Andrew Johnson (1808-1875)was the 17th president of the United States, rising from poverty in North Carolina to become a prominent Tennessee politician and the nation's vice president under Abraham Lincoln. As president, he pursued a lenient Reconstruction policy conflicting with the Republican-controlled Congress. After leaving office, Johnson returned to Tennessee politics and briefly served again in the U.S. Senate before his death in 1875.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the 16th President of the United States, serving from 1861 to 1865 during the American Civil War. He led the Union to victory, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and helped pave the way for the abolition of slavery through the Thirteenth Amendment. Assassinated shortly after the Civil War ended, Lincoln became one of America's most revered presidents, remembered for preserving the Union and redefining the nation's commitment to freedom and equality.

Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was the 18th president of the United States and the commanding Union general during the end of the Civil War. As president, he supported Reconstruction and used federal power to defend the civil and political rights of formerly enslaved Americans, while his administration was weakened by corruption scandals involving. After leaving office, Grant faced financial ruin but completed his celebrated Personal Memoirs before dying of throat cancer in 1885.

Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893) was the 19th president of the United States, a Civil War Union general, lawyer, congressman, and governor of Ohio. His administration emphasized civil service reform, opposition to political patronage, sound currency, and the restoration of presidential authority, during the end of Reconstruction. After leaving office voluntarily after one term, Hayes devoted his retirement to education, prison reform, and other civic causes until his death in 1893.

Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886) was the 21st president of the United States, rising to the presidency after the assassination of James A. Garfield in 1881. Once closely associated with New York's Republican political machine and the patronage system, Arthur surprised many by supporting civil service reform which marked the beginning of the transition toward a more professional federal civil service, giving him a more significant legacy than his relatively brief administration might suggest.

James A. Garfield (1831-1881) was the 20th president of the United States, rising from humble beginnings in Ohio to become a teacher, scholar, Union general, congressman, and national Republican leader. His presidency in 1881 was dominated by a struggle against political patronage and the Republican Party's Stalwart faction, but his administration lasted only a few months before he was shot by disgruntled office seeker.