Jackson's presidency marked a new era in Indian-Anglo American relations initiating a policy of Indian removal. On May 26, 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which relocated most members of the Native American tribes in the South to Indian Territory in order to allow white settlement of their ancestral lands. Although many tribes resisted, they were forcibly removed by the United States government in a march to the west that later became known as the Trail of Tears. This legislation has been referred to as an act of genocide as the relocated peoples suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their newly-designated reserve, and approximately 4,000 died before reaching their destinations or shortly after from disease.

In 1876, Hayes lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, but won an intensely disputed electoral-college vote after a Congressional commission awarded him 20 contested electoral votes. In the Compromise of 1877, Democrats acquiesced to Hayes' election on the condition that he withdraw remaining U.S. troops protecting Republican officeholders in the South, thus officially ending the Reconstruction era.

Alexander Graham Bell tried to locate the bullet with a primitive metal detector. He was not successful, although the invention did manage to detect the metal in the president's mattress.

Barack Obama wasn't the first president to face accusations that he wasn't a natural-born citizen. When Arthur was nominated for vice president in 1880, a New York attorney and political opponent, Arthur P. Hinman, suggested that Arthur was born in Ireland and did not come to the United States until he was fourteen years old. When Hinman's original story didn't take root, he spread another rumor that Arthur had been born in Canada. This claim, too, failed to gain credence.

He was the first, and only, president elected under the banner of the Federalist Party, which called for a strong national government that promoted economic growth and fostered friendly relationships with Great Britain in opposition to Revolutionary France.

Grant began his life as Hiram Ulysses Grant. When he was accepted to military school, the Congressman who approved the appointment mistakenly identified him as Ulysses S. Grant on the official papers. After a mild protest by Grant upon his arrival at West Point, an Army colonel responded in no uncertain terms that Grant would remain Ulysses S. Grant as far as the Army was concerned, and that was that. The "S" in Grant's name stands for nothing.

Harrison was a gifted public speaker, but he hated small-talk. He developed a stiff and formal personality as president and was so cold on a personal level that his own staff privately referred to him as "the human iceberg."

Under his leadership, the Rough Riders became famous for their charge up Kettle Hill on July 1, 1898. Diversity characterized the regiment, which included Ivy Leaguers, professional and amateur athletes, upscale gentlemen, cowboys, frontiersmen, Native Americans, hunters, miners, prospectors, former soldiers, tradesmen, and sheriffs.

The stock market crashed shortly after Hoover took office, and the Great Depression became the central issue of his presidency. Hoover pursued a variety of policies in an attempt to lift the economy, but he failed to recognize the severity of the crisis, believing it would only be a short recession similar to the Depression of 1920-21. As a result, he opposed directly involving the federal government in relief efforts, allowing the crisis to worsen. Hundreds of thousands of Americans found themselves homeless, and began congregating in shanty towns--dubbed "Hoovervilles"--that began to appear across the country.

In his farewell address to the nation, Eisenhower expressed concern about the dangers of massive military spending, particularly deficit spending and government contracts to private military manufacturers, which he dubbed "the military-industrial complex". His administration also coined the term "executive privilege", although he was not the first to invoke its principle.