Citizens Bee: People

Thurgood Marshall

, the first African American Supreme Court Justice, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of workingclass parents and the great-grandson of a slave. Denied entry to his home state's university school of law because he was black, Marshall instead went to Howard University Law School. He graduated first in class, and soon after became a lawyer for the NAACP, working on a litigation campaign to end segregation and racial discrimination. His first civil rights case, Murray v. Pearson (1935), successfully challenged the University Maryland segregation policy. He said that segregation cases transcended individual rights, but rather were about "the moral commitment stated in our country's creed." In his most famous case, he argued and won the Supreme Court case that ended segregation in public schools, Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The University of Maryland later named its law library after Marshall. In 1967, President Johnson nominated Marshall to the Supreme Court. Through his career on the bench of the highest Court, Marshall expressed his commitment to the Constitution and principles of equality, individual rights and liberty, authoring opinions in cases including Regents of California v. Bakke (1978). Sometimes known as the "Great Dissenter," he often broke from majority opinions. He believed capital punishment to be a violation of the Eighth Amendment in all circumstances, and dissented from all rulings that applied the death penalty.

Henry David Thoreau

As a writer, friend, and citizen, he always tried to live a life of integrity and moderation . Born in 1817, Thoreau lived in a small bare cabin near Walden Pond in his home state of Massachusetts. In stark contrast to the Industrial Revolution going on around him, he wanted to live by Transcendentalist principles such as simplicity and economy. Thoreau opposed the United States' war with Mexico because he believed that the war would lead to slavery's expansion in the West. He did not want his tax money to support the war or slavery. Thoreau refused to pay the poll taxes required by Massachusetts. As a result, Thoreau was arrested in 1856. He spent the night in jail, an experience which affected him deeply. "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is in prison," he argued. (A family member paid the tax the next day and he was released.) He believed he had acted responsibly as a citizen, by refusing to support what he believed was an unjust war. Exercising his First Amendment freedom of the press , he articulated his philosophy in an essay called Civil Disobedience. Henry David Thoreau's words and actions have inspired generations of Americans including Martin Luther King, Jr. Thoreau was not without his critics, who argue that his ideas on civil disobedience threaten the rule of law . The way to respond to unjust laws is to work to change them, they argue, rather than to disobey them.

Thomas Edison

Born in Ohio in 1847, he had little schooling, and was completely deaf in one ear from a young age. Despite these circumstances, he saw every obstacle as an opportunity. He pursued his interests with industry and passion. He loved science and mechanics and was driven to invent. By 1868, Edison had improved the telegraph and the typewriter. He made an electric vote recorder and a stock ticker. Two years later at the age of twenty-three, he had enough money to open his first "invention factory." He and his team of engineers and scientists prided themselves on their perseverance, thinking of every failed experiment as one that would bring them closer to success. They also cherished their economic rights, protecting their hard work by registering patents with the federal government. Within five years, he and his team had perfected the telephone and created the phonograph. Next, they became famous for the incandescent light bulb. Later, they worked on the motion picture camera, "talking" movies, a car battery, and an x-ray machine. In his lifetime, Edison registered 1,093 patents.

Baron de Montesquieu

Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu was a French philosopher. In his writings, including The Spirit of the Laws, he advanced political theories including the idea of three separated powers of government: legislative, executive and judicial. Some of his ideas influenced the Founders, most notably James Madison.

John Hancock

Forever famous for his outsized signature on the Declaration of Independence, he was a larger than life figure in other ways as well. Born in 1737, in Braintree, Massachusetts, Hancock was part of the Boston "Sons of Liberty that included Samuel Adams and James Otis. Hancock was a wealthy merchant whose bank account helped to finance the group's radical activities resisting British tyranny. After the violence that came to be known as the Boston Massacre, Hancock courageously took the lead in raising further opposition to the British. Not long after that, Hancock and Adams organized the Boston Tea Party. The British were after Hancock and Adams when the Minutemen fired on the British troops—the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Hancock served as president of the Continental Congress. He signed the Declaration on July 4, 1776, and presided over Congress's signing of the document on August 2, 1776. Disappointed at being passed over for command of the Continental Army in 1777, he returned to Massachusetts, where he had a hand in writing the state constitution of 1780. He signed the Articles of Confederation. Despite his reservations about centralized government power, Hancock eventually agreed to support ratification of the Constitution.

The Wright Brothers

Wilbur and Orville Wright's industry and perseverance changed a nation—and the world. Many had tried but no one had been able to perfect a machine that could be controlled in flight. The Wright brothers observed birds, studied wings and engines, physics and dynamics. They conducted wind tunnel tests on more than 200 kinds of wings. They continued in their research and experiments over several years, during which time they suffered some disappointing failures. In 1900, they traveled to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, a location they selected after extensive study of weather data. Its ocean breezes and soft landing sites would be perfect. On December 17, 1903, they succeeded. Their engine-powered airplane flew 120 feet, landing twelve seconds after takeoff. The Wright brothers knew that citizens had the ability to protect their inventions through patents. They patented their invention as a "flying machine," and almost immediately had to begin defending their work from rival inventors. Wilbur spent much of the last years of his life in this traveling to consult with lawyers and testifying in court. He saw it as his responsibility to defend not only his own economic rights, but those of other citizens. He died in 1912. Orville persevered in the legal battle until the case was decided in the Wrights' favor in 1914.

Harriet Tubman

an enslaved field hand who could not read, escaped to freedom in 1849. Thirty years of poverty and abuse had left her small body battered and scarred. But her spirit was unstoppable. "There was one of two things I had a right to— liberty or death. If I could not have one, I would have the other," she later said. Not content with securing her own freedom, Tubman then turned to helping others escape. Although she faced death or reenslavement if caught, Tubman became a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad in the 1850s. At first, she returned south to rescue her family. Over time, she saved hundreds of slaves. She was clever and gifted at avoiding capture, so successful that she was nicknamed "Moses." Nineteen times, she made the dangerous 650-mile journey from Maryland to Canada. She was never caught, and "never lost a passenger." During the Civil War, she became a scout, spy, nurse, and cook. She recruited freedmen to the Union cause, and helped lead raids that freed hundreds more slaves. With unequaled courage, Tubman pursued liberty for every American, and in doing so became a legend. The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in 1865, ended slavery forever in the United States.

Robert E. Lee

and born in Virginia and attended Military Academy at West Point, later becoming the institution's Superintendent. He spent his life serving in the military. He served in the Mexican-American War and on the Texas frontier. He was called to Virginia in 1859 where he remained until the Civil War. Lee was personally devoted to the Constitution and privately denounced secession. However, when Virginia seceded, he turned down an offer to command the Union Army and instead took command of Virginia's forces. He was later made a General and then General-In-Chief by Jefferson Davis in January 1865. By that April, however, it was clear the South would be defeated. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865 rather than lose the lives of any more soldiers. After the war, Lee supported President Andrew Johnson's plans for speedy rebuilding of the Southern states. He spoke out against equal rights for former slaves, saying it would "excite unfriendly feelings between the two races." He supported the Anti-Reconstruction candidate against Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential election of 1868.

Edmund Randolph

born in 1753, is sometimes called a "Forgotten Founder" because his name is not familiar to many Americans despite his many contributions to the United States. During the Revolutionary War, he served as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington. He also served in several public offices including delegate to the Continental Congress, delegate to the Annapolis Convention, as well as the Constitutional Convention. At the Constitutional Convention, Randolph introduced the Virginia Plan. By the Convention's end, though, Randolph refused to sign the Constitution. He believed his integrity required him to refuse. He thought the final version had strayed too far from what he called the "republican propositions" of the Virginia Plan. He also feared that a single President would lead to tyranny - he called a single executive the "fetus of Monarchy." (He had supported a three-person executive council.) James Madison later persuaded Randolph to support ratification at the Virginia Ratifying Convention. The compromise was made easier for Randolph because eight states had already ratified by the time of Virginia's Convention. Randolph was appointed to serve as the nation's first Attorney General by President George Washington.

Benjamin Franklin

born in Boston, took initiative as a publisher, inventor, entrepreneur, and statesman. Working as an apprentice at his brother's Boston newspaper, he began writing social commentaries under the pseudonym Silence Dogood. Wishing to work independently, Franklin left Boston and finally settled Philadelphia where he purchased the Philadelphia Gazette in 1729. In 1732 he published the first edition of Poor Richard's Almanack. In 1754 the prospect of war with France led several colonial governors to call a convention to create a plan to unify the colonies. Franklin's Gazette ran a "Join or Die" political cartoon urging governors to send delegates. Franklin wrote the Albany Plan of the Union at the convention. Franklin lived in England from 1757 to 1775 serving as an agent of the colonies. He became famous there as a defender of American rights. The British branded him a traitor, but he escaped imprisonment in 1775 by returning to Philadelphia. He served on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. He acted as commissioner to France from 1779-1785, and along with John Adams and John Jay, negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Franklin returned to the United States in 1785. He believed the Articles of Confederation to be too weak, and joined the call for a Constitutional Convention. Because of some of his proposals at the Convention, a cabinet was established to advise the president, and Congress was given the power to override presidential vetoes. Franklin called for blacks to be counted as citizens, hoping to encourage abolition, but this proposal was rejected. In 1787, Franklin was elected president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. His last public act was signing a petition to Congress recommending the end of the slave system. He died at age 84. Franklin's Autobiography was published the year after his death, and covers the years of his life only to the 1760s.

Theodore Roosevelt

born in New York in 1858, was serving as Vice President when President William McKinley was assassinated. With this event, Roosevelt became the youngest person ever to become President. His views on foreign affairs were summed up with the proverb he often called his motto, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Roosevelt was willing to interfere in the affairs of other nations when it benefited the United States. At home, Roosevelt expanded the federal government's power of eminent domain. He signed laws establishing five national parks. Explaining his fight for a "square deal" for Americans, he used authority under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to take on consolidated companies that took away consumers' choices. He worked to protect companies from extreme demands from labor unions. He urged federal lawmakers to enact legislation protecting workers, including child labor laws and a bill providing workmen's compensation for all federal employees. He proposed laws regulating the nation's food supply. In response, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, paving the way for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Roosevelt became famous for using the "bully pulpit" to advance his ideas. Roosevelt had his critics. While the Founders believed that powers not granted to the federal government were forbidden, Roosevelt claimed that powers not forbidden were granted. Many charged that the many regulatory agencies he proposed threatened liberty. President William Howard Taft, who succeeded Theodore Roosevelt as President in 1916, said that Roosevelt's view of "ascribing an undefined ... power to the President" was "an unsafe doctrine," that could do "injustice to private right." Some later historians have called Roosevelt an activist president, because of the way his actions increased the power of the federal government over states and individuals' lives.

Fannie Lou Hamer

courageously fought for her right to vote. Hamer was born in Mississippi in 1917. In 1962 she attended a voter registration meeting. It was there that she first learned the Fifteenth Amendment protected African Americans' ability to vote. She left that meeting determined to register to vote. Hamer decided she wanted to help other African Americans participate in American democracy. She took the initiative to organize registration drives. In one 1963 drive, she was thrown in jail. Montgomery County guards beat her and fellow civil rights workers. She lost her job and even received death threats, but she persevered . In 1964, Hamer spoke out at the Democratic presidential convention about people being illegally prevented from voting. A year later in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. This law removed many barriers to voting, and many see it as a fulfillment of the Fifteenth Amendment's promise.

Ida B. Wells

exercised her rights to freedom of speech and press to bring national attention to the crime of lynching. Wells was born in Mississippi in 1862, the oldest of eight children. She put herself through college and became a teacher in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1892, Wells lost three close friends to a lynch mob. These gruesome killings made headlines, but no one was arrested or charged. As a journalist and a newspaper owner and editor, Wells courageously wrote about the racism that motivated such murders. The press attacked her as a "black scoundrel" for saying that lynching had nothing to do with justice or honor. A mob ransacked her office and threatened her life, but she continued her crusade. Wells later moved to Chicago where she published The Red Record, the first documented statistical report on lynching. She became a respected public speaker, and traveled widely, lecturing on anti-lynching activities, speaking out against segregation, and advocating for women's voting rights. She co-founded the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. The work of Wells and other civil rights workers illustrate the civic values of perseverance, courage, initiative, industry, and civic skills including volunteering.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

fought for the ideals of the Declaration of Independence—that all people are created equal. Stanton was born in New York State in 1815. She received a formal education, unlike most women of her time. She did well in school, impressing her teachers and classmates with her intelligence. But as a woman, she could not attend the college of her choice. Stanton was disturbed by women's lower legal status. She helped organize the first women's rights convention in the US in Seneca Falls, New York. At that convention, the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions was read. This document, based on the Declaration of Independence and written by Stanton, declared the legal equality of men and women, and listed the legal rights women should have, including the right of suffrage (voting). Her work helped launch the women's movement which eventually won women the right to vote. Stanton knew she was fighting for something bigger than herself. She did not live to see the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Susan B. Anthony wrote when Elizabeth Cady Stanton died, "Mrs. Stanton was always a courageous woman, a leader of thought and new movements."

George Washington

is known as the "Father of his Country." Born in Virginia, Washington ran his family's 8000-acre farm, Mount Vernon. He studied ancient republics and read independently. Washington served as commander of the Virginia militia, the Virginia colonial legislature, and the Continental Congress. In 1775, Congress selected him to be Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. He accepted Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown in 1781, ending the Revolutionary War. Washington then resigned his commission and returned to Mount Vernon, intending no return to public life. However, Washington soon grew concerned that the Articles of Confederation were inadequate for the new nation. Washington was selected to lead the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, 1787. Once the Constitution was complete, Washington was unanimously elected to be the first president, with John Adams as Vice President. Washington's First Inaugural Address inspired the nation. Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to his cabinet, and James Madison served as a chief advisor. He served two terms as president, discouraging political parties and working to keep the new nation out of foreign wars. He refused a third term. In his Farewell Address, Washington urged his fellow citizens to cherish the Constitution. Washington served his country with courage and responsibility, believing that liberty would endure.

Andrew Carnegie

rags-to-riches story is one of perseverance, initiative, and resourcefulness. Born in 1835 to a working-class Scottish family, Carnegie came to the US with his family when he was thirteen years old. In 1853 he took a job at a railroad corporation. He quickly advanced at the company. In 1889, he founded the Carnegie Steel Company. This business combined with others to create US Steel. US Steel helped meet the country's great demand for steel—used in railroads, skyscrapers, and other examples of great technological achievements. Concerned with the growing power of monopolies and their impact on economic rights, the federal government tried to break up the US Steel Company under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. At the time, US Steel provided two-thirds of all steel produced in the country. However, the government was unable to show any misconduct on the part of the company and the case was dismissed. Later in life, Andrew Carnegie dedicated his life to philanthropy. He used his fortune to found the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Anne Hutchinson

stood up to a religious theocracy (where the church and the government are the same) in defense of religious liberty. A well-educated minister's daughter, Hutchinson was born in England in 1591 and came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634. She became a midwife, and she made friends. Soon she began to invite women to her home for Bible study. Over the years, Hutchinson attracted a following. Almost sixty people, both men and women, joined her group. The discussions at her home soon became more like sermons. She criticized the teachings of the colony's ministers. For anyone—and especially a woman—to go against the official religion of the colony was a crime. Colony ministers charged Hutchinson with eighty-two "erroneous opinions." But she did not keep silent. She courageously defended her beliefs. In the end, Hutchinson was convicted and banished to the colony of Rhode Island. Hutchinson's struggle affirmed the values of respect and religious liberty. In 1789, the Constitution banned religious tests for public office; the First Amendment, adopted in 1791, stopped the federal government from establishing a national church; finally, all the states ended their official churches by the early 19th century. Hutchinson's early struggle helped lay the foundation for religious liberty.

Abraham Lincoln

taught himself the law by reading Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England He served in the Illinois House of Representatives and in 1846 was elected to US Congress. He served one term in the US House of Representatives before returning to his law practice. Lincoln's concerns about the Kansas-Nebraska Act lured him back into politics. Lincoln challenged its sponsor, Stephen Douglas, in the 1858 race for Senate. Lincoln lost the election but his performance in debates with Douglas gained him national attention. In 1860 he was elected President of the United States. Upon his election, seven southern states seceded from the Union, and others followed suit. In his First Inaugural Address, he argued that secession was not proper under the Constitution. He cited the Articles of Confederation as creating a "perpetual Union," furthered by the Preamble's goal of a "more perfect Union." After the fighting began, Lincoln called for the suspension of writs of habeas corpus. This meant rebel fighters could be arrested and held without trial. The case of ex parte Milligan addressed the constitutionality of the suspension of habeas corpus. As the war continued, Lincoln consulted with Frederick Douglass about conditions faced by Army soldiers. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1963, announcing that slaves in rebelling states were free and that the Union Army would enforce their freedom. Later that year Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, invoking the spirit of the Declaration of Independence and its promise of equality. At his Second Inaugural Address in March of 1865, the war was coming to an end. Lincoln urged his countrymen to "bind up the nation's wounds" and called the war God's punishment to a country that tolerated the evil of slavery. When the Confederate capital of Richmond was captured, Lincoln made the symbolic gesture of sitting at Jefferson Davis' desk. Five days after General Robert E. Lee's surrender in April of 1865, Lincoln was assassinated. His Vice President Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency. Later that year, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery throughout the nation.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

used the power of her pen to open the eyes of a nation to the injustices of slavery. She was born in Connecticut in 1811. She lived in a Protestant, abolitionist tradition: her father was a minister, her brother was a theologian, her husband was a clergyman. When Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, Stowe knew she had to act. At the time, women had few ways to engage in politics. She could not run for office, or even vote, but she was undeterred. She took initiative and found a political voice in her writings. She began to do research by interviewing former slaves and others who had personal experience with slavery. Her first novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, told of the abuse suffered by enslaved people and families in emotional, human terms. Uncle Tom's Cabin sold 10,000 copies in its first week, and was a bestseller in its time. She reached peoples' hearts and minds in a way that politicians had not been able to do. Historians believe the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin sped up the outbreak of the Civil War, as more and more people believed the nation had a duty to end slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in 1865, ending slavery in the US forever. Harriet Beecher Stowe's writing truly changed a nation's view of justice.

Mary Beth Tinker

was a 13 year-old middle school student from Des Moines, Iowa in 1965. She opposed the war in Vietnam. She, her older brother John, and other students decided to wear black armbands to school to protest the war. They believed their passive protest was considerate and respectful of others. The school district learned of their plans and said students who came to class wearing them would be suspended. The students wore their armbands despite the threat. Tinker believed that, even as a public school student, she had a right to freedom of speech. She held that the armbands were a form of expression (or, symbolic speech), and that therefore the First Amendment should protect her right to wear them. Tinker and her brother took their case to court. In Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) the Supreme Court ruled in the students' favor, saying that the armbands were "akin to pure speech." As Tinker recalled in 2005, "Some people thought we were being unpatriotic." But she explained that even though she knew she would be suspended, she decided to wear her black armband to school anyway. She reflected on her courage and the kinds of choices citizens frequently encounter: "We each have to make those decisions in life.

Alexis de Tocqueville

was a French historian and political scientist. As French foreign minister, he traveled to the United States in 1831. It was the experiences during this visit that led him to write to his most famous work, Democracy in America. In this book, he details his observations of society and culture in the United States. He predicted that democratic institutions like those of the United States would eventually replace the aristocratic governments in Europe. Tocqueville criticized individualism and believed the associations among people would lead to the greatest happiness for society. He emphasized responsibilities of citizenship and the value of compromise. Further, he analyzed the American attempt to foster equality among citizens through the promotion of liberty, while contrasting that approach to more socialistic systems that attempt to foster equality through government control.

John Peter Zenger

was a German immigrant who settled in New York and became a publisher. He printed the first political newspaper of in the country, called the New York Weekly Journal. Its pages contained criticism of the New York governor, charging that he was threatening the "liberties and properties" of the people, and that he had violated the rules of his office. In response, he governor ordered the newspapers burned and had Zenger arrested for "seditious libel." Zenger's bail was set extremely high and he spent nine months in jail. At his trial, Zenger complained that the three judges on the bench at his trial had all been appointed by the governor. In response, the judges disbarred (or disqualified) Zenger's lawyers. Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton then took the case. Hamilton argued that the law defining "seditious libel" was unjust, because it was irrelevant whether the objectionable printed statements were true or false. Since what Zenger printed was true, Hamilton argued, the jury should set him free. He asserted the importance of a free press in society, which ought to have "a liberty both of exposing and opposing tyrannical power by speaking and writing truth." The jury agreed and set aside the law, acquitting Zenger. In addition to the principles of press freedom expressed by Hamilton, the Zenger case illustrates the importance of protections such as jury trials, due process, and prohibitions on excessive bail.

Clarence Darrow

was a lawyer and civil rights advocate. Most famously, he defended John T. Scopes in the "Scopes Monkey Trial" against fellow lawyer William Jennings Bryan. Scopes was a public school teacher accused of violating the Butler Act: a Tennessee law that made it illegal to teach "any theory that denies the story of the divine creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." Darrow believed this law violated the Establishment Clause. He told the Tennessee court, "If today you can take a thing like evolution and make it a crime to teach it in the public school, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools... At the next session you may ban books and the newspapers... we are marching backward to the glorious ages of the sixteenth century when bigots burn[ed] the men who dared to bring any intelligence and enlightenment and culture to the human mind." The most dramatic moments in trial came on the seventh day, when Bryan volunteered to serve as a witness based on his Biblical expertise. During Darrow's examination, Bryan acknowledged that not everything in the Bible should be taken literally, and that indeed creation may have taken place over years. Though Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution, Darrow's arguments are considered a landmark defense of the First Amendment's prohibition of establishment of religion.

Sir William Blackstone

was an English Jurist, the first Vinerian professor of law at Oxford, and Solicitor General to the Queen. Before Blackstone joined the faculty, English universities had focused exclusively on the study of Roman law. Blackstone authored Commentaries on the Laws of England widely regarded as the most complete and readable commentary on English law. The Supreme Court often references Blackstone's writing as a source for determining the intent of the Founders when interpreting the Constitution.

John Locke

was an English philosopher and Oxford scholar. In one of his most important works, Second Treatise of Civil Government, Locke asserts that individuals unite into a society for the better protection of their natural rights, including life, liberty, and property. This work was of great influence on the Founders, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Mason. After William and Mary of Orange assumed the throne and the English Bill of Rights denied freedom of worship to Catholics and Protestants outside the Church of England, Locke wrote "A Letter Concerning Toleration." This essay argued for a new relationship between civil government and religion. Though Locke asserted that atheists and Catholics could not be tolerated, his ideas form one basis of the First Amendment, which prevents the establishment of a national religion and an absolute freedom of belief.

Thomas Hobbes

was an English philosopher, considered to be among the founders of modern political philosophy. His landmark work of political philosophy is Leviathan. His political philosophy influenced later thinkers including Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Locke. He asserted that the natural state of humanity is war, and that people must enter into a compact for their safety and betterment. The Founders, including James Madison, accepted Hobbes's premise that individuals must unite into a society for their own protection. However, they disagreed with Hobbes on many important matters. Hobbes advocated a strong monarch as the enforcer of the law. Hobbes rejected the ideas of freedom of religion and separation of powers in government, which are fundamental parts of the Constitution.

Hugo Black

was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1937. He is noted for his "strict constructionist" reading of the Constitution. Strict constructionism confines the interpretation of law to the words and phrases it contains, without drawing upon other sources or inferences. Black took the position (which has never been adopted by the Supreme Court as a whole) that the Fourteenth Amendment required the incorporation of all the Bill of Rights protections to state governments. This theory is known as "total incorporation." Black wrote many well-known majority opinions, as well as famous dissents. His reading of the First Amendment's protection of free speech led him to argue that the government cannot ban "obscene" speech. He also held in New York Times v. United States (1971) that national security did not allow the government to prevent the publication of sensitive information. He upheld strict separation of church and state in Engel v. Vitale (1962) referencing Thomas Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists. His strict constructionist reading of the Constitution also informed his dissent in Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) where he asserted that wearing armbands was "conduct" and not "speech." He also dissented in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) rejecting the idea that the Constitution protected a right to privacy.

Frederick Douglass

was born a slave in Maryland, in 1817 or 1818. He loved to read and memorized classical speeches. In 1838, he escaped from slavery. He settled in Massachusetts where he attended abolitionist meetings. He soon began a threeyear lecture series. He traveled throughout America and Europe giving speeches, exercising his rights to freedom of speech and assembly. Douglass also exercised his right to freedom of the press, publishing his thoughts in a weekly abolitionist newspaper, the North Star. His most important work was his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave. It was incredibly popular and opened many peoples' eyes to the horrors of slavery. He spoke to President Abraham Lincoln about soldier conditions during the Civil War, and advocated passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which banned slavery throughout the United States. Douglass also spoke and wrote in favor of a amendment to the Constitution securing voting rights and other liberties for former slaves. This call was eventually heeded with the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. Douglass continued to persevere in his work for equal rights for former slaves and for women until his death. The work of Douglass and other abolitionists illustrate the civic values of perseverance, courage, initiative, industry, and civic skills including volunteering.

Cesar Chavez

was born in 1927 in Yuma, Arizona. His parents lost their farm in the Great Depression, and the family moved from place to place, working the fields. His father had been injured in a car accident, so after eighth grade, young Chavez took responsibility for his family and became a farm worker. In 1962, Chavez exercised his First Amendment freedom of assembly and founded the National Farm Workers Association, later called the United Farm Workers. This union fought for contracts, safe conditions, higher wages, and job security for union members. He led a nationwide boycott of grapes to increase support for the United Farm Workers Though his critics point out that unionized farm labor resulted in great numbers of willing workers being turned away from jobs, Cesar Chavez's perseverance brought the experiences of migrant workers to national attention.

Bill Clinton

was born in Arkansas. While a teenager he met President John F. Kennedy. He described this encounter as motivating his life-long desire to serve the public. After attending Oxford and Yale Universities, he served as Attorney General and then Governor of Arkansas before being elected President in 1992. President Clinton led the country through a period of peace and prosperity. With inflation and unemployment low, he proposed a balanced budget to Congress. His domestic agenda included seeking laws protecting the jobs of people who had to care for ill family members, legislation restricting certain gun sales, and strengthening environmental protection policies. Clinton was also concerned with national interest and foreign policy. He advocated international free trade, and as Commander in Chief of the Military, he sent forces to Bosnia and Iraq. Clinton was reelected in 1996 with very high approval ratings. But his indiscretions with a young white house intern led Clinton to become the second president in US history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. He was tried in the Senate and found not guilty of the charges against him. He continued to enjoy record high approval ratings during his second term.

Richard Nixon

was born in California and attended prestigious schools before becoming a successful lawyer. During World War II, he served in the military as a Navy commander. He served in the US House of Representatives and the Senate, before being elected Vice President under President Eisenhower. He ran for president in 1960 but lost to John F. Kennedy; his presidential bid in 1968 was successful. President Nixon advanced national interest in foreign policy, making successful trips that eased tensions with China and the USSR. He negotiated treaties to limit nuclear weapons. His administration tried to prevent the publication of classified documents pertaining to Vietnam War, but the Supreme Court held in New York Times v. United States (1971) that the prior restraint was unconstitutional. A few months after his decisive reelection victory in 1972, the "Watergate Scandal" began to plague Nixon's administration. Burglars were caught trying to place listening devices at the National Democratic Party headquarters. Their arrests lead to discoveries that administration officials had been involved in unethical activities designed to sabotage Democratic candidates, and then conspired to cover it up. Nixon denied personal knowledge or involvement, but White House tape recordings revealed he had known about and approved the cover up. The Supreme Court held that the President did not have the power to withhold the tapes from investigators upon claim of "executive privilege" in the case United States v. Nixon (1974) Facing probable impeachment, Nixon resigned the presidency in August 1974. In his later years, Nixon published books on his experiences with public service and foreign policy, gaining a reputation as an elder statesman.

Sandra Day O'Connor

was born in El Paso, Texas, where she spent much of her childhood on a cattle ranch. She was educated at private schools and enrolled in Stanford Law School in 1950. After graduating third out of 102 students in her class in 1952, O'Connor was unable to find work in a private practice - the only firm that offered her a position wanted her to work as a legal secretary. After working as assistant state attorney general of Arizona, she served in the state senate, becoming the first female majority leader in the country. She went on to serve as a Superior Court judge and on the Arizona Court of Appeals. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated O'Connor to the US Supreme Court. The Senate confirmed her nomination unanimously and O'Connor became the first female Supreme Court Justice in US history. On the Court, she was often the swing vote. She developed a test for identifying Establishment Clause violations, called the Endorsement Test. She voted to limit federal power under the Commerce Clause in United States v. Lopez (1995) and United States v. Morrison (2000). These landmark federalism decisions marked the first time the Court limited federal commerce power since the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt. Justice O'Connor announced she would step down from the Court in 2005, and retired when her replacement was sworn in the next January. She has since spoken out on the importance of separation of powers and checks and balances in our system of government.

Robert Morris

was born in England and came to Maryland in his youth. After apprenticing at a Philadelphia shipping and banking firm, he became a partner of the company at age 23. The firm was successful, trading in a variety of products, including tobacco, rum, wheat, and, for a brief time, African slaves. Morris became a prominent Philadelphia citizen, leading merchants to close the port of Philadelphia to British goods. He served in the state legislature and on the Continental Congress. Initially opposed to independence, he voted against the Lee Resolution But he changed his mind and signed the Declaration of Independence. He also signed the Articles of Confederation. As chairman of the Congress Finance Committee, Morris persuaded reluctant states to contribute to the continental system and army. He obtained war supplies and risked his own ships in bringing these supplies past the British Navy. Morris's company received a commission on each shipment, though some criticized him for profiting at the country's expense. Some accused him of stealing money, but a committee of Congress found that he was not guilty of any wrongdoing and acted with "fidelity and integrity." Robert Morris is known as the "Financier of the Revolution" in part because he risked and spent so much of his own money for the Patriot cause, putting up more than $1 million to finance the decisive Battle of Yorktown alone. Morris supported revising the Articles and attended the Constitutional Convention, though he rarely spoke during the proceedings. He was pleased with the Constitution and signed it. He turned down President George Washington's offer to be Secretary of the Treasury, instead accepting a Senate seat in the first Congress.

Thomas Paine

was born in England and had little formal education. After working various jobs, he met Benjamin Franklin who convinced him to come to America in 1774. In January 1776, Paine published the best-selling pamphlet of the revolutionary era, Common Sense. While serving with George Washington's troops in the Continental Army, Paine wrote a series of essays called The American Crisis. These essays helped improve morale among the troops during the Revolutionary War. Paine continued his defense of the American Revolution and natural rights theory in The Rights of Man when he returned to England in 1787. England charged him with seditious libel because of his critique of monarchy. He fled to France, where he became involved in the revolutionary assembly. He was imprisoned and sentenced to death for voting against the King's execution. While in prison he wrote The Age of Reason, a controversial work criticizing organized religion while insisting on the religious freedom for all. He was freed in 1794 due to the efforts of James Madison, the new American minister to France. Paine had blamed the previous minister, Gouverneur Morris, for what he saw as Morris's failure to secure his release. In 1796 Paine wrote an insulting open letter to George Washington. This letter won him many enemies. President Thomas Jefferson invited Paine to return to America in 1802, but he soon found he was unwelcome. His New York funeral was attended only by a few. His body was later stolen and taken to England, which denied its entry as Paine was still an outlaw. His remains were later lost.

William Penn

was born in England to a prominent Anglican family, and endured persecution when he came a Quaker. He was arrested and imprisoned for expressing his beliefs. Penn determined he would found a new, Quaker settlement in America where religious toleration would flourish. With land given to him by the King as payment for debts owed his father, Penn founded Pennsylvania (named after his father) in 1681. Writing the colonial charter and making plans from across the Atlantic in England, Penn wrote to the colony's residents about his belief that just government relies on the consent of the governed: "You shall be governed by laws of your own making..." He ensured rights such as jury trials, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion for all Christians were included in the charter. Penn's commitment to moderation was evident in the colony's criminal code. At a time when other colonies punished religious dissenters with death and English law provided the death penalty for offenses like robbery, Pennsylvania reserved the death penalty for the crimes of murder and treason only. The government also included precursors to the Constitution including separation of powers and republican government. On his first visit to Pennsylvania in 1682, Penn founded the city of Philadelphia. In negotiating with Indians, he always treated them with respect and paid a fair price for land. On his second visit in 1701, a new constitution for the colony was written that endured until the Revolutionary War. A bell was cast in 1751 for the 50th anniversary of that document, on which was inscribed a Biblical verse: "Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." This bell, now known as the Liberty Bell, hangs in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson called Penn "the greatest law-giver the world has produced."

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His political and philosophical writings, including The Social Contract (1762), were both influential and controversial. Banned in France and Geneva for criticizing religion, The Social Contract nonetheless had an influence on governments in Europe and on the Founders. Rousseau held that human nature was essentially good—that man was naturally a "noble savage"—but degrades into cruelty without a system of laws. Rousseau held that in a natural state, individuals must compete with each other, but they are also increasingly interdependent on each other. This contradiction was to blame for man's degradation. By uniting under a social contract, individuals surrender their natural freedom and agree to submit to the general will of the people, who are sovereign. While the Founders accepted some of Rousseau's philosophy, such as supporting freedom of religion, they rejected others. Rousseau criticized private property and asserted that the general will of the people was sovereign over the individual's body and property. This argument put him knowingly in opposition to other enlightenment philosophers including John Locke, Rousseau also advocated restraints on free speech in order to protect people from bad ideas. For this and other reasons, he is considered an intellectual ancestor of socialist systems.

Martin Luther King Jr.

was born in Georgia. He became a minister in 1947 and became pastor of an Alabama Baptist church in 1954. He believed segregation to be a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and led a boycott of segregated bus lines in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, which led to their integration the next year. Calling for non-violent resistance, he organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to fight for civil rights. In 1963 King spoke at the March on Washington. Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King electrified the crowd of 250,000 with his "I Have a Dream" speech. He referred to the Declaration of Independence and its promise of equality. In the years that followed, King led civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama. Television cameras captured police brutality on peaceful marchers exercising their rights to assemble freely. While imprisoned for marching in April 1963, King wrote "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" which is regarded as a manifesto of the civil rights movement. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Throughout his life, King spoke freely, to crowds who had assembled freely, in order to promote and expand freedom for Americans. King was assassinated in 1968. His funeral was attended by 300,000 people. The work of King and other civil rights activists illustrate the civic values of perseverance, courage, initiative, industry, and civic skills including volunteering.

William Jennings Bryan

was born in Illinois and moved to Nebraska in 1887 where he practiced law. Running on a populist platform, he was the first Democrat elected from Nebraska to the House of Representatives. He lost his bid for Senate in 1894, and became editor of the Democratic newspaper, the Omaha World-Herald. Bryan became an advocate of "Free Silver" policy, delivering his "Cross of Gold"speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention. His charisma impressed many of the delegates. He ran unsuccessfully for president 3 times, taking progressive and anti-imperialist stances. He supported President Woodrow Wilson, who appointed Bryan Secretary of State. He served for 2 years but resigned in protest when Wilson led the country into World War I. In his later life, Bryan worked to secure prohibition and women's suffrage. He became concerned about the teaching of evolution, calling it "consummately dangerous." He argued for a literal interpretation of the Bible and in opposition to the teaching of evolution against Clarence Darrow in what became known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. He died five days after that trial ended.

Ronald Reagan

was born in Illinois in 1911. After working as a radio announcer and then an actor, he came active in politics. In 1966, he was elected governor of California. He ran for president in 1980 and won in a landslide victory. Domestically he focused on principles of limited government and cutting the size of the federal bureaucracy. Reagan also appointed the first female Supreme Court justice in American history, Sandra Day O'Connor. As President, he made national interest and foreign policy a priority. His goal was to end the Cold War with the Eastern Bloc countries, dominated by the communist-controlled Soviet Union. Reagan changed the United States' policy from the previous one of "containment" of the USSR to confrontation. He increased the nation's defense spending and built more nuclear weapons. He went against the advice of many of his own advisors and made a controversial speech, in which he directly challenged the Soviet leader to "tear down" the wall separating East and West Germany and allow East Germans to enjoy their natural rights and freedom. Two years later the wall did come down, and by the end of the 1980s, the Soviet regime had virtually collapsed. Quoting one of the earliest American colonists, Reagan called the United States and its promise of freedom a "shining city on a hill." When he died in 2004, one of his obituaries explained that his efforts had brought liberty to millions of people: "millions of Europeans across half a continent from Poland to Bulgaria, Slovenia to Latvia live in freedom today."

Carrie Chapman Catt

was born in Iowa, studied education and law, and became a high school principal. Later a superintendent and then a newspaper reporter, Catt soon became a lecturer for the woman's suffrage movement. Working closely with Susan B. Anthony. Catt succeeded Anthony as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1900. She urged President Woodrow Wilson to support an amendment to the Constitution securing the right to vote for women. Catt found the group's efforts disorganized, and introduced a strategy to work for a suffrage amendment, known as the "winning plan," to work for reforms on both the state and federal levels. She opposed the efforts of Alice Paul to boycott Democratic candidates who refused to support women's suffrage, as well as Paul's more militant strategies. Catt's perseverance in working to ensure state reforms giving women the vote were critical to securing adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment. This amendment illustrates the constitutional principle of equality. After its passage, Catt founded the League of Women Voters and advocated child labor laws. The work of Catt and other women's suffragists illustrate the civic values of perseverance, courage, initiative, industry, and civic skills including volunteering.

Matthew Lyon

was born in Ireland and came to Connecticut when he was fifteen. He fought in the Revolutionary War, founded the town of New Haven, and helped write the Vermont state constitution. He served in the state legislature and later in the U.S. House of Representatives. Throughout the 1790s he worked as a writer and printer, publishing pamphlets and a weekly newspaper, the Fair Haven Gazette. Lyon was particularly critical of the Federalists in Congress, President John Adams, and the Alien and Seditions Acts, which Lyon believed violated freedom of speech and press protected by the First Amendment. In his newspaper, he published letters from people criticizing President John Adams, and he himself wrote that President Adams was "foolish" and "selfish" and "in a continual grasp for power" for signing this law. Lyon became the first person charged under the Alien and Sedition Acts. At his trial, Lyon argued that the law as unconstitutional. The court disagreed and Lyon was fined and sentenced to four months in jail. While serving his sentence, he was reelected to Congress in a landslide. Public opinion turned against John Adams and the Congress responsible for the Alien and Sedition Acts. Many were turned out of office, and the new Congress allowed the Alien and Sedition Acts to expire in 1801.

Jefferson Davis

was born in Kentucky, and his family soon moved to Mississippi. His father had been an office in the Revolutionary War. He attended the Military Academy at West Point, served in the Black Hawk War, and later returned to Mississippi to become a cotton planter. He allowed his slaves to grow and sell their own food, and is considered to have treated them well compared to other slave owners. A supporter of slavery and a strong advocate of the rights of states against federal interference, he represented Mississippi in the US Senate and House of Representatives. He supported the Fugitive Slave Act and proposed extending the line set by the Missouri Compromise to the Pacific Ocean. He also called for a reinstitution of the slave trade. As tensions grew and talk of southern secession grew, Davis gave speeches arguing against secession and appeared to oppose the idea. However, upon President Abraham Lincoln's election, he yielded to the wishes of the citizens of Mississippi and announced the state's secession in 1861. He described leaving the Union was "necessary." Davis was soon after elected president of what was called the Confederate States of America. Davis assigned Robert E. Lee to command the Army of Northern Virginia, and later appointed Lee Commanding General. After the Civil War, Davis was indicted for treason. While imprisoned, he sold his estate to one of his former slaves. The treason case against him was dropped after several years. He was later re-elected to the US Senate, but was unable to take office under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Upton Sinclair

was born in Maryland in 1878. He believed unregulated capitalism was responsible for much of the poverty he saw, and joined the Socialist Party. He decided to write a series of articles on the Chicago meat-packing industry. The series told the fictional story of an immigrant family who found work in the stock yards. The stories first appeared in a socialist newspaper. In 1906, Sinclair combined them into a fictional novel, The Jungle. It was a world-wide best-seller. Americans were shocked and horrified at the working conditions Sinclair described. President Theodore Roosevelt read The Jungle and ordered inspections of the meatpacking industry. Soon after, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drugs Act (1906) and the Meat Inspection Act (1906). Sinclair exercised his right to freedom of the press in order to bring about what he saw as a needed change.

John Dickinson

was born in Maryland, and his family soon moved to Delaware. He practiced law in Philadelphia and served in both the Delaware and Pennsylvania assemblies. Historians believe him to be the author of Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania (1767-1768) which called for resistance to British policies while urging reconciliation. Dickinson also wrote America's first patriotic song, "The Liberty Song." In 1775, Dickinson and Thomas Jefferson wrote Declaration of the Causes of Taking Up Arms. In this document, Dickinson reassured the British King that the colonists were not raising an army with the intent of establishing independence. When Congress debated the Declaration of Independence the next year, Dickinson objected to its strong wording. In what many saw as a sign of integrity, he left Philadelphia when it became clear that Congress would approve the Lee Resolution. Once independence was declared, Dickinson dropped his objections and helped draft the Articles of Confederation. He served as governor of Delaware before being elected governor of Pennsylvania. In 1783, he lent his name to Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. In 1786, Dickinson chaired the Annapolis Convention and later headed Delaware's delegation to the Constitutional Convention. During the ratification debates, Dickinson authored the Letters of Fabius in support of the Constitution. Because of Dickinson's articulate defense of American liberty, he is known as the "Penman of the Revolution."

Abigail Adams

was born in Massachusetts, a descendant of the distinguished Quincy family. She married young lawyer John Adams in 1764. They settled on a farm in Braintree, Massachusetts. The couple had four surviving children, including son John Quincy Adams. Abigail raised the children and ran the farm while John traveled as a circuit judge and later while he served overseas. She and John corresponded through their long separations and her letters tell of her loneliness, but she persevered with courage and industry. Abigail often shared her views with John on political matters. She famously requested that the framers of the Constitution would "remember the ladies," telling her husband that "all men would be tyrants if they could." She also told John that she believed there was a need for the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Roger Sherman

was born in Massachusetts, and moved to Connecticut in 1743. He owned a cobbler shop, published a series of almanacs, and studied the law independently. In the 1760s Sherman became a leader in the resistance to British tyranny. Dedicated to moderation, he urged peaceful forms of protest, including boycotts and petitions. In 1774 he was elected to the Continental Congress. He served on the committee in charge of drafting the Declaration of Independence, including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston and Thomas Jefferson; it was the committee that chose Jefferson to draft the document. In 1776, Sherman helped frame the Articles of Confederation, and he later signed it. After leaving national politics to return to public service in Connecticut, Sherman returned to Congress in 1783 to approve the Treaty of Paris. Sherman was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, where he worked to guard the power of states against the national government. He argued that the legislature should be the strongest branch of government, suggesting Congress should have the power to select the President. He suggested the Connecticut Compromise, or Great Compromise, which determined the method of representation in Congress. He initially opposed adding a bill of rights to the Constitution, but eventually supported James Madison's effort to add amendments. In 1791, the 70-year old Sherman was appointed to the US Senate, where he served until he died in 1793.

James Otis

was born in Massachusetts, the brother of Mercy Otis Warren. Otis went to Harvard and opened a law practice in Boston in 1750. Six years later, the royal governor appointed him an advocate general in the Vice Admiralty Court. Decisions in Vice Admiralty Courts were rendered by royal judges, not by citizen juries. Many cases involved smuggling, and Otis was troubled by British writs of assistance. (These general warrants gave broad authority to inspectors to search ships, warehouses, and even private homes for evidence of crimes.) In 1761, Otis resigned his post and took the case of Boston merchants who challenged the legality of the writs. In a five-hour long speech, Otis cited the traditional rights of Englishmen to "the freedom of one's house." He also based his argument natural rights theory, asserting that the right to private property was inalienable. John Adams, who observed the speech, would later remark that it marked the start of the American Revolution. Indeed, many of the principles he championed were later enshrined in the Fourth Amendment. Otis soon became a Patriot leader, joining Samuel Adams and John Hancock in opposing British tyranny. In 1764 he published The Rights of the Colonists Asserted and Proved. This pamphlet criticized British taxation without representation, and denounced slavery: "The colonists are by the law of nature freeborn, as indeed all men are, white or black." In 1769, Otis was physically attacked in a Boston coffeehouse by a customs official whom Otis had criticized in the newspaper. The official beat Otis's head with a cane, fracturing his skull and causing permanent brain damage severe enough to force his retirement from public life. In 1783 he died after being struck by lightning.

Susan B. Anthony

was born in Massachusetts, the daughter of Quaker abolitionists. At her first women's rights convention in 1852, she declared that voting was "the right which woman needed above every other." In 1869 Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Lucy Stone founded the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). This organization condemned the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments as injustices to women because they failed to clearly protect women's rights. She and Stanton also published a weekly newspaper, The Revolution. In 1872, Anthony decided to test the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment by casting a vote. She argued that because the amendment protected the "privileges and immunities" of all citizens, that it should protect her right to vote. She was arrested, imprisoned, tried, and found guilty of voting. Anthony's trial gave her a chance to bring her message to a larger audience. In the 1880s, NWSA merged with another suffrage organization to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Stanton became its first president. In 1892, Anthony became its second president - a post she held for eight years. Anthony died in 1906, thirteen years before the Nineteenth Amendment would secure women's right to vote. The fight for women's suffrage was continued by others including Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt. The work of Anthony and other women's suffragists illustrate the civic values of perseverance, courage, initiative, industry, and civic skills including volunteering.

Samuel Adams

was born in Massachusetts, the second cousin of John Adams. He worked at various businesses after graduating from Harvard. During the 1760s, Adams became a leader of Patriot resistance to the British government's attempts to tax the colonies. Adams organized the Sons of Liberty with James Otis and John Hancock. This group took the lead in resisting the Stamp Act and Townshend Duties. Adams was soon famous throughout the colonies. In 1772 Adams authored The Rights of the Colonists, which appealed to the concepts of the rights of Englishmen and natural rights theory. When Parliament passed the Tea Act, Adams organized the Boston Tea Party. In this nighttime raid, 150 Sons of Liberty members dumped 342 chests of British Tea into Boston harbor. The governor of Massachusetts pardoned all the members of the Boston resistance except for Adams and Hancock. The shots in Lexington that began the Revolutionary War were fired on British troops with orders to arrest the two men, but they escaped capture. Adams signed the Declaration of Independence, helped write the Massachusetts Constitution and the Articles of Confederation. Suspicious of strong governmental power, Adams rejected the purpose of the Constitutional Convention—to strengthen the central government—and did not attend. He eventually supported the Constitution after the Bill of Rights was added.

John Adams

was born in Massachusetts, the second cousin of Samuel Adams. He began his law practice after graduating from Harvard. A defining moment in his young life was watching James Otis's courtroom challenge of British writs of assistance, which was based on natural rights theory. The speech filled Adams with zeal for liberty, and Adams would remember it into his old age. Willing to take unpopular stands, Adams courageously defended the British soldiers accused in the Boston Massacre, advising the courtroom to avoid relying on passion s the guide, he emphasized that, "Facts are stubborn things." Adams drafted the Massachusetts Constitution and Declaration of Rights and served in the Continental Congress where he was a leading advocate of independence. He seconded the Lee Resolution and served on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence (though the writing was done by Thomas Jefferson). He signed the Treaty of Paris with Benjamin Franklin and John Jay, and completed diplomatic missions in Europe. He was serving overseas as the Constitution was being drafted. He and his friend Jefferson wrote to James Madison urging the addition of a bill of rights. Adams served as the country's first Vice President under George Washington from 1879-1797. He was elected the second President of the United States in 1796. As President, he kept the United States out of war with France but signed the controversial and probably unconstitutional Alien and Sedition Acts to do so. He also signed the Judiciary Act of 1801. Six months before he died, Adams's son John Quincy Adams became the sixth president of the United States. Adams died fifty years to the day after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

Mercy Otis Warren

was born in Massachusetts, the sister of James Otis. She was an early supporter of independence, and anonymously published satirical plays designed to criticize the Massachusetts royal governor in 1772 and 1773. She corresponded with many Patriot leaders, exchanging hundreds of letters with Abigail Adams, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton. Believing in the natural rights theory expressed in the Declaration of Independence, she argued that women should have equal rights under the law. Warren opposed ratification of the Constitution. She authored an anonymous criticism of the document in 1788 called Observations on the New Constitution ... by a Columbian Patriot. Other than the lack of equal rights for women, her chief complaints were later addressed in the Bill of Rights. Some historians believe she was also the author of at least one Anti-Federalist paper attributed to Elbridge Gerry, and that she co-authored Letters from a Federal Farmer with Richard Henry Lee. In later years she argued for equality in education for girls and boys. She also published a volume of poetry and, in 1805, published a three-volume work, History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution. She is sometimes called "The Conscience of the American Revolution."

John Quincy Adams

was born in Massachusetts, the son of Abigail Adams and President John Adams. After studying abroad and at Harvard, Adams began a law practice. He served as minister to the Netherlands and Prussia and was elected to Congress in 1803. He served as Secretary of State under James Monroe and helped craft the Monroe Doctrine. Adams ran for president in 1824 with John C. Calhoun as his Vice President. When no candidate won a majority of electoral votes, Speaker of the House and presidential candidate Henry Clay gave Adams his support. Once elected, Adams then appointed Clay as Secretary of State, to the outrage of candidate Andrew Jackson. Jackson vowed to run again, and Adams faced hostility in Congress because of what many perceived as a "corrupt bargain" between Adams and Clay. Jackson defeated Adams in the election of 1828. Many believe that Adams's most important contributions came after his presidency. He defended the African passengers of the Spanish slave ship Amistad, arguing that they should be returned home free and not sent back to Spain as slaves. He was elected to the House of Representatives, where he exercised perseverance, fighting against Congress's "Gag Rule" policy of automatically tabling petitions on slavery from 1836 to 1841. He urged Congress to give consideration to the petitions.

Daniel Webster

was born in New Hampshire and first became an acclaimed public speaker while attending Dartmouth College. He began to practice law and later argued on behalf of Dartmouth in the Supreme Court case Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1818). Webster represented New Hampshire in the US House of Representatives from 1812 to 1816. He subsequently moved to Massachusetts and in 1827 was elected to the Senate. There he defended the view that states could not nullify federal laws. He famously uttered the words, "liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable" in the Hayne-Webster Debate on the compact theory of the Union. His views were shared by Henry Clay and opposed by John C. Calhoun. He supported the Compromise of 1850 and, as Secretary of State, helped enforce the Fugitive Slave Act.

Alice Paul

was born in New Jersey to a Quaker family. She became interested in women's suffrage while a graduate student in England. She came back to the United States in 1910 and turned her attention to winning votes for women in America. She earned her PhD in economics, concentrating on the status of women in Pennsylvania. She wished to build on the efforts of earlier suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Paul organized a large parade to coincide with the inaugural of President Woodrow Wilson in 1913. She published leaflets, and held daily pickets in front of the White House. She burned copies of Wilson's speeches, calling them "meaningless words" about democracy. In 1917 she and many others were arrested for peacefully marching. While in jail, she began a hunger strike and was force-fed by prison authorities. Paul's actions alienated some, including National American Woman Suffrage Association President Carrie Chapman Catt, who believed the women's suffragists were becoming too militant. On the other hand, those who were arrested for exercising their First Amendment rights to speak, publish, peaceably assemble, and petition won the public's sympathy. Wilson ordered them released from prison. He also soon lent his support to women's suffrage. Congress approved the Nineteenth Amendment within a year and it was ratified by the states in 1920. Paul continued her campaign for women's rights, leading a successful campaign to add gender as a protected category to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The work of Paul and other women's suffragists illustrate the civic values of perseverance, courage, initiative, industry, and civic skills including volunteering.

Aaron Burr

was born in New Jersey, the son of a Presbyterian cleric and grandson of theologian Jonathan Edwards. After studying theology for two years he turned to the practice of law. After serving in the Continental Army, he began to organize the Democratic Party in New York. He ran for Vice President in 1800, though at the time electors did not cast separate votes for President and Vice President. When Burr and Thomas Jefferson received an equal number of electoral votes, fellow New Yorker Alexander Hamilton lent his support to Jefferson. Jefferson won the presidency and Burr became Vice President.To minimize the danger of another deadlock, Congress passed the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution in 1803; the states ratified the amendment in 1804. This amendment required each elector to cast one vote for President and one vote for Vice President. Burr's animosity for Hamilton grew when, in 1804, Burr ran for governor of New York and lost. Burr blamed his loss on Hamilton's political maneuvering. In July of 1804 he challenged Hamilton to a duel. His shot mortally wounded his rival. Burr was charged with murder but was never brought to trial. After the duel Burr went south to New Orleans. At the time, the Spanish were conspiring for control of the Mississippi valley. Burr allegedly made plans with James Wilkinson, the governor of the Louisiana Territory, to support a rebellion. He was arrested and charged with treason - he was accused of attempting to establish an independent republic in the Southwest. John Marshall presided over his Virginia trial. Burr was acquitted in the first application of the Constitution's provisions for the crime of treason.

Douglas MacArthur

was born in New Mexico where he spent much of his childhood on an Army base which was commanded by his father. He graduated first in his class at the Military Academy at West Point in 1903, beginning a life spent serving in the military. He completed various assignments before fighting courageously in World War I, becoming the most highly decorated American soldier of the war. He then returned to West Point as Superintendent. MacArthur soon left for Philippines, preparing the islands for independence. But when Japan attacked in World War II, MacArthur's troops were initially defeated. President Franklin Roosevelt ordered him to Australia. MacArthur assured his men, "I shall return." True to his word, in 1944 he liberated the Philippines. In 1945 he accepted the Japanese's surrender. For the next five years he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan, helping the country to rebuild and establish a democratic government. After serving his country once again, this time in the Korean War, MacArthur retired from the military in 1951. The military is under civil control, and MacArthur had disagreements with Commander-in-Chief President Truman. He would return one final time to West Point to give his Duty, Honor, Country address in 1962.

John Jay

was born in New York City to a prominent family and gained notoriety as a lawyer throughout the state. He served in the First Continental Congress and published Address to the People of Great Britain in which he argued that the colonists had the same rights as the British, including rights to private property, jury trials, due process, and religious liberty. Though he opposed many British policies, he favored a moderate approach to Britain. In what many believed to be a sign of integrity, he resigned from Congress rather than sign the Declaration of Independence. He joined his fellow Patriots once the rest of the colonists rallied behind the action. In 1777 Jay helped draft the New York constitution, served as state supreme court Chief Justice, and on the Continental Congress. He was elected President of the Assembly, the highest office under the Articles of Confederation. Together with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, he traveled to Europe to negotiate the Treaty of Paris. While he was away, Congress appointed him Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He found the job difficult to execute because under the Articles each state could act alone and he had no power to negotiate meaningful treaties. This experience strengthened his resolve for a stronger central government. He teamed with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to write five essays of The Federalist Papers encouraging ratification of the Constitution. President George Washington appointed Jay the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1789. In 1794 he negotiated "Jay's Treaty" which was successful at avoiding war with Britain, but which received a negative reception in the United States because of the belief that Jay had made too many concessions to the British. The next year Jay resigned from the Supreme Court as he had been elected governor of New York—an office he neither requested nor sought. As governor, he signed an emancipation bill and continued to work for the abolition of slavery.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

was born in New York and, after attending prestigious schools, followed the example of his fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt, and entered politics. He was elected to state senate in 1910 and later appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President Woodrow Wilson. In the summer of 1921 Roosevelt was stricken with polio. He persevered through physical therapy but never fully regained the use of his legs. Seven years later he was elected governor of New York, and in 1932 was elected President of the United States. When he took office the country was in the depths of the depression. Thirteen million people were out of work and almost all banks had closed. In his First Inaugural Address he likened the crisis to a foreign invasion, and asserted that the Constitution's separation of powers and system of checks and balances would have to be temporarily suspended in order to see the country through. He proposed what he called the New Deal: expansive federal programs, funded by citizens paying taxes. He sent a record number of bills to Congress attempting to bring relief to farmers and the unemployed. In 1935 he proposed the Social Security Act. Controls were enacted on utilities and businesses, and the government moved towards regulating the economy. The repeal of Prohibition also brought in more tax revenue for the federal government. After his decisive reelection victory in 1936, Roosevelt became frustrated with the Supreme Court, which had been overturning some New Deal legislation as unconstitutional expansions of Congress's powers. In what has come to be called his "Court-packing scheme," he proposed that the President should be allowed to add one Justice to the Court for every sitting justice over the age of 70. This proposal failed, but one justice shifted his vote and the Court began voting to uphold New Deal laws. This switch resulted in what historians call a "revolution" in the Court's constitutional interpretation and understanding of federalism, which continued for more than fifty years. Roosevelt faced issues of national interest and foreign policy. He attempted to keep the country out of World War II, favoring a "Good Neighbor" policy of neutrality. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt believed he had to act; Congress declared war on Japan the next day, and on Germany and Italy three days later. Roosevelt served as Commander in Chief of the military making the defeat of Nazi Germany the first priority. Fearing Japanese saboteurs, he signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced internment of Japanese-Americans in western states. This action was upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court in Korematsu v. United States (1944). In all, President Roosevelt was elected to four terms as President. Until that time, US presidents had followed the example of President George Washington who had limited his office to two terms. In 1951, the 22nd Amendment was passed limiting US Presidents to two terms.

Gouverneur Morris

was born in New York. During a visit home from King's College (now Columbia University), Morris's right arm was crippled when he was burned by an overturned pot of hot water. After being admitted to the New York bar, Morris became interested in politics and after initial resistance, took up the Patriot cause. He helped write New York's new constitution and served in the Continental Congress. He signed the Articles of Confederation in 1787 and soon after, lost his left leg in a carriage accident. He had to use a wooden leg for the rest of his life. In 1781 as Assistance United States Superintendent of Finance, Morris struggled to finance the Continental Army. He hinted that the Continental Army might employ force if Congress did not act. The officers assembled at barn in Newburgh, New York to discuss marching on Philadelphia, but George Washington quelled the Newburgh Conspiracy by appearing at the gathering. Morris was a delegate the Constitutional Convention. He was appointed, along with Alexander Hamilton, to the Committee of Style and was responsible for the final language of the Constitution. Some believe he glossed the wording to enhance the power of the federal government, including beginning the Preamble with the words "We the people" rather than "We the states," signifying that the Constitution was not the creature of the states, but the work of the nation as a whole. Morris turned down an offer from Alexander Hamilton to co-author a defense of the Constitution (which became known as The Federalist Papers.) He succeeded Thomas Jefferson as ambassador to France, and courageously remained at his post during the bloody Reign of Terror—the only foreign diplomat to do so. In 1812 he became distressed by the war with Great Britain, and called for the secession of New York and New England from the Union. This attempt was discredited, and Morris died four years later at the age of 64.

Andrew Johnson

was born in North Carolina where he grew up in poverty. He worked as a tailor in Tennessee before entering politics. He was elected to the House of Representatives as well as the Senate in the 1840s and 1850s where he saw himself as a champion of the people while proposing laws giving land the poor. He also favored the Fugitive Slave Act, and supported Stephen Douglas, the opponent of then-Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln. However, he supported the Union and condemned session as a threat to the Constitution. He remained in the Senate when Tennessee seceded, and President Abraham Lincoln appointed him military governor of the state. He was elected Vice President in 1864, and assumed the presidency after Lincoln's assassination. He began to make enemies of Republican leaders in Congress. Johnson granted pardons to southerners who would swear oaths of allegiance. Though the Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery, "black codes" in many states restricted the liberty of former slaves. Johnson vetoed Congress's Reconstruction civil rights legislation, but Congress overrode the president's veto to pass a law declaring former slaves to be citizens. Johnson's struggle with Congress over Reconstruction continued, until he was accused of improperly dismissing his Secretary of War in violation of the Tenure of Office Act. He became the first president to be impeached. In his 1868 Senate trial, he was acquitted of three charges by one vote.

James Wilson

was born in Scotland and came to Pennsylvania in 1765. He joined John Dickinson's law firm before opening his own practice. He became involved in Patriot activities, and published pamphlets criticizing British policies. He served in the Second Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, Wilson advocated direct election of the president. This would have constituted a radical change from the system under the Articles of Confederation (which had no national executive) and from that supported by advocates of republican government. It also put him at odds with major figures from the Founding period, such as Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, who believed that substantial power should be reserved to the individual states, and that a popularly-elected executive-among other changes-would concentrate power too heavily at the national level. Wilson is credited with the compromise that resulted in the formation of the Electoral College. Once the Constitution was sent to the states, Wilson joined with Benjamin Rush to secure ratification in Pennsylvania. In 1789, President George Washington appointed Wilson to the Supreme Court. His most important opinion, establishing that a citizen of one state could sue the government of another state, was overturned by the Eleventh Amendment. During his time on the Court, Wilson also served as the University of Pennsylvania's first professor of law. He lectured on the place of law in society, and cruel and unusual punishment as prohibited by the Eighth Amendment, and urged moderation , swiftness, and certainty in punishment as a means of ensuring justice.

John Witherspoon

was born in Scotland and followed in his father's footsteps to become a Presbyterian minister. While in Scotland, Benjamin Rush heard his sermons and described them as "loaded with good sense and adorned with elegance and beauty." When the College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton University) asked Witherspoon to become the college's sixth president, Rush convinced the Witherspoons to make the journey. The family came to America in 1768. The new university president overcame challenges including meager funding and low enrollment. He traveled extensively, raising money for the school. Seeing no conflict between faith and reason, he added new courses, expanding the school's offerings beyond spiritual studies. Enrollment began to climb. Among Witherspoon's students were future leaders including James Madison and Aaron Burr. John Adams said that Witherspoon was "as high a son of liberty, as any man in America." Witherspoon represented New Jersey in the Continental Congress. He was the only active member of the clergy to sign the Declaration of Independence. He signed the Articles of Confederation, and, championing the causes of religious liberty and national unity, supported ratification of the Constitution. He continued to serve as president of the College of New Jersey until his death.

John C. Calhoun

was born in South Carolina and after attending Yale University, began to practice law. He was elected to the state legislature and later to the US House of Representatives. He served as Vice President under President John Quincy Adams and again under President Andrew Jackson. In 1832 he resigned that office and was elected to the US Senate. Calhoun favored slavery and its expansion. In an 1837 Senate speech, Calhoun defended slavery as a beneficial institution. Slaves, he argued, fared better under the care of a master than poor workers did in the industrial North. Further, he expressed a view of the Union similar to the one his predecessor, Charles Hayne, had expressed in the Webster-Hayne debate. He believed that the Union was a compact between sovereign states, and that states, not the Supreme Court, could declare acts of Congress unconstitutional. He believed states should nullify federal attempts to limit slavery. Three weeks before his death, he spoke against many of the provisions of the Compromise of 1850, which limited slavery's westward expansion. He favored the Fugitive Slave Act. His final, 42-page speech asserted that North and South were now two separate nations that should separate peacefully.

Angelina Grimke

was born in South Carolina. She and her sister, Sarah Grimke, were Quakers and abolitionists. Grimke published an anti-slavery letter called "An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South," in William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper, The Liberator. In it, she urged women to convince the men in their lives that slavery was a "crime against God and man...If you believe slavery is sinful, set them at liberty." Aware of the importance of freedom of speech and press, she wrote, "It is through the tongue, the pen, and the press, that truth is principally propagated..." She also encouraged women to circulate and sign petitions urging an end to slavery. Threats from South Carolina slave owners prompted Grimke and her sister to move to New York. There, the Grimke sisters became the first women to lecture on behalf the Anti-Slavery Society. Religious leaders who disapproved of public speaking by women condemned them. During the Civil War, Grimke spoke out in support of President Abraham Lincoln. She celebrated the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Years later, she tested the Fourteenth Amendment by attempting to cast a vote. In later life, Grimke spoke out for women's suffrage and the Biblical equality of men and women. She and her sister opened a private school, to which Elizabeth Cady Stanton sent her children. The work of Grimke and other abolitionists illustrate the civic values of perseverance, courage, initiative, industry, and civic skills including volunteering.

Lyndon B. Johnson

was born in Texas where he worked as a teacher. During World War II he served in the military as a Navy lieutenant commander. He won a seat in the US House of Representatives in 1937 after campaigning on the New Deal Programs of President Franklin Roosevelt. He served six terms in the House before being elected to the Senate. In 1960 Johnson was elected Vice President under President John F. Kennedy. When Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Johnson assumed the presidency. He urged Congress to adopt the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After being reelected in 1964, Johnson urged the nation to "build a great society." Congress approved Johnson's unprecedented series of social programs, which became known as the "Great Society." The Social Security Act was amended to include Medicare for the elderly. The Voting Rights Act addressed discrimination in voting. Welfare programs were implemented to combat poverty and crime. Despite these programs, however, crime and poverty persisted, and race riots plagued the nation. Johnson also exercised his power as Commander in Chief of the military during the Vietnam War. In 1964 he asked Congress for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. In 1968, Johnson announced he would not seek reelection due to the crisis of the war. In response to questions about the president's role as Commander in Chief, and the separation of powers under the Constitution during the administrations of Presidents Johnson and Richard Nixon, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution in 1973. In 1971, the printing of classified documents pertaining in part to Johnson's conduct during the Vietnam War were at the center of the Supreme Court case New York Times v. United States (1971).

Stephen Douglas

was born in Vermont and moved to Illinois when he was 20. In the 1830s and 1840s he served in various Illinois offices, and emerged as a leader of the Democratic Party. He represented Illinois in the US House of Representatives from 1843-1847 and in the US Senate from 1847 until he died in 1861. In Congress, he favored westward expansion, "Manifest Destiny," and the Compromise of 1850. He believed that states should enter the Union slave or free, based on how their voting population indicated, a doctrine known as "popular sovereignty." To that end, he proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. In 1858, he ran for reelection to the Senate against Abraham Lincoln. During the campaign the two candidates squared off in a series of debates, which became known as the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Lincoln lost the Senate race but his performance helped boost his national support for the presidency. When Lincoln was elected, Douglas condemned secession and, on Lincoln's request, traveled the country speaking out in favor of preserving the Union. He died two months after shots were fired on Fort Sumter.

Sam Houston

was born in Virginia and moved to Tennessee in his teens. His courageous service in the War of 1812 caught the attention of General Andrew Jackson, and the two men became friends. After the war he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1818. He represented Tennessee in the House of Representatives from 1823-28 and later became governor of that state. He resigned the office in 1829 and lived among the Cherokee Indians for a time, even being made a member of the Cherokee Nation. He assisted the tribe with the relocations required by the Indian Removal Act. On various trips, he met Alexis de Tocqueville who is believed to have used Houston in composite examples of Americans. Houston soon moved to Texas, supporting its independence from Mexico. As Commander in Chief, he led the Texas Army in the defeat of Mexican General Santa Ana, and served as the first President of the Republic of Texas. The state joined the Union in 1845, and Houston served three terms in the US Senate. There, he often clashed with John C. Calhoun. He expressed support for the Union and favored the Compromise of 1850. He opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act because he believed it would contribute to increased sectionalism and lead to war. Though Houston owned slaves and opposed abolition, his desire to preserve the Union prevailed. Houston left the Senate and was elected governor of Texas in 1859. When President Abraham Lincoln was elected, Texas seceded from the Union. In what many saw as a sign of integrity, Houston refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, and was removed as governor. He died two years later.

James Madison

was born in Virginia to a wealthy family. After graduating from Princeton, he served in the Virginia legislature. He worked closely with Thomas Jefferson and helped draft and win support for the Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom. In 1780 he joined the Continental Congress and became concerned that the Articles of Confederation were inadequate. In 1787, he was a leader at the Constitutional Convention. The author of the Virginia Plan, he suggested a system of checks and balances. He also worked to balance the reserved and concurrent powers of the states and federal government. He also took detailed notes through the convention. Because of his efforts, Madison is known as the "Father of the Constitution." When the Constitution was sent to the states, Madison teamed with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay to write the Federalist Papers in support of ratification. He led the debate to approve the Constitution in Virginia, taking on Anti-Federalist leader Patrick Henry. He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1789, where he became George Washington's chief supporter. When it became clear that the Constitution would not pass without the promise of a listing of rights, he proposed seventeen amendments, twelve of which were sent to the states for approval. Of those twelve, the states approved ten which became known as the Bill of Rights. Madison eventually split from Washington politically as Washington aligned himself with Alexander Hamilton and his plan for a Bank of the United States. Madison moved away from the Federalists and closer to Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party. After leaving Congress in 1797, Madison and Jefferson wrote the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts. Madison became Jefferson's Secretary of State and later succeeded him as President in 1809. As President, he allowed the nation to enter the War of 1812—called "Mr. Madison's War" by many at the time—a decision that many historians count as a historic failure. However, the war won respect for the new republic overseas and Madison emerged from the war with great popular support.

Patrick Henry

was born in Virginia where he was educated by his father and expected to become a farmer. After failing at farming and storekeeping, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1760. As a member of the Virginia legislature in the 1760s, Henry opposed the Stamp Act. By the 1770s he had emerged as one of the most radical leaders of the opposition to British tyranny. He served in the Continental Congress and urged his fellow Virginians to take up arms against the British, famously uttering in 1775 as the British militia advanced in Massachusetts, "Gentlemen may cry 'peace!' but there is no peace...the war is actually begun!...I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" Henry later led 150 colonists to Williamsburg, demanding the return of gunpowder seized by the royal governor. After helping craft the Virginia Declaration of Rights, Henry was elected the first governor of Virginia. He would serve a total of five terms. In later years, he helped found Hampden-Sydney College, and attempted to expand government support of teachers—who were mainly ministers of the state's official church. His proposal was defeated and two years later Virginia adopted the Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom bringing an end to the state church. Wary of federal power and suspicious of the motives of the assembly, Henry declined to attend the Constitutional Convention. He became a leading Anti-Federalist critic of the Constitution when it was sent to the states, engaging in heated debates with James Madison at the Virginia ratifying convention. When the Bill of Rights was sent to the states, Henry believed the amendments were not enough and instead called in vain for a new constitutional convention. Henry retired from politics in 1791 and resumed his law practice. He turned down offers from President George Washington to serve as Secretary of State and then as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Washington convinced Henry to run for the state legislature. He was elected, but he died before he could take office.

Henry Clay

was born in Virginia, studied law, and began to practice law in Kentucky. He served in the Kentucky state legislature and was elected to the US House of Representatives five times, each time serving as Speaker of the House. He and John C. Calhoun worked together to pass the Tarriff of 1816 to help both North and South recover after the War of 1812. Clay became known as the Great Compromiser. Clay was a slaveowner, but favored emancipation and the return of slaves to Africa. In 1820, the question of slavery in the Missouri Territory caused a rift in Congress. Clay brokered the Missouri Compromise, maintaining the balance between slave states and free states in the Senate. He ran for president in 1824, but the election produced no winner and was decided in the House of Representatives. Clay gave his support to John Quincy Adams, who, upon election, appointed Clay Secretary of State. This arrangement was dubbed a "corrupt bargain" by Andrew Jackson and his supporters. Clay would run for President and lose a total of five times. He helped create the Whig Party, which opposed the new Democratic Party under the leadership of Andrew Jackson. Clay was elected to the US Senate in 1831. Later in his career, he helped establish the Compromise of 1850.

Woodrow Wilson

was born in Virginia. He earned law and doctoral degrees at prestigious universities before becoming a political science professor and later president of Princeton University. He served as Governor of New Jersey, and in 1912 was elected President of the United States. Alice Paul organized a women's suffrage parade for the day before his inauguration. A number of Progressive reforms took place during his administration, in the form of legislation and amendments to the Constitution. The Sixteenth Amendment was ratified a month before he took office; President Wilson gained Congress's approval for a graduated federal income tax. The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Amendment followed. Congress heeded Wilson's call to amend the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Finally, Wilson lent his support to women's suffrage, and in 1919 the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. Though he initially attempted to keep the United States out of World War I, he asked Congress to declare war on Germany in 1917. He acted as Commander in Chief of the military and two years later negotiated the Treaty of Versailles, which included his plan for the League of Nations. Congress did not approve the treaty, however, so the League of Nations began without the United States as a member. President Wilson won the Nobel peace prize in 1920.

Thomas Jefferson

was born in Virginia. He studied law, was elected to the Virginia legislature, and became known for his writing. Many of his writings reveal the influence of John Locke as well as Jefferson's belief in natural rights theory. In Notes on the State of Virginia and Summary View of the Rights of British America, he expressed his ideas about religious freedom, education, and property rights, among other things. While the Continental Congress debated the Lee Resolution in 1776, Jefferson was selected to draft the Declaration of Independence. He authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786. Jefferson did not take part in the Constitutional Convention as he was serving as minister to France at the time, but he wrote to James Madison expressing his view that the document should include a bill of rights. In 1789 George Washington appointed Jefferson the first Secretary of State. He and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton soon became bitter rivals. The nation's first political parties formed around the two men. Jefferson resigned his post after three years and ran for president in 1796 but lost to John Adams by three electoral votes. Under the system in place at the time, he became Adam's Vice President. He disagreed sharply with many of Adams's policies. He and James Madison wrote the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions in 1798 in opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts. Two years later, Jefferson was elected president. He purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803. His second term as President was beset by foreign and domestic troubles. After two terms as president, he retired to Monticello. In 1819, he founded the University of Virginia, which he noted as one of his proudest achievements. He died fifty years to the day after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

George Mason

was born in Virginia. He was George Washington's supply officer in the French and Indian War, and served in the Virginia colonial legislature. Mason supported independence and was the primary author of the Virginia Constitution and Virginia Declaration of Rights. Both documents were adopted in June of 1776. Mason's words in the Virginia Declaration, which were based on the ideas of John Locke and natural rights theory, influenced Thomas Jefferson's writing in the Declaration of Independence. During the 1780s, Mason was among the many statesmen who believed the Articles of Confederation to be an inadequate form of government. Mason was called on to serve at the Constitutional Convention during the summer of 1787. There, he opposed the Constitution because he believed the central government was too strong. He argued that the document needed a bill of rights to protect the people from government abuses. He also called for an end to the importation of slaves. All these calls were rejected. Acting with integrity, Mason refused to sign the Constitution. He argued against its ratification, making enemies of James Madison and George Washington. Mason became a leading Anti-Federalist after the Convention, writing a pamphlet called Objections to this Constitution of Government. He argued that the Constitution gave "no security" to the "Declarations of rights in the separate States." At the Virginia Ratifying Convention, he joined Patrick Henry in opposing adoption. Madison promised that a bill of rights would be added, and Virginia voted to ratify. Three years later, many of the protections in the U.S. Bill of Rights would be based on Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights. For this reason, Mason is known as the "Grandfather of the Bill of Rights."

Andrew Jackson

was born in on the border between North and South Carolina, but always considered himself to be a South Carolinian. His success as a self-taught lawyer allowed him to build a home in Tennessee and buy slaves. He was that state's first Congressman and also served in the Senate. Jackson was a general in the War of 1812, and he befriended Sam Houston. His defeat of the British at New Orleans made him a national hero. General Jackson also oversaw the military removal of many Indian Tribes in Georgia, Alabama, and Spanish Florida, and negotiated several treaties securing Indian land for the US. He was elected President in 1828 and two years later proposed the Indian Removal Act. As a result of the legislation, 46,000 American Indians were removed from their homes, many dying on the Trail of Tears, and 25 million acres of land were opened to settlement by the US. Jackson saw himself as a populist—having been elected with a greater portion of the popular vote than any previous candidate—and proposed eliminating the Electoral College in his first address to Congress. Jackson frequently exercised his veto power over Congress' legislation, which resulted in a split within Jackson's political party. Those who opposed his policies included John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, who ran against him for president in 1832. Jackson was reelected in 1832 with five times more electoral votes than Clay.

Alexander Hamilton

was born in the West Indies, the illegitimate son of a poor Scottish merchant and a woman of French descent. After being sent to America by a local businessman, he became active in New York's Patriot movement. General George Washington asked Hamilton to join his personal staff and made him a lieutenant colonel. He was admitted to the bar in 1782. In 1783 he served in the Confederation Congress, where he and James Madison both desired a stronger central government. At the 1787 Constitution Convention, Hamilton's nationalist views were not received well by the other delegates. He called for a strong executive branch with a president who would serve for life. Though it did not strengthen the national government as much as he had hoped, Hamilton took the lead in promoting ratification of the Constitution in New York. He teamed with Madison and John Jay to write The Federalist Papers, writing 52 of the 85 essays. In Federalist No. 70, he made the case that "the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty." In Federalist No. 84, he argued that a bill of rights was not needed, because the government had only those powers listed: "why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?" Hamilton served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Washington. He pressed for the establishment of a national bank—something not in Congress's enumerated powers. This plan was opposed by Thomas Jefferson and others who feared growing federal power. The first party system in America formed around these two men. After leaving the Washington administration in 1795, Hamilton acted as the defense lawyer in People v. Croswell (1803), in which he made the argument that truth could be used as a defense for libel. Though he lost the case, his arguments led New York to change its law, protecting freedom of the press. Fifteen years after Hamilton's death in a duel with Aaron Burr Chief Justice John Marshall held in McCullough v. Maryland (1819) that the creation of a national bank was an implied power of the federal legislature and was therefore constitutional.

Benjamin Rush

was born near Philadelphia. He studied medicine in Pennsylvania, Scotland, England, and France. When he returned to Pennsylvania in 1769 he was named the first professor of chemistry at the College of Philadelphia. He gained a good reputation in the city, treating the poor and then expanding his practice. During the yellow fever epidemics of the 1790s, John and Abigail Adams, were among his patients. He supported innovative techniques, but was criticized for continuing to practice bloodletting even when it was shown to be ineffective. Rush encouraged Thomas Paine to write on behalf of independence, and even suggested the title for Common Sense. He signed the Declaration of Independence. He served as Surgeon General of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He was appalled by the dreadful conditions of the military hospitals, and even questioned General George Washington, telling Congress that officers should be chosen annually. He resigned his post when Congress rejected his plea. Rush attended the Constitutional Convention and, along with James Wilson, helped secure ratification of the Constitution in Pennsylvania. Rush was also concerned with social reform. He courageously expressed views he knew would be controversial. He supported the new technique of vaccinations against smallpox. He helped establish the first abolitionist society in America. In his view, slavery was inconsistent with the principles of natural rights theory and the Declaration of Independence. His belief in equality also led him to urge public education for all, including women. President John Adams appointed Rush as Treasurer of the US Mint in 1799, a post he held until 1813. Rush's influence on the lives of two prominent Founders is also noteworthy. When the divisive political issues of the 1790s took their toll on the friendship of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Rush was instrumental in their reconciliation. Rush corresponded with the two men for 20 years. Upon hearing of his death in 1813, John Adams reflected, "I know of no character living or dead who has done more real good for his country."

Melancton Smith

was born on Long Island, New York. He was a merchant and also served as Secret Service Commissioner and Sheriff of Duchess County. In 1775 he was elected delegate to the First Provincial Congress in New York. He served for two years, 1785-1787, in the Continental Congress. When Congress decided to revise the Articles of Confederation and proposed a new Constitution, Smith supported the Anti-Federalists. At the New York ratification convention in Poughkeepsie, Smith debated with Federalist leaders Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. Smith spoke out against approving the Constitution, pointing to the failure of ancient federal republics in history. He argued that the Constitution's provisions for representation were insufficient, and would result in government being exclusively in the hands of the wealthiest members of society. Representatives, he argued, should closely resemble their constituents in terms of station in society. Smith served in the New York state assembly in 1791. He died in New York City in 1798.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

was born to a Catholic family in Maryland. Though Maryland was founded as a refuge for Catholics, a 1650 takeover of the assembly by Protestants declared Catholicism illegal. The Church of England became the official religion in 1692. Catholics could not serve in government or vote. In 1772, Carroll became involved in political life. Writing under the name First Citizen, Carroll rallied the colonists to resist tyranny. He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1776—too late to the vote for the break with England but in time to sign the Declaration of Independence. Carroll returned to Maryland two years later to assist in writing the state constitution. Thanks to Carroll's courage and perseverance, that document's declaration of rights protected religious freedom for all Christians, including Catholics, who now had the right to vote and hold office. He was reelected to the Continental Congress but declined, preferring to serve in the state senate, which he did from 1781 to 1800. Following the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson on July 4, 1826, Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. He died in Baltimore in 1832.

Richard Henry Lee

was born to one of the wealthiest families in Virginia. He studied law and was elected to the Virginia legislature at age 25. There he was an outspoken opponent of slavery. He asserted that Africans, with the same natural rights as Europeans, were "equally entitled to liberty and freedom by the great law of nature." Nevertheless, Lee owned slaves and did not free them. In response to British policies, Lee condemned the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts, organized committees, and kept in contact with Samuel Adams, a Patriot leader in Boston. He served in the Continental Congress, and on June 7, 1776, introduced the Lee Resolution calling for independence from England. His resolution led to the writing and ratification of the Declaration of Independence. Lee signed the Articles of Confederation in 1781 and served in the Confederation Congress, serving as the body's first president. He helped guide the Northwest Ordinance through Congress in 1787. Lee was alarmed at the call for a stronger central government and refused to attend the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He attempted to persuade the delegates not to alter the Articles, and became a leading opponent of ratification of the Constitution in Virginia. In 1787 and 1788, an anonymous series of Anti-Federalist essays called Letters from a Federal Farmer appeared, which closely mirrored Lee's arguments against the Constitution. Some historians believe that Lee and Mercy Otis Warren were the authors of these essays. When the Constitution was adopted, Lee accepted a seat in the Senate where he was a leading advocate of laws and amendments limiting the power of the federal government. He was pleased when the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791.

John Marshall

was the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, serving from 1801 until his death. Born in Virginia, he served in the Virginia legislature and at the Virginia Ratifying Convention where fought for ratification of the Constitution with James Madison. He also served in the US House of Representatives. Marshall was appointed to the Supreme Court by President John Adams. Marshall's most important decision was Marbury v. Madison (1803) which established the doctrine of judicial review. He also decided Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819), which clarified the Contracts Clause; McCullough v. Maryland (1819), which examined implied powers of Congress under Article I, section 8 and affirmed the supremacy of the Constitution over state law; and Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) which affirmed that Congress had control of interstate waterways under the Commerce Clause. He also presided over the treason trial of Aaron Burr. Marshall's interpretations of the Constitution, including his understanding of federalism, proved definitive and laid the groundwork for much of current constitutional theory and a strong national government.