Washington balked, not wishing to set a precedent. Everything appears to promise that it will last. But in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. Led the effort to convene the Constitutional Convention when the nation was verging on anarchy. Hamilton called for a meeting of all 13 states at Annapolis, Maryland in September, to discuss the economic situation in the country at that time.
However, only five states sent representatives. There were not enough states for a quorum and the conference had no real authority. Behind closed doors and with no real authority, the delegates decided to write an entirely new constitution. Hamilton was consumed by his passion for a nation built around a strong and fiscally stable central government. He was born out of wedlock in the West Indies, and moved to the colonies at the age of His father, a Scottish trader, went bankrupt when Hamilton was 15, and the boy went to work in a counting house to help support the family.
When Washington assumed the presidency, he named Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury. Ironically, before Washington was elected president, Hamilton was one of a group of politicians who felt that the U.
Before he replied, the group changed its mind. His Politics: Hamilton was the one who most advocated an elitist political vision. He believed that the intellectual aristocracy should rule the nation. His opponents saw the bank as an evil tool for expanding the power of the federal government, at the expense of the states.
When Jefferson ran for president in , he and Aaron Burr both Republicans tied. The election went to the Federalist-controlled House.
Hamilton, founder of the Federalist party, convinced his colleagues to elect Jefferson over Burr. Burr then campaigned for governor of New York.
Again, Hamilton swayed voters against Burr. Finally, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel. Fatally wounded by his rival, Hamilton died one day later. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.
Although George Mason refused to sign the Constitution, his ideas still had a major effect on the fabric of American political thought. He was one of the richest planters in Virginia and was involved early in his life with western land speculation. Mason served for a brief time in the Virginia House of Burgesses along with his close friend, George Washington. He was more concerned with the types of public duties that did not bring the kind of recognition that his contemporaries were interested in.
These objections to the Constitution became the focal point for the anti-federalists during the ratification process. He was chosen the first Senator from Virginia but refused the seat in Mason has been called the American example of the Enlightenment.
What He Said: "It is easy to foresee that there will be much difficulty in organizing a government upon this great scale, and at the same time reserving to the state legislatures a sufficient portion of power for promoting and securing the prosperity and happiness of their respective citizens.
Yet, with a proper degree of coolness, liberality, and candour very rare commodities by the bye I doubt not but that it may be effected. Highest Political Office: U. Minister to England ; U. Minister to France ; United States Senator During his lifetime, Gouverneur Morris was a successful politician, diplomat and writer. He had a wooden leg due to a carriage accident. His Politics: He was in favor of senators being chosen for life, significant property qualifications to vote, direct election of the president by the elite qualified voters, and representation in Congress based on taxation.
Poor reptiles! They bask in the sun, and ere noon they will bite, depend on it. The gentry begin to fear this. He took twenty-three proposed resolutions and condensed them into the seven major articles contained in the Constitution. I flatter myself that I came here in some degree as a representative of the whole human race. Sherman was a self-made man, married twice and fathered fifteen children. Before the Revolutionary War he held positions in the Connecticut government in all three branches legislative, executive, and judicial.
He was a political conservative, but strongly favored the American Revolution once it began. He was not known as a gifted speaker, but he toiled hard in various committees in order to make sound and lasting policy. However, at the Constitutional Convention he did speak times on various issues, and only James Madison, James Wilson, and Gouverneur Morris spoke more often. Roger Sherman was the second oldest delegate there right behind 81 year old Benjamin Franklin. Sherman of Connecticut, who never said a foolish thing in his life.
His Politics: He was in favor of the President being appointed by the Legislature for a three year term of office. By the time Sherman served in the United States Congress he was an advocate of the Federalist philosophy. He ended up supporting Alexander Hamilton's financial program of assumption of state debts, the establishment of a national bank, and enactment of a tariff to help the young nation to stabilize its economy. However, he became very conservative in his later years and was the target of public indignation.
He eventually became the first professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania in His Politics: He emerged as a political leader after the American Revolutionary War, and as a member of the Congress of the Confederation ; under the Articles of Confederation was strongly in favor of an amendment to permit the government the power to tax.
Wilson felt that people and their individual rights took priority over those of property rights, and was opposed to slavery. Adams was the first president to take up occupancy in the White House, but construction delays kept him off-premises until ; he was in office only five more months after moving in. That also means Juno and Satan were the first dogs to live in the White House. Adams's lost bid for reelection may have had something to do with his somewhat pompous view of the office.
He often lobbied for the president to be referred to as "his highness. Adams couldn't have been too much of a miser, though. In , he formed the United States Marine Band, the oldest active professional music group in the country.
It was also the 50th anniversary of American independence. While all of the Founding Fathers are renowned for pushing the idea of liberty and independent choice, Benjamin Franklin apparently came to the idea a little late.
Maturity prevailed, however, and Franklin later burned almost every copy of the booklet he could find. Ben Franklin's eccentricity wasn't limited to that strange philosophy. It didn't katch on. A more reasonable Franklin contribution: bifocals, which he invented in order to both see from a distance and read text up close without having to switch lenses.
He once dissed the bald eagle, calling it a bird "of bad moral character. Franklin also authored a text titled "Fart Proudly," a mocking essay intended to irritate the Royal Academy of Brussels, an institution he felt was too focused on impractical science.
In it, he advocated for a breakthrough in making toots more pleasant-smelling. He never sent it. Franklin's unique perspective extended to personal hygiene. He often opted for what he dubbed an "air bath" over a cold water bath, wandering around nude in his quarters for a half-hour each morning while reading or writing.
Franklin and John Adams made for a bit of an odd couple. Forced to spend the night together in a hotel while traveling in , the two argued over whether the window should be open or closed. Adams believed night air could lead to colds; Franklin, obviously fond of a little breeze, dismissed the notion as nonsense and advocated for fresh air. Franklin won: The window stayed open. Franklin was told by friends early in his life that he should start to consider humility a virtue, while Washington reportedly had to corral his predilection for arrogance.
While Washington may have curbed his ego, he still made time to look good. His famous white 'do was not a wig, but his actual hair, powdered white and carefully styled each morning. Leading the Battle of Monmouth in , Washington used so much profanity that General Charles Scott, who witnessed the event, said he cussed "until leaves shook on the trees … never have I enjoyed such swearing before or since. Later in life, Washington's newfound modesty helped usher in a significant principle of the U.
Despite the public's desire for him to run for a third presidential term—which he would've won with ease—Washington elected to leave after two terms so he could resume being a regular citizen, avoiding the kind of long-term rule associated with monarchs.
Once he returned to private life in , Washington opened a whiskey distillery at Mount Vernon, which quickly became the largest whiskey distillery in America. Before taking on the presidency, Washington was wrapped up in the Constitutional Convention, a gathering of minds intended to elaborate on the famous document that would provide concise guidelines for future lawmakers.
But Washington was unsure whether it would have any lasting impact. Walking with a friend just before the convention came to a close in , he said, "I do not expect the Constitution to last for more than 20 years. In fact, it was Washington himself who didn't last that long.
Plagued by a series of ailments including malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, and diphtheria, the Founding Father died in at age Suffering from a severe sore throat, he asked doctors to bleed him. They did, with five pints being removed from his body in a single day. Constitution, and served in the Continental Congress and both houses of the U.
Benjamin Rush is best known for his political activities during the American Revolution, including signing the Declaration of Independence. George Mason was an American patriot who participated in the American Revolution and the Constitutional Convention and who was influential in penning the Bill of Rights.
John Marshall became the fourth chief justice of the U. Supreme Court in He is largely responsible for establishing the Supreme Court's role in federal government.
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