John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was born in Plymouth Notch,  Vermont, on July 4, 1872, the only U.S. President to be born on the Fourth of July. His chronically ill mother died, possibly from tuberculosis, when Coolidge was just 12 years old. His only sibling, Abigail Grace Coolidge (1875–1890), died at the age of 15, when Coolidge was 18 years old. Coolidge's father married a schoolteacher in 1891 and lived to the age of 80. Over the years, Coolidge grew close to his step mother. Coolidge's father engaged in many occupations during his lifetime, and ultimately enjoyed a statewide reputation as a prosperous farmer, storekeeper and committed public servant. He farmed, taught school, ran a local store, served in the Vermont House of Representatives and then the Vermont State Senate, and held various local offices including justice of the peace and tax collector. Coolidge's mother was the daughter of a Plymouth Notch farmer.

Coolidge's family had deep roots in New England. His earliest American ancestor, John Coolidge, emigrated from Cambridge, England around 1630 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. Another Coolidge ancestor, Edmund Rice, arrived at Watertown in 1638. Coolidge's great-great-grandfather, also named John Coolidge, was an American army officer in the Revolutionary War and was one of the first selectmen of the town of Plymouth Notch.

Most of Coolidge's ancestors were farmers; the more well-known Coolidges, such as architect Charles Allerton Coolidge, general Charles Austin Coolidge, and diplomat Archibald Cary Coolidge, were descended from branches of the family that had remained in Massachusetts.

Coolidge's grandmother, Sarah Almeda Brewer, had two famous first cousins: Arthur Brown, a United States Senator, and Olympia Brown, a women's suffragist. It is through this ancestor that Coolidge claimed American Indians descent, although this claim has not been established. Coolidge's grandfather, Calvin Coolidge, held local government offices in Plymouth and was remembered as a man with "a fondness for practical jokes".

Coolidge attended and graduated from Amherst College, where he joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.  At his father's urging, Coolidge moved to Northampton, Massachusetts after graduating to take up the practice of law. Avoiding the costly alternative of attending a law school, Coolidge followed the more common practice of the time, apprenticing with the firm of a local law firm, Hammond & Field, and reading law with them. In 1897, Coolidge was admitted to the bar, becoming a country lawyer. With his savings and a small inheritance from his grandfather, Coolidge was able to open his own law office in Northampton in 1898. He practiced transactional law, believing that he served his clients best by staying out of court. As his reputation as a hard-working and diligent attorney grew, local banks and other businesses began to retain his services.

During his career as a Lawyer, Calvin Coolidge became involved in politics by campaigning for Republican candidates and even running for various local and state offices his self. Coolidge’s early political career started when he was elected to the local Republican City Committee. Soon thereafter he was elected to the City Council, City Solicitor, and Clerk of Court. During his entire political career, Coolidge only lost one election; which was to the local school board, it is said he lost because he has no children at the time.  Coolidge also served two terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Mayor of Northampton, Mass., State Senator, Lt. Governor, Governor, US Vice President, and US President.

In 1905 Coolidge met and married a fellow Vermonter, Grace Anna Goodhue, who was working as a teacher at the Clarke School for the Deaf. While Grace was watering flowers outside the school one day in 1903, she happened to look up at the open window of Robert N. Weir's boardinghouse and caught a glimpse of Calvin Coolidge shaving in front of a mirror with nothing on but long underwear and a hat. After a more formal introduction sometime later, the two were quickly attracted to each other. They were married on October 4, 1905, in the parlor of her parents' home in Burlington, Vermont.

Calvin Coolidge became President of the United States following the sudden death of President Warren G. Harding in 1923. The nation did not know what to make of its new President; Coolidge had not stood out in the Harding administration and many had expected him to be replaced on the ballot in 1924. Although many of Harding's cabinet appointees were scandal-tarred, Coolidge announced that he would not demand any of their resignations, believing that since the people had elected Harding, he should carry on Harding's presidency, at least until the next election.

He addressed Congress when it reconvened on December 6, 1923, giving a speech that echoed many of Harding's themes, including immigration restriction and the need for the government to arbitrate the coal strikes then ongoing in Pennsylvania. The Washington Naval Treaty was proclaimed just one month into Coolidge's term, and was generally well received in the country. In May 1924, the World War I Veterans' Bonus Bill was passed over his veto. Coolidge signed the Immigration Act later that year, though he appended a signing statement expressing his unhappiness with the bill's specific exclusion of Japanese immigrants.  Just before the Republican Convention began, Coolidge signed into law the Revenue Act of 1924, which decreased personal income tax rates while increasing the estate tax, and creating a gift tax to reinforce the transfer tax system.

In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge received the Republican nomination for a full term as President of the United States. Coolidge was to face off against the Democrat nominee John W. Davis and former Republican-turned-Progressive Robert La Follette. Many feared that La Follette’s split from the Republican Party to form the Progressive Party would allow a Democrat to win the Presidency similar to the 1912 election. President Coolidge won a full term with a popular vote majority of 2.5 million over both his opponent’s combined and with winning every US state outside the south and Wisconsin (which was La Follette’s home state).

President Coolidge decided not to seek re-election in 1928 because he felt ten years in Washington is too long. After his presidency, Coolidge and his family returned to Northampton. He wrote and published his autobiography in 1929 and even wrote a syndicated newspaper column, “Calvin Coolidge Says,” from 1930-1931. President Coolidge died suddenly at age 60 from a heart attack and buried at his estate, “The Beeches.”