| Presidents of the United States
There was a debate, when George Washington became the first president,
of what to call this highest of elected officers. "His Elective Majesty"
was one of the suggestions and "His Highness, the President of the United
States and Protector of the Rights of the Same" was another. The House
of Representatives finally decided on the simple title, "President of
the United States".
The Constitution refers to five jobs that the president is responsible
for : the head of state, the chief diplomat, the chief executive, the
commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the chief citizen of the United
States.
Each president swears to defend the constitution of the United States
and to protect the interests, freedoms, and rights of all citizens.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president expanded on the role of
the president. He said, "There is nothing mysterious about the foundations
of a healthy and strong democracy...They are: equality of opportunity
for youth and for others, jobs for those who can work, security for those
who need it, the ending of special privilege for the few, the preservation
of civil liberties for all, the enjoyment of the fruits of scientific
progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living."
Sample some of the following activities to learn more about the presidents
of the United States.
Places To Go | People To See | Things To Do | Teacher Resources | Bibliography
Places To Go
The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out
about the presidents of the United States.
FDR Library
and Museum
Visit this official library of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It has document,
photographs, sound and video recordings, and other primary source materials
to learn about this popular president. You can also visit Hyde
Park, FDR's birthplace, and Val-Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt's private "getaway" home during her marriage.
Calvin
Coolidge Home
Travel to the boyhood home of Calvin Coolidge in Plymouth Notch, Vermont.
He was vacationing there as vice-president when he learned about the death
of PresidentWarren G. Harding. So it was in his own home that he was administered
the oath of office--and it was his own father, a notary public, who administered
the oath to him!
Montpelier
Virtually visit the home of James Madison, the fourth president of United
States. He is known as the Father of the Constitution and a chief proponent
of the Bill of Rights. He was the president when the White House was burned
during the War of 1812.
Ford's Theatre
Virtually visit the theatre where John
Wilkes Booth, an actor and ardent Confederate supporter, shot President
Lincoln.
Woodrow Wilson
Birthplace
Travel to Staunton, Virgina and visit the birthplace of Woodrow Wilson,
the 28th president. "Woodrow Wilson's first home offers an authentic picture
of family life in the pre-Civil War Shenandoah Valley."
McKinley Memorial
Library
Spend time in the birthplace of William McKinley, the 25th president of
the United States. He was assassinated in 1901 while visiting the Pan-American
Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
The Hermitage
Visit the home of Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United
States. He was a colorful and interesting man.
Sherwood Forest
- Home of President John Tyler
Sherwood Forest is the name of the home of President John Tyler. He was
the first vice-president to become President after the death of a President
(William Henry Harrison). This house supposedly has a ghost!
Roosevelt Campobello International
Park
The Roosevelts had a summer home in Campobello, Maine. Visit it virtually
and experience the walking trails, woods, beaches, and ocean shores of
this beautiful area.
Dead
Presidents
Visit the burial site of many presidents. President Martin Van Buren is
buried in Kinderhook, New York.
Mount Vernon
Travel to the most famous of presidential homes.
Sulgrave
Manor
Virtually travel to the ancestral home in England of George Washington's
family. The property is situated in the rural village community of Sulgrave,
near to Banbury and about 30 miles from both Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford.
USS
Potomac
Sail onboard the USS Potomac. It was the official government yacht of
Franklin D. Roosevelt and is now an historic landmark.
People To See
Thomas
Jefferson Online
Visit Thomas Jefferson through this PBS site. It's based on a PBS series.
You'll find student study sheets and teaching tips for using the program.
The History
Place Presents Abraham Lincoln
Chat with Abe Lincoln and his forefathers. This great site has a Lincoln
timeline that begins with the 1637 immigration of Abraham Lincoln's grandfather
to America. The United States was at war for all but 48 days the Lincoln
served as president.
Mary Surratt
Meet Mary Surrat. She was the first woman to be executed by the United
States government after being found guilty of conspiring with John Wilkes
Booth to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. She ran the boardinghouse where
John Wilkes Booth plotted the assassination. She was hanged on July 7,
1865. Find out more about her and decide if she was really guilty and
if she actually knew about the plot to kill President Lincoln. Have students
find out about the other alleged accomplices to the assassination and
what happened to them.
Dr.
Samuel A. Mudd
Make the acquaintance of Dr. Samuel Mudd. He was the doctor who set the
broken leg of John Wilkes Booth after he escaped from Ford's Theatre.
Find out what happened to Dr. Mudd as a consequence of him giving medical
help to Booth.
The
First Ladies of the United States of America
Meet the wives of the presidents. Every president, except for bachelor
James Buchanan (the 15th president), had an accomplished wife as a partner.
Abigail Powers Fillmore (1798-1853) was a school teacher. She established
the first library in the White House during her husband's administration.
Theodore
Roosevelt
Spend time with charismatic Teddy Roosevelt. He was sworn in as 26th president
after the assassination of William McKinley. At 42 years of age, Theodore
Roosevelt was the youngest president. (Kennedy was the youngest elected
president, at 43.) When Roosevelt became president, he was already famous
as a hero in the Spanish-American War. He was a conservationist and wilderness
adventurer, and one of his accomplishment was that he greatly expanded
the National Park system. Find out in what context, President Roosevelt
said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far".
This website has a "Just for Kids" section where students can
find out about President's poor health as a child and about his relationship
to the famous teddy bear.
The
Last Days of a President : Films of McKinley and the Pan-American Exposition,1901
Meet William McKinley. He was the 25th president. President McKinley was
elected to his first term in 1896. He was reelected in 1900. On September
5, 1901, he gave a speech at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, New
York advocating commercial reciprocity among nations. The next day he
was shot down by an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz. President McKinley died
on September 14th. He was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.
Andrew
Jackson
Get to know Andrew Jackson. He was the 7th president of the United States
and the first president who was the target of an assassination attempt.
Find out about the details.
Things To Do
Internet Public
Library - POTUS - Presidents of the United States
Read biographical information about all 42 presidents. Of these 42 presidents,
how many of them were lawyers?
The
Presidents of the United States of America
From the White House, find facts about each president. Theodore Roosevelt
was the youngest president ever elected.
The
American Presidency
Discover biographical information about each President and First Lady.
Abigail Fillmore, wife of Millard Fillmore, was a public school teacher!
Books were important to her, and she created the first White House library
in a large room on the second floor.
Tokens
& Treasures
Look at some of the presents that U.S. presidents receive. Today a president
may receive 15,000 gifts a year. They come from every state in the nation
and every country in the world. President Eisenhower received a fancy
pair of customized cowboy boots that had the U.S. Capitol, the Great Seal
of the United States, sunflowers from Eisenhower's home state of Kansas,
and his nickname of Ike painted on them.
FunBrain
- Who Is That?
Test your presidential knowledge. This site will show you an illustration
of a president and some facts about him. You choose the correct answer.
You can choose your level of difficulty. This is part of the great FunBrain site.
Presidential
Libraries
Count how many presidents have official presidential libraries.
National Portrait
Gallery Hall of Presidents
View the official portraits of each president as well as a short biography.
Inaugural
Addresses of the Presidents of the United States
Read inaugural speeches. Whose speech was the longest? Who spoke for the
shortest amount of time?
American
Presidents
Explore information about the 2000 presidential election.
A
Presidential Exploration
From the menu, choose "Oval Office" to find fast facts about each president.
Choose "Rec Room" from the menu to find a presidential quiz, a presidential
guessing game, and more.
United States
Presidents Drill
Test your knowledge about the presidents. This online quiz is harder than
you think!
Vincent Voice
Gallery
Listen to audio files of speeches, performances, lectures, interviews,
broadcasts, etc. by over 50,000 persons from all walks of life recorded
over 100 years including many U.S. presidents.
Presidents
Find information about every president and some of the First Ladies.
How
the President Is Elected
Find out how the minimum age a person has to be in order to be elected
president of the United States.
Teacher Resources
Online activities are a listing of internet
sites with fun, interesting, and educational tasks attached to each one.
(You can learn how to use this WWW
Activities tool created by UEN for Utah educators).
Virtual Field Trips are teacher and student-created
tours of curricular topics. (You can learn how to use this UEN Virtual
Field Trip tool created by UEN for Utah educators).
Lesson Plans/Webquests
Bibliography
- Barber, James. Presidents. New York : Dorling Kindersley Pub., c2000.
- Blassingame, Wyatt. The Look-it-up Book of Presidents. New York :
Random House, 1990.
- Freidel, Frank Burt. The Presidents of the United States of America.
Washington, D.C. : White House Historical Association with the Cooperation
of the National Geographic Society, c1985.
- Johnson, Mary Oates. The President : America's Leader. Austin, Texas
: Steck-Vaughn, 1993/
- Kessler, Paula N. The Presidents Almanac. Los Angeles : Lowell House
Juvenile ; Chicago : Contemporary Books, c1996.
- Krull, Kathleen. Lives of the Presidents : Fame, Shame, and What the
Neighbors Thought. San Diego : Harcourt Brace & Co., c1998.
- MacMillan, Dianne. Presidents' Day. Springfield, NJ : Enslow, c1997.
- O'Neill, Richard. Presidents of the United States. Surrey [England]
: Zigzag Pub. ; New York, N.Y. : Distributed by Smithmark Publishers,
1997.
- Sherrow, Victoria. The Big Book of U.S. Presidents. Philadelphia,
Penn. : Courage Books, c1994.
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