Our Presidents

OUR PRESIDENTS

(To the tune of "Yankee Doodle.")

George Washington is number one,

With whom begins the story;

John Adams then doth follow on

To share him in the glory.

Thomas Jefferson comes next,

A good old man was he.

James Madison is number four.

Twice President to be.

Chorus:

Our Presidents, hurrah! hurrah!
We'll give them three times three,
And may their memories ever live
In our hearts so brave and free.

Dear James Monroe was next in line.

Twice also did he rule us,

John Quincey Adams served us next.

And not once did he fool us.

Then Andrew Jackson came along,

So famous as a soldier,

Martin Van Buren took his place

To act as office holder.

And William Henry Harrison

Came next in the procession.

He died, and then John Tyler came,

Of the chair to take possession.

James K. Polk is on the roll,

He was an upright man.

Zachary Taylor followed him,

A dozen now we scan.

Millard Fillmore then was called

To rule o'er all our nation:

And after him one Franklin Pierce

Was called to fill the station.

James Buchanan was the next

Our President to be;

Then came Abe Lincoln, brave and true,

A mighty man was he.

Andrew Johnson's name is next

In the song which we are singing;

Then comes the name of U. S. Grant,

Let's set the rafters ringing;

And now we've got to R. B. Hayes,

The nineteenth name of all;

And James A. Garfield is the next

To answer to the call.

Chester Allen Arthur then

Comes forth to take his place;

And Grover Cleveland follows him.

The next one in the race.

Harrison in eighty-eight

Was called to fill the chair.

And Cleveland then again was called

To rule our Country fair.

Welcome to Lafayette by Edward Everett

       Welcome, friend of our fathers, to our shores. Happy are our eyes that behold those venerable features. Enjoy a triumph such as never conqueror or monarch enjoyed - the assurance that, throughout America, there is not a bosom that does not beat with joy and gratitude at the sound of your name. You have already met and saluted, or will soon meet, the few that remain of the ardent patriots, prudent counselors, and brave warriors, with whom you were associated in achieving our liberties. But you have looked around in vain for the faces of many who would have lived years of pleasure on a day like this, with their old companion in arms and brother in peril.

       Lincoln and Greene and Knox and Hamilton are gone! The heroes of Saratoga and Yorktown have fallen before the only foe they could not meet! Above all, the first of heroes and of men, the friend of your youth, the more than friend of his country, rests in the bosom of the soil he has redeemed. On the banks of the Potomac, he lies in glory and in peace. You will revisit the hospitable shades of Mount Vernon; but him whom you venerated, as we did, you will not meet at its door. His voice of consolation, which reached you in the Austrian dungeons, can not now break its silence to bid you welcome to his own roof.

       But the grateful children of America will bid you welcome in his name. Welcome, thrice welcome, to our shores; and whithersoever, throughout the limits of the continent, your course shall take you, the ear that hears you shall bless you; the eye that sees you shall bear witness to you; and every tongue exclaim with heartfelt joy: ''Welcome, welcome, Lafayette!"

Questions and Answers About George Washington

1. Tell something of Washington's ancestors.

He was descended from an ancient family in Cheshire, of which a branch had been established in Virginia. His English ancestors were allied to those of the highest rank. His mother belonged to the most ancient Saxon family of Fairfax, of Towcester in Northumberland.

2. Where was Washington born?

Near the banks of the beautiful Potomac, in Westmoreland County, Va. It was a very small place called Bridge's Creek.

3. How old was he when his father died?

Ten years old.

4. How did he always treat his mother?

With the greatest respect and attention : and as you follow him through life you will find him "Speaking what is just and true. Doing what is right to do Unto one and all."

5. "Hail, patriot, chief, all hail! Historic fame
In purest gold hath traced thy glorious name!
Earth has Niagara, the sky its sun.
And proud mankind its only Washington."

6. Why do they call him ''Historic Fame?"

" I thought he was the ''Father of his Country." Because he never spared himself in any way and was

always first in "battle. The bullets often razed his hair and riddled his cloak, but he would tell his soldiers, "Stand fast and receive the enemy."

7. When did the Revolutionary War begin?

April 19, 1775.

8. What cry was repeated everywhere?

War has begun! To arms! To arms! Liberty or death!

9. What was needed at once? 

A commander-in-chief.

10. Who was appointed to fill this place? 

George Washington.

11. How did he influence the soldiers?

He inspired them with reverence and enthusiasm. His height was six feet two, and he seemed born to

command.

12. When did the British finally leave Boston?

March 17, 1776, in seventy-eight ships and transports.

13. After the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, what did Washington do?

He went to see his mother at Fredericksburg, for he had not seen her in six years.

14. Who went with him?

Lafayette. And they found her at work in her garden. Lafayette began to tell her of the world-wide love bestowed upon her son, but she interrupted him by saying, ''I am not surprised at what George has done, for he was always a good boy."

15. Tell us something about Washington after he resigned command of the army.

He went to Mount Vernon to live, and, as he had spent so much of his own money during the war, he was obliged to practice very close economy; but he would accept nothing from Congress, for he had served his country from love alone.

16. What was his especial delight?

He took especial delight in beautifying the grounds about his house. Dinner at Mount Vernon was at half-past two, and if there was no company he would write until dark. He loved his wife's children as well as if they were his own, and always found time for his family; but the quiet of his house was soon to be disturbed.

17. In what way?

The unanimous choice of the nation was that he should fill the presidential chair, and he was forced to

accept.

18. When and where did the inauguration take place?

April 30, 1789, in New York City.

19. What did the people do in 1789 when he took the oath of office?

All the bells in the city were rung, the people cheered and there was a thundering of artillery. Then

they went to St. Paul's Church on foot, where services were held. Brilliant illuminations and fireworks con- cluded the day.

20. Why did Washington accept a second term of office if he was so anxious for a quiet home life?

The people would have no one else, and he was obliged to accept to keep peace in the country he loved so well; but it was with a heartfelt sense of relief that he left the seat of government in 1797 and entered once more upon the quiet home life at Mount Vernon.

21. How did he spend the remaining years of his life?

In repairing houses that were fast going to ruin, making and selling a little flour each year, and amusing himself in agricultural and rural pursuits. He died in December, 1799, and his last words were, " 'Tis well, 'tis well." -  From "How to Celebrate Washington's birthday," published by E. L. Kellogg & Co.

'Twas not in vain the deluge came,

And systems crumbled in the gloom,

And not in vain have sword and flame

Robbed home and heart of life and bloom;

The mourner's cross, the martyr's blood.

Shall crown the world with holier rights.

And slavery's storm, and slavery's flood

Leave Freedom's ark on loftier heights.

- James Q. Clark

The Life of President Abraham Lincoln

"That this nation, under God, shall have a
new birth of freedom, and that govern-
ment of the people, by the people, for
the people, shall not parish from the earth."
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.
clip art from Christian Clip Art Review

        Lincoln, ling'kun, Abra- ham (1809-1865), the sixteenth President of the United States, and one of the best loved of American statesmen. Today his countrymen honor him as the man who saved the American republic from disunion, and gave the black man his freedom. More than this, he stands as the supreme type of the democratic statesman, and the ideals which he expressed by voice and in his daily life are treasured as the greatest spiritual possessions of the American nation. By birth and by training Lincoln was in a literal sense a man of the common people. Born in a log cabin and with his entire schooling covering not more than a year, he could make no claim to aristocratic blood, to scholarship or to social prestige. He was what he was by virtue of inborn greatness. 

• The Ancestry and Boyhood of Abraham Lincoln
• Lincoln's Early Career
• Time Line for Lincoln's Administration 1861-65
• Lincoln As President
• Lincoln Becomes A National Figure
• President Abraham Lincoln's Death

Artifacts About President Abraham Lincoln:

1. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
2. Lincoln (poem)
3. Abraham Lincoln by James Russel Lowell
4. Questions and Answers About Lincoln
5. Lincoln's Birthday by Ida Vose Woodbury
6. Sayings About Lincoln
7. Lincoln by Nancy Byrd Turner
8. Emancipation Proclamation
9. Provocation: Abraham Lincoln and Cabin Building 
10. Lincoln - illustrated poem by Frances Higgins
    

More Online Resources:

• Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
• White House biography
• Abraham Lincoln Association
• Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation
• United States Congress. "Abraham Lincoln (id: L000313)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Abraham Lincoln: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
• "Life Portrait of Abraham Lincoln", from C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits, June 28, 1999
• "Writings of Abraham Lincoln" from C-SPAN's American Writers: A Journey Through History
• Abraham Lincoln: Original Letters and Manuscripts – Shapell Manuscript Foundation
• Lincoln/Net: Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project
• Teaching Abraham Lincoln – National Endowment for the Humanities
• In Popular Song:Our Noble Chief Has Passed Away by Cooper/Thomas

President Abraham Lincoln's Death

       The war by this time was inevitably drawing to a close, and on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. Five days later the nation was plunged into deepest grief. Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, while attending a performance at Ford's Theater in Washington, on the evening of Good Friday, April 14. He died the following morning. Southern leaders mourned his loss as that of a sincere and magnanimous opponent, and European statesmen united in conceding to him all the highest qualities of manhood and statesmanship, while the grief of the people of the North, who had considered him their truest friend - indeed, their savior - was almost too great for expression. The years since his death  have served to raise rather than to lower, the general estimate of his service to the Union and of the high moral qualities which his character exemplified.

Visit Ford's Theater.

Lincoln Becomes A National Figure

       For several years Lincoln was absorbed in his practice, but the great slavery controversy, ever growing more intense, could not fail to awaken his interest in political issues. In 1854 he publicly announced his opposition to Senator Stephen A. Douglas, father of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and of the doctrine of squatter sovereignty, and his speeches on the subject were so logical and forcible that the Whigs in the state legislature chose him as their candidate for Senator. Lincoln was not elected, but his friends, by combining with the anti-slavery Democrats, elected Lyman Trumbull, who was opposed to Douglas. In the organization of the new Republican party Lincoln stood out as the leading figure from Illinois, and in the national convention of 1856 his name was mentioned for Vice-President.

       Two years later came the famous Lincoln, Douglas debates, by which, though defeated in his candidacy for the Senate, Lincoln attracted the attention of the whole country. In them he displayed not only admirable sincerity and insight, but exceptional political shrewdness, and it was not long before his name was prominently mentioned as a candidate for President. His famous Cooper Union speech in 1860 at New York made him the most conspicuous figure in Republican politics, and at the convention at Chicago, after a spirited contest with Seward, Chase, Cameron and Bates, he was nominated upon a vigorous anti-slavery platform. The campaign which followed was one of the most momentous in the history of the United States. The Democratic party, having been disorganized and divided, presented two candidates, Douglas and Breckenridge, while the Constitutional Union party, which took a neutral stand, nominated John Bell. Lincoln secured 180 electoral votes out of a total of 303, and his popular vote was 1,866,452. He lacked almost a million votes of a majority.

       His election was the signal for secession by South Carolina, - which had long contemplated the possibility of such a step if the demands of the slavery faction were not heeded. The action was taken in December, and South Carolina was followed by the Gulf States and within a few months by four others. Lincoln was inaugurated March 4, 1861, and in a memorable address he urged the people of all sections to unite in upholding the Union. He called to his Cabinet all his principal rivals in the Chicago convention, and by every means in his power he sought to avert a civil war, which seemed inevitable. His efforts were in vain, however, and on April 14th  the war began with the bombardment of Fort Sumter.

"A short video that showcases Fort Sumter National Monument (Where the American Civil War began April 12th 1861). 150 years ago. Produced by Garrett Johnston Productions. Expert Commentary from Park Rangers Donel"

Lincoln As President

       Throughout the war Lincoln displayed that firmness, generosity and foresight which he had disclosed in his previous career. He was tenderhearted, patient and absolutely lacking in malice, but unyielding when it came to a question of principle. Therefore he resolutely refused to come to terms with the South until the idea of secession should be abandoned. Though he hated slavery as an inhuman and undemocratic institution, he stated publicly in August, 1862, ''My paramount object is to save the Union, it is not either to save or to destroy slavery." When he became convinced that the nation could never endure half slave and half free, he decided on one of the most important steps of his career, the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. This decision had the effect of uniting and strengthening the anti-slavery people of the North, and it gave the government increased prestige abroad.

       Though the North had been fighting the first two years of the war without signal success, there were encouraging signs of a turn in the tide in the summer of 1863, when Meade checked Lee at Gettysburg, and Grant captured Vicksburg. In November, 1863, Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the battlefield of Gettysburg, giving a short, simple address that has since become a classic of American literature. (For the full text, see Gettysburg Address.) These stirring events were followed by the appointment of Grant as commander in chief of the Union armies, and the Presidential and Congressional elections of 1864.

       In the light of the universal esteem in which Lincoln is held to-day it seems difficult to realize that he had bitter opponents in the North. His enforcement of the unpopular draft act, his suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, and certain arbitrary measures which were taken to check Southern sympathizers, aroused much hostile criticism, and he was denounced as a tyrant. A strong faction also clamored for peace on the ground that the war was a failure, and on this platform the Democrats nominated McClellan in 1864. The result showed that the people as a whole trusted Lincoln and knew that he was exercising what seemed to be autocratic power because he had the consent of the people. He was returned to office by an electoral vote of 212, against twenty-one for McClellan. The popular vote was 2,330,552 against 1,835,985. In his second inaugural address Lincoln again rose to heights of simple eloquence and to and idealism rarely equaled in American oratory, and in closing he uttered words that could come only from the mind and heart of a truly great man:

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and for his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." 

• The Emancipation Proclamation
• President Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War