People of the American Revolution

John Adams

• Lawyer • Defended the British

troops accused in the Boston Massacre

• Envoy to Britain during the Revolution to negotiate

• First Vice-President of U.S.• Second President of U.S.

James Otis

• Descendant of Mayflower pilgrim

• Member of the Sons of Liberty

• Famous for saying, “Taxation without representation is tyranny”

• Brother of Mercy Otis Warren

George Washington

• Has no direct descendants

• Slave owner that freed his slaves upon his death

• Chair of the Constitutional Convention

• Lived at Mt. Vernon• “Father of His Country”

Samuel Adams

• Strong promoter of independence

• Helped develop the Committees of Correspondence

• Graduated from Harvard, joined the family’s brewing house

• John Adams’ 2nd cousin

Benjamin Franklin

• Printer• The embodiment of the

Enlightenment in America• Minister to France during

the Revolution• Editor of Poor Richard’s

Almanack• Promoted the Albany Plan of

Union• Attended Constitutional

Convention

King George III

• Wrote to Lord North in 1774: "The die is now cast; the colonies must either submit or triumph.... we must not retreat."

• Known as the King who lost America

Thomas Jefferson

• Secretary of State under George Washington

• Donated personal book collection to create the Library of Congress

• Scientist, promoter of farming, Francophile

• Father of the University of Virginia

• Author of Declaration of Independence

Thomas Paine

• Emigrated to America from England in 1774

• Became one of America’s Founding Fathers

• Known as the “penman of the Revolution”

• Wrote pamphlet Common Sense

General Cornwallis

• British General during the American Revolution

• Surrendered to Washington to end the Revolutionary War

Patrick Henry

• Virginian• Along with Samuel

Adams and Thomas Paine, one of the most outspoken proponents of independence

• Strongly Anti-Federalist in the ratification debate

• In 1766 said “Give me liberty or give me death!”

James Madison

• Virginian• With Hamilton and Jay,

author of the Federalist Papers

• Father of the U.S. Constitution

• 4th President

Abigail Adams“In the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I

desire you would Remember the Ladies.”

• Prolific letter-writer• Promoter of women’s

rights• During the Constitutional

Convention, she asked her husband, a participant, to “remember the ladies.”

• Married to John Adams

Phyllis Wheatley

• Could read and write Greek by age twelve

• Wrote poetry, among them “To His Excellency, George Washington”

• Came to America on the slave ship, the Phillis

• Owned by the Wheatley family of Boston

Mercy Otis Warren

• From a family of colonial activists

• Opposed the Constitution as an Anti-Federalist

• Wrote a history of the Revolutionary period

• One of the most influential writers of the time

• Sister of James Otis

Paul Revere

• Boston silversmith• Completed his task with

William Dawes and Samuel Prescott

• Immortalized in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

• Alerted the colonial troops that “the British are coming!”

John Hancock

• President of the Continental Congress

• Wealthy Bostonian• Presiding officer on the

Declaration committee• Birthday January 23, now

National Handwriting Day• First to sign the

Declaration of Independence

George Grenville

• British Prime Minister during 1760s

• Responsible for recouping costs for defending the colonies, most notably the Stamp Act

Crispus Attucks

• Of African and Wampanoag descent

• Killed in the Boston Massacre (along with two others)

Benedict Arnold

• Colonial General credited with victories at Ticonderoga and elsewhere

• Passed over for promotion; became bitter

• Planned to turn West Point over to British; plot discovered

• Name now synonymous with “traitor”

Nathan Hale

• State hero of Connecticut• American soldier

captured• Volunteered for

intelligence gathering mission

• Captured by British and executed

• Famously said, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

Alexander Hamilton

• Founding Father• Leader of Federalist Party• Washington’s aide-de-

camp in Revolutionary War• Born, illegitimate, in the

West Indies• First Secretary of the

Treasury• Killed in duel by Aaron Burr