Meet Our Country’s Leaders With Presidents’ Day Activities
As an election year, 2024 put our country’s presidents in the spotlight. Students may be familiar with former President Joe Biden and current President Donald Trump, but how much do they know about other leaders in our country’s history, like James Monroe, James Polk, and Woodrow Wilson? Introduce them to our country’s former and current leaders with Presidents’ Day activities that span five decades.
George Washington (1789-1797) to John Tyler (1841-1845)
Students can learn more about our first 10 presidents through their speeches, documents, and letters and test their knowledge of these leaders’ beliefs and policies.
George Washington’s first inaugural address
On April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath of office to become the first president of the United States. Surprisingly, he took the role reluctantly. Students can read his first inaugural address and his response to taking on this new position.
George Washington’s farewell address
In 1796, President George Washington chose not to seek reelection for a third term. He wrote a farewell letter to the American people to explain why. Washington’s choice to serve just two terms set a precedent for the future of the office, which later became a law.
Jefferson’s message on the Lewis and Clark expedition
On January 18, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent a secret message to Congress to ask for $2,500 to explore the land west of the Mississippi River, which at the time didn’t belong to the United States. Congress agreed to fund the expedition, which became the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The Monroe Doctrine
President James Monroe’s seventh annual message to Congress became known as the Monroe Doctrine. It set America’s policy of holding influence over the continents of the Americas and warned European powers to leave South American countries and territories alone.
Andrew Jackson’s letter to the Cherokee
On December 6, 1830, President Andrew Jackson addressed Congress and defended the Indian Removal Act, which called for the relocation of eastern Indigenous groups to land west of the Mississippi River.
Government officials passed the act to open Indigenous lands for settlement. While that happened, its policies also led to tragic events like the Trail of Tears and made him one of the most controversial U.S. presidents in history.
Andrew Jackson’s message “On Indian Removal”
On March 16, 1835, President Andrew Jackson addressed the Cherokee Tribe east of the Mississippi River and tried to persuade them to accept a proposal that would cause them to move west. They would receive land and provisions for choosing to move.
James K. Polk (1845-1849) to James Garfield (1881)
Introduce students to presidents 11 through 20 and the significant challenges they faced in the mid to late 1800s.
President Polk sparks the gold rush in California
In 1848, President James K. Polk announced that miners discovered gold in California after the United States acquired the territory. This announcement sparked what became known as the California Gold Rush.
Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address
Abraham Lincoln became our nation’s 16th president in 1861. The year before, 11 Southern states broke away from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. Lincoln gave his inaugural address, which touched on this subject, just a month before the Civil War began.
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
In 1862, President Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation. This address declared that all people held as slaves in Southern states were free. While this proclamation didn’t end the Civil War, it did serve as a turning point and eventually led to the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.
Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
In November 1863, President Lincoln delivered a speech at the official dedication ceremony for the National Cemetery of Gettysburg, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. This speech later became known as the Gettysburg Address.
The assassination of Abraham Lincoln
On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth went into Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C., climbed to the box where President Lincoln was watching a play, and shot him from behind. Lincoln later died at a home across the street from the theater, making him the first United States president to be assassinated.
Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885) to Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)
Meet presidents 21 through 30 who saw the country transition from one century to the next.
William McKinley on imperialism
After winning the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States acquired Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico from Spain. Yet the idea of imperialism divided the country. On March 3, 1900, President William McKinley gave a speech on the topic, and many see his presidency as the time when the United States rose as a world power.
Woodrow Wilson’s 14 principles to end WWI
On January 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson delivered a Congressional address that outlined 14 principles to start peace negotiations and end World War I. The 14 points addressed issues like border disputes over territory and economic issues.
New to Formative?
Sign up for Formative for free to create engaging formative and common assessments that get you the data you need!
Herbert Hoover (1928-1933) to Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
Students can learn more about presidents 31 through 40 and how they handled tumultuous world events like wars and fights for justice.
FDR’s fireside chat outlining the New Deal Program
On May 7, 1933, about three months after his inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt held a “fireside chat” over the radio, addressing his plan for recovery during the Great Depression. This plan became known as the New Deal Program, which established public works programs to create jobs and provide financial relief to unemployed Americans.
FDR’s Four Freedoms speech
In January 1941, World War II was in full swing in Europe. Many American lawmakers and citizens held isolationist views after World War I—meaning they didn’t want to get involved in other countries’ problems. At the time, the U.S. wasn’t involved in World War II. President Roosevelt gave a speech urging the nation to move away from isolationism.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor Address
On December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt addressed Congress and the nation about what happened in the Pacific. During this speech, he delivered the often-quoted line, “A date which will live in infamy,” and announced that the U.S. would enter World War II.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union, January 11, 1944
On January 11, 1944, President Roosevelt gave a State of the Union address to the nation. Much of the speech discussed what had happened since the U.S. entered World War II roughly two years earlier.
Truman announces dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima
On August 6, 1945, President Harry S. Truman ordered the U.S. military to drop an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion leveled about 90 percent of the city and killed tens of thousands of people during and after the drop. Hours after it happened, Truman addressed the nation about the events happening overseas, ultimately leading to Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II.
President Harry Truman’s address before the NAACP
On June 29, 1947, President Truman gave a speech at the 38th Annual Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In the speech, he discussed the importance of civil rights and equality for all Americans and emphasized that the government had a duty to protect them.
John F. Kennedy’s “We Choose to Go to the Moon”
On September 12, 1962, President John F. Kennedy visited Rice University in Houston, Texas. He gave a speech that implied that the U.S. had entered the space race and had to land someone on the moon before the Soviet Union.
President Kennedy’s 1963 speech on race
President Kennedy was in office at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. In 1963, he gave a civil rights address to ask Congress to enact landmark civil rights legislation in response to the threats of violence and obstruction on the University of Alabama campus following attempts to desegregate the school.
President Lyndon B. Johnson addresses Congress on JFK’s legacy
On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy became the fourth sitting president to be assassinated. Shortly after, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into office. He delivered a speech following his appointment urging Congress to pass civil rights legislation in Kennedy’s memory.
President Ronald Reagan’s “Tear Down This Wall”
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan visited the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. Since 1961, the gate had split the city in half, separating democratic West Berlin from Soviet-controlled East Berlin.
During this visit, Reagan gave a speech directed at Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, calling for an end to the nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and to reunite Berlin by tearing down the Brandenburg Gate.
George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) to Donald Trump (Present)
Students may be most familiar with presidents number 40 through 47. Let them explore some of the famous speeches and addresses from our most recent leaders, like:
George W. Bush’s 9/11 Address to the Nation
On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered the worst terror attack on its soil in the country’s history. Four hijacked planes crashed into New York City’s World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in central Pennsylvania. This coordinated attack launched a war in Afghanistan that continued for more than a decade.
On the evening of 9/11, President George W. Bush addressed the nation to explain what happened and share the government’s response to the events.
Barack Obama’s election night victory speech
In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Black president-elect of the United States. In his election night victory speech, Obama paid tribute to civil rights activists and everyday Americans who made the groundbreaking election possible.
President-elect Joe Biden’s victory speech
President-elect Joe Biden gave a speech on the night of his 2020 election victory. He previously served as President Obama’s vice president from 2008 to 2016 before running for election in 2020.
What else will you teach and assess with Formative?
The Formative Library isn’t just for holiday content! It has a variety of pre-made activities developed by our curriculum experts and educators like you. You can use these templates as-is or customize them to fit your instructional needs.
Use the library’s sort filters to browse content by subject and grade level to find what you want. If you don’t see a template that matches your instructional needs, create your own!
Log into your Formative account and choose how to customize your lessons or practice sets. You can create new slides with various multimedia, including audio and video. You can also import content from Google, enhance a PDF or existing document, or import any .CSV or .TSV file to create a practice set.
Don’t have a Formative account yet? Sign up for Formative Free today and start creating activities for Presidents’ Day and beyond!