Curated playlist
19th-century United States representatives
- Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln is the only U.S. president to hold a patent. In 1849 he patented a way to lift riverboats.
- William McKinleyWilliam McKinley won the presidency in 1896 campaigning from his front porch. Crowds came by train to Canton, Ohio.
- Rutherford B. HayesRutherford B. Hayes won the presidency by one electoral vote, 185 to 184.
- James A. GarfieldJames A. Garfield won his party's nomination after arriving to nominate someone else.
- Andrew JohnsonAndrew Johnson kept his presidency by a single Senate vote in May 1868. The Senate fell one vote short of removing him.
- James BuchananPresident James Buchanan learned the Dred Scott ruling before the public did. A Supreme Court justice leaked it to him.
- Joseph E. JohnstonJoseph E. Johnston stood bareheaded in the rain at his old enemy's funeral. He died of pneumonia a month later.
- Jefferson DavisWhy was Confederate president Jefferson Davis never tried for treason? Prosecutors feared an acquittal.
- Horace GreeleyHorace Greeley could not breathe for the first twenty minutes of his life. He later founded the New-York Tribune.
- Benjamin ButlerGeneral Benjamin Butler kept three escaped slaves as contraband of war. Lincoln's Cabinet backed him.
- Howell CobbFor two days in July 1850, Speaker Howell Cobb was next in line for president but was too young.
- Nathaniel P. BanksA former mill bobbin boy became Speaker of the U.S. House. Nathaniel P. Banks won on the 133rd ballot in 1856.
- John C. BreckinridgeVice President John C. Breckinridge announced Lincoln's 1860 win, a race he had lost. The Senate later expelled him.
- Sterling PriceSterling Price invaded Chihuahua after the Mexican-American War had already ended. The press still praised him.
- William RosecransGeneral William Rosecrans lost his command after one badly worded order at Chickamauga.