British Monarchs

British Monarchs

1. 
   Henry VIII (1491-1547, r. 1509-1547) House of Tudor. The son of Tudor founder Henry VII, he brought England into both the Renaissance and the Reformation. Henry patronized the philosopher Erasmus, the painter Hans Holbein the Younger, and the writer Thomas More. Originally a supporter of the Catholic Church--the Pope had named him "Defender of the Faith"--he named himself head of the Church of England in 1533 so that he could divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. Henry executed top ministers who crossed him, including Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More. He married six times, but only his third wife, Jane Seymour, bore him a son, the sickly Edward VI.A
   
2. 
   Elizabeth I (1533-1603, r. 1558-1603) House of Tudor. Known as the "Virgin Queen" because she never married, as Henry VIII's daughter by Anne Boleyn, the Catholic Church considered her illegitimate. After the death of her Catholic sister Mary I, Elizabeth I tried to restore religious order by declaring England a Protestant state but naming herself only "Governor" of the Church. She foiled attempts at her throne by Spanish king Philip II and Mary, Queen of Scots; the latter Elizabeth reluctantly executed in 1587. Her reign saw great expansion of the English navy and the emergence of William Shakespeare, but when she died, the Crown went to Scottish king James VI, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.
   
3. 
   George III (1738-1820, r. 1760-1820) House of Hanover. Though he lost the American colonies in the Revolutionary War, Britain's economic empire expanded during his reign. While George's ministers kept their lives, they fell from power frequently, including both William Pitts, Lord Bute, and Lord North. Popular at home, he suffered from porphyria, causing the "madness" that ultimately led to the Regency period (1811-1820) of his son George IV.
   
4. 
   (Alexandrina) Victoria (1819-1901, r. 1837-1901; Empress of India 1876-1901) House of Hanover. The longest-reigning monarch in British history, she relinquished much of the remaining royal power, both to her husband Albert and to her favored prime ministers, Lord Melbourne, Robert Peel, and Benjamin Disraeli. After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria largely went into seclusion, though she influenced the passage of the Reform Act of 1867, which doubled the number of Britons who could vote.
   
5. 
   William I (the Conqueror) (1028-1087, r. 1066-1087) House of Normandy. Duke of Normandy from 1035, he was promised succession to the throne by Edward the Confessor, but when Edward gave the throne to Harold II in 1066, William invaded England, killing Harold and defeating the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Hastings. An able administrator, he authorized a survey of his kingdom in the 1086 Domesday Book. By that time William had replaced Anglo-Saxon nobles and clergy with Normans and other continentals.
   
6. 
   Charles I (1600-1649, r. 1625-1649) House of Stuart. The last absolute English monarch, Charles ran into trouble almost immediately. His minister, the Duke of Buckingham, asked Parliament for money to fight costly foreign wars, and when Parliament balked, Charles had to sign the Petition of Right. From 1630 to 1641 he tried to rule solo, but financial troubles forced him to call the Short and Long Parliaments. His attempt to reform the Scottish Church was the last straw, as Parliament entered into the English Civil War. They defeated Charles, convicting him of treason and executing him. England became a Commonwealth with Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector.
   
7. 
   James I (1566-1625, r. 1603-1625) House of Stuart. At age one James succeeded his mother Mary as King James VI of Scotland. As the great-great-grandson of Henry VII, he claimed the English throne upon the death of Elizabeth I. James was the intended target of Catholic fanatic Guy Fawkes' failed Gunpowder Plot in 1605. A believer in absolutism, James dissolved Parliament from 1611 to 1621, favoring ministers Robert Cecil and the Duke of Buckingham instead. His rule saw English expansion into North America, through royal charter in Virginia and Puritan protest in Massachusetts.
   
8. 
   Richard III (1452-1485, r. 1483-1485) House of York. He was made Duke of Gloucester in 1461 when his brother Edward IV deposed the Lancastrian king Henry VI, as part of the Wars of the Roses. Upon Edward's death in 1483, Richard served as regent to his nephew Edward V, but likely had the boy murdered in the Tower of London that year. Two years later, Richard died at the hands of Henry Tudor's Lancastrian forces at Bosworth Field, ending the Wars of the Roses and beginning the reign of Henry VII.
   
9. 
   Elizabeth II (1926-present, r. 1952-present) House of Windsor. Representative of the modern ceremonial monarchy, she and her husband "Prince" Philip Mountbatten have traveled the globe representing British interests. Marital failures by her sons Charles (the Prince of Wales) and Andrew have plagued her reign.
   
10. 
    John Lackland (1167-1216, r. 1199-1216) House of Plantagenet. Though he tried to seize the crown from his brother Richard while the latter was in Germany, Richard forgave John and made him his successor. Excommunicated by the Pope for four years for refusing to accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, John was also weak as a fighter, as French King Philip II routed him at Bouvines in 1214. A year later, England's barons forced John to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede, an event that marked the beginning of the development of the British constitution.
    
11. 
    Charles II (1630-1685; r. 1660-1685) House of Stuart. While Cromwell ruled the Commonwealth, Charles was crowned King of Scotland in 1651. After Cromwell died, Charles used the Declaration of Breda to restore himself to the English throne. He fought two lackluster wars against the Dutch, and needed protection from Louis XIV through the Treaty of Dover. His wife Catherine of Braganza produced no legitimate heirs, but this "Merry Monarch" has as many as 14 illegitimate children. Tolerant of Catholics, he dissolved Parliament over the issue in 1681 and refused to prevent his brother James from succeeding him.
    
12. 
    James II (1633-1701; r. 1685-1688) House of Stuart. The 1678 Popish Plot against Charles II would have elevated the Roman Catholic James to the throne, had it been real and not fabricated by Titus Oates. James's three years, however, did feature heavy favoritism toward Catholics, so much so that Protestants invited James's son-in-law William of Orange to rule England, deposing James in the bloodless Glorious Revolution. Exiled to Louis XIV's court, he made an attempt to regain his crown in 1690 but was routed at the Battle of the Boyne.
    
13. 
    Henry II (1133-1189; r. 1154-1189) House of Plantagenet. The son of Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda, he married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, and invaded England the following year, forcing Stephen of Blois to acknowledge Henry as his heir. While king he developed the common law and due process, but fought with Thomas (à) Becket over submission to the Pope; Henry had Becket executed in 1170 but performed penance at Canterbury. Eleanor and his four sons conspired with French king Philip II against Henry on several occasions.
    
14. 
    Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) (1157-1199; r. 1189-1199) House of Plantagenet. Third son of Henry II, he spent only five months of his reign in England. He went on the Third Crusade to Jerusalem, winning many victories in the Holy Land, but on his way back was captured and ransomed by Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI. He also fought Philip II in Normandy, and died while defending his possessions in Aquitaine.
    
15. 
    Alfred the Great (849-899; r. 871-899) Saxon House. Actually just the King of Wessex in southwestern England, he expelled the rival Danes from the Mercian town of London in 886, eventually conquering most of the Danelaw territory. Alfred also kept England from the worst of the Dark Ages by encouraging his bishops to foster literacy; in addition, he translated Boethius, Augustine, and the Venerable Bede's works into Anglo-Saxon.
    

USA Presidents

President	Party	Term	Important Wars or Events
George Washington	Federalist	1789-1797	First President
John Adams	Federalist	1797-1801	XYZ Affair, quasi-war with France
Thomas Jefferson	Democratic-Republican	1801-1809	Louisiana Purchase
James Madison	Democratic-Republican	1809-1817	War of 1812
James Monroe	Democratic-Republican	1817-1829	Missouri Compromise
John Quincy Adams	Democratic-Republican	1825-1829	Tariff of Abominations
Andrew Jackson	Democrat	1829-1837	Indian Removal Act
Martin van Buren	Democrat	1837-1841	Aroostook War
William H. Harrison	Whig	1841	Died one month after inauguration
John Tyler	Whig	1841-1845	Texas Annexation
James K. Polk	Democrat	1845-1849	Mexican-American War
Zachary Taylor	Whig	1849-1850	Died of Cholera Morbus
Millard Fillmore	Whig	1850-1853	Fugitive Slave Act
Franklin Pierce	Democrat	1853-1857	"Bleeding Kansas"
James Buchanan	Democrat	1857-1861	Dred Scott Decision; John Brown's Raid
Abraham Lincoln	Republican	1861-1865	Civil War; Emancipation Proclamation
Andrew Johnson	Republican	1865-1869	Vetoed lots of Reconstruction Acts
Ulysses S. Grant	Republican	1869-1877	Transcontinental Railroad, Battle of Little Big Horn
Rutherford Hayes	Republican	1877-1881	Army Appropriations Bill
James Garfield	Republican	1881	The Treaty of Washington
Chester Arthur	Republican	1881-1885	Washington Monument Dedicated
Grover Cleveland	Democrat	1885-1889	Presidential Succession Act
Benjamin Harrison	Republican	1889-1893	Pan-American Conference
Grover Cleveland	Democrat	1893-1897	Served two non-consecutive terms
William McKinley	Republican	1897-1901	Spanish-American War
Theodore Roosevelt	Republican	1901-1909	Panama Canal
William Taft	Republican	1909-1913	Sixteenth Amendment ratified
Woodrow Wilson	Democrat	1913-1921	World War I
Warren Harding	Republican	1921-1923	Teapot Dome Scandal, Charles Forbes Scandal
Calvin Coolidge	Republican	1923-1929	Sacco-Vanzetti; Kellogg-Briand Pact
Herbert Hoover	Republican	1929-1933	Great Depression
Franklin D. Roosevelt	Democrat	1933-1945	New Deal, World War II
Harry S. Truman	Democrat	1945-1953	Atomic bombs dropped; Cold War begins
Dwight D. Eisenhower	Republican	1953-1961	Rosenbergs executed; Geneva Convention
John F. Kennedy	Democrat	1961-1963	Bay of Pigs; Cuban Missile Crisis
Lyndon Johnson	Democrat	1963-1969	Civil Rights Act; Gulf of Tonkin- Vietnam
Richard Nixon	Republican	1969-1974	Watergate Scandal
Gerald Ford	Republican	1974-1977	Pulls final troops out of Vietnam
Jimmy Carter	Democrat	1977-1981	Camp David Accords
Ronald Reagan	Republican	1981-1989	Cold War ends; Iran-Contra Scandal
George H. W. Bush	Republican	1989-1993	Exxon Valdez Oil Spill; Persian Gulf War
Bill Clinton	Democrat	1993-2001	Battle of Mogadishu; NAFTA
George W. Bush	Republican	2001-2009	9/11; Operation Enduring Freedom
Barack Obama	Democrat	2009-	Current President

http://millercenter.org/president/obama/key-events

Heads of Government

Argentina	Cristina Kirchner
Australia	Kevin Rudd
Canada	Stephen Harper
China	Hu Jintao
Colombia	Alvaro Uribe
Cuba	Raul Castro
Czech Republic	Vaclav Klaus
Egypt	Husni Mubarak
France	Nicolas Sarkozy
Georgia	Mikheil Saakashvili
India	Manmohan Singh
Iran	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Iraq	Al-Maliki
Ireland	Mary McAleese
Isreal	Simon Peres / Benjamin Netanyahu
Italy	Silvio Berlusconi
Japan	Fakudo resigned, Foreign Minister Taro Aso predicted to become PM
Libya	Gadafi
Mexico	Felipe Calderon
North Korea	Kim Jong Il
Pakistan	Asif Ail Zardari
Philippines	Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Russia	Dmitry Medvedev
Saudi Arabia	King Abdullah
South Africa	Jacob Juma
South Korea	Lee-Muyng Bak
Spain	PM-Zapatero
Sudan	al-Bashir
Syria	al=Assad
United Kingdom	Gordon Brown
Zimbabwe	Mugabe-Tsvangirai
Palestine	Hamas-Mashal, PIO-Abbas
Jordan	King Abudullah II
Brazil	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Amendments

Amendment #1- Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition

Amendment #2-Right to bear arms

Amendment #3-No one may be forced to house soldiers

Amendment #4-Protects against unreasonable search and seizure

Amendment #5-Rights of the criminally accused (indictment by grand jury, no double jeopardy,

no self-incrimination, due process of the law, eminent domain)

Amendment #6-Rights to a speedy trial by jury (speedy trial, impartial jury, informed of charges, right to an attorney)

Amendment #7-Rights to a jury trial in civil cases, more than $20-people sue over money/property

Amendment #8-No excessive bail, no cruel and unusual punishment

Amendment #9-People have other basic rights not listed in Constitution

Amendment #10-All powers not given to the federal government are left for the states to take

care of/decide

Amendment #11-Federal courts do not have jurisdiction in cases against a state

Amendment #12-Provides for separate elections for president and vice president

Amendment #13-Abolishes slavery

Amendment #14-Provides equality for all citizens; state governments must follow previously passed amendments

Amendment #15-All males have the right to vote

Amendment #16-Congress has the power to pass direct taxes, such as income tax

Amendment #17-Senators are to be elected by the voters in their state; governor fills state senator positions if position opens during a term

Amendment #18-Selling and drinking of alcoholic beverages is made illegal

Amendment #19-Gives women the right to vote

Amendment #20-Beginning of President, VP and Congress terms in office begins in January; presidential succession can take place before Presidential inauguration

Amendment #21-Selling and drinking of alcoholic beverages is made legal

Amendment #22-Presidents may serve no more than 2 terms or a total of 10 years

Amendment #23-District of Columbia is allowed presidential Electoral College votes

Amendment #24-Eliminates poll tax

Amendment #25-Provides for presidential succession and filling a vacant office of vice president,

if VP dies or his removed from office

Amendment #26-Lowers voting age from 21 to 18

Amendment #27-Congressional compensation increases may not take effect until after that congressional term is over