SEVEN REVOLUTIONARY

LEADERS

GEORGE WASHINGTON

• Did not chop down the cherry tree (Mason Locke Weems myth)

• Survived smallpox• 6’2”• Liked to wear his uniform• False teeth may have been made

from animal and slave teeth

• Married Martha and acquired a great deal of land (called “marrying up” Hamilton and Lincoln also did it)

• The Father of our country never fathered any children

• Referred to as “His Mightiness” • Very lucky in War

CROSSING THE DELAWARE SURPRISED HESSIAN GARRISON IN TRENTON 1776

THOMAS JEFFERSON

• Most brilliant American in a generation• Interested in politics, government, literature,

philosophy, painting, architecture, astronomy, botany, zoology, chemistry, law, PE etc.

• Intrigued by gadgets – calendars, clocks, desks, duplicate writing device, stoves, wagons, plows, dumbwaiter, swivel chair, synchronized doors etc.

• Spoke and wrote Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, and Old English

• Finest library in the colonies 10,000 volumes which were sold to pay his debts

• Advocated for public libraries and public schools

SALLY HEMINGS HALF SISTER OF MARTHA WAYLES SKELTON JEFFERSON’S WIFE

AUNT TO PATSY AND POLLY JEFFERSONJefferson’sConcubine

MOVIE PORTRAYED SALLY AND JEFFERSON AS LOVERS

JOHN WAYLES JEFFERSONPassing into the white world

• Died the same day as John Adams on July 4th 1826 fifty years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence

JEFFERSON’S GRAVE

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

• Universal man like Jefferson• Founded the postal system,

started circulating library, founded University of Pennsylvania, longest running magazine – Saturday Evening Post, proved lightning was electricity, successful businessman

• Diplomat to England and France• Published Poor Richard’s Almanac-

“A penny saved is a penny earned,” “time is money,” “fish and visitors smell in three days”

• Accepted everyone except his son the loyalist

• Married his landlady’s daughter which kept him out of Philadelphia’s upper crust

JOHN HANCOCK

• Richest man in the colonies• Chosen President of the Second

Continental Congress• Wanted to be general of

American forces

• Born into a poor family but inherited a fortune

• Improved on fortune with a little honest wine and tea smuggling

SAMUEL ADAMS

• “Grand Incendiary”• A fire-eating revolutionary led the

Sons of Liberty• Bankrupted the family beer business• Needed a fight to be successful• His later life bore no distinction

PAUL REVERE OR RIVOIRE

• Rode to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock who were hiding in Lexington

• Also to warn the Minutemen in Concord that a British expeditionary force was coming to seize their supplies

• Was captured before he finished his ride• An unknown young doctor whose name

was Samuel Prescott finished the ride• Longfellow published his poem in 1860

about the mythic ride up until then Revere was known only for his silver work

JOHN ADAMS

• First VP• Second President (one term)

defeated by his VP Thomas Jefferson• Father of John Quincy Adams sixth

president of the US• Wife Abigail was his chief advisor

• Helped with the drafting of the Declaration of Independence

• Promoted the idea of republicanism• Signed the Alien and Sedition Acts• Died on July 4th 1826 same day as

Jefferson

Right before Adams died he said, “Jefferson still lives.”Jefferson died in the morning before him.