Top 5 Presidents Term Paper

¶ … top 5 presidents of the U.S.: 1789-1864

This is my list prioritized according to ranking order:

George Washington

Thomas Jefferson

Abraham Lincoln

Theodore Roosevelt

John Adams

I rated them thus according to their particular activity that I considered important.

George Washington

As the dominant politician and military leader and warrior who fought for the new United States despite surmounting odds and little support and as presider over the writing of the Constitution that drafted the new nation, I believe that Washington has founding place as premier president of those years.

He was unanimously elected to be president and managed to hold together his nation in beginning of the first few tottering years keeping them from being involved in the wars raging throughout Europe.

Washington's enduring actions included helping o establish a strong, well-financed national government as well as winning acclaim for America from international nations and suppressing rebellion. He also established the ethos of much or our government, as it is known today, such as the implementation of a cabinet system and the delivering of an inaugural address.

Rating Washington as 1 is a criteria that is shared by most Americans, since he is known as the "Father of this Country" Much of his image has been converted from original military leader into a moral symbol of the new republic, particularly since Washington, time and again, refused to exploit his military reputation for political power (Schwartz, 1983)Get full access
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2. Thomas Jefferson

Education makes the country. Jefferson instituted that free elementary schools were to be provided to all citizens and that a university education, funded by public taxes, would be provided for a select few who would, consequently go on to use their education in order to contribute to the state. The university would not only accommodate a select group of poor students but would also accommodate those who could afford to pay.

Term Paper on Top 5 Presidents Assignment

Jefferson was the positive epitome of the new democratic government in that he endeavored to level differences between rich and poor. Jefferson, creator of the America's constitution that famously promised freedom and equality to all, attempted to destroy anything that stood in the way of that freedom. Opponent of the slaves trade, he also formed the national bank and purchased the vast Louisiana territory from France. It seems to me that his greatest action is standardization and leveling of the American education system, where he enabled the poor to receive the same educational opportunities that the wealthy enjoyed.

3. Abraham Lincoln

Revered as a rag to riches story (although I am skeptical about that), I see Lincoln's importance as lying in the fact that he fought for and introduced the Civil War that attempted to repeal racial differences and injustice that was existent in the country and left to abolishing of the slave trade. Lincoln successfully led his country through military, moral and constitutional crisis; with the country split in two -- one faction battling the other -- he successfully accomplished union at war's end. Finally, he promoted economic and financial modernization and sustained the reputation of the States even whilst it was in the greatest danger -- since the founding of the nation - of faltering.

Lincoln's Gettysberg Address served as enduring symbol of the American nation in its dedication to the principles of equal rights, democracy, and liberty.

Lincoln was a man who was able to win a war and liberate a race. This is no paltry achievement. He has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents (Neely, 1993). My rating… [END OF PREVIEW] . . . READ MORE