Since 1796, the United States has had competitive presidential elections. While some have resulted in relatively little change in America, others have caused significant shifts in culture, economics, and infrastructure. These are often considered to begin new “eras” in American history. From Abraham Lincoln to Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan, some presidential elections have transformed American political culture. These presidents have caused, either through their own efforts or those of associates, significant changes in how America sees itself and gets stuff done. Here is a look at the ten most noteworthy presidential elections in the United States.
1. 1800: Thomas Jefferson & The Peaceful Revolution
Everyone knows that George Washington was America’s first president, with John Adams chosen as his vice president. The new United States Constitution, ratified in 1789, was supposed to guide the fledgling republic through any problems that might arise. But, for better or worse, the Constitution made no mention of political factions or parties. Although Washington had cautioned Americans against forming political parties in his 1796 Farewell Address, the process of forming these parties had already begun. That November, John Adams won America’s first partisan presidential election, fending off Thomas Jefferson.
But what would happen when a challenger won? The presidency going from Washington to Adams meant no change in partisan leadership… but if Adams lost in 1800, the nation would hold its breath. Would Adams willingly relinquish power to someone of a different party? Such a scenario occurred, and Adams voluntarily relinquished power. In the Peaceful Revolution of 1800, Thomas Jefferson became president and guided a transition of power from the Federalists to the Anti-Federalists. The republic remained strong, thus beginning the tradition of such peaceful transfers of power.
2. 1828: Jacksonian Democracy Begins
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Sign up to our Free Weekly NewsletterPolitical power in the early American republic remained largely with elites, who owned property and paid taxes. White men without significant property or tax payments were often denied the right to vote by states, which retained the power of voting qualifications under the Constitution. As states began loosening the requirements to vote in the early 1800s, more political power went to non-elites. Populism emerged as a political philosophy as politicians in the 1820s courted the common man, often criticizing the elites as intentionally trying to limit the power of the average voter.
Andrew Jackson, a hero from the War of 1812, became America’s first populist hero after his loss in the election of 1824. When the US House of Representatives awarded the presidency to John Quincy Adams despite Jackson winning both the popular vote and the most electoral votes, Jackson became a populist martyr. Four years later, he ran again and won the presidency. Thus began the era of Jacksonian Democracy, where Jackson used his mass appeal with common voters to increase his executive power as part of a popular mandate.
3. 1860: Abraham Lincoln Signals End Days of Slavery
In the 1840s and 1850s, the issue of slavery consumed national politics in America. As the republic expanded westward, supporters and opponents of slavery lobbied hard for each new territory to be named either slave or free, respectively. A new political party emerged that was opposed to slavery—the Republican Party—and its first presidential nominee was Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln. Outraged at Lincoln’s opposition to slavery, slave states in the South refused to put him on the ballot in 1860. Despite not being on the ballot in the South, Lincoln won the presidential election.
In response, eleven Southern states seceded from the republic and created the Confederate States of America. The American Civil War raged as Lincoln vowed to hold the nation together. During the war, after the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that began the abolishment of slavery. Although Lincoln was assassinated shortly before the end of the war, his leadership is credited with both maintaining the union and ending slavery. Today, the end of the Civil War is considered a turning point in American history and the beginning of the modern era.
4. 1880: Garfield Leads to Civil Service Reform
Relatively few Americans could name James Garfield as a president. Certainly, his name is not as well known as Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, or Abraham Lincoln. Garfield became president in 1880 after not even seeking the Republican nomination; he was chosen at the National Convention after showing up to nominate a friend!
A scholarly man, Garfield was seen as a compromise candidate whose past as a young Union general during the Civil War was an asset. He won a very narrow victory over the Democratic nominee that November and became the twentieth president.
Tragically, Garfield was assassinated by an irate job-seeker less than one year into his term, which he began by fighting demands to name political allies of a powerful US senator to federal posts. This tragedy led to Congress finally taking up civil service reform. The Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 reduced the amount of nepotism and corruption in the federal government by requiring competitive hiring and promotion for certain jobs. Over time, this has spread to most government jobs at the federal, state, and local levels, with applicants to various government jobs having to meet objective requirements for education, training, and skill.
5. 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt & A New Deal
The stock market crash of 1929 led to the infamous Great Depression. US President Herbert Hoover, a pro-business Republican, tried to aid corporations with government funds but did little to provide direct aid to the unemployed and homeless. By 1932, the situation was dire.
Democratic presidential nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt, governor of New York, promised a “new deal” for the American people and promised direct aid to the struggling. He won the 1932 presidential election in a landslide. Immediately upon taking office the following March, he began enacting his New Deal.
In a new development for American political culture, Roosevelt approved of Keynesian economic principles to stimulate spending. This deficit spending allowed for the development of infrastructure across the United States, which employed thousands of previously jobless citizens. The New Deal was extremely popular, and FDR won re-election in 1936 by another landslide. FDR’s swift actions in implementing his New Deal reforms are often credited with restoring the health and vitality of the United States, and many of those reforms (Social Security, FDIC, the SEC) remain law today to protect economic security.
6. 1940: FDR Secretly Plans to Confront Authoritarianism
FDR was tremendously popular going into 1940. World War II had erupted in Europe the previous September, and Japan had been waging war against China since the late 1930s. Many Americans, still able to vividly recall the horrors of World War I, did not want to get involved in another overseas conflict. Breaking with the historic tradition of presidents serving only two terms, set by George Washington himself, FDR announced that he would be seeking a third term. Allegedly, FDR felt that he needed to win a third term to prepare America—largely in secret—to confront Germany and Japan in the growing wars.
At the time, many Republicans were isolationists who wanted to avoid international political entanglements. FDR, however, went in the opposite direction and began setting the stage for war preparation, including the institution of America’s first peacetime draft in 1940. Months later, the Lend-Lease Act of 1941 allowed the United States to give weapons and equipment to Allied nations. Therefore, when Japan did strike America at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States was not unprepared. FDR guided America through the war and set the stage for its robust international leadership in the post-war era.
7. 1960: Kennedy & Civil Rights
In 1960, America was enjoying peace and prosperity after the Khrushchev Thaw in relations with the Soviet Union and the economic boom of the 1950s. Unfortunately, not all Americans shared equally in this prosperity. There was still rampant sexism, racism, and segregation, especially in the South. Although the Civil Rights Movement had begun in 1948 with President Harry S. Truman’s executive orders integrating the military and the federal government, progress in American society itself had been slow. What was needed were federal laws that applied to all states, including those in the South.
Young President John F. Kennedy pledged to make this legislation happen. During 1963, Kennedy worked to push civil rights legislation through Congress. Tragically, Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, prior to these bills being passed. In honor of Kennedy, supportive legislators worked hard to push through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was also championed by Kennedy’s former vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson. Thus, although Johnson is often associated with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, much credit goes to JFK for starting the groundbreaking law.
8. 1980: The Reagan Revolution & Conservative Resurgence
In 1980, America was in an economic and cultural funk following the Vietnam War, the OPEC oil embargo and resulting stagflation, and the Nixon Watergate scandal. Many voters felt that America had lost its vigor. In the past year, two foreign policy crises had made incumbent Democratic president Jimmy Carter appear weak: the Iran Hostage Crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The 1980 presidential election saw a media-savvy challenger, Republican nominee Ronald Reagan, motivate and inspire voters by promising to renew America’s strength.
The Reagan Revolution saw the former California governor unite various conservative groups into a powerful coalition known as the New Right. Along with traditional pro-business Republicans, the New Right included Christian evangelicals, proponents of states’ rights, and pro-military defense hawks. Reagan won the 1980 election and successfully reinvigorated the US economy by simultaneously cutting taxes and boosting defense spending. Using his skills as a former Hollywood actor, Reagan also inspired millions of Americans with positive messaging.
9. 2008: Barack Obama & America’s First POC President
The success of the Reagan era in improving the US economy heralded a lengthy period of moderacy in American politics. In 2008, however, a deep economic recession erupted following the housing market crash of 2007. Amid this fiscal turmoil, partisan divides began growing again. Many liberals wanted America to move forward in terms of liberal and progressive values, blaming conservative deregulation and low taxation for triggering the recession and increasing income inequality. The 2008 Democratic presidential primaries saw two historic firsts: a top-tier female candidate named Hillary Clinton and a top-tier Black candidate named Barack Obama.
Obama won the primaries after a lengthy competition and went on to win the 2008 presidential election, becoming the first POC president in American history. In his first year in office, Obama pushed hard for health care reform under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), colloquially known as Obamacare. This became law and revolutionized health insurance in the United States. It also set the stage for further political proposals over single-payer healthcare, such as the Medicare For All (M4A) proposal by US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
10. 2016: Populism Returns With Trumpism
In 2016, a shocking upset saw a billionaire real estate mogul and former reality TV star defeat a poised political insider for the presidency. Although the US economy had recovered from the Great Recession during President Barack Obama’s two terms, many Americans were still frustrated with growing income inequality and struggling real wages (income compared to inflation).
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump promised voters that he could improve the economy using his business acumen and negotiating skills with foreign trade partners. Pundits almost universally predicted that Trump would lose handily to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, but Trump won a surprise victory in the Electoral College instead.
As president, Trump cut taxes and enjoyed promised economic growth. Controversially, however, the tax cuts for middle-income earners were temporary and saw a massive increase in the national debt. This was very similar to the situation under the Reagan tax cuts of the early 1980s. In 2020, the Covid pandemic caused a brief but intense economic recession, helping Democratic challenger Joe Biden—vice president under Barack Obama—win the presidential election that November. Breaking with tradition set in 1800, Trump refused to acknowledge the results of the election and declared it fraudulent, allegedly provoking the January 6, 2021 protests that led to the storming of the US Capitol building.
