hamlin and Andrew Johnson.

James Buchanan's Life

James Buchanan was born on April 23, 1791 in Cove Gap, Pennsylvania. He was the oldest of nine children. They went to school in Mercersburg, where his father owned a general store. He attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and law school in Lancaster. He was a successful lawyer who interrupted his career to join a volunteer cavalry company to fight in the War of 1812. Buchanan returned to his home to his law practice in Lancaster. He ran for Congress and served ten years. President Andrew Jackson asked him to serve as minister to Russia; he negotiated the first trade agreement between Russia and the United States. Buchanan was elected to the Senate in 1835 where he served ten years. President James Knox Polk appointed Buchanan Secretary of State. He helped to arrange the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico in 1848, by which the United States purchased the region extending west from Texas to the Pacific Ocean. He wrote the Oregon Treaty of 1846 that settled the Northwestern boundary between Canada and the United States. He ran for President in 1852 and lost. He served as minister to Great Britain. Buchanan ran for President by the Democrats and won. James Buchanan never married anyone, so his niece Harriet Lane performed the duties of First Lady of the United States. Buchanan ran for a second term and was defeated by Lincoln. Before he left office, seven states seceded from the Union. He returned to Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he lived until he died on June 1, 1868. Note: James Buchanan was President from 1857 through 1861 and the Vice President was John Cabell Breckinridge.

Franklin Pierce's Life

Franklin Pierce was born on November 23, 1804 in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. He attended a local school. His father was a general in the Revolutionary War and served two terms as Governor. In 1820 Pierce enrolled in Bowdoin University in Brunswick, Maine, where he met a life long friend, Nathaniel Hawthorne. He went on to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1827. Pierce was elected to the state legislature where he served for five years. Franklin Pierce married Jane Means Appleton, they had three children. Two children died in infancy and only Benjamin survived. Pierce was elected to two terms in Congress and then to the United States Senate in 1832. He only served four years; he resigned his post because his wife did not like life in Washington, D.C. They returned to Concord, New Hampshire where he practiced law. In 1847 Pierce enlisted as a private in the Concord Light Infantry in the Mexican War; he rose to brigadier general of volunteers commanding 2,500 men in Mexico. He could no longer fight after he suffered a leg wound from a fall from his horse. Pierce returned to practice law in Concord. The Democrats nominated Pierce to run for President and won the election easily. On January 6, The Pierces were in a train wreck that killed their son Benjamin who was 11. Mrs. Pierce who was brokenhearted lived in seclusion in the White House the entire term. During his administration, Pierce bought parts of Arizona and New Mexico from Mexico. The Pierces toured after his term was over and returned to live in Concord, New Hampshire where he died on October 8, 1869. Note: Franklin Pierce was President from 1853 through 1857 and the Vice President was William Rufus De Vane King, but he died six weeks and three days later.