American History Trading Cards: Unit 1
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) "It was a wise counsel given to a young man, 'Pitch upon that course of life which is most excellent, and custom will make it the most delightful.' But many pitch on no course of life at all, nor form any scheme of living, by which to attain any valuable end; but wander perpetually from one thing to another." (1749).
Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 and at the age of seventeen, moved to Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin was very interested in science, philosophy, and politics. While serving as a colonial agent in the 1760s, he was suspected of favoring the Stamp Act but testified against it in Parliament. During the Revolution, Benjamin Franklin served as a minister to France.
Abigail Adams (1744-1818) "Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power in the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have not had voice or representation." (1776).
Abigail Adams was an advocate for women's rights during the Revolutionary era. Abigail became educated due to self teaching and after marrying John Adams, she was mother to five children. During her husbands absence from 1773 to 1783, Abigail began her own business on a farm in Braintree, Massachusetts. After the war, she become very involved in politics with her husband as the current president.
William Penn (1644-1718) "I am sorry at heart for your animosities. For the love of God, me, and the poor country, be not so governmentish, so noisy, and so open in your dissatisfactions." (1701).
An English Quaker who founded the Pennsylvania colony with basic policies of liberality, tolerance, and free immigration. He earned the rights to Pennsylvania after the death of his father because of debts owed to his father by King Charles II. The Pennsylvania colony was very successful economically but Penn had little political control over the colony.
Charles W. Peale (1741-1827) "A good partner of either portrait or history must be well acquainted with the Grecian or Roman statues, to be able to draw them at pleasure by memory....these are more than I shall ever have time or opportunity to know." (1772).
Charles W. Peale was a famous American artist during the eighteenth century. He joined the Sons of Liberty and became interested in painting. He later served as an army captain during the Revolution and was famous for his paintings of George Washington.
George Rogers Clark (1752-1818) (Speech to Indians) "The Great Spirit has caused your old Father the French King and other nations to join the big Knife (Washington) and fight with them, so that the English have become like a deer in the woods."
George Rogers Clark was born in Virginia and began as a surveyor along the Ohio River. He later became the leader of the frontiersmen and in 1776, he received a militia commission to attack British forts. He was successful in his campaigns in Illinois, but lost at the British fort in Detroit in 1779.
George Washington (1732-1799) "The Virginia Companies behaved like men and died like soldiers; for I believe out of the three companies that were there that day scarce thirty were left alive....The English soldiers exposed all those who were inclined to do their duty to almost certain death; and at length, despite every effort to the contrary, [they] broke and ran as sheep before the hounds." (1755).
George Washington began as a Virginia militia officer who played an important role in the French and Indian War. In his youth, George's father died and he spent much of his childhood with different relatives and only received a basic education. On his mission into Ohio, he was shot, nearly drowned, and almost froze to death. He returned from his mission and married Martha Custis and managed her plantation.
Henry Hudson (1565-1611) "This land may be profitable to those that will adventure it."
Henry Hudson was an English explorer during the seventeenth century. Hudson attempted to reach China by a new route above the Arctic Circle. He reached the America's and traversed the Hudson River giving the river it's name. On the exploration, Hudson's crew went mutinous and left Hudson and several other crew members to die.
Hernan Cortes (1485-1547) "Touching Montezuma's palace and all that was remarkable in his magnificence and power, there is so much to describe that I do not know how to begin...There could be nothing more magnificent than that this barbarian lord should have all the things of heaven to be found under his domain, fashioned in gold and silver and jewels and feathers." (1521).
Hernan Cortes was a conquistador who, in 1504, sailed for the island of Hispaniola. In 1511, he joined an expedition to Cuba and assembled a fleet that soon set sail to Mexico. Cortes overcame the Aztecs of Mexico and subjugated the natives, gaining him an empire larger than Spain. In 1524, Cortes sailed to Honduras in search for further glory but became sick and later died in 1540 after returning to Spain.
John Paul Jones (1742-1792) "America has been the country of my fond election, from the age of thirteen, when I first saw it. I had the honor to hoist, with my hands, the flag of freedom, the first time it was displayed on the River Delaware; and I have attended it, with veneration, ever since on the ocean." (1779).
John Paul Jones is known for having founded the United States Navy. He came to Virginia in 1773 and got authorization to begin a navy. He became a hero to the colonists after several victorious battles at sea. After the Revolution, John Paul Jones returned to France and later Russia.
John Rolfe (1585-1622) "Likewise, add hereunto her great appearance of love to me, her desire to be taught and instructed in the knowledge of God, her capableness of understanding, and her aptness and willingness to recieve any good impression, besides her own incitements stirring me up." (1614).
John Rolfe was born in Norfolk, England and sailed for Virginia in 1609. In 1612, he began to produce a "sweeter" variety of tobacco and in 1614, Rolfe's reputation as the promoter of tobacco persuaded Pocahontas to marry him. After Pocahontas' death in England, Rolfe returned to Virginia and was killed by Indians in 1622.
John Smith (1580-1631) "Pocahontas, the King's most dear and well-beloved daughter, being but a childe of twelve or thirteen years of age, whose compassionate, pitiful heart, of my desperate estate, gave me much cause to respect her....After some six weeks fatting amongst those savage courtiers, at the minute of my execution, she hazarded the beating out of her own brains to save mine; and not only that, but so prevailed with her father that I was safely conducted to Jamestown, where I found about eight and thirty miserable. poor, and sick creatures....Such was the weakness of this poor Commonwealth, as had the savages not fed us, we directly had starved." (1624).
John Smith left England at an early age to become a soldier of fortune. On his journeys, he became enslaved, murdered his master, and was seduced by the wife of the pasha of Turkey. He was an important soldier and administrator vital to the organization and survival of the Jamestown colony through 1608-1609. John Smith was saved by Pocahontas during his execution and with the help of the natives was able to keep the Jamestown colony from ruin.
John Winthrop (1588-1649) "The Lord will be our God and delight to dwell amongst us as his own people and will command a blessing upon us all in our ways....And he shall make us a praise and glory, that men shall say of succeeding plantations: the Lord make it like that of New England. For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill; the eyes of all people are upon us." (1630).
John Winthrop led the Puritans to Massachusetts Bay in 1630. Winthrop was elected governor and was reelected each year until his death. His strict Puritan policies kept the Massachusetts Bay colony economically and politically strong until his death in 1649.
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) "All will allow that true virtue ir holiness has its seat chiefly in the heart, rather than in the head: it therefore follows....that it consists chiefly in holy affections....Now if such things are enthusiasm, and the fruits of a distempered brain, let my brain be evermore possessed of that happy distemper! If this be distraction, I pray God that the world of mankind may be all seized with this benign, meek, beneficent, beatifical, glorious distraction!" (1742).
Jonathan Edwards was a preacher and revivalist in the church of Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1734, he began converting many people through intense preaching and his speeches soon traveled through the other colonies as well. By 1741, he became concerned by the large number of people converted during the Great Awakening due to uneducated revivalists. In 1750, he was dismissed from the church and died of smallpox before taking up his position of president at Princeton University.
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) "The moment I heard of America I loved her. The moment I knew she was fighting for freedom, I burned with desire of bleeding for her; and the moment I shall be able to serve her, at any time or in any part of the world, will be the happiest one of my life."
Lafayette was a French nobleman who promoted France's alliance with America. He symbolized this friendship as well as France's devotion to freedom. During Lafayette's campaign, he was shot in the leg at Brandywine and commanded one of the divisions at Valley Forge. He also played a crucial role as a commander of the Continental army of Virginia. Lafayette was a leader during the French Revolution in 1789 but ended up in prison. He was eventually released from prison and returned to America in 1824.
Moctezuma II (1466-1520) "I have in truth seen you and have now set eyes upon your force. You have come between mists and clouds, and now it has come to pass. Now you have arrived, with much fatigue and toil. Come to our land, come and repose." (1519).
Moctezuma II was the ruler of the Aztecs in Mexico. He was the tenth in the line of Aztec emperors to rule from the nations capital of Tenochitlan. He succeeded the throne in 1502 from his uncle Ahuitzotl. With the arrival of Cortes, Moctezuma II was held under house arrest until 1520 and became unpopular with his people. He was stoned in public and was later killed by the Spanish.
Rachael Clinton (1629-1694)
Rachael Clinton was accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. After the death of her parents, she was adopted by her unstable grandmother. She was reduced to poverty dependency making her very bitter and hostile. She was accused of witchcraft and was imprisoned for several months, but she was eventually released from prison in 1693 without execution, but died the following year.
Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794) "Why then do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this most happy day give birth to the American republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and conquer, but to re-establish the reign of peace and law." (1776).
Richard Lee was born into a wealthy family in Virginia. He later became a political activist, and used his his speeches to attack the Stamp Act and British economic domination over the colonies. He joined the Philadelphia Congress and later signed the Declaration of Independence.
Robert La Salle (1643-1687) "I have chosen a life more suited to my solitary disposition, which nevertheless does not make me harsh to my people; though joined to a life among savages, it makes me, perhaps, less polished and compliant than the atmosphere of Paris requires." (1683).
Robert La Salle was a famous French-Canadian explorer. He believed that the Ohio River would lead him to China. His journey to what he believed to be China brought him to Mississippi River in 1682. In 1684, La Salle was ordered to create a permanent settlement on the Mississippi River, but his journey brought him to Texas where he was murdered by his mutinous men.
Samuel Adams (1722-1803) "Driven from every other corner of the earth, freedom of thought and the right of private judgement in matters of conscience direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum." (1776).
Samuel Adams was a political activist for American liberty and rebellion during the 1770s. He was the creator of the Committees of Correspondence. Samuel Adams fell into debt after taking over his father's brewery and became a politician. In 1763, he was the leader of the "Whipping Post Club." After the Tea Act was passed, Samuel Adams organized public meetings resulting in the Boston Tea Party. He joined the Continental Congress, but he was confined to his position of governor of Massachusetts from 1794 to 1797.
Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635) "It was impossible to know this country without having wintered here, for on arriving in summer everything is very pleasant owing to the woods, the fair landscape, the good fishing....but winter in this country lasts six months!" (1610).
Samuel de Champlain first serves in the Spanish navy in the the Caribbean before founding New France. He established the French colony of Acadia and kept the colonists' morale high. This settlement was eventually abandoned in 1607, and Champlain continued on to found Quebec. This colony became popular in 1627 and thrived on fur trade.
William Berkeley (1605-1677) "If they had killed by father and my mother and all my friends, yet if they had come to treat of peace, they ought to have gone in peace."
Sir William Berkeley was the colonial governor of Virginia. He was given his position by King Charles I. Berkeley acted friendly towards the natives which led to the revolt of some planters in 1676 led by Nathaniel Bacon known as Bacon's Rebellion. Although Berkeley was able to cease the rebellion, he was recalled to England soon afterwards.
Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) "Look whether it be indifferently, as well for sins secret as open, what you find to be your best cordials to comfort you, whether God's Word, or natural means."
Thomas Hooker was a Puritan colonial leader who helped to found the Connecticut colony. He is also famous for writing one of the first written constitutions of the colonies. Hooker became well educated and attended Cambridge; he later married his wife Susanna and had several children.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) "One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings is that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an Ass for a Lion....But where, some say, is the King of America? I'll tell you, friend. He reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Great Britain." (1776).
Thomas Paine was famous for his anti-British propaganda including Common Sense and Crisis. Thomas Paine was elected to the Revolutionary Convention after moving to France. His writing against Britain made him a wanted man in Britain. After his return to America in 1801, Paine was excommunicated by many and died in poverty. His bones were sent to Britain and were lost forever.
Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) Court: "See how your argument stands. Priscilla, with her husband, took Apollo home to instruct him privately. Therefore Mistress Hutchinson, without her husband, may teach sixty or eighty." Hutchinson: "I call them not, but if they come to me, I may instruct them." Court: "Yet you show us not a rule." Hutchinson: "I have given you two places of Scripture." Court: "But neither of them will suit your practice." Hutchinson: "Must I show you my name written therein?" (1637)
Anne Hutchinson was a religious dissenter who opposed the authority of the Massachusetts Bay colony. She was well educated, married William Hutchinson, and bore many children between 1613 and 1636. Anne had many followers throughout the Massachusetts Bay colony but in 1637, she was exiled from the church and banished from the colony. Her and all of her children were killed in New Netherland by Indians in 1643.
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) "The inhabitants of this and of all the other islands I have found or gained intelligence of, both men and women, go as naked as they were born, with the exception that some of the women cover one part only with a single leaf or grass with a piece of cotton, made for that purpose.... I gave away a thousand good and pretty articles which I had brought with me in order to win their affection, and that they might be led to become Christians, and be well inclined to love and serve their highness and the whole Spanish nation...." (1493).
Christopher Columbus was a Genoese sailor who discovered America under the service of Spain. Christopher Columbus was a renowned explored who had sailed under many flags including Portugal. He had always obsessed with reaching China and the Indies by sailing west, but had never had the backing to do so until the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella who supplied him with several ships. He had become convinced that he had discovered islands off of the coast of Asia, but little known to him, these islands were the part of the newly discovered continent of America.
Cotton Mather (1662-1728) "Albeit the business of this witchcraft may be very much transacted upon the stage of imagination, yet we know that, as in treason, there is an imagining of which is a capital crime, and here also the business, though managed in imagination, yet may not be called imaginary. The effects are dreadfully real....Our neighbors at Salem Village are blown up, after a sort, with an infernal gunpowder; the train is laid in the laws of the kingdom of darkness....Now the question is, who gives fire to this train? And by what acts is the match applied?" (1692).
Cotton Mather was a Puritan minister during the Salem witch trials. He believed that witchcraft should be treated by prayer and fasting rather than prosecution and execution although he publicly defended the Salem witch trials.
Nathaniel Bacon (1647-1676) "For having upon specious pretences of publick works raised greate unjust taxes upon the commonality for the advancement of private favorites and other sinister ends....for having wronged his Majesty's prerogative and interesting by assuming monopoly on the beaver trade...and for having protected, favored, and imboldened the Indian's against his Majesty's loyall subjects...we do demand that the said Sir William Berkeley...be forthwith delivered up or surrender [himself] within four days of this notice forthwith." (1676).
Nathaniel Bacon immigrated to Virginia in 1674. He was well educated and a became a well-off planter. He led rebel attacks against the natives until his arrest under Lord Berkeley. After his release, he rampaged through the colonies ending with the destruction of Jamestown and then suddenly died of disease. After his death, the rebellion was easily quenched by Lord Berkeley.
Paul Revere (1735-1818) (To a British officer) "You're too late. I've alarmed the country all the way up. We should have five hundred men at Lexington soon.
Paul Revere was known for his "midnight ride" in 1775, warning the colonists of the British invasion. He was also a popular Revolutionary patriot. Paul Revere fought in the French and Indian War and afterwards became active in several activist groups including the Sons of Liberty and the North End caucus. He became popular for his political cartoons featuring anti-British ideals. He took part in the Boston Tea Party. He eventually became a lieutenant colonel in the Revolutionary army after his famous ride.
Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) "On Being Brought from Africa to America" ""Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land Taught my benighted soul to understand That there's a God, that there's a savior, too; Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Some view our sable race with scornful eye, 'Their color is a diabolic lie.' Remember, Christians, Negroes black as Cain May be refined and join the angelic train." (1766)
Phillis Wheatley was a black poet who was brought as a slave from Africa to Boston in 1761 by John Wheatley. After becoming a renowned poet within the colonies, she was taken to England in 1773 to meet many literary people. She returned to America but died several years later in 1784.
Pocahontas (1595-1617)
Pocahontas played an important role in the relationship between the English and Powhatan Indians. She served as an ambassador between the two peoples arranged by her father, chief of the Powhatan Indians, Powhatan. In 1613, she was "kidnapped" by Captain Samuel Argall and became a Christian. In 1614, she married John Rolfe and was taken to England in 1616 but died of England on the return to Virginia.
