As early as 1795, Americans regarded George Washington as the Patriae pater (father of his country). The ornate title recognized the critical role that he had in the creation of the American Republic as well as the weight of his responsibilities as the first president of the United States. Washington not only established the legitimacy of the new government but also set precedents for the scope of presidential power, including the tradition of leaving office after two terms.

Following Washington’s tenure, separate political parties emerged: the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party. State representatives—who embodied diverse regional and economic interests—viewed the duties of government through different lenses, and political rivalries among them grew fierce as they debated the reach and limits of federal power. After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, westward expansion was inevitable, and organizing this territory into new states dominated nineteenth-century American politics. Foremost in the political situation was the crucial issue that the Founders recognized but failed to solve: the coexistence of democracy with slavery.

The Jacksonian era is characterized by a burgeoning democracy that coincided with the growth of production and trade, and Andrew Jackson personified the raw energy of the nation during western expansion. By extending the electorate to include all white men—not just land-owners—Jackson sought to empower “the ordinary American.” His emphasis on individualism remains a hallmark of American society, but his legacy has been smeared by his decision to remove Native Americans from their tribal lands. The federal policy toward Native Americans that developed under Jackson effectively enacted genocide, and it has dimmed his reputation as the “people’s president.”

In the late 1840s, against the backdrop of a dramatic population increase and mounting questions of citizenship rights for African Americans, Native Americans, and women, a wave of reform movements arose, setting the stage for intense partisan clashes.

By the 1850s, slavery had become a moral and political issue that divided the nation. Shortly after Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election, South Carolina, followed by ten other Southern states, seceded from the Union in protest of having to free enslaved people. Initially, he used his presidential power in an effort to avoid a crisis, but war proved to be inevitable. As the Civil War advanced beyond anyone’s expectations, Lincoln, who viewed the war as a means of preserving the Union, realized that the unity of the country hinged on freeing slaves and granting civil rights to all citizens.

In Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address of November 1863, he argued for another revolution, one that would bring forth a “new birth of freedom” to restore the Union and reestablish American democracy. But because he was assassinated in April 1865, he could not guide the process of national reconciliation known as Reconstruction. Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor, failed to integrate the four million freed African Americans into society or to structure society in a way that would ensure their civil rights.

Bolstered by waves of immigrants as well as capital wealth from post–Civil War industrialism, by the 1890s, the United States rivaled the great European powers. The rapid development from an agrarian, rural society to an industrialized, urban one, however, created problems that threatened to tear apart the country’s social order. The growth of working-class areas in the cities led to overcrowded slums as well as a permanent underclass. The unsightly expansion also seemed to betray the very promise of the American dream.

Industrialists, frequently through violence, beat back attempts by laborers to organize for workers’ rights. The Panic of 1893 caused devastating hardship across all levels of society, and groups of reform-minded citizens began lobbying for the welfare of the underclass. Theodore Roosevelt, who took office at the turn of the century, used his executive power to instigate social and economic progress. He was a pioneer of modern government whose legacy transcended his years in office. After the United States’ entrance into the First World War in 1917, the economy prospered, and the country experienced lasting social changes—such as those prompted by the nineteenth amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was the first and last president to serve three terms (1933–1945), orchestrated the greatest expansion of executive power in American history. Roosevelt’s implementation of the New Deal—with its many agencies and bureaucracies—sanctioned government intervention in the economic and social crises that stemmed from the Great Depression. When the United States entered the Second World War, in 1941, factories went into high gear, which in turn drove the economy’s recovery.

Harry Truman, who became president following Roosevelt’s death, was the first to lead the country in the postwar era. The presence of the atomic bomb and the ascendance of communist powers brought on the Cold War, which lasted for more than four decades. Wars in Korea and Vietnam demonstrated the lengths to which Truman and his successors felt that communism needed to be contained. Within domestic politics, the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson promoted civil rights legislation. By the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev, leading a much weakened Soviet Union, had begun negotiations with Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush to end the Cold War.

No single figure characterizes the contemporary era, but foreign affairs continue to ask much of American presidents and of the nation they serve. After the attacks of 9/11, George W. Bush waged a global “war on terror” that set aside traditional diplomacy in favor of U.S. military intervention abroad. During this time, the country’s urge to strengthen homeland security has led presidents to introduce new surveillance techniques and anti-terrorism laws that have, in turn, tested privacy laws developed in the pre-digital age.

War continues to characterize the twenty-first century as the United States’ follows a doctrine that relies upon both shield and sword. At the same time, public reactions to every issue, at any given moment, have become nearly instantaneous by way of social media. Partisan divisions are as high as they were in the 1850s, affecting debates as wide-ranging as climate change, immigration, and healthcare. Nevertheless, as Americans reflect on the past, we can anticipate that the nation will continue to overcome obstacles and move toward ensuring citizenship rights for all.