Historical Highlights: 93 Curious Facts About US Presidents – Part 2

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26First Sumatran Expedition

First Sumatran Expedition

In 1831, an American pepper trading ship was attacked off the Island of Sumatra, where locals killed 3 and plundered the ship. In retaliation, Andrew Jackson sent a warship all the way back to Sumatra to destroy the village the attackers were from.


27. US President Andrew Jackson had been shot so many times people said he "rattled like a bag of marbles."


28. President Andrew Jackson had to leave for a hotel when roughly 20,000 citizens celebrated his inauguration inside the White House. His aides ultimately had to lure the mob outside with washtubs filled with a potent cocktail of orange juice and whiskey.


29. Martin Van Buren, 8th president of the U.S., did not mention his wife of 12 years even once in his 800-page autobiography.


30. Martin Van Buren, the eight president of the United States was the first president to be born a US citizen.


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31Free Soil Party

Free Soil Party

Martin Van Buren left the Democratic party and ran for president in 1848 for the Free Soil Party, an anti-slavery and "True Democratic" party.


32. Martin Van Buren was the only United States president who spoke English as a second language. His first language was Dutch.


33. President Martin Van Buren was intentionally thrown from a carriage to convince him of the need to fund road construction.


34. American President William Henry Harrison delivered his 1 hour 45-minute inaugural address in a snowstorm while wearing neither a hat or coat, promptly contracted pneumonia, and died less than a month later, making his the shortest presidency in history.


35. As an 11-year-old boy, the future president John Tyler led his classmates in hog tying the teacher who whipped them. When asked to punish the boy, John Tyler's father said: "sic semper tyrannis" (thus always to tyrants).


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36Confederate Congress

Confederate Congress

During the U.S. Civil War, former President John Tyler became a Confederate and was elected to serve in the Confederate Congress. He is the only U.S. President to not be mourned officially in Washington D.C. due to his being a Confederate supporter.


37. Senator Daniel Webster turned down two offers to be vice president by William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor because he thought the office was a dead-end position. Both these presidents then died in office.


38. John Tyler, 10th President of the United States, was actually elected by Virginians to the Confederate Congress. When he died he became the only President to be buried under the flag of a foreign nation.


39. John Tyler was the only US president elected to serve two different governments, the Union, and the Confederacy.


40. If the mostly unknown 10th President of the USA-John Tyler, hadn't implemented the Monroe Doctrine, Hawaii would be a British colony today


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41John's last words

John's last words

The last words of John Tyler (10th President) were "I am going. Perhaps it is best."


42. John Tyler the 10th President of the United States has two living grandchildren. He was born in 1790.


43. The last words of President James K. Polk, to his wife, were: "I love you, Sarah. For all eternity, I love you."


44. When US President James K. Polk was 17, he had to undergo surgery to remove urinary stones. As there was no anesthetic in 1812, he was given brandy before the surgery was performed on him while he was fully conscious.


45. Zachary Taylor, the 12th President of the United States, had not voted in an election prior to his own Presidential election.


46Taylor's death

Taylor's death

Zachary Taylor, 12th President Of The United States, died just sixteen months after inauguration from eating raw fruit and iced milk.


47. President James K. Polk is nicknamed by some historians "The least known Consequential President." He promised to serve just one term, and he achieved all of the agenda he set at the beginning of his term.


48. President Millard Fillmore once spent nine months in forced labor after his ship was captured by pirates. After this extended period of captivity, he and the other fisherman recaptured their ship and the pirates were taken to Boston where they were hanged.


49. In 1917, journalist H.L. Mencken published a hoax news article stating bathtubs were popularized in the US by President Millard Fillmore after he had one installed in the White House. Thirty years later, even after he admitted it was false, it was still being reprinted as fact.


50. Franklin D. Pierce, 14th President of the United States, was asked what he would do next as he was leaving office. He replied, "There's nothing left [to do] but get drunk." Twelve years later, he died from cirrhosis of the liver.

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