U.S. History

John Burgoyne

"Gentleman Johnny," as he was known due to his cultural tastes (Burgoyne was also a playwright), he began his Revolutionary War career under Gage, returning to England after ineffectiveness in 1774-1775. Sent to reinforce Canada, he formulated a plan to isolate New England with the help of Barry St. Leger and William Howe. The plan worked as far as capturing Fort Ticonderoga, but met resistance when he sent his Hessians to attack Bennington. Exhausted, his troops met trouble at Saratoga, being repulsed at Freedman's Farm, and being forced to surrender after Bemis Heights. Paroled on condition he returned to England, Burgoyne was later appointed commander-in-chief of Ireland.

Fort Sumter

(April 12, 1861). Built on an island in 1829, the fort was one of three that the United States maintained in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. In order to claim true independence from the Union, Jefferson Davis decided that the forts needed to be taken; a Confederate force under P. G. T. Beauregard ordered the small Union garrison, controlled by Major Robert Anderson, to surrender. Anderson refused, shots were fired, and the Union commander surrendered two days later, with only one soldier killed. The Union made two unsuccessful attempts to recapture the fort with ironclad ships in 1863, but Confederate forces finally abandoned [blank] when they left Charleston in February 1865.

Vicksburg Campaign

(April 29 - July 4, 1863). This campaign was launched by Ulysses Grant to take control of the Mississippi River and cut off the western Confederate states from the east. Grant ordered regiments led by James McPherson, John McClernand, and William Tecumseh Sherman through bayous west of the Mississippi to Hard Times. They were up against rebel forces under Joseph Johnston and John Pemberton. Sherman and McPherson drove Johnston from Jackson, Mississippi on May 14, and the Union scored a victory at Champion's Hill two days later, but could not drive the Southerners out of [blank], so Grant laid siege to the town. Outnumbered 71,000 to 20,000 and on the brink of starvation, Pemberton finally surrendered his men; Johnston withdrew east.

Shiloh / Pittsburg Landing

(April 6-7, 1862). This was named after a church in [blank], Tennessee (100 miles southwest of Nashville). Confederate commander Albert Sidney Johnston led a force north from Corinth, Mississippi. Ulysses S. Grant, who had just captured Fort Donelson, brought five Union divisions to face him. At first, the South led the attack, but Union troops held the "Hornets' Nest" for hours, killing Johnston in the process. P. G. T. Beauregard took over, but by the second day Northern Generals Don Carlos Buell and Lew Wallace (who wrote Ben-Hur) brought reinforcements, causing the Confederates to retreat. More than 13,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate soldiers lost their lives.

Second Bull Run / Second Manassas

(August 29-30, 1862). This resounding victory by Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson pushed Union forces back to Washington, D.C. President Lincoln had replaced George McClellan with John Pope, who would supposedly be united with the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Henry Halleck. Lee maneuvered Jackson's troops behind those of Pope; Jackson detained Pope's men at [blank] while Lee sent James Longstreet to crush Pope's left flank. Halleck's army was supposed to land at Aquia, but instead retreated to defend Washington, ceding all of Virginia to the Confederacy and marking a low point in the Union effort.

Fredericksburg

(December 13, 1862). At this site, about 50 miles south of Washington, Union commander Ambrose Burnside (who had replaced George McClellan) tried to take the initiative and cross the Rappahannock River in a march toward Richmond. He met Robert E. Lee's forces, which were well entrenched on Marye's Heights behind the town. With a superior position, Lee routed the Union army; 13,000 Northern troops fell there, while only 5,000 Confederates were killed. After the battle, Burnside's troops were forced to make "The Mud March" up the Rappahannock, made foul by weather and dead and wounded bodies.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

(Earl Warren, 9-0, 1954): The suit was filed on behalf of Linda [blank], a third grader, who had to walk a mile to a blacks-only school when a whites-only school was much closer. Future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall argued the case for the plaintiff. The court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and ruled that "separate but equal" facilities were not constitutional. A second case in 1955 required that desegregation proceed "with all deliberate speed" but Southern schools were notoriously slow in complying; it was not until 1970 that a majority had complied with the ruling.

Roe v. Wade

(Harry Blackmun, Warren Burger, 7-2, 1973): Norma McCorvey (under the alias Jane [blank]), a rape victim, sued Dallas County attorney Henry [blank] for the right to an abortion. When the case reached the Supreme Court, the plaintiff depended on the growing recognition of a "right to privacy," which began with the 1965 case Griswold v. Connecticut. The court struck down state anti-abortion laws as "unconstitutionally vague," held that the word "person" in the Constitution "does not include the unborn," and legalized abortion in the first trimester. McCorvey later joined the pro-life movement and claimed that she was not actually raped and that she was pressured into filing the case by her ambitious attorney Sarah Weddington.

Plessy v. Ferguson

(Henry B. Brown, Melville Fuller, 7-1, 1896): Homer [blank] (who was legally classified as an "octoroon," meaning one-eighth black) bought a first-class ticket on the East Louisiana Railway. He sat in the whites-only car in violation of an 1890 Louisiana law mandating separate accommodations. He was convicted, but appealed to the Supreme Court against John [blank], a Louisiana judge. The court upheld the law provided that "separate but equal" facilities were provided. John Marshall Harlan issued a famous dissent claiming "Our constitution is color-blind." [blank] was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.

Gideon v. Wainwright

(Hugo Black, Earl Warren, 9-0, 1963): Clarence Earl [blank] was accused of breaking into a pool hall in Florida. Because his crime was not capital, the court declined to provide him with an attorney. He was convicted, sued Louie [blank] — the director of the corrections office — and took his case to the Supreme Court. The court overruled Betts v. Brady and held that the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments required appointed counsel in all trials. Gideon was retried and found innocent. The case is the subject of the book Gideon's Trumpet.

Marbury v. Madison

(John Marshall, 4-0, 1803): On his final day in office in 1801, John Adams signed commissions for 42 federal judges (the so-called "midnight judges"). His successor, Thomas Jefferson, opted to not deliver most of the commissions. One appointee, William [blank], sued the new secretary of state, James [blank], to force the delivery of his commission. The Judiciary Act of 1789 had granted the court original jurisdiction in such cases, but the Constitution did not. The court ruled that the Judiciary Act conflicted with the Constitution and was therefore void. Therefore [blank]'s request was denied for lack of jurisdiction. This case established the principle of judicial review, the power of the court to nullify unconstitutional laws.

Fletcher v. Peck

(John Marshall, 6-0, 1810): In 1795 the Georgia legislature corruptly sold land along the Yazoo River (now in Mississippi) to private citizens in exchange for bribes. The legislators were mostly defeated in the next elections and the incoming politicians voided the sales. In the meantime, John [blank] sold some of the land in question to Robert [blank], who then sued him, claiming that he did not have clear title. The Supreme Court held that the state legislature did not have the power to repeal the sale. This was one of the earliest cases in which the Supreme Court struck down a state law.

McCulloch v. Maryland

(John Marshall, 9-0, 1819): After the Second Bank of the United States began calling in loans owed by the states, [blank] passed a law taxing out-of-state banks. The federal bank refused to pay, so the state sued its Baltimore cashier, James [blank]. The court ruled that the federal government had the right to establish the bank even though it was not expressly enumerated in the Constitution and also noted that since "the power to tax was the power to destroy," [blank] could not tax the bank without destroying federal sovereignty.

Gettysburg

(July 1-3, 1863). This marked both the farthest northward advancement by the Confederacy and the turning point that led to its defeat. Robert E. Lee, along with James Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and Richard Ewell, led the southern Pennsylvania attack; J. E. B. Stuart was supposed to monitor Union movement with his cavalry, but strayed so far east of [blank] that his force did not return (exhausted) until the second day. George Meade replaced Joseph Hooker as leader of the Union side; Southern forces drove Northerners through the town but could not secure key positions at Cemetery Ridge and Little and Big Round Tops. Low on supplies, on the final day Lee ordered an attack on the center; George Pickett led his famous "charge" through open fields, where the Union mowed down one-third of his 15,000 men. The Confederates lost 20,000 and Lee retreated to Virginia.

First Bull Run / First Manassas

(July 21, 1861). Fought at a creek near Manassas, Virginia (30 miles west of Washington, D.C.), this was the first major showdown of the war. P. G. T. Beauregard led an army against Union commander Irwin McDowell and received reinforcements from Joseph Johnston's troops (whom Union General Robert Patterson failed to detain). The Confederacy routed the Union when Thomas Jackson's brigade held the left line at Henry House Hill; this effort earned him the nickname "Stonewall." Congressmen and reporters, who had expected to watch a Union victory, fled in panic back to D.C.

USS Missouri

The fourth __________ was the last battleship completed by the United States; she was laid down January 6, 1941 by New York Naval Shipyard. The _________ was launched on January 29, 1944 and received her sponsorship from Miss Margaret Truman, daughter of the then-Missouri Senator, Harry S. Truman. Commissioned on June 11, 1944, the "Mighty Mo," as she became known, sailed for the Pacific and quickly became the flagship of Admiral Halsey, which is why she was chosen as the site of the formal surrender of the Empire of Japan on the morning of September 1, 1945.

Petersburg Campaign

(June 1864 - April 1865). After Cold Harbor, Grant moved south to lay siege to this railroad hub, 25 miles from Richmond. On July 30, Pennsylvania coal miners detonated four tons of powder in a tunnel underneath the Confederate line; this "Battle of the Crater" killed many defenders. Although the South maintained the city, its supplies ran thin in the winter of 1865. Grant finally destroyed the Confederate right flank at Five Forks (April 1-2), 14 miles southwest of [blank]. This resounding defeat led to Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House one week later, effectively ending the Civil War.

Hampton Roads

(March 9, 1862). A channel in southeastern Virginia was the site of the first major fight between two ironclad ships. The Confederates raised an old wooden boat, the Merrimack, and fit it with ten guns and iron armor plates. Renamed the Virginia, it was captained by Franklin Buchanan. The Union countered by constructing a large oval with a rotating gun, called the Monitor and piloted by John Worden. The Virginia tore through Union wooden ships (Cumberland, Congress, Minnesota) but when the Monitor arrived, the two ironclads fought to a stalemate; the Union thus maintained its blockade. The South deliberately destroyed the Virginia two months later, while the Monitor sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras in December 1862.

Peninsular Campaign

(March-July 1862). Union commander George McClellan devised this plan to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia by sending 110,000 men up the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. Advised of Northern maneuvers, Southern commander Joseph Johnston detached a force to defend the peninsula. He also sent a small unit (led by Stonewall Jackson) that crushed Union reinforcements in the West. After Johnston was wounded at Seven Pines (June 1), Davis replaced him with Robert E. Lee. Lee concentrated his force north of the Chickahominy River; in the Seven Days' Battles (June 25 - July 1), the Confederates broke through Union defenses, leading to McClellan's retreat down the James toward Harrison's Landing, and failure of the campaign.

Chancellorsville

(May 1-4, 1863). A victory for the South, but with great cost, as Stonewall Jackson lost his life. Lincoln called on "Fighting Joe" Hooker to command the Union army; Hooker took a force of 134,000 and provoked Robert E. Lee and Jackson's 60,000 men into battle. Jackson moved around Hooker and counterattacked the Union flank on May 2. That night, while Jackson was on reconnaissance, his own men mistook him for a Northerner and shot him; he died of pneumonia eight days later. The following morning, a cannonball blast hit the Chancellor House, knocking Hooker unconscious; Union troops led by John Sedgwick then retreated. Casualties for the North outnumbered those of the South, 17,000 to 13,000.

Wilderness Campaign

(May 5 - June 12, 1864). The first clash between Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee, this series of conflicts started with the Battle of the [blank] (50 miles northwest of Richmond), where Southern leaders A. P. Hill and Richard Ewell held the line, and over 17,000 Northerners fell. At Spotsylvania Court House, George Meade assaulted Robert E. Lee's men, but they repelled Meade at the "Bloody Angle." The trenches in which much of the fighting took place were similar to those later seen in World War I. Advancing within ten miles of Richmond, Grant met Lee at Cold Harbor (June 3); he lost 7,000 men to Lee's 1,500 and withdrew across the James River, but with the entire campaign he severely reduced Confederate strength in a war of attrition.

Ex Parte Merryman

(Roger Taney, 1861): This was not actually a Supreme Court case, but a federal court case heard by Chief Justice Roger Taney while "circuit-riding" when the court was not in session. Lieutenant John [blank] of the Maryland cavalry took an active role in evicting Union soldiers from Maryland following the attack on Fort Sumter. Abraham Lincoln declared a secret suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and had a number of opposition leaders, including Merryman, arrested. Taney found the president had acted unconstitutionally (only Congress can suspend the writ), but Lincoln simply ignored his ruling.

Antietam / Sharpsburg

(September 17, 1862). The bloodiest day of the Civil War: 12,000 Union men lost their lives, as did 10,000 Confederates. Robert E. Lee planned a northern invasion into Maryland, but a Union soldier discovered those battle plans wrapped around three cigars. Instead, Lee marched his army toward [blank] Creek. Meanwhile, Jackson's forces captured Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and rushed to reunite with Lee. George McClellan had a large enough force to capture the entire rebel army, but did not use all of his troops nor coordinate one solid attack. [blank] thus was actually a series of five skirmishes; in one of them, dubbed "The Bloody Lane," 2,000 Union soldiers fell in a few minutes. As it was, Union forces drove the Confederates back across the Potomac.

Chattanooga Campaign

(September-November 1863). It began when Union General William Rosecrans forced Confederate commander Braxton Bragg out of the city on September 9. Ten days later, at Chickamauga (in Georgia), Bragg and James Longstreet turned the tables by whipping Rosecrans, forcing him into a siege position at [blank]. Only George Thomas (the "Rock of Chickamauga") saved Rosecrans from annihilation. Well-developed railroad networks, however, allowed Ulysses Grant, Joseph Hooker, and William Tecumseh Sherman to bring reinforcements. On November 24, Hooker took Lookout Mountain in the southwest, in the "Battle Above the Clouds." The next day, Thomas ran right over the Southern force at Missionary Ridge, securing Tennessee for the North.

Baker v. Carr

(William J. Brennan Jr., Earl Warren, 6-2, 1962): Charles W. [blank], a Tennessee citizen, sued the Tennessee secretary of state, Joe [blank], claiming that the state's electoral districts had been drawn to grossly favor one political party. The defendant argued that reapportionment issues were political, not judicial, matters, but the court disagreed and declared the issue justiciable before remanding the case to a lower court. Two years later, in Reynolds v. Sims, the court mandated the principle of "one man, one vote."

Hammer v. Dagenhart

(William R. Day, Edward Douglass White, 5-4, 1918): The Keating-Owen Act prohibited the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor, leading Roland [blank] to sue U.S. attorney W. C. [blank] in Charlotte since his two sons would be put out of work. The court ruled that the federal government did not have the right to regulate child labor; Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote a notable dissent focusing on the lack of proper state regulation. The case was overturned by the 1941 case U.S. v. Darby Lumber Company case upholding the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Long Island (August 27, 1776)

The largest battle of the entire war, Long Island (or Brooklyn Heights) resulted in the British capture of New York. William Howe defeated George Washington.

John Paul Jones

A Scotsman who had fled Britain after killing two people, he added the last name _____________ to his given name to hide from law enforcement. At the outbreak of conflict, he was commissioned to outfit the Alfred, which he then used to help capture New Providence in the Bahamas. The next month, April 1776, he led the Alfred against the HMS Glasgow, leading him to promotion and command of the Providence. Ordered to raid until his provisions were expended, he sank and captured ships in operations along the Atlantic coast. Commissioned captain of the Ranger, he sailed to France to acquire new ships, and captured the HMS Drake. Leaving Europe in August 1779, he met the British ship Serapis in battle on September 23, 1779.

USS Arizona

A lead ship of the honor escort for President Wilson's trip to France in 1918, she was on Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor when Japanese aircraft appeared just before 8:00 am on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The _________ came under attack almost immediately, and at about 8:10 was hit by an 800-kilogram bomb just forward of turret two on the starboard side. Within a few seconds the forward powder magazines exploded, killing 1,177 of the crew, and the ship sank to the bottom of the harbor. In 1962 the __________ memorial opened and is now administered by the National Park Service.

Nathanael Greene

A prominent Rhode Island politician prior to the revolution, he raised a militia company but was not elected their captain due to his partial lameness. Following his work in the siege of Boston, he marched his army to Long Island, where they aided in the battles around New York. Following the loss of Fort Washington, ____________ led forces into victory at the Battle of Trenton, and then again distinguished himself by protecting Washington's force at the Battle of Brandywine. ____________ then led the main force at Germantown, and led the evacuation of positions along the Delaware River in fall 1777. The next year, ____________'s logistical talents led Washington to appoint him quartermaster general, a position he only accepted if he were allowed to retain field troops. He then led those troops as the right wing in the Battle of Monmouth. The quartermaster general position led to conflicts with the Continental Congress, and ____________ resigned in 1780. Appointed to command to replace the traitor Benedict Arnold, he was sent south following Gates' loss at Camden. Joining with Daniel Morgan, he retreated from Cornwallis' forces for two months until a crippling counterattack at Guilford Courthouse, which gave a costly victory to the British. Until the end of the war, Greene led a spirited offensive against Lord Rawdon's — and later Duncan Stuart's — forces, besieging Augusta and Ninety-Six, and establishing headquarters in Charleston following Washington's victory at Yorktown.

Ticonderoga (May 10, 1775)

A small but symbolic victory for the American forces led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. The Green Mountain Boys captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain from the British and transported its cannons to Boston.

Sir William Howe

A veteran of the siege of Louisbourg, and the leader of the ascent to the Plains of Abraham (Quebec, 1759), he was dispatched in 1775 as second-in-command to Gage. After directing the attack on Bunker Hill, he succeeded Gage as commander, and coordinated a strategic retreat from Boston to Halifax. In Halifax, he coordinated a joint army-navy attack with his brother, Richard, an admiral, resulting in a campaign which allowed the British to control New York City. After his attempts to secure a peace in 1777 failed, he led the attack on Philadelphia, defeating Washington at Brandywine. After this, he wintered in Philadelphia, waiting for acceptance of his resignation, due to the failed peace negotiations. On May 25, 1778, he relinquished command to Sir Henry Clinton and returned home.

1968

After Lyndon Johnson declined to run for re-election, and after Robert F. Kennedy was killed in California, the Democratic nomination went to Hubert Humphrey. Richard Nixon, gradually returning from political obscurity over the past six years, gained the Republican nomination. Alabama governor George Wallace ran as the American Independent candidate, becoming the last third-party candidate to win multiple electoral votes. Nixon edged Humphrey by half a million popular votes and a 301—191 electoral count, while Wallace won nearly ten million votes. Wallace's presence may well have tipped the election to the Republicans, who, after being out of power for 28 of the last 36 years, would hold the presidency for all but four years through 1992.

Tadeusz Kosciusko

After receiving military training in his native Poland and France, he resigned his commission due to poor advancement prospect. Offering his assistance to the Americans, he helped fortify the Delaware River in 1776, earning himself the rank of colonel. That winter, he planned the building of Fort Mercer, and the next spring headed north with General Gates, becoming commander of the northern army and building fortifications that helped win the battle of Saratoga. In 1780, he worked on building defenses for West Point, then headed south when Gates was appointed command of the Southern Department. Serving under Nathaniel Greene, he distinguished himself in the Race to the Dan River, and at Charleston, but mishandled the siege of Ninety-Six. Following the war, he was granted American citizenship but returned home to Poland. Back home he resisted partition, and attempted to liberate the nation afterward.

USS Monitor/CSS Virginia

Also known as the USS Merrimack After departing Union forces burned the Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk in April 1861, yard workers salvaged the USS Merrimack and converted her into the ironclad CSS Virginia. On March 8, 1862, the CSS Virginia left the shipyard and sank two Union warships in Hampton Roads. The South's ironclad rammed and sank the USS Cumberland and set fire to and sank the USS Congress. The Monitor was sent to end its rampage and the two ironclads battled for 3½ hours before the Virginia ran aground in its attempt to ram the USS Minnesota. Visibly damaged, the Virginia retreated and the Monitor withdrew to protect the Minnesota. The Confederates destroyed the Virginia soon after to prevent her capture by Union forces. The Monitor, victorious in her first battle, sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The shipwreck is a national underwater sanctuary under the purview of the NOAA.

Griswold v. Connecticut (William O. Douglas, Earl Warren, 7-2, 1965)

In 1879, ____________ outlawed the use of contraception. In 1961, Estelle __________ and Lee Buxton, who were directors of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, were charged with violating that ban after they opened a birth control clinic. Justice Douglas' majority opinion held that "specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras," and that "emanations" of those guarantees create a Constitutional right to privacy that protects intensely personal decisions, such as the right of married couples to choose whether to use birth control. Connecticut's law was struck down.

Charles Cornwallis, First Marquess of Cornwallis

An aristocrat and ensign in 1756, he fought in the battle of Minden, and by the end of the Seven Years' War he was a captain. Made aide-de-camp to George III, he made colonel, and was promoted to major general before being sent to America. After a failed assault on Charleston, he served under Sir Henry Clinton in the battle of Long Island, but made his mark in fighting at Manhattan and pursued Washington across the Hudson, being outmaneuvered by Washington at Princeton (January 3, 1777). Following this defeat he directed the main attack on Brandywine Creek, and reinforced Germantown as part of the plan to capture Philadelphia. Promoted to second-in-command under Clinton after the Philadelphia campaign, he led the Battle of Monmouth before returning home to attend his sick wife. Sent south in 1780 to capture Charleston, he bested Horatio Gates at Camden (North Carolina) and Nathaniel Greene at Guilford Courthouse, the latter a pyrrhic victory that likely led to his defeat in attempts to contain Lafayette in Virginia. Following this, he occupied Yorktown in August 1781, where he was surrounded by American and French forces, and forced to surrender. Following the war, he was appointed governor-general of India, and proved to be a capable administrator.

1860

Another four-candidate election, with Republican Abraham Lincoln, (northern) Democrat Stephen Douglas, (southern) Democrat John C. Breckinridge, and Constitutional Unionist John G. Bell. The Republican Party, founded in 1854, won in its second election (its first candidate being John C. Frémont in 1856), aided by the fragmenting of the Democrats. Bell took Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia, Breckinridge swept the other slave states, and Lincoln nearly swept the free states. Though winning under 40% of the total popular vote, Lincoln dominated the electoral count with 180 to a combined 123 for his opponents (Breckinridge 72, Bell 39, Douglas 12). Seven southern states seceded before Lincoln even took office, and war soon followed.

Marquis de Lafayette

Approached by the U.S. Minister to France, Silas Deane, he arrived in April 1777 with Baron de Kalb. First seeing action at Brandywine, his primary early action was in supporting Washington during the winter at Valley Forge. After participating at the battles of Barren Hill, Monmouth, and Newport, he returned to France, raising support for an expeditionary force. Returning to America a colonel, he served on the board that sentenced Major Andre to death, and then faced Andre's confederate Benedict Arnold in battle in 1781. Working in Virginia, he evaded Cornwallis' forces, until reinforcements arrived in June. Coordinating with Anthony Wayne, the two combined forces against Cornwallis in the battle of Green Spring. Pursuing Cornwallis to Yorktown, ________________ helped the siege there until Cornwallis' surrender.

George Marshall (served 1947-1949 under President Truman)

As a general, he oversaw the largest expansion of the U.S. military in its history and wrote the central strategy for the Allies in Europe. Namesake of the Marshall Plan to help Europe recover after World War II from 1948 to 1952. After he left his post, he was president of the American Red Cross. He correctly predicted that Israel's declaration of statehood would lead to war and attempted to mediate the Chinese Civil War.

USS Constitution

Better known as "Old Ironsides," was one of the first six ships commissioned by the U.S. Navy after the American Revolution. Launched from Boston in 1797, it first saw action as the squadron flagship in the Quasi-War with France from 1799-1801 and also fought in the Barbary War and the War of 1812. She later served many years as the nation's flagship in the Mediterranean. Retired from active duty in 1846, the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem "Old Ironsides" saved her from the scrap yard—she became the training ship of the U.S. Naval Academy until the mid-1880s. She became the symbolic flagship of the U.S. Navy in 1940 and is now a floating museum in Boston.

USS Chesapeake

Built at what is now the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, between 1798 and 1799. Was attacked by the British Leopard off Cape Henry in 1807 (which led to the duel between Commodores James Barron and Stephen Decatur), one of the causes of the War of 1812. She was captured off Boston in 1813 by the British frigate Shannon, on which occasion her commander, Captain James Lawrence, uttered his celebrated dying words, "Don't give up the ship," which have become a tradition in the U.S. Navy.

1800

Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson narrowly beat the incumbent Federalist John Adams 73-65, marking the ascent of that party's power. At the time, one electoral vote each was cast for president and vice president, so Democratic-Republican VP candidate Aaron Burr also had 73 votes, but Burr refused to step aside. In the House of Representatives, neither man won the necessary nine state delegations outright until the 36th ballot, when James Bayard of Delaware changed his vote to Jefferson. The debacle led to the passage of the 12th amendment in 1804. The Federalists never recovered; Alexander Hamilton's opposition to Adams led to a permanent split between the two, and Hamilton's opposition to Burr was one cause of their 1804 duel, in which Burr (then the vice president) killed Hamilton. This was the first peaceful transfer of power from one party to another.

Chisholm v. Georgia (No majority opinion, Chief Justice John Jay, 4-1, 1793)

Following the death of Robert Farquhar, his estate's executor, Alexander Chisholm — who, like Farquhar, was a South Carolina resident — sued the state of Georgia to collect money Georgia owed Farquhar for goods it purchased during the American Revolution. Georgia claimed that sovereign immunity protected it from Chisholm's suit. However, the Supreme Court held that Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution gave citizens the right to sue a state, finding against Georgia. The Court's ruling proved so controversial that it resulted in the 1794 passage of the Eleventh Amendment, which specifically prohibited U.S. or foreign citizens from filing a lawsuit against a state (with certain exceptions).

Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben

Formerly part of Frederick the Great's staff, the Prussian ________________ was recommended by Ben Franklin to George Washington. Accepted by the Continental Congress, ______________ joined Washington at Valley Forge, and began training the army. Appointed major general and inspector general in May 1777, he aided in the Battle of Monmouth, then spent two years writing the Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, an army training manual. Sent to Virginia in 1780 to oppose Benedict Arnold's actions, illness caused him to turn over his troops to Lafayette, but _____________ recovered in time to aid in the siege of Yorktown.

Monmouth (June 28, 1778)

The last major battle of the Northern theater of the war; its outcome was inconclusive. American general Charles Lee was court-martialed for his actions at Monmouth. Molly Pitcher became famous for fighting in this battle in place of her husband.

USS Nautilus

In 1951 Congress authorized construction of the world's first nuclear-powered submarine. On December 12 of that year, the Navy Department announced that she would be the sixth ship of the fleet to bear the name __________. She was launched on January 21, 1954. Eight months later, on September 30, 1954, the _________ became the first commissioned nuclear-powered ship in the U.S. Navy. On the morning of January 17, 1955, its Commander Wilkinson signaled "Underway on Nuclear Power." In 1958 she departed Pearl Harbor under top-secret orders to conduct "Operation Sunshine," the first crossing of the North Pole by a ship.

Miranda v. Arizona (Earl Warren, 5-4, 1966)

In 1963, Phoenix police arrested Ernesto ________ on suspicion of kidnapping and rape; he subsequently confessed to those crimes. During his initial interrogation by police, Miranda was never informed of his Fifth or Sixth Amendment rights. Writing for a thin majority, Chief Justice Warren stated that "[p]rior to any questioning, [a] person must be warned that he has a right to remain silent, that any statement he does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed," laying the groundwork for the iconic "Miranda warnings."

Lawrence v. Texas (Anthony Kennedy, William Rehnquist, 6-3, 2003)

In 1998, a false police report led Houston police to the apartment of John Lawrence; upon entering, deputies claimed they found Lawrence having sex with another man, Tyron Gardner. Both men were charged with homosexual conduct, still a misdemeanor in Texas. Justice Kennedy's majority opinion held that the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause protected a person's "liberty" to engage in consensual homosexual activity, and declared the Texas law unconstitutional. The decision in Lawrence overturned Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) — in which the court upheld a similar Georgia law — and has been cited as a key predecessor of both U.S. v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges.

1896

In the election itself, Republican William McKinley swept the North and Northeast to beat Democrat William Jennings Bryan, but the campaign was the interesting part. The most prominent issue, the gold standard versus free silver coinage, led to Bryan's famous "Cross of Gold" speech. Shunned by Eastern press, Bryan — a legendary orator — traveled 18,000 miles through 27 states and was heard by some three million people. McKinley would not accept Bryan's challenge to debate, comparing it to putting up a trapeze and competing with a professional athlete. McKinley instead had a "front porch" campaign, as railroads brought voters by the thousands to hear him speak in his hometown, Canton, Ohio. Mark Hanna, McKinley's campaign manager, is often considered the first modern campaign manager. The election also represented the demise of the Populist Party and ushered in a 16-year period of Republican rule. The gold question would disappear soon after the election with gold strikes in Australia and Alaska.

1948

In the most recent election with four significant candidates, Democrat Harry Truman beat Republican Thomas Dewey, contrary to the famous headline of the Chicago Tribune, which was printed before results from the West came in. Dewey dominated the northeast, but Truman nearly swept the West to pull out the victory. Former vice president Henry Wallace earned over a million votes as the Progressive candidate, and Strom Thurmond took over a million popular votes and 39 electoral votes as the States' Rights (or Dixiecrat) candidate.

Munn v. Illinois (Morrison Waite, 7-2, 1877)

Ira _____ owned a set of Chicago grain elevators and charged oppressively high fees for their use. In 1871, the _________ legislature passed a law setting maximum rates for grain storage. On appeal to the Supreme Court, lawyers for the business claimed that the Illinois statute violated Fourteenth-Amendment due process rights regarding private property. Chief Justice Waite's opinion upheld the Illinois law, and proclaimed that "when private property is devoted to a public use, it is subject to public regulation." The decision was a landmark in the history of government regulation of businesses, especially railroads.

Sir Guy Carleton

Irish-born, he led grenadiers across the Plains of Abraham in the 1759 siege of Quebec under his close friend General Wolfe. He entered the war as second-in-command to Thomas Gage before taking command after Gage's 1775 recall. _____________ then directed British troops from Canada to Boston after the Battle of Concord, resulting in a revolt. ____________ repulsed efforts by Montgomery and Benedict Arnold to capture Montréal and Quebec, routing a second attempt by Arnold, by defeating an American naval buildup on Lake Champlain. Following this, he attempted to support Burgoyne's failed plan to isolate New England. Brought back to Britain to govern Armagh in Ireland in 1777, he sat out all but the end of the war, returning in 1782 as commander-in-chief after Cornwallis' surrender.

1960

John F. Kennedy defeated vice president Richard Nixon 303-219 in a tight election, winning the popular vote by just two-tenths of a percent. The first Kennedy-Nixon debate (September 26, 1960) is a classic in political science; those who saw the calm, handsome Kennedy and the tired, uncomfortable-looking Nixon on television were more likely to select Kennedy as the winner than were those who listened on radio. (Theodore White's notable The Making of the President series began with the 1960 election.) Voting irregularities in Texas and Illinois (especially in Richard Daley's Chicago) led to allegations of fraud, but a recount would not have been feasible, and Nixon did not press the issue. Nixon would go on to lose the 1962 California gubernatorial race (occasioning his famous statement "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more").

Cordell Hull (served 1933-1944 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Known as "Father of the United Nations," ________ was a Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 1945 for his work in founding that organization. He sent a namesake note to Japan prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor making a futile attempt to force the Japanese out of French Indochina, China, and Manchukuo, in accordance with his predecessor's Stimson Doctrine.

Thomas Jefferson (served 1790-1793 under President Washington)

Known more for his presidency and completing the Louisiana Purchase, began his feud with Alexander Hamilton while serving as Secretary of State, even though his office had no bearing on Hamilton's Treasury. He founded the Democratic-Republicans. He resigned his post after failing to secure from the British compensation for released slaves, withdrawal from garrisons in the Northwest Territory, and admission of violating the terms of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War.

Trenton (December 26, 1776)

Occurred early in the morning after George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night. The Hessians, under the command of Johann Rall, were surprised and about two thirds of them were captured.

USS Lawrence/USS Niagara

Oliver Hazard Perry's decisive victory over the British fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813 ensured American control of the Great Lakes during the War of 1812. In the battle, Perry's flagship was severely damaged and four-fifths of her crew killed or wounded. Commodore Perry and a small contingent rowed a half-mile through heavy gunfire to another American ship, _________. Boarding and taking command, he brought her into battle and soundly defeated the British fleet. Perry summarized the fight in a now-famous message to General William Henry Harrison: "We have met the enemy and they are ours."

Francis Marion

Previously an Indian fighter, _______________ was given command of Fort Sullivan in 1776. Commanding the 2nd South Carolina, he fought at Savannah, and escaped capture when the British retook Charleston. From there, ____________ fought a successful guerilla campaign against British troops, forcing Cornwallis to appoint Colonel Banastre Tarleton to eliminate _____________. Tarleton's frustration at the task led to the remark "But as for this damned old fox, the devil himself could not catch him," creating _____________'s nickname, "Swamp Fox." Promoted to brigadier general in 1781, and later given command of the North and South Carolina militias, ______________ fought the British at Eutaw Springs.

1876

Republican Rutherford B. Hayes faced Democrat Samuel Tilden, best known for battling Tammany Hall and the Tweed Ring in New York. Tilden won the popular vote and seemed to win the election, but results in Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana were contested, as was one vote in Oregon; if Hayes swept these votes, he would win the electoral count 185-184. In Congress, an informal bargain was reached (often called the Compromise of 1877) in which Hayes won the election in exchange for Reconstruction being brought to an end.

George Washington

Selected by the Continental Congress to serve as general-in-chief, his first actions were to blockade Boston. Key to the success in Boston was the capture of Dorchester Heights, allowing cannon fire against the British and forcing the withdrawal of Howe. After failing to defend New York, _______________ retreated toward Pennsylvania, extending British supply lines and allowing a successful counterattack on Hessian mercenaries at Trenton. Following victory at Princeton, ______________ retired to winter quarters at Morristown. Sending his best forces north to deal with Burgoyne's attack in spring 1777, he kept Howe engaged in the mid-Atlantic. Autumn setbacks at Brandywine and Germantown led to a demoralized winter camp at Valley Forge, countered by the work of Lafayette, Steuben, and others. After a costly draw with Sir Henry Clinton's forces at Monmouth, ________________ sent Greene south to replace Gates, and worked with the French general Jean Baptiste Rochambeau to plan the Yorktown campaign. The success of this campaign led to Cornwallis' surrender on October 19, 1781.

Elihu Root (served 1905-1909 under President T. Roosevelt)

Succeeding Hay after Hay's death, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912 for attempting to bring nations together for arbitration and cooperative agreements. During his tenure, he moved the consular service under the umbrella of the civil service. His negotiations with Great Britain settled border disputes regarding Alaska and Canada, and he was a proponent of free trade policies with China that Hay established.

Schenck v. United States (Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Chief Justice Edward White, 9-0, 1919)

The Espionage Act of 1917 prohibited — among other things — any attempt to inhibit recruitment by the U.S. Armed Forces. Charles __________ was a Socialist who opposed conscription and distributed literature urging readers to resist the draft. Follwing his arrest and conviction, he appealed, claiming that his advocacy was protected speech covered by the First Amendment. Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Holmes claimed the First Amendment does not protect speech that creates a "clear and present danger," and that "the most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting 'fire' in a theatre."

1824

The candidates were John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, William Crawford, and Andrew Jackson, all Democratic-Republicans. After John C. Calhoun decided to seek the vice presidency and Crawford (from Georgia) had a stroke, Jackson took most of the South and won the popular vote. Jackson had 99 electoral votes, Adams 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37, but since none had more than 50% of the vote, the House decided the election. Adams won in the House with support from Clay, and Jacksonians cried foul when Clay was made Secretary of State (the so-called "corrupt bargain"), giving fuel to Jackson's victorious 1828 campaign. Jackson is the only candidate to lose a presidential race despite having the most electoral votes, and he is one of five (with Tilden, Cleveland, Gore, and Hillary Clinton) to lose despite winning the popular vote. The election also led to the founding of the Democratic Party.

2000

The closest election in American history. Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote to George W. Bush by a final count of 271—266 (one Gore elector abstained). Ralph Nader of the Green Party won an important 2.7% of the vote, while Pat Buchanan of the Reform Party placed fourth. New Mexico and Oregon were initially too close to call but went to Gore, and Florida became the center of attention. Ballot confusion in Palm Beach County, intimidation of vote recounters in Miami-Dade County, and absentee ballots throughout Florida became significant issues, as Americans had to hear about butterfly ballots, hanging chads, and Florida Secretary of State Katharine Harris for the next five weeks. Gore officially conceded the election on December 13, 2000.

Quebec (December 31, 1775)

The culmination of a failed invasion of Canada by American colonists. In a blinding snowstorm, the American general Richard Montgomery was killed in battle, Benedict Arnold was wounded, and Daniel Morgan was captured.

USS Maine

The first ________, a second-class armored battleship, was launched in 1889. A part of the "Great White Fleet," in 1897 it sailed for Havana to show the flag and protect American citizens. Shortly after 9:40 pm on February 15, 1898, the battleship was torn apart by a tremendous explosion. The court of inquiry convened in March was unable to obtain evidence associating the blast with any person or persons, but public opinion—inflamed by "yellow journalism"—was such that the _________ disaster led to the declaration of war on Spain on April 21, 1898.

Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775)

The first battles of the American Revolutionary War were skirmishes near Boston in the two towns of Lexington and Concord, as well as Cambridge, Lincoln and Menotomy. British regulars under Francis Smith attempted to destroy the supplies of the colonial militia, but were stopped by Minutemen. Ralph Waldo Emerson described the first shot as the "shot heard round the world."

Saratoga (ended October 17, 1777)

The major turning point of the American Revolution because the American victory led France to join the war. British General John Burgoyne led an invasion into New York from Canada with hopes of meeting another British army and splitting the American colonies. The final surrender was preceded by battles at Freeman's Farm and Bemis Heights. Horatio Gates led the American forces.

Dean Acheson (served 1949-1953 under President Truman)

The successor to Marshall, he is known primarily for developing the policy of containment — designed to prevent the spread of Communism — and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. His autobiography Present at the Creation is a major source for Cold War historians.

Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775)

This British pyrrhic victory outside Boston resulted in the capture of the Charlestown Peninsula, but showed that colonial troops could stand up to British regulars. Most of the fighting actually occurred on Breed's Hill, not Bunker Hill.

Gibbons v. Ogden (John Marshall, 6-0, 1824)

Thomas _________ and Aaron _______ were partners in a steamboat business that ferried people between New York and New Jersey. Ogden had purchased a license granting him a monopoly under New York law. After the partners suffered a disagreement and split up, Gibbons applied for and received a federal permit to run a similar business. Ogden sued Gibbons for violating Ogden's monopoly. In a unanimous decision, Marshall held that Congress' interstate regulatory power under the Commerce Clause had "no limitations other than are prescribed in the Constitution." Gibbons' federal permit trumped Ogden's state-granted monopoly.

1912

Three presidents — Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson — earned electoral votes. Roosevelt, displeased with his successor Taft, returned to lead the progressive Republican faction; after Taft got the Republican nomination, Roosevelt was nominated by the Progressive Party (nicknamed the "Bull Moose" Party). Wilson won with 435 electoral votes to Roosevelt's 88 and Taft's 8, making Taft the only incumbent to finish third in a re-election bid. Though Wilson did set forth his New Freedom program, his dominating win must be credited largely to the splitting of the Republican vote by Roosevelt and Taft.

Benedict Arnold

Volunteering for service following the Battle of Lexington, he joined Ethan Allen in the attack on Fort Ticonderoga. Appointed by Washington to capture Quebec, he was severely wounded in the failed December 1775 assault that also saw the death of General Richard Montgomery. Arming a flotilla on Lake Champlain, he attacked the British forces at Valcour Island, earning accolades — perhaps at the cost of the support of other officers. Passed over for promotion, Washington personally persuaded him not to resign. Promoted following his defense of Danbury, he again considered resignation, but won victory at Ft. Stanwix, and commanded advance battalions at Saratoga, where he was wounded in the fight. Sent to command Philadelphia, he lived extravagantly among Loyalists, and skirted several regulations to raise money, prompting investigations. After marrying Peggy Shippen, he made overtures to the British, alerting them to a plan to invade Canada, and planning to betray his expected command of West Point. When his contact, Major John Andre was captured, he escaped. Later, as part of the British army he raided New London, Connecticut, and led several raids on Virginia.

Germantown (October 4, 1777)

Washington's attack on Germantown was the Continental Army's last major effort to retake Philadelphia before the winter of 1777-1778. After this defeat, Washington's troops wintered at Valley Forge.

Horatio Gates

Wounded in the disastrous French and Indian War attack on Fort Duquesne, it was there he first met George Washington. Recommended by Washington to be adjutant general of the army at the outbreak of revolution, he organized the army around Boston into an effective force. Promoted to major general in 1776, he was assigned to command troops in New York originally intended to invade Canada. Briefly put in charge of Philadelphia, he then directed the defense of New York against Burgoyne's invasion attempt, leading to victory at Saratoga. Following this he became involved in the Conway cabal, an attempt to replace Washington, which led to coldness between the two. Placed in command of the South over Washington's objections by Congress, he tried to raise adequate forces, but lost the battle of Camden to Cornwallis, and was replaced by Nathaniel Greene. Washington then accepted Gates back as his deputy, a position he held until the end of the war.

Former President Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party (established 1912),

better known as the Bull Moose Party, was created after he was unable to reclaim the Republican nomination from his former ally William Howard Taft. Roosevelt pitted his platform of New Nationalism, which promised reforms inspired by the Progressive movement, against Democrat Woodrow Wilson's more conservative New Freedom. In the most successful American third-party campaign ever, Roosevelt's 27% was still only enough to win six states; the split of the Republican voter base between him and Taft ensured a dominant victory for Wilson even though Wilson received only 42% of the vote.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (Roger Taney, 7-2, 1857)

______ ______was a slave purchased by John Emerson in the 1820s, and who at various points lived in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, both of which prohibited slavery. In 1853, Scott sued his then-owner John Sanford for his freedom. The Supreme Court ruled that no African-American — slave or free — was a citizen of the United States, and that therefore Scott lacked standing to initiate a lawsuit in the first place. In addition, the Court found the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional, holding that Congress lacked authority to prohibit slavery in any new territory that was not originally part of the United States.

Muller v. Oregon (David Brewer, Melville Fuller, 9-0, 1908)

_______ laundry owner Curt _______ was fined for violating an Oregon law that limited the working hours of female employees; he appealed, claiming the law was an unconstitutional restriction of freedom of contract. Arguing on behalf of Oregon, future Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis invoked scientific evidence to support the notion that excessive working hours were deleterious to a woman's health. Oregon's statute was upheld on the grounds that the state had a compelling interest in protecting the health of its female workers. One side effect of the decision was the judicial justification of sex discrimination in legislation.

Loving v. Virginia (Earl Warren, 9-0, 1967)

________'s Racial Integrity Act of 1924 was an anti-miscegenation law that criminalized marriages between whites and non-whites. In 1958, Virginia residents Richard Loving (a white man) and Mildred Jeter (a woman of both African-American and Native American heritage) were married in Washington, D.C., which did not have such a statute. After returning to their Virginia home, they were arrested and convicted under the Racial Integrity Act. Striking down that Act as violating both the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, Chief Justice Warren wrote that "the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State."

The Anti-Masonic Party (established 1828)

became America's first third party by riding the tide of _________ sentiment following the 1826 disappearance of Freemason whistleblower William Morgan. For the 1832 election, the _______________ selected William Wirt in the first presidential nominating convention in United States history. Running against eventual winner Andrew Jackson, a Democrat seeking re-election, and Henry Clay, a National Republican, Wirt managed to receive 8% of the popular vote and 7 electoral votes from Vermont. Vermont and Pennsylvania both elected ___________ as governors, and Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont and other states all sent _______________ to the U.S. House of Representatives.

The States' Rights Democratic Party (established 1948),

better known as the Dixiecrat Party, was founded by Southern Democrats to oppose President Truman's re-election bid, in response to his actions advancing civil rights. When Truman was nominated by the Democrats in 1948, members from the South stormed out of the convention, creating a further divide within the party. With South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond as its candidate, the Dixiecrats — while receiving the same amount of votes as Henry Wallace — won 39 electoral votes from four southern states. Though it was a temporary split, the issue of civil rights did not disappear.

The American Party (established 1843),

better known as the Know-Nothing Party, formed from the anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant nativism of early America. Secret societies like the Order of the Star Spangled Banner had been sprouting up since the 1840s, but the Know-Nothing Party was not a unified entity until the 1854 elections, when it won 52 of the 234 seats in the House, including the position of Speaker of the House. The 1856 presidential election was the first one for both the ______________ behind Millard Fillmore and the Republican Party behind John C. Frémont. Fillmore received 22% of the popular vote but only eight electoral votes from Maryland; Frémont won eleven states with 33% of the popular vote. Strong Southern support, however, allowed Democrat James Buchanan an easy win.

The People's Party (established 1891),

better known as the Populist Party, had its roots in the same farmer-labor partnership that created the Greenback Party (established 1874). Opposed to the elites of the banking and railroad industries, the Populist movement promised agrarian and labor reform. Its first presidential candidate, James B. Weaver, captured 22 electoral votes from six western states with 8.5% of the vote in 1892, as Democrat Grover Cleveland won his rematch against Republican Benjamin Harrison. Also in the West, multiple Populist governors, senators, and representatives held power throughout the decade. The Populists nominated the same presidential candidate as the Democrats in 1896, William Jennings Bryan, because of his stance on a silver bi-metal currency, though the Populist vice-presidential candidate — party leader Thomas E. Watson — differed from the Democratic candidate. Bryan's failure to defeat Republican William McKinley spelled the decline of the People's Party.

Former Vice President Henry Wallace's Progressive Party (established 1948)

formed out of Wallace's disagreements with his replacement as FDR's vice president, incumbent Harry S. Truman, who had fired Wallace from his position as Secretary of Commerce. In addition to promoting leftist reforms, Wallace also wanted cooperation with the Soviet Union, though his association with the Soviets and Communism hurt his popularity. In spite of this, he still won 2.4% of the vote with well over a million votes in a contentious election that Truman barely won over Thomas Dewey.

Henry Kissinger (served 1973-1977 under Presidents Nixon and Ford)

held the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks that resulted in SALT I with the Soviet Union and pursued the "détente" policy to de-escalate the Cold War. He was instrumental in opening relations with China in 1972. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for the negotiation of Paris Peace Accords and ceasefires that ended the Vietnam War. Kissinger used "shuttle diplomacy" to settle the Yom Kippur War among Egypt, Syria, and Israel.

Henry Clay (served 1825-1829 under President John Quincy Adams)

helped negotiate the "corrupt bargain" that led to John Quincy Adams winning the House vote that decided the presidency in 1824 and led to his appointment as Secretary of State. While Clay served in that post, his slave, Charlotte Dupuy, sued for her freedom in a move that foreshadowed the Dred Scott case. He lost presidential elections as a Whig candidate three times prior to his involvement in the Compromise of 1850.

Hillary Clinton (served 2009-2013 under President Obama)

is a former Senator from New York and the wife of former president William Jefferson Clinton. President Clinton appointed Hillary as the face of the failed 1993 health care bill. She also sought the Democratic nomination for President in 2008, losing to eventual President Barack Obama. During her term, she presented a "reset button" to Russia and accepted formal responsibility for failures in consulate security that led to death of Ambassador Christopher Stephens in Benghazi.

The Communist Party of the United States of America (established 1919)

is notable mainly for attempts to outlaw it, such as the 1940 Smith Act which criminalized organizations advocating the violent overthrow of the government, the Communist Control Act of 1954, and the inquiries of the House Un-American Activities Committee and Senators Richard Nixon and Joseph McCarthy. Though the 1951 Supreme Court case Dennis v. U.S. ruled that there is no First-Amendment right to advocate the overthrow of the government, general concerns about freedom of speech and overreach in investigations of Communists put an end to prosecutions of individuals solely for belonging to the Communist Party by the early 1960s. The CPUSA ran Gus Hall for President four times, but was never a significant force at the ballot box. In 1995, a cache of Soviet documents known as VENONA was published, revealing that the CPUSA was controlled by Moscow. Like the Socialist Party, the CPUSA has splintered into several similarly named successor organizations.

The Socialist Party (established 1901)

is usually associated with Eugene V. Debs, the face of the American socialist movement at its peak. He ran for president five times from 1900 to 1920, and managed to increase his vote counts with each successive campaign. He attracted over 900,000 votes twice: in 1912 with 6% of the vote, almost making it a four-way race, and in 1920, when Debs famously ran his campaign while imprisoned. Starting in 1928, his successor, Norman Thomas, ran for president six consecutive times, though the party was not quite able to replicate Debs's success.

John Hay (served 1898-1905 under Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt)

negotiated the 1898 Treaty of Paris that ended the Spanish-American War and established the "open door policy" with China. He also served as Lincoln's personal secretary while working as a clerk in the Interior Department. He negotiated the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty that established the Panama Canal Zone in 1903.

Daniel Webster (served 1841-1843 under Presidents Harrison and Tyler, then again from 1850-1852 under President Fillmore)

negotiated the Webster-Ashburton treaty that defined the border between Maine and New Brunswick (the Eastern border) and left his post in 1843 under pressure from Whigs, who had resigned in protest from Tyler's cabinet over the issue of the national bank. In his second term, he upheld the Compromise of 1850, which cost him popularity with his fellow New Englanders.

The Green Party (established 1991)

never attracted as large of a share of the vote as the other third parties, but the ticket of Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke pulled 2.7% of the popular vote in the infamous 2000 presidential election, possibly influencing Republican George W. Bush's extremely narrow victory over Democrat Al Gore, the winner of the popular vote. The Green Party continues to nominate candidates for presidential elections, and cites ecological sustainability, social justice, and fair democracy among its goals.

John Kerry (served 2014-2016 under President Obama)

served as a senator from Massachusetts — spending the majority of his time as the junior senator to Ted Kennedy — and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He received the Democratic Party nomination for President in 2004, but lost the general election to George W. Bush. His major foreign policy involvement was in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

William H. Seward (served 1861-1869 under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson)

wanted to resign prior to Lincoln's inauguration, but the request was denied. Prior to the purchase of Alaska ("Seward's Folly"), he helped set the conditions that ended the Atlantic slave trade in the Lyons-Seward treaty between the U.S. and U.K. He survived an assassination attempt the night Lincoln was shot. The purchase of Alaska was completed on March 30, 1867 for close to two cents an acre from Russia.

The American Independent Party (established 1967)

was a sort of spiritual successor to the Dixiecrats from two decades before. In an effort to combat the desegregation being pushed by a pro-civil rights federal government, George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama, ran for president on the ticket of the AIP, led by Bill and Eileen Shearer. Running on a platform of segregation once again proved appealing to the South, as Wallace won 46 electoral votes from five states, and 13% of the vote with nearly ten million votes. Many Wallace supporters, including the organizers of the AIP, later joined the U.S. Taxpayers Party, which was renamed the Constitution Party, and still exists as a small party to the right of the Republicans.

Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr.'s Progressive Party (established 1924)

was created for him to run for president on his own brand of progressive ideals different from those of Roosevelt, his onetime rival. Running on promises resembling those of the earlier Populists, La Follette grabbed 17% of the vote in the 1924 election with thirteen electoral votes from his home state, Wisconsin. He came close to Democrat nominee John W. Davis in votes, but neither could prevent Republican Calvin Coolidge's re-election.

The Free Soil Party (established 1848)

was created through a union of anti-slavery factions from the two major parties, the Barnburner Democrats and Conscience Whigs. Its platform, unlike that of James G. Birney's earlier Liberty Party (established 1840), did not aim to abolish slavery, but rather to cease its expansion. As a result, Free Soilers backed the Wilmot Proviso and opposed the Democratic Party on using popular sovereignty to decide slavery's status. In its first year, 1848, the party ended up with two senators and 14 Representatives in Congress. Free Soil presidential candidate Martin van Buren managed to capture 10% of the popular vote, and his influence may have secured Whig candidate Zachary Taylor's close victory over Democrat Lewis Cass.

The Reform Party (established 1995)

was created to follow up on Ross Perot's 1992 independent campaign for President, in which he won 19% of the popular vote but no electoral votes, making him the most successful alternative candidate by vote count since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. Reform Party members agreed on the need for a balanced budget and changes to the electoral process, and were generally opposed to free trade agreements and immigration. The lack of a unified platform on other issues led to constant infighting over the party's goals and an inability to capitalize on Perot's initial success. Perot ran under the Reform banner again in the 1996 election, taking 8% of the vote. The Reform Party is perhaps best known for candidate Jesse Ventura's surprise victory in the 1998 election for governor of Minnesota. In the 2000 election cycle, a conservative faction led by Pat Buchanan took over the party, leading to the departure of many Perot supporters and effectively ending the party. Ventura left the party midway through his governorship. Buchanan received several disputed votes under the Reform Party line on the infamous 2000 Florida "butterfly ballot."