Upload
curtis-lawson
View
220
Download
3
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
People of the American Revolution
John Adams
• Lawyer • Defended the British
troops accused in the Boston Massacre
• Envoy to Britain during the Revolution to negotiate
• First Vice-President of U.S.
• Second President of U.S.
James Otis
• Descendant of Mayflower pilgrim
• Member of the Sons of Liberty
• Famous for saying, “Taxation without representation is tyranny”
• Brother of Mercy Otis Warren
George Washington
• Has no direct descendants
• Slave owner that freed his slaves upon his death
• Chair of the Constitutional Convention
• Lived at Mt. Vernon• “Father of His Country”
Samuel Adams
• Strong promoter of independence
• Helped develop the Committees of Correspondence
• Graduated from Harvard, joined the family’s brewing house
• John Adams’ 2nd cousin
Benjamin Franklin
• Printer• The embodiment of the
Enlightenment in America• Minister to France during
the Revolution• Editor of Poor Richard’s
Almanack• Promoted the Albany Plan
of Union• Attended Constitutional
Convention
King George III
• Wrote to Lord North in 1774: "The die is now cast; the colonies must either submit or triumph.... we must not retreat."
• Known as the King who lost America
Thomas Jefferson
• Secretary of State under George Washington
• Donated personal book collection to create the Library of Congress
• Scientist, promoter of farming, Francophile
• Father of the University of Virginia
• Author of Declaration of Independence
Thomas Paine
• Emigrated to America from England in 1774
• Became one of America’s Founding Fathers
• Known as the “penman of the Revolution”
• Wrote pamphlet Common Sense
General Cornwallis
• British General during the American Revolution
• Surrendered to Washington to end the Revolutionary War
Patrick Henry
• Virginian• Along with Samuel
Adams and Thomas Paine, one of the most outspoken proponents of independence
• Strongly Anti-Federalist in the ratification debate
• In 1766 said “Give me liberty or give me death!”
James Madison
• Virginian• With Hamilton and Jay,
author of the Federalist Papers
• Father of the U.S. Constitution
• 4th President
Abigail Adams“In the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I
desire you would Remember the Ladies.”
• Prolific letter-writer• Promoter of women’s
rights• During the Constitutional
Convention, she asked her husband, a participant, to “remember the ladies.”
• Married to John Adams
Phyllis Wheatley
• Could read and write Greek by age twelve
• Wrote poetry, among them “To His Excellency, George Washington”
• Came to America on the slave ship, the Phillis
• Owned by the Wheatley family of Boston
Mercy Otis Warren
• From a family of colonial activists
• Opposed the Constitution as an Anti-Federalist
• Wrote a history of the Revolutionary period
• One of the most influential writers of the time
• Sister of James Otis
Paul Revere
• Boston silversmith• Completed his task with
William Dawes and Samuel Prescott
• Immortalized in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Alerted the colonial troops that “the British are coming!”
John Hancock
• President of the Continental Congress
• Wealthy Bostonian• Presiding officer on the
Declaration committee• Birthday January 23, now
National Handwriting Day• First to sign the
Declaration of Independence
George Grenville
• British Prime Minister during 1760s
• Responsible for recouping costs for defending the colonies, most notably the Stamp Act
Crispus Attucks
• Of African and Wampanoag descent
• Killed in the Boston Massacre (along with two others)
Benedict Arnold
• Colonial General credited with victories at Ticonderoga and elsewhere
• Passed over for promotion; became bitter
• Planned to turn West Point over to British; plot discovered
• Name now synonymous with “traitor”
Nathan Hale
• State hero of Connecticut• American soldier
captured• Volunteered for
intelligence gathering mission
• Captured by British and executed
• Famously said, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”
Alexander Hamilton
• Founding Father• Leader of Federalist Party• Washington’s aide-de-
camp in Revolutionary War• Born, illegitimate, in the
West Indies• First Secretary of the
Treasury• Killed in duel by Aaron Burr