I Wish I Knew That: U.S. Presidents: Cool Stuff You Need to Know (5 page)

A Presidential Swimmer

Adams used to get up at five o’clock every morning, start a fire, read his Bible, and then go for a swim in the Potomac River, leaving his clothes on the shore. One day, a woman journalist, who had tried to get an interview with the president, showed up and snatched the president’s clothes. She would only give them back, she called out to him, if he promised to give her an interview. He didn’t have much choice.

He also liked riding horses, taking long walks, and gardening, and he had the first billiards table installed in the White House.

Serving in Congress

Adams failed to win re-election in 1828, after a campaign against Andrew Jackson filled with personal attacks on both sides. But then he ran for Congress and won, becoming the first president to serve in the House of Representatives after leaving the White House. He served for 17 years, and fought hard to force Congress to find a way to solve the problem of slavery. In 1848, he collapsed and eventually died in the Capitol building.

7th President ~ 1829–1837

ANDREW JACKSON

Old Hickory

“Americans are not a perfect people, but we are called to a perfect mission.”

Born

March I5, 1767 Waxhaw, North-South Carolina border

Political Party

Democrat

Vice Presidents

John C. Calhoun Martin Van Buren

Wife

Rachel

Child

Andrew Jackson, Jr. (adopted)

Pets

Several horses, including Sam Patches, his war horse

Simple Roots

Andrew Jackson was the first U.S. president who was born in a log cabin. His parents were poor immigrants from Northern Ireland. Very few of their neighbors in South Carolina could read, so in 1776, when he was just nine years old, Andrew read the Declaration of Independence out loud to everyone.

A Proud Scar

When the Revolutionary War broke out, Andrew and his brother joined the militia cavalry in North Carolina. He was only 13, so they made him a messenger. He was captured, and when a British officer ordered him to polish his boots, Andrew refused. The officer pulled out his sword and slashed Andrew across the face. He wore the scar proudly for the rest of his life.

Defending His Wife

In 1806, a man named Charles Dickinson insulted Jackson’s wife, Rachel, so Jackson challenged him to a duel (Jackson fought several in his lifetime). Mr. Dickinson fired and his bullet lodged near Jackson’s heart without killing him (doctors never got the bullet out). When Jackson fired, Mr. Dickinson did not survive. Rachel ended up dying three weeks after Jackson won the presidential election.

PRESIDENTIAL FIRST

Andrew Jackson was the first president whom someone tried to kill. Richard Lawrence, a house painter, shot at the president as he was leaving a funeral. The gun misfired, so Jackson hit Lawrence with his cane. Lawrence fired a second gun, but that gun misfired, too. President Jackson wasn’t hurt.

President Jackson

Jackson rejoined the military for the War of 1812 and clobbered the British in the Battle of New Orleans, becoming a two-star general and war hero. When he won the presidential election, he invited his rowdy friends to the celebration in the White House. The party got so loud and out of control that Jackson had to flee to a hotel across the street to get some sleep.

Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which let the government move Native Americans from their lands in the east to land west of the Mississippi River. He also shut down the national bank, though many people tried to stop him. Jackson was criticized for firing his enemies from government jobs and for not always doing what Congress wanted him to do—critics called him “King Andrew”—but in the end, he made the office of president stronger than it had ever been before.

FUN FACT

Jackson didn’t like the people in his cabinet—his advisors—so he started meeting with a group of people he liked and trusted better. He met with these friends in the kitchen of the White House to discuss politics. They became known as the “Kitchen Cabinet,” which now means a group of unofficial advisors to the president.

8th President ~ 1837–1841

MARTIN VAN BUREN

Little Magician

“It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn’t.”

Born

December 5, 1782 Kinderhook, New York

Political Party

Democrat

Vice President

Richard M. Johnson

Wife

Hannah

Children

Abraham, John, Martin, Winfield (died in first year), and Smith

Pets

A pair of tiger cubs

Early Days

Even though he was the first president born in the United States (all the presidents before him were born when America was still a British colony), Martin Van Buren spoke Dutch at home. His father ran a tavern in Kinderhook, New York, between New York City and the state capital, Albany. People stopping for the night were always talking politics and young Martin listened to them with great interest. His father couldn’t afford to send him to law school but did get him a job as a clerk in a law office. He taught himself the law and became a lawyer.

Van Buren’s wife, Hannah, died when she was only 35, leaving him to raise their four sons on his own. The four boys helped him in his law practice and on the campaign trail when he got into politics.

Vice President and President

Van Buren liked the idea of keeping the government small. For that reason, and because he was famous for being good at settling arguments and getting people to agree (that’s how he got the nickname “Little Magician”), he was noticed by Andrew Jackson, who invited him to be his vice president.

FUN FACTS

Van Buren had more than one nickname. He also was called “Old Kinderhook” after his hometown. That was shortened to an expression we still use today: “OK.”

Because Van Buren’s wife died before he became president, the White House didn’t have a First Lady. Van Buren instead had his daughter-in-law, Sarah Angelica Singleton Van Buren, act as First Lady.

Jackson was very popular when he left office and only had to endorse Van Buren to get him elected. But soon the country’s economy took a nosedive and his new nickname became “Martin Van Ruin.” In the Panic of 1837, hundreds of banks and businesses failed, and thousands of people lost their jobs. Van Buren continued Jackson’s mission to remove Indians from their lands in the eastern United States, and refused to admit Texas into the United States.

The two happiest days of his life, he once said, were the day he became president and the day he left the presidency. Martin Van Buren spent the rest of his days fighting against slavery.

9th President ~1841

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON

Old Tippecanoe

“The people are the best guardians of their own rights.”

Born

February 9, 1773 Charles City County, Virginia

Political Party

Whig

Vice President

John Tyler

First Lady

Anna

Children

Elizabeth, John (died in infancy), Lucy, William, John, Benjamin, Mary, Carter, Anna, and James

Pets

A billy goat and a cow

From Doctor to Soldier

William Henry Harrison studied medicine but became a soldier. His most famous battle was in 1811 against warriors of the Shawnee nation on the banks of the Tippecanoe River. Neither side really won the battle, but the Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, got so angry at the U.S. soldiers for giving whiskey to his people that—as legend goes—he put a curse on the government: Every president elected in a year ending in a zero would die in office.

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