250 ANNIVERSARY John Adams 2nd President of the U S Federalist Party Served 1797-1801 Elected 1796 State of birth Massachusetts Courtesy National Gallery of Art Washington D C Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund 1979 4 1 SIGNIFICANCE John Adams was the first vice president and second president of the United States He was an early advocate of American independence the author of Massachusetts’s constitution and an ambassador to France and England He used his skills in foreign policy to secure diplomacy with Great Britain after the American Revolution and to avoid a war with France during his presidency He was noted for his bluntness and honesty He and his influential wife Abigail whose letters vividly captured what it meant to live in the United States during its early years gave rise to one of the most prominent families in American history DID YOU KNOW Declaration of Independence of negotiation John Adams is one of only two presidents whose signature appears on the Adams correctly foresaw that the French Revolution would lead to the Reign of Benjamin Franklin considered Adams deranged because of his confrontational style As vice president Adams called the office the most insignificant office that ever Terror and the rise of a military dictator Napoleon the Invention of man contrived or his Imagination conceived FORMER OFFICE vice president VICE PRESIDENT Thomas Jefferson FIRST LADY Abigail Adams
250 ANNIVERSARY Thomas Jefferson 3rd President of the U S Democratic-Republican Party Served 1801-09 Elected 1800 and 1804 State of birth Virginia Courtesy National Gallery of Art Washington D C Gift of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge IV in memory of his great grandfather Thomas Jefferson Coolidge his grandfather Thomas Jefferson Coolidge II and his father Thomas Jefferson Coolidge III 1986 71 SIGNIFICANCE Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence As the third president of the United States he doubled the size of the country through the Louisiana Purchase He was an advocate of the separation of church and state and he was the most eloquent proponent of individual freedom as the core message of the American Revolution As a slaveholder and someone who after his presidency endorsed the westward expansion of slavery Jefferson is one of America’s most problematic and paradoxical heroes DID YOU KNOW Thomas Jefferson was the founder and architect of the University of Virginia Jefferson deployed troops to fight in the first overseas war in U S history Jefferson died on July 4 1826 the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Apart from his two inaugural addresses there is no public record of Jefferson Independence and the same day that his predecessor as president John Adams died delivering any public speech as president FORMER OFFICES vice president secretary of state ambassador to France governor of Virginia VICE PRESIDENTS Aaron Burr and George Clinton FIRST LADY Martha Jefferson
250 ANNIVERSARY James Madison 4th President of the U S Democratic-Republican Party Served 1809-17 Elected 1808 and 1812 State of birth Virginia Courtesy National Gallery of Art Washington D C Alisa Mellon Bruce Fund 1979 4 2 SIGNIFICANCE James Madison is called the Father of the Constitution because of his instrumental role at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 As a member of the U S House of Representatives he sponsored the first 10 amendments to the Constitution better known as the Bill of Rights He also served as secretary of state under Thomas Jefferson Madison served two terms as the fourth president of the United States during which time the United States and Great Britain fought the War of 1812 to a stalemate DID YOU KNOW James Madison’s portrait is on the front of the U S 5,000 bill no longer in circulation Madison wrote 29 of the 85 Federalist papers Madison’s wife Dolley is credited with creating the role of first lady as a political partner Madison and his wife had to flee the White House in 1814 when British troops set fire to it Madison a slave owner was president of the American Colonization Society which of the president sought to resettle freed slaves in Africa FORMER OFFICES secretary of state member of the U S House of Representatives from Virginia VICE PRESIDENTS George Clinton and Elbridge Gerry FIRST LADY Dolley Madison
250 ANNIVERSARY James Monroe 5th President of the U S Democratic-Republican Party Served 1817-25 Elected 1816 and 1820 State of birth Virginia Courtesy National Gallery of Art Washington D C Alisa Mellon Bruce Fund 1979 4 3 SIGNIFICANCE James Monroe served two terms as the fifth president of the United States He issued the Monroe Doctrine which warned European nations against intervening in the Western Hemisphere and he oversaw a period of growing national wealth and strong westward expansion called the Era of Good Feelings He was the last president of the Revolutionary War generation DID YOU KNOW General George Washington James Monroe started as a lieutenant in the Revolutionary Army and served with Monroe his wife and their daughters were quite fond of France and they often spoke French in the White House during his presidency In 1819 Monroe acquired for the United States the territory that would become Florida The capital of Liberia Monrovia was named for Monroe who as a slave owner supported the efforts of the American Colonization Society to resettle enslaved people in Africa FORMER OFFICES secretary of state secretary of war governor of Virginia minister to France U S senator from Virginia VICE PRESIDENT Daniel D Tompkins FIRST LADY Elizabeth Monroe
