1.
United States Ambassador to France
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The United States Ambassador to France is the official representative of the President of the United States to the head of state of France. There has been a U. S. Ambassador to France since the American Revolution, the United States sent its first envoys to France in 1776, towards the end of the four-centuries-old Bourbon dynasty. The American diplomatic relationship with France has continued throughout that countrys five republican regimes, two periods of French empire, the Bourbon Restoration, and its July Monarchy. Livingston,1801 –1804 John Armstrong,1804 –1810 Joel Barlow,1811 –1812 William H. Crawford,1813 –1815 Albert Gallatin July 16,1816 – May 16,1823 James Brown,1824 –1829 William C. Mason,1853 –1859 William L. Dayton,1861 –1864 John Bigelow,1864 –1866 John Adams Dix,1866 –1869 Elihu B, Ambassador to France from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
2.
James K. Polk
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James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States. Polk was born in Pineville, North Carolina, and moved to Tennessee to study law, after building a successful law practice, he was elected to the Tennessee legislature and then to the United States House of Representatives in 1825. He left Congress to serve as Governor of Tennessee from 1839 to 1841, after losing re-election as governor in 1840, and losing in another gubernatorial election in 1842, Polk was a dark horse candidate for president in 1844. Though he entered the convention hoping to be nominated for vice president, in the general election, he defeated Henry Clay of the rival Whig Party in large part due to his promise to annex the Republic of Texas. True to his pledge to serve only one term as President, Polk left office in March 1849. He died of cholera three months later, scholars have ranked him favorably on lists of greatest presidents for his ability to promote, obtain support for, and achieve all of the major items on his presidential agenda. However, he has also criticized for leading the country into war against Mexico. Polk has been called the least known consequential president, James Knox Polk, the first of ten children, was born on November 2,1795 in a log house in what is now Pineville, North Carolina in Mecklenburg County, just outside Charlotte. His father, Samuel Polk, was a slaveholder, successful farmer and his mother, Jane Polk, was a descendant of a brother of the Scottish religious reformer John Knox. She named her firstborn after her father James Knox, like many early Scots-Irish settlers in the North Carolina mountains, the Knox and Polk families were Presbyterian. While Polks mother Jane remained a devout Presbyterian her entire life, when the parents took the young James to a Presbyterian church to be baptized, the father Samuel refused to declare his belief in Christianity, and the minister refused to baptize the child. In 1803, most of Polks relatives moved to the Duck River area in what is now Maury County, Middle Tennessee, the family grew prosperous, with Samuel Polk turning to land speculation and becoming a county judge. His health was problematic and in 1812 his pain became so unbearable that he was taken to Dr. Ephraim McDowell of Danville, Kentucky, Polk was awake during the operation with nothing but brandy available for anesthetic, but it was successful. The surgery may have left Polk sterile, as he did not sire any children, when Polk recovered, his father offered to bring him into the mercantile business, but Polk refused. In July 1813, Polk enrolled at the Zion Church near his home, a year later he attended an academy in Murfreesboro, where he may have met his future wife, Sarah Childress. At Murfreesboro, Polk proved a promising student, in January 1816, Polk was admitted into the University of North Carolina as a second-semester sophomore. The Polk family had connections with the university, then a school of about 80 students, Sam Polk was their land agent for Tennessee. While there, Polk joined the Dialectic Society where he took part in debates
3.
William R. King
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William Rufus DeVane King was an American politician and diplomat. He was the 13th Vice President of the United States for six weeks in 1853 before his death, earlier he had been elected as a U. S. Representative from North Carolina and a Senator from Alabama and he also served as Minister to France during the reign of King Louis Philippe I. A Democrat, he was a Unionist and his contemporaries considered him to be a moderate on the issues of sectionalism, slavery and westward expansion and he helped draft the Compromise of 1850. He is the only United States executive official to take the oath of office on foreign soil, inaugurated in Havana, King died of tuberculosis after 45 days in office. With the exceptions of John Tyler and Andrew Johnson—both of whom succeeded to the Presidency—he is the shortest-serving Vice President, King was the only Vice President from the State of Alabama and held the highest political office of any Alabamian in American history. He was the third Vice President to die in office, King was born in Sampson County, North Carolina, to William King and Margaret deVane. His family was large, wealthy and well-connected and he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1803, where he was also a member of the Philanthropic Society. Admitted to the bar in 1806 after reading the law with Judge William Duffy of Fayetteville, North Carolina, King was an ardent Freemason, and was a member of Fayettevilles Phoenix Lodge No.8. King entered politics and was elected as a member of the North Carolina House of Commons, where he served from 1807 to 1809 and he developed a large cotton plantation based on slave labor, calling the property Chestnut Hill. King and his relatives formed one of the largest slaveholding families in the state, William Rufus King was a delegate to the convention which organized the Alabama state government. Upon the admission of Alabama as the twenty-second State in 1819 he was elected by the State Legislature as a Democratic-Republican to the United States Senate. King was reelected as a Jacksonian in 1822,1828,1834, and 1841, serving from December 14,1819, until April 15,1844, when he resigned. During this time, in March–April 1824, William R. King was honored with a vote at the Democratic-Republican Party Caucus to be the partys candidate for the Office of U. S. Vice President for the upcoming 1824 Presidential election, later he served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the 24th through 27th Congresses. King was Chairman of the Senates Committee on Public Lands and the Committee on Commerce and he was appointed as Minister to France, and served from 1844 to 1846. After his return, King resumed serving in the Senate, appointed and he held his seat from July 1,1848 until resigning because of ill health on December 20,1852, after having been elected Vice President. King supported a conservative, pro-slavery position, arguing that the Constitution protected the institution of slavery in both the Southern states and the federal territories and he opposed both the abolitionists efforts to abolish slavery in the territories as well as the Fire-Eaters calls for Southern secession
4.
United States Secretary of the Treasury
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This position in the Federal Government of the United States is analogous to the Minister of Finance in many other countries. The Secretary of the Treasury is a member of the Presidents Cabinet, nominees for The Secretary of the Treasury undergo a confirmation hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Finance before being confirmed by the United States Senate. The Secretary of the Treasury is a member of the U. S. National Security Council. The Secretary along with the Treasurer must sign Federal Reserve notes before they can become legal tender, the Secretary also manages the United States Emergency Economic Stabilization fund. Most of the Departments law enforcement agencies such as the U. S. Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, secret Service were reassigned to other Departments in 2003 in conjunction with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The Secretary of the Treasury salary is $205,700 annually,2 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury M. Peter McPherson served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from August 17,1988, to September 15,1988. 4 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Kenneth W. Dam served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from December 31,2002,5 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert M. Kimmitt served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from June 30,2006, to July 9,2006. 7 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from January 25,2013, as of April 2017, there are eleven living former Secretaries of the Treasury, the oldest being George P. Shultz. The most recent Secretary of the Treasury to die was Lloyd M. Bentsen, United States Department of the Treasury
5.
John Quincy Adams
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John Quincy Adams was an American statesman who served as a diplomat, United States Senator, member of the House of Representatives, and was the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican and he was the son of President John Adams and Abigail Adams and thus contributed to the formation of the Adams political family. Adams shaped U. S. foreign policy using his ardently nationalist commitment to U. S. republican values, as a diplomat, Adams played an important role in negotiating key treaties, most notably the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812. As Secretary of State, he negotiated with Britain over the United States northern border with Canada, negotiated with Spain the annexation of Florida, historians generally concur that he was one of the greatest diplomats and secretaries of state in American history. Adams was elected president in a close and controversial four-way contest in 1824, as president he sought to modernize the American economy and promote education. Adams enacted a part of his agenda and paid off much of the national debt, however he was stymied time and again by a Congress controlled by opponents, and his lack of patronage networks helped politicians sabotage him. He lost his 1828 bid for re-election to Andrew Jackson, after leaving office, he was elected as U. S. Representative from Massachusetts in 1830, serving for the last 17 years of his life with greater acclaim than he had achieved as president, animated by his growing revulsion against slavery, Adams became a leading opponent of the Slave Power. Adams predicted the Unions dissolution over slavery, and in such a case, historians have in the aggregate ranked Adams as the 21st most successful president. John Quincy Adams was born on July 11,1767, to John Adams and he was named for his mothers maternal grandfather, Colonel John Quincy, after whom Quincy, Massachusetts, is named. Young Adams was educated by private tutors – his cousin James Thaxter and his fathers law clerk and he soon began to exhibit his literary skills in 1779, when he initiated a diary which he kept until just before he died in 1848. The diary comprised an unprecedented fifty volumes, representing one of the most extensive, much of Adams youth was spent accompanying his father overseas. He accompanied his father on diplomatic missions to France from 1778 until 1779, Adams acquired an education at institutions such as Leiden University. He matriculated in Leiden on January 10,1781, for nearly three years, beginning at the age of 14, he accompanied Francis Dana as a secretary on a mission to Saint Petersburg, Russia, to obtain recognition of the new United States. He spent time in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark and, in 1804, during these years overseas, Adams became fluent in French and Dutch and became familiar with German and other European languages. Though Adams enjoyed Europe, he and his family decided he needed to return to the United States to complete his education and he entered Harvard College, graduated in 1787 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and was elected by Phi Beta Kappa. Adams, mainly with the influence of his father, had excelled in studies and reached fluency in Latin. Upon entering Harvard he had already translated Virgil, Horace, Plutarch, after graduating from Harvard, he studied law with Theophilus Parsons in Newburyport, Massachusetts from 1787 to 1789
6.
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
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The position is regarded as one of the most prestigious positions in the United States Foreign Service due to the so-called Special Relationship. The ambassadorship has been held by notable politicians, including five who would later become presidents, John Adams, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren. However, the tendency of American presidents is to appoint keen political fundraisers from previous presidential campaigns, despite the importance. The ambassador and the staff at large work at the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square. The official residence of the ambassador is Winfield House in Regents Park, the post of Ambassador is currently vacant, however, Woody Johnson has been nominated by Donald Trump, pending senate confirmation. Lewis Lukens is currently serving as Chargé daffaires-ai until Johnson is approved by the Senate, the most recent Ambassador was Matthew Barzun. The ambassadors main duty is to present American policies to the Government of the United Kingdom and people and to report British policies and he serves as the primary channel of communication between the two nations and plays an important role in treaty negotiations. The ambassador is the head of the United Statess consular service in the United Kingdom, as well as directing diplomatic activity in support of trade, he is ultimately responsible for visa services and for the provision of consular support to American citizens in the UK. He also oversees cultural relations between the two countries, John Adams James Monroe John Quincy Adams Martin Van Buren James Buchanan Ambassadors of the United States British Embassy, Washington, D. C. state. gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/index. htm. Alison R. Holmes and J. Simon Rofe, The Embassy in Grosvenor Square, American Ambassadors to the United Kingdom, United States Department of State, Chiefs of Mission for the United Kingdom United States Department of State, United Kingdom United States Embassy in London
7.
James Monroe
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James Monroe was an American statesman who served from 1817 to 1825 as the fifth President of the United States. Monroe was the last president among the Founding Fathers of the United States as well as the Virginian dynasty, born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Monroe was of the planter class and fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was wounded in the Battle of Trenton with a ball to his shoulder. After studying law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783, he served as a delegate in the Continental Congress. He took a part in the new government, and in 1790 he was elected to the Senate of the first United States Congress. He gained experience as an executive as the Governor of Virginia and rose to prominence as a diplomat in France. During the War of 1812, Monroe served in roles as Secretary of State. As president, he sought to ease tensions, embarking on a tour of the country that was well received. As nationalism surged, partisan fury subsided, and the Era of Good Feelings ensued, until the Panic of 1819 struck, and a dispute over the admission of Missouri embroiled the country in 1820. Monroe supported the founding of colonies in Africa for freed slaves that would form the nation of Liberia, whose capital. His presidency concluded the first period of American presidential history before the beginning of Jacksonian democracy, following his retirement in 1825, Monroe was plagued by financial difficulties. He died in New York City on July 4,1831 and he has been ranked in the aggregate by scholars as the 16th most successful president. James Monroe was born on April 28,1758, in his parents house located in a area of Westmoreland County. The marked site is one mile from the community known today as Monroe Hall. The James Monroe Family Home Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and his father Spence Monroe was a moderately prosperous planter who also practiced carpentry. His mother Elizabeth Jones married Spence Monroe in 1752 and they had several children and his paternal great-grandfather Patrick Andrew Monroe emigrated to America from Scotland in the mid-17th century. In 1650 he patented a large tract of land in Washington Parish, Westmoreland County, also among James Monroes ancestors were French Huguenot immigrants, who came to Virginia in 1700. First tutored at home by his mother Elizabeth, between the ages of 11 and 16, the young Monroe studied at Campbelltown Academy, a run by Reverend Archibald Campbell of Washington Parish
8.
United States Attorney General
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The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice per 28 U. S. C. §503, concerned with affairs, and is the chief law enforcement officer. The 84th and current Attorney General is Jeff Sessions, who assumed the office on February 9,2017, the attorney general serves as a member of the Cabinet of the President of the United States and is the only cabinet officer who does not have the title Secretary of. The Attorney General is appointed by the President and takes office after confirmation by the United States Senate, the office of Attorney General was established by Congress by the Judiciary Act of 1789. In 1870, the Department of Justice was established to support the general in the discharge of their responsibilities. Parties No party Federalist Democratic-Republican Democratic Whig Republican Status As of April 2017, there are eleven, living former US Attorneys General, the most recent Attorney General to die was Janet Reno on November 7,2016. Barr served as acting general in their capacity as deputy attorney general. 2 Richard L. Thornburgh and Eric Holder served as acting general in their capacity as deputy attorney general. Both subsequently served as general, Thornburgh 1988–1991 and Holder 2009–2015. 4 Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Civil Division Stuart M. Gerson was acting general from January 20,1993. Gerson was fourth in the line of succession at the Justice Department, during his time as Acting AG, Gerson supported the Brady bill and was in office in the beginnings of the Waco siege. Janet Reno, President Clintons nominee for attorney general, was confirmed on March 12, Acting Attorney General Gersons last day at the Justice Department was March 19. 5 On August 27,2007, President Bush named Solicitor General Paul Clement as the acting attorney general, to take office upon the resignation of Alberto Gonzales. According to administration officials, Clement took that office at 12,01 am September 17,2007, keisler served as acting attorney general until the nomination of Michael Mukasey on November 9,2007. 6 Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip was asked to assume the position of acting attorney general by then President-elect Obama, Filip led the Department while President Obamas nominee, then Attorney-General Designate Eric Holder, awaited confirmation by the United States Senate. Holder was confirmed on February 2,2009, and sworn in the next day, thus ending Filips tenure as the acting attorney general
9.
James Madison
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James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and Founding Father who served as the fourth President of the United States from 1809 to 1817. He is hailed as the Father of the Constitution for his role in drafting and promoting the United States Constitution. Madison inherited his plantation Montpelier in Virginia and therewith owned hundreds of slaves during his lifetime and he served as both a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and as a member of the Continental Congress prior to the Constitutional Convention. After the Convention, he one of the leaders in the movement to ratify the Constitution. His collaboration with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay produced The Federalist Papers, Madisons political views changed throughout his life. During deliberations on the Constitution, he favored a national government. In 1789, Madison became a leader in the new House of Representatives and he is noted for drafting the first ten amendments to the Constitution, and thus is known also as the Father of the Bill of Rights. He worked closely with President George Washington to organize the new federal government, breaking with Hamilton and the Federalist Party in 1791, he and Thomas Jefferson organized the Democratic-Republican Party. In response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, Jefferson and Madison drafted the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, as Jeffersons Secretary of State, Madison supervised the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the nations size. Madison succeeded Jefferson as president in 1809, was re-elected in 1813, after the failure of diplomatic protests and a trade embargo against the United Kingdom, he led the U. S. into the War of 1812. The war was a morass, as the United States had neither a strong army nor financial system. As a result, Madison afterward supported a national government and military, as well as the national bank. Madison has been ranked in the aggregate by historians as the ninth most successful president, James Madison, Jr. was born on March 16,1751, at Belle Grove Plantation near Port Conway, Virginia, to father James Madison, Sr. and mother Nelly Conway Madison. He grew up as the oldest of twelve children, Nelly and James Sr. had seven more boys and four girls. Three of James Jr. s brothers died as infants, including one who was stillborn, in the summer of 1775, his sister Elizabeth and his brother Reuben died from a dysentery epidemic that swept through Orange County because of contaminated water. His father, James Madison, Sr. was a planter who grew up on a plantation, then called Mount Pleasant. He later acquired more property and slaves, and with 5,000 acres, he became the largest landowner, James Jr. s mother, Nelly Conway Madison, was born at Port Conway, the daughter of a prominent planter and tobacco merchant. In these years, the colonies were becoming a slave society, in which slave labor powered the economy
10.
Philadelphia
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
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