Founding Fathers
Samuel Adams
Founding Father Samuel Adams was a thorn in the side of the British in the years before the American Revolution. As a political activist and state legislator, he spoke out against British efforts to tax the colonists, and pressured merchants to boycott British products. He also ...read more
Alexander Hamilton
Born into obscurity in the British West Indies, Alexander Hamilton made his reputation during the Revolutionary War and became one of America’s most influential Founding Fathers. He was an impassioned champion of a strong federal government, and played a key role in defending ...read more
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was a colonial Boston silversmith, industrialist, propagandist and patriot immortalized in the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem describing Revere’s midnight ride to warn the colonists about a British attack. He gave the local militia a key advantage during the Battles ...read more
The Founding Fathers Feared Political Factions Would Tear the Nation Apart
Today, it may seem impossible to imagine the U.S. government without its two leading political parties, Democrats and Republicans. But in 1787, when delegates to the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia to hash out the foundations of their new government, they ...read more
Burr's Political Legacy Died in the Duel with Hamilton
The rivalry between Founding Fathers Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton stretched much further than the legendary duel where sitting Vice President Aaron Burr shot and fatally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. Both were orphans. Both fought in the American ...read more
Caesar Who? The Founding Father You've Probably Never Heard Of
He was a founding father, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and an American hero—but most have probably not heard of Caesar Rodney or his dramatic 18-hour midnight horseback ride to Philadelphia to cast a critical, deciding vote in favor of separating from Great ...read more
Royal Succession
Royal succession, or the transition of power from one ruler to the next, hasn’t always been smooth in Great Britain or other monarchies, but it has served as a template for governments around the world. Historically based on rules like primogeniture, modern monarchies are ...read more
Why Politicians Are Talking About Duels (Again)
The game of politics in America has long been a heated one, with partisan, divisive actions on both sides. In fact, there’s not much on Capitol Hill that hasn’t been said or done between politicians with opposing stances. However, one U.S. Representative recently suggested ...read more
10 Reasons Why Gouverneur Morris Was the Oddest Founding Father
1. He died after a gruesome bit of self-surgery. After suffering from crippling gout throughout the fall of 1816, the Founding Father’s pain grew even worse when he began to experience a urinary tract blockage. From the don’t-try-this-at-home department, Morris then attempted to ...read more
11 Surprising Facts About Benjamin Franklin
1. He only had two years of formal education. The man considered the most brilliant American of his age rarely saw the inside of a classroom. Franklin spent just two years attending Boston Latin School and a private academy before joining the family candle and soap making ...read more
7 Things You May Not Know About the Constitutional Convention
1. Several framers met with untimely deaths. Was there a curse of the Constitution? Alexander Hamilton was famously killed by Aaron Burr in 1804, but he wasn’t even the first framer of the U.S. Constitution to die in a duel with a political rival. In 1802, North Carolina delegate ...read more
Continental Congress
From 1774 to 1789, the Continental Congress served as the government of the 13 American colonies and later the United States. The First Continental Congress, which was comprised of delegates from the colonies, met in 1774 in reaction to the Coercive Acts, a series of measures ...read more
Thomas Paine publishes "Common Sense"
On January 9, 1776, writer Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet “Common Sense,” setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence. Although little used today, pamphlets were an important medium for the spread of ideas in the 16th through 19th centuries. Originally ...read more
Thomas Paine publishes “The American Crisis”
"These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have ...read more
Robert R. Livingston, aka “The Chancellor,” dies
On February 26, 1813, New York Patriot Robert R. Livingston dies. Robert R. (or R.R.) Livingston was the eldest of nine children born to Judge Robert Livingston and Margaret Beekman Livingston in their family seat, Clermont, on the Hudson River in upstate New York. The ...read more
South Carolina’s Edward Rutledge opposes independence
On June 28, 1776, Edward Rutledge, one of South Carolina’s representatives to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, expresses his reluctance to declare independence from Britain in a letter to the like-minded John Jay of New York. Contrary to the majority of his Congressional ...read more
Articles of Confederation submitted to the states
On November 17, 1777, Congress submits the Articles of Confederation to the states for ratification. The Articles had been signed by Congress two days earlier, after 16 months of debate. Bickering over land claims between Virginia and Maryland delayed final ratification for ...read more
Articles of Confederation adopted
After 16 months of debate, the Continental Congress, sitting in its temporary capital of York, Pennsylvania, agrees to adopt the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union on November 15, 1777. Not until March 1, 1781 would the last of the 13 states, Maryland, ratify the ...read more
Anthony Wayne launches risky attack against British forces
On July 15, 1779, American Brigadier General Anthony Wayne launches a coup de main against British fortifications at Stony Point, New York, on the orders of General George Washington. He earns the moniker “Mad” Anthony Wayne for the ensuing maneuver. The British fort on the ...read more
Archibald Bulloch dies under mysterious circumstances
On February 22, 1777, Revolutionary War leader and Georgia’s first Provisional Governor Archibald Bulloch dies under mysterious circumstances just hours after Georgia’s Council of Safety grants him the powers of a dictator in expectation of a British invasion. Bulloch was born ...read more
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine was an England-born political philosopher and writer who supported revolutionary causes in America and Europe. Published in 1776 to international acclaim, “Common Sense” was the first pamphlet to advocate American independence. After writing the “The American ...read more
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and the first governor of Virginia. He was a gifted orator and major figure in the American Revolution. His rousing speeches—which included a 1775 speech to the Virginia legislature in which he famously declared, ...read more
John Hancock
American Revolution leader John Hancock (1737-1793) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and a governor of Massachusetts. The colonial Massachusetts native was raised by his uncle, a wealthy Boston merchant. When his uncle died, Hancock inherited his lucrative ...read more
Revolutionary War
The Revolutionary War (1775-83), also known as the American Revolution, arose from growing tensions between residents of Great Britain’s 13 North American colonies and the colonial government, which represented the British crown. Skirmishes between British troops and colonial ...read more