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Government & Politics

Presidents, lawmakers, judges, diplomats and commanders — the people who ran the country and argued about how.

17 people

George Washington 1732–1799PresidentsFirst President of the United States and commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.Thomas Jefferson 1743–1826PresidentsPrincipal author of the Declaration of Independence and third President who oversaw the Louisiana Purchase.Benjamin Franklin 1706–1790Political Leaders & StatecraftPolymath who invented the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among many other creations.Alexander Hamilton 1755–1804Political Leaders & StatecraftFounding Father who established the nation's financial system and co-authored the Federalist Papers.James Madison 1751–1836PresidentsFourth President and Father of the Constitution who co-authored the Federalist Papers.John Adams 1735–1826PresidentsSecond President and key Founding Father who helped secure independence and shaped early American diplomacy.Patrick Henry 1736–1799Political Leaders & StatecraftRevolutionary orator and Virginia leader remembered for mobilizing resistance and opposing centralized federal power.Samuel Adams 1722–1803Political Leaders & StatecraftRevolutionary organizer who helped mobilize resistance to British rule and build support for independence.John Paul Jones 1747–1792Military & National SecurityContinental Navy captain whose Revolutionary War victories established early American naval tradition.John Jay 1745–1829Political Leaders & StatecraftFounding Father, diplomat, Federalist Papers co-author, and first chief justice who helped construct the early republic.John Hancock 1737–1793Political Leaders & StatecraftMerchant who presided over the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration first and largest.George Mason 1725–1792Political Leaders & StatecraftFounding-era statesman whose Virginia Declaration of Rights helped inspire the Bill of Rights.Nathan Hale 1755–1776Military & National SecurityContinental Army officer hanged as a spy at 21 whose scaffold line became Revolutionary legend.Roger Sherman 1721–1793Political Leaders & StatecraftOnly person to sign all four founding documents and author of the compromise that produced the Senate.Nathanael Greene 1742–1786Military & National SecurityContinental Army general whose Southern Campaign strategy helped exhaust British forces and secure American independence.Robert R. Livingston 1746–1813Political Leaders & StatecraftChancellor of New York who administered Washington's oath and negotiated the Louisiana Purchase.Richard Henry Lee 1732–1794Political Leaders & StatecraftVirginia delegate whose June 1776 resolution formally moved that the colonies be independent states.