Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps

The United States Post Office Department released its first two postage stamps in 1847, featuring George Washington on one, and Benjamin Franklin on the other.

During this period, the U.S. Post Office issued various postage stamps bearing the depictions of George Washington foremost, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln, the last of whom first appeared in 1866, one year after his death.

As a result, this pictographic series was met with general disdain and proved so unpopular that the issues were consequently sold for only one year where remaining stocks were pulled from post offices across the United States.

Among the most definitive is George Washington, whose engraving (along with that of Benjamin Franklin) appeared on the first U.S. Postage stamps released by the U.S. Post Office, on July 1 of 1847.

However, by this time, Jackson had already been presented on two Confederate stamps (both 2-cent values), making him the only U.S. president introduced to postage by the Confederacy rather than the U.S. Post Office.

Indeed, in virtually every U.S. definitive stamp series offered between 1851 and 1932, Washington appeared on the normal letter-rate value (the only exception being the short-lived 1869 pictorial issue); other presidents, statesmen and famous Americans were confined to the less commonly used denominations.

[7] Abraham Lincoln assumed office in March 1861 and just one month later the Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter which marked the beginning of the American Civil War.

[1][7] The green Washington 3¢ issue was printed in such large quantities that postally used examples remain inexpensive to this day, from pennies to a few dollars, depending on type of cancellation and condition.

This was twenty-one years after the Louisiana Purchase Exposition series, which had included the first three American commemoratives to honor specific presidents: Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and William McKinley.

[2] There were 4.2 billion copies produced of the 2-cent Washington value in this series, a total that remains the largest stamp printing of a single issue ever to occur in U.S. postal history.

In recent years, Washington has appeared much less frequently on stamps than he did during the 19th and early 20th centuries.John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was the second president of the United States, serving from 1797 to 1801.

In 2001, the Postal Service finally honored James Madison with a single commemorative stamp, issued for the 250th anniversary of his birth, first released in New York, N.Y., on October 18, 2001.

He has appeared on the following two U.S. postage stamps: Andrew Jackson, was the seventh president of the United States who served two terms from 1829 to 1837.

Andrew Jackson appears on the following commemorative issues:[1] Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841.

A Democrat, and an ardent supporter of Andrew Jackson, Polk served as Speaker of the House (1835–1839) and Governor of Tennessee (1839–1841) before becoming president.

During his single four-year term, Polk accomplished every major goal that he set for his administration and successfully managed the Mexican–American War, obtaining for the United States most of its present contiguous land area.

During the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) Taylor became a national hero, and with this fame he was elected to the presidency.Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 until 1853.

Opinions by historians of Buchanan's presidency vary, as some credit him for keeping a divided nation together for so long while others fault him for failing to avert a civil war.

The first Republican to be elected president, he successfully led the United States through its Civil War, thus preserving the Union and bringing an end to slavery, first issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and then promoting ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Serving in the Civil War as Brigadier General, Hayes commanded the First Brigade of the Kanawha Division of the Army of West Virginia and turned back several Confederate advances.

Under Harrison and his postmaster general John Wanamaker, the nation's first commemorative stamps were made available and were first issued at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, in 1893.

Contrary to the general opinion of Congress at the time Wanamaker predicted that commemorative stamps would generate needed revenue for the country.

He spent much of his adult life in politics and was a six-term congressman, and was also the governor of Ohio before defeating William Jennings Bryan for the Presidency (1897–1901).

Roosevelt was a hero of the Spanish–American War and the Battle of San Juan Hill for which he received the Medal of Honor and was the commander of the legendary Rough Riders.

Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his sudden death from a heart attack in 1923.

Up through Coolidge, every president (with the two exceptions of Monroe and McKinley) had made his first appearance on U.S. postage in a definitive series, only later being honored by a commemorative stamp.

In his first term (1933–37), Roosevelt led Congress to enact the New Deal, a large, complex interlocking set of programs designed to produce social and economic relief.

During World War II, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe and planned the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45, from the Western Front.

Ford was the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment, filling the vacancy left by Spiro Agnew's resignation.

Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th president of the United States and served two terms from 1981 to 1989, and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975).