The Barbary pirates were seizing US ships for ransom. One time with two British frigates near bye. That forced a change in Jefferson and he realized he had to have a Navy. He order the Constitution class frigates and some smaller vessels. The start of the blue-water Navy.
Due to the flaws on Electoral College, there will always be a possibility that the winner of the popular vote may not win the presidency. This has already occurred four times and the most recent in 2000. This is because of the winner take all factor which means that any votes won by the loser of the popular vote are not replicated in the electoral vote. Like in 2008, Barack Obama won only in the 51 percent of the popular vote in Ohio but still, he won all of Ohio's electoral votes even though most of the Ohioans voted for John McCain.
Lincoln successfully guided the country through it's most difficult period, The Civil War
Johnathan Edwards was the most popular :)
