Historical Figures of the
American Revolution
A Facebook Presentation
Objective
• Students will create one Facebook page
for a historical figure from the American
Revolution.
• The project will be completed on poster
paper.
• It will be due at the end of class .
Historical Figures
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John Adams
Abigail Adams
Samuel Adams
James Armistead *
Wentworth Cheswell *
Benjamin Franklin
Bernardo de Galvez
King George III
Patrick Henry
Thomas Jefferson
Marquiz de Lafayette
Thomas Paine
Haym Salomon *
Mercy Otis Warren
George Washington
Resources
• Textbook
– Index, last name first
• Ex.) Washington, George
• Bibliographies
• Provided by Coach Cox
• Notes
• Classroom Discussion
Requirements
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Name
Profile Picture
Job Title
Hometown
Married ?
Children?
Born
Minimum of 3
wall post by your
figure.
9. 5 additional
pictures posted.
10.Minimum of 3
post by
friends/family.
11.Minimum of 5
Friends with
picture.
12.About Quotes
13.Minimum 2 LIKES
Additional
Requirements
1. Everything is to
be in COLOR
2. NO stick figures
1. Images to
represent
people are
acceptable.
3. Spelling and
Grammar count
4. Creativity and
Effort are KEY
John Adams
Adams was practically the opposite of George Washington in terms of personality. Where Washington was outgoing and
community minded, Adams was known to be impetuous, intense and often vehement.
Adams political career began when he was became the leader of the Massachusetts Whigs, during which time he drafted what
would become the instructions from towns to their state representatives. In 1765, he penned a series of controversial articles in which he argued
that the opposition of the colonies to the Stamp Act was part of the never ending struggle between individualism and corporate authority.
In 1768, Adams moved to Boston, in 1770 he helped defend several British soldiers who were arrested after the Boston Massacre. His
outstanding defense of the soldiers – which resulted in their acquittal – was a key to his being elected to the Massachusetts House of
Representatives.
John Adams was a member of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1778. In June, 1775, with a view to promoting the union of
the colonies, he seconded the nomination of Washingtonas commander-in-chief of the army. His influence in congress was great, and almost
from the beginning he was impatient for a separation of the colonies from Great Britain.
Furthering his colonial ambitions, Adams seconded a resolution that these colonies are, and of a right ought to be, free and
independent states. As a direct result he was appointed the next day – on June 8, 1776, to a committee with Jefferson, Franklin, Livingston and
Sherman to draft the Declaration of Independence. In fact, Adams became the most vocal member of the committee and pushed the hardest for
its adoption.
In 1778 John Adams sailed for France to supersede Silas Deane in the American commission there. But just as he embarked that
commission concluded the desired treaty of alliance, and soon after his arrival he advised that the number of commissioners be reduced to one.
His advice was followed and he returned home in time to be elected a member of the convention which framed the Massachusetts constitution
of 1780, still the organic law of that commonwealth. With James Bowdoin and Samuel Adams, he formed a sub-committee which drew up the
first draft of that instrument, and most of it probably came from John Adams’s pen.
Adams next became heavily involved in the negotiations of peace with Great Britain, working alongside Franklin, Jefferson, Jay
and Henry Laurens. Circumstances were such that ultimately the only two negotiators, of the 5, that were present were Adams and the pliant
John Jay. As a result, Adams’ belief that the United States should receive certain favorable allowances, such as rights to the fisheries along the
British-American coast, was well received. In fact, the negotiations went so well that the treaty was signed well ahead of schedule, on November
30, 1782.
While in Europe, Adams argued convincingly for the rights of the state governments. In the process, he offended many of his
countrymen back home with sentences such as ‘the rich, the well-born and the able’ should be set apart from other men in a senate. As a result,
while Washingtonreceived every electoral vote, Adams received only 34 out of 69 – thus making him the second most popular candidate and
therefore the Vice President.
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Abigail Adams
Inheriting New England's strongest traditions, Abigail Smith was born in 1744 at Weymouth,
Massachusetts. On her mother's side she was descended from the Quincys, a family of great prestige in
the colony; her father and other forebearers were Congregational ministers, leaders in a society that held
its clergy in high esteem.
Like other women of the time, Abigail lacked formal education; but her curiosity spurred her keen
intelligence, and she read avidly the books at hand. Reading created a bond between her and young John
Adams, Harvard graduate launched on a career in law, and they were married in 1764. It was a marriage
of the mind and of the heart, enduring for more than half a century, enriched by time.
The young couple lived on John's small farm at Braintree or in Boston as his practice expanded. In ten
years she bore three sons and two daughters; she looked after family and home when he went traveling
as circuit judge. "Alas!" she wrote in December 1773, "How many snow banks divide thee and me...."
Long separations kept Abigail from her husband while he served the country they loved, as delegate to
the Continental Congress, envoy abroad, elected officer under the Constitution. Her letters--pungent,
witty, and vivid, spelled just as she spoke--detail her life in times of revolution. They tell the story of the
woman who stayed at home to struggle with wartime shortages and inflation; to run the farm with a
minimum of help; to teach four children when formal education was interrupted. Most of all, they tell of
her loneliness without her "dearest Friend." The "one single expression," she said, "dwelt upon my mind
and played about my Heart...."
In 1784, she joined him at his diplomatic post in Paris, and observed with interest the manners of the
French. After 1785, she filled the difficult role of wife of the first United States Minister to Great Britain,
and did so with dignity and tact. They returned happily in 1788 to Massachusetts and the handsome
house they had just acquired in Braintree, later called Quincy, home for the rest of their lives.
As wife of the first Vice President, Abigail became a good friend to Mrs. Washington and a valued help in
official entertaining, drawing on her experience of courts and society abroad. After 1791, however, poor
health forced her to spend as much time as possible in Quincy. Illness or trouble found her resolute; as
she once declared, she would "not forget the blessings which sweeten life."
When John Adams was elected President, she continued a formal pattern of entertaining--even in the
primitive conditions she found at the new capital in November 1800. The city was wilderness, the
President's House far from completion. Her private complaints to her family provide blunt accounts of
both, but for her three months in Washington she duly held her dinners and receptions.
The Adamses retired to Quincy in 1801, and for 17 years enjoyed the companionship that public life had
long denied them. Abigail died in 1818, and is buried beside her husband in United First Parish Church.
She leaves her country a most remarkable record as patriot and First Lady, wife of one President and
mother of another.
Samuel Adams
Adams became active in politics, transforming himself from an inefficient tax gatherer into a leading patriot. As a member of
the Caucus Club, one of Boston's local political organizations, Adams helped control local elections in 1764. When Britain began an attempt to
tighten control over its American colonies by passing laws such as the Sugar Act (1764), Adams was influential in urging colonists to oppose
these measures. The Sugar Act was a tax law imposed by the British aimed at increasing the prices Boston merchants paid for molasses. Urged
on by radicals in the Caucus Club, Adams wrote instructions to local representatives attacking the Sugar Act as an unreasonable law. Adams
argued that the law violated colonists' rights because it had not been imposed with the approval of an elected representative. He argued that
there should be "no taxation without representation."
During the next decade Adams wrote essays about political ideas that were developing in Boston. Eager publishers hurried his
writings into print. Meanwhile the British Parliament passed an even harsher tax law than the Sugar Act. This tax law was the Stamp Act of
1765, which placed a tax on printed materials throughout the American colonies.
Adams's fiery essays and continual activities helped solidify American opinion against the Stamp Act. His columns in the Boston Gazette
newspaper sent a stream of abuse against the British government. Riding a wave of popularity, Adams was elected into the Massachusetts
legislature.
Adams's next move was to protest the Townshend Acts of 1767, which placed customs duties on imported goods. His stand
against the Townshend Acts placed him in the front ranks of the leading colonists and gained him the hatred of both British general Thomas
Gage (1721–1787) and England's King George III (1738–1820). To protest the Townshend Acts, Adams and other radicals called for an
economic boycott of British goods. Though the actual success of the boycott was limited, Adams had proved that an organized and skillful
minority could effectively combat a larger but disorganized group.
Adams wrote dozens of newspaper articles that stirred his readers' anger at the British. He appealed to American radicals
and communicated with leaders in other colonies. In a sense, Adams was burning himself out. By the time of the battles of Lexington and
Concord in Massachusetts on April 17, 1775, which marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War, his career as a revolutionary
bandleader had peaked.
Adams served in the Continental Congress between 1774 and 1781. However, after the first session his activities lessened
and his ties to other leaders cooled. He was uncertain about America's next steps and where he would fit into the scheme. Adams served
in the 1779 Massachusetts constitutional convention, where he allowed his cousin, John Adams (1735–1826), to do most of the work. He
attended the Massachusetts ratifying convention in 1788, but he contributed little to this meeting.
James Armistead
Spy, revolutionary. Born into slavery to owner William Armistead around December 10, 1748,
in New Kent, Virginia. In 1781, James Armistead volunteered to join the U.S. Army in order to fight for
the American Revolution. His master granted him permission to join the revolutionary cause, and the
American Continental Army stationed Armistead to serve under the Marquis de Lafayette, the
commander of allied French forces.
Lafayette employed Armistead as a spy, with the hopes of gathering intelligence in regards to
enemy movements. Posing as a runaway slave hired by the British to spy on the Americans, Armistead
successfully infiltrated British General Charles Cornwallis' headquarters. He later returned north with
turncoat soldier Benedict Arnold, and learned further details of British operations without being
detected. Able to travel freely between both British and American camps, Armistead could easily relay
information to Lafayette about British plans.
Using the details of Armistead's reports, Lafayette and General George Washington were able
to prevent the British from sending 10,000 reinforcements to Yorktown, Virginia. The American and
French blockade surprised British forces and crippled their military. As a result of the Lafayette and
Washington's victory in Yorktown, the British officially surrendered on Oct. 19, 1781.
Despite his critical actions, Armistead returned to William Armistead after the war to
continue his life as a slave. He was not eligible for emancipation under the Act of 1783 for slave-soldiers,
because he was considered a slave-spy, and had to petition the Virginia legislature for his emancipation.
The Marquis de Lafayette assisted him by writing a recommendation for his freedom, which was granted
in 1787. In gratitude, Armistead adopted Lafayette's surname.
After receiving his freedom, he moved nine miles south of New Kent, bought 40 acres of land,
and began farming. He later married, raised a large family, and was granted a $40 annual pension by the
Virginia legislature for his services during the American Revolution. He lived as a farmer in Virignia until
his death on August 9, 1830.
Wentworth Cheswell
He was the grandson of black slave Richard Cheswell (who early gained his freedom and in 1717 and became the first black to
own property in the colony of New Hampshire); and he was the son of Hopestill Cheswell, a notable homebuilder who built the homes of
several patriot leaders, including John Paul Jones and the Rev. Samuel Langdon. Wentworth was named after the famous Wentworth family,
from whom came several state governors, including Benning Wentworth – the governor at the time of Wentworth’s birth.
In 1763, Wentworth began attending an academy in Byfield, Massachusetts (30 miles from his home), where for four years he
received an extensive education, studying Latin, Greek, swimming, horsemanship, reading, writing, and arithmetic.
In 1767, he returned home and became a schoolteacher, also marrying Mary Davis (they eventually had 13 children – 4 sons
and 9 daughters). At the age of 21, he had already become an established and educated property owner and a stalwart in his local church,
even holding a church pew.
The following year, Wentworth was elected town constable – the first of many offices he held throughout his life. Two years
later in 1770, he was elected town selectman (the selectmen were considered the “town fathers” of a community). Other town offices in
which he served included seven years as Auditor, six years as Assessor, two years as Coroner, seven years as town Moderator (presiding over
town meetings), and twelve years as Justice of the Peace, overseeing trials, settling disputes, and executing deeds, wills, and legal
documents. (View an 1813 document signed by Cheswell as justice of the peace.) For half a century – including every year from 1768 until
1817 – Wentworth held some position in local government.
In addition to his civic service, Wentworth was also a patriot leader. In fact, the town selected him as the messenger for the
Committee of Safety – the central nervous system of the American Revolution that carried intelligence and messages back and forth between
strategic operational centers. Serving in that position, Wentworth undertook the same task as Paul Revere, making an all-night ride to warn
citizens of imminent British invasion.
In April 1776, he signed a document in which he pledged, “at the risk of . . . live and fortune,” to take up arms to resist the
British, and in September 1777, he enlisted in a company of Light Horse Volunteers commanded by Colonel John Langdon (Langdon later
became one of the 55 Founding Fathers who drafted the U. S. Constitution, then a framer of the Bill of Rights, and later the New Hampshire
governor). Langdon’s company made a 250-mile march to Saratoga, New York, to join with the Continental Army under General Horatio
Gates to defeat British General Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga – the first major American victory in the Revolution.
After returning from Saratoga, in the spring of 1778, Wentworth was elected to the convention to draft the state’s first constitution, but
some unknown event prevented his attendance.
Wentworth also served as Newmarket’s unofficial historian, copying town records from 1727 (including the records of various
church meetings) and chronicling old stories of the town as well as its current events. Additionally, having investigated and made extensive
notes on numerous artifacts and relics he discovered in the region around Newmarket, he is considered the state’s first archeologist. The
legacy of Wentworth Cheswell is a lasting one: a patriot, teacher, and church leader; an historian, archeologist, and educator; a judge and
official elected to numerous offices (he is considered the first black American elected to office in America). He is truly one of our forgotten
patriots but he is a laudable example for all Americans – a hero worth remembering and honoring during Black History Month.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1706, may by his life alone be the
most profound statement of what an American strives to be.
With no formal education beyond the age of 10 years, Franklin was celebrated throughout Europe,
welcomed in any Royal Court, sought out by every prestigious society. Indeed, when the reputations of George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson had yet to be sorted out, Franklin was worshipped wherever his name was
known.
He attended grammar school at age eight, but was put to work at ten. He apprenticed as a printer to his
brother James, who printed the New England Courant, at age twelve, and published his first article there,
anonymously, in 1721. Young Benjamin was an avid reader, inquisitive and skeptical. Through his satirical articles, he
poked fun at the people of Boston and soon wore out his welcome, both with his brother and with the city. He ran
away to New York and then on to Philadelphia at the age of 16, looking for work as a printer. He managed a
commission to Europe for the purpose of buying supplies to establish a new printing house in Philadelphia, but
found himself abandoned when he stepped off ship. Through hard work and frugality he bought his fare back to
Philadelphia in 1732 and set up shop as a printer. He was appointed clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1736, and
as Postmaster the following year. In 1741 he began publishing Poor Richard's Almanac, a very popular and influential
magazine.
He was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751 and served as an agent for Pennsylvania (and
ultimately for three other colonies) to England, France, and several other European powers. He was elected to the
Continental Congress in 1775, where he played a crucial role in the rebellion against Gr. Britain, including service to
Jefferson in editing the Declaration of Independence. Franklin, who was by this time independently wealthy and
retired from publishing, continued to serve an important role in government both local and national.
He was the United States first Postmaster General, Minister to the French Court, Treaty agent and
signer to the peace with Gr. Britain, Celebrated Member of the Constitutional convention (See Work, above).
Benjamin Franklin: Businessman, Writer, Publisher, Scientist, Diplomat, Legislator, and Social activist, was one of the
earliest and strongest advocates for the abolition of Slavery, and for the protection of the rights of American
aboriginal peoples. He died on the 17th of April in 1790. On that day he was still one of the most celebrated
characters in America.
Patrick Henry
"Radical," is a title that few men can wear with ease. The name Patrick Henry, during the revolution and for some
time after, was synonymous with that word in the minds of colonists and Empire alike. Henry's reputation as a passionate and
fiery orator exceeded even that of Samuel Adams. His Stamp Act Resolutions were, arguably, the first shot fired in the
Revolutionary War.
Patrick Henry's personality was a curious antidote to the stern honor of Washington, the refined logic of Jefferson,
and the well-tempered industry of Franklin. Young Henry was an idler and by many accounts a derelict; though everyone knew
he was bright, he simply would not lift a finger except to his own pleasure. By the age of 10, his family knew that he would not
be a farmer, and tried instead to train him toward academe. He would not apply himself to studies either. At age 21 his father set
him up in a business that he bankrupted shortly thereafter. Finally the general public disgust in Hanover and pressure from his
young family (he had married at the age of eighteen) caused him to study for six weeks and take the bar exam, which he passed,
and begin work as a lawyer.
In 1764 he moved to Louisa county, Virginia, where, as a lawyer, he argued in defense of broad voting rights
(suffrage) before the House of Burgesses. The following year he was elected to the House and soon became its leading radical
member. It was that year that he proposed the Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions. Few members of the Burgesses, as aristocratic a
group of legislators as existed in the colonies, would argue openly for defiance of Gr. Britain. Henry argued with remarkable
eloquence and fervor in favor of the five acts, which by most accounts amounted to a treason against the mother country. In
1774 he represented Virginia in the First Continental Congress where he continued in the role of firebrand. At the outbreak of
the revolution, he returned to his native state and lead militia in defense of Virginia's gunpowder store, when the royal Governor
spirited it aboard a British ship. Henry forced the Governor Lord Dunmore to pay for the powder at fair price.
In 1776, Henry was elected Governor of Virginia. He was re-elected for three terms and then succeeded by Thomas
Jefferson. He was again elected to the office in 1784. Patrick Henry was a strong critic of the constitution proposed in 1787. He
was in favor of the strongest possible government for the individual states, and a weak federal government. He was also very
critical of the fact that the convention was conducted in secret.
President Washington appointed him Secretary of State in 1795, but Henry declined the office. In 1799, President
Adams appointed him envoy to France, but failing health required him to decline this office too. He died on June 6, 1799 at age
of 63.
Thomas Jefferson
In the thick of party conflict in 1800, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a private letter, "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal
hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
This powerful advocate of liberty was born in 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia, inheriting from his father, a planter and
surveyor, some 5,000 acres of land, and from his mother, a Randolph, high social standing. He studied at the College of William and Mary,
then read law. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton, a widow, and took her to live in his partly constructed mountaintop home,
Monticello.
Freckled and sandy-haired, rather tall and awkward, Jefferson was eloquent as a correspondent, but he was no public
speaker. In the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Continental Congress, he contributed his pen rather than his voice to the patriot cause.
As the "silent member" of the Congress, Jefferson, at 33, drafted the Declaration of Independence. In years following he labored to make
its words a reality in Virginia. Most notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted in 1786.
Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France in 1785. His sympathy for the French Revolution led him into
conflict with Alexander Hamilton when Jefferson was Secretary of State in President Washington's Cabinet. He resigned in 1793.
Sharp political conflict developed, and two separate parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, began to form. Jefferson
gradually assumed leadership of the Republicans, who sympathized with the revolutionary cause in France. Attacking Federalist policies, he
opposed a strong centralized Government and championed the rights of states.
As a reluctant candidate for President in 1796, Jefferson came within three votes of election. Through a flaw in the
Constitution, he became Vice President, although an opponent of President Adams. In 1800 the defect caused a more serious problem.
Republican electors, attempting to name both a President and a Vice President from their own party, cast a tie vote between Jefferson and
Aaron Burr. The House of Representatives settled the tie. Hamilton, disliking both Jefferson and Burr, nevertheless urged Jefferson's
election.
When Jefferson assumed the Presidency, the crisis in France had passed. He slashed Army and Navy expenditures, cut the
budget, eliminated the tax on whiskey so unpopular in the West, yet reduced the national debt by a third. He also sent a naval squadron to
fight the Barbary pirates, who were harassing American commerce in the Mediterranean. Further, although the Constitution made no
provision for the acquisition of new land, Jefferson suppressed his qualms over constitutionality when he had the opportunity to acquire
the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803.
During Jefferson's second term, he was increasingly preoccupied with keeping the Nation from involvement in the
Napoleonic wars, though both England and France interfered with the neutral rights of American merchantmen. Jefferson's attempted
solution, an embargo upon American shipping, worked badly and was unpopular.
Jefferson retired to Monticello to ponder such projects as his grand designs for the University of Virginia. A French
nobleman observed that he had placed his house and his mind "on an elevated situation, from which he might contemplate the universe."
He died on July 4, 1826.
Bernardo de Galvez
Bernardo de Gálvez was born in Macharaviaya, among the mountains of Málaga, Spain on July 23, 1746.
His birth date is celebrated as Gálvez Day in a few cities across the United States and has been recognized as a day of
commemoration by individuals and state congresses. His significant contributions to the independence of the United
States from Britain has been recognized by various groups and regions, but is still left out of most textbooks.
Before Spain officially declared support for the rebelling colonies of Britain, Gálvez was assisting the
revolution. He corresponded directly with Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and Charles Henry Lee and sealed off the
port of New Orleans so that British ships could not utilize the Mississippi River. He also welcomed any American
patriots at his ports and river. The river, under French and Spanish administration, served as a constant source of
money, ammunition and weapons to the American forces under George Washington and George Rogers Clark. By
1777, more than $70,000 had reached American troops.
On June 21, 1779, King Carlos III declared war against Great Britain and commissioned Governor Gálvez
to organize forces against the English. His efforts were focused on the Mississippi and the Gulf. Texas Governor
Domingo Cabello y Robles provided Gálvez with over 10,000 cattle for food and several hundred horses for the
soldiers. In 1779, Gálvez led 1,400 men and captured Baton Rouge, Natchez and Manchac from the British. His troops
were made up of free Blacks, Creoles and American Indians as well as his own Spanish forces. He also dispatched
more than 10,000 Indians who posed a threat to General Washington. On March 14, 1780, a month long campaign
ended against the British, and the 2,000 soldiers under Gálvez had captured Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama.
In 1781, General Gálvez dealt another blow to the British by leading 7,000 men against the British capital
in Pensacola. The following year, he captured New Providence and the Bahamas. As he was preparing to capture
Jamaica, negotiations brought an end to the war. Gálvez helped draw up the final treaty and was acknowledged by
the new American Congress for his assistance in the peace process.
King George III
George III was one of the longest reigning British Monarchs. He oversaw
the conquest of an empire in the Seven Years' War, and the loss of the American
Colonies in the War of Independence. The British Empire was the leading model
of Industrial and economic development in an era when the whole world was to
be mapped and conquered. The face of Europe changed dramatically, as Britain
and France struggled for domination. Britain emerged from that struggle as the
world's leading power, but it was a nation faced with a fragile governmental
structure and deep social strife.
The King was poorly suited for the demands presented by the age. It
was widely know that his intellectual abilities were limited. A long chain of
ineffective appointments to parliament and an over-dependence on people
whom he merely felt unthreatened by, resulted in terrible instability in policy
both at home and abroad. Thomas Paine pointed out, tellingly, in his treatise
Common Sense, that a major failure of Monarchy was the specter of the people
presented with "an butt for a lion" in the person of the King. Finally, George
apparently suffered from a hereditary disease that rendered him practically
insane for several long intervals, and then ultimately lasted until his death in
1820.
Marquis de Lafayette
Marquis de Lafayette was born on September 6, 1757, in the province of Auvergne,
France. His father was killed while fighting against the British in the Seven Years' War (1756–63). His
mother and grandfather died when he was thirteen, leaving him a wealthy orphan. After studying
in the Collège du Plessis in Paris, France, Lafayette joined the French army in 1771. In 1773 he
married Adrienne de Noailles. However, he was not ready to settle down to the life of a wealthy
man. After the outbreak of the American Revolution, he volunteered to help the new country in its
fight against France’s historic enemy, England.
King Louis XVI (1754–1793) refused to allow Lafayette to go to America, but Lafayette
sailed anyway, after buying a ship with his own money. In June 1777 he landed in North Carolina.
The Continental Congress had given him a commission as a major general, but his actual duties
were as assistant to General George Washington (1732–1799). He assisted in battles against the
British in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and eventually was sent back to France in an attempt to
obtain greater French support for the Americans.
Upon returning to his homeland in 1779, Lafayette was arrested for having disobeyed
the king, but all was soon forgiven. Although not all his proposals for aid to the Americans were
approved, Lafayette returned to America in 1780 in command of French forces that were sent to
help. In 1781 he was given command of the defense of Virginia with the rank of major general. He
drew English commander Charles Cornwallis (1738–1805) into a trap at Yorktown, Virginia;
Cornwallis was blockaded by the American forces and by French troops under Admiral de Grasse.
Cornwallis's surrender was the high point of Lafayette's military career.
Thomas Paine
On January 29, 1737, Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, England. His father, a corseter, had
grand visions for his son, but by the age of 12, Thomas had failed out of school. The young Paine began
apprenticing for his father, but again, he failed. So, now age 19, Paine went to sea. This adventure didn't last
too long, and by 1768 he found himself as an excise (tax) officer in England. Thomas didn't exactly excel at the
role, getting discharged from his post twice in four years, but as an inkling of what was to come, he published
The Case of the Officers of Excise (1772), arguing for a pay raise for officers. In 1774, by happenstance, he met
Benjamin Franklin in London, who helped him emigrate to Philadelphia.
His career turned to journalism while in Philadelphia, and suddenly, Thomas Paine
became very important. In 1776, he published Common Sense, a strong defense of American
Independence from England. He traveled with the Continental Army and wasn't a success as a
soldier, but he produced The Crisis (1776-83), which helped inspire the Army. This pamphlet was
so popular that as a percentage of the population, it was read by or read to more people than
today watch the Super Bowl.
But, instead of continuing to help the Revolutionary cause, he returned to Europe and
pursued other ventures, including working on a smokeless candle and an iron bridge. In 179192, he wrote The Rights of Man in response to criticism of the French Revolution. This work
caused Paine to be labeled an outlaw in England for his anti-monarchist views. He would have
been arrested, but he fled for France to join the National Convention.
By 1793, he was imprisoned in France for not endorsing the execution of Louis XVI.
During his imprisonment, he wrote and distributed the first part of what was to become his most
famous work at the time, the anti-church text, The Age of Reason (1794-96). He was freed in
1794 (narrowly escaping execution) thanks to the efforts of James Monroe, then U.S. Minister to
France.
Paine remained in France until 1802 when he returned to America on an invitation from
Thomas Jefferson. Paine discovered that his contributions to the American Revolution had been
all but eradicated due to his religious views. Derided by the public and abandoned by his friends,
he died on June 8, 1809 at the age of 72 in New York City.
Haym Salomon
Polish-born Jewish immigrant to America who played an important role in financing the Revolution.
When the war began, Salomon was operating as a financial broker in New York City. He seems to have been drawn
early to the Patriot side and was arrested by the British as a spy in 1776. He was pardoned and used by the British as
an interpreter with their German troops. Salomon, however, continued to help prisoners of the British escape and
encouraged German soldiers to desert. Arrested again in 1778, he was sentenced to death, but managed to escape to
the rebel capital of Philadelphia, where he resumed his career as a broker and dealer in securities. He soon became
broker to the French consul and paymaster to French troops in America.
Salomon arrived in Philadelphia as the Continental Congress was struggling to raise money to support
the war. Congress had no powers of direct taxation and had to rely on requests for money directed to the states,
which were mostly refused. The government had no choice but to borrow money and was ultimately bailed out only
by loans from the French and Dutch governments. Government finances were in a chaotic state in 1781 when
Congress appointed former Congressman Robert Morris superintendent of finances. Morris established the Bank of
North America and proceeded to finance the Yorktown campaign of Washington and Rochambeau. Morris relied on
public-spirited financiers like Salomon to subscribe to the bank, find purchasers for government bills of exchange, and
lend their own money to the government.
From 1781 on, Salomon brokered bills of exchange for the American government and extended interestfree personal loans to members of Congress, including James Madison. Salomon married Rachel Franks in 1777 and
had four children with her. He was an influential member of Philadelphia’s Mikveh Israel congregation, founded in
1740. He helped lead the fight to overturn restrictive Pennsylvania laws barring non-Christians from holding public
office. Like many elite citizens of Philadelphia, he owned at least one slave, a man named Joe, who ran away in 1780.
Possibly as a result of his purchases of government debt, Salomon died penniless in 1785. His descendants in the
nineteenth century attempted to obtain compensation from Congress, but were unsuccessful. The extent of
Salomon’s claim on the government cannot be determined, because the documentation disappeared long ago.
George Washington
On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York,
took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. "As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to
establish a Precedent," he wrote James Madison, "it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed
on true principles."
Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite
for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.
He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion. At 16 he helped survey
Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of
what grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although
four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.
From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount
Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself
to a busy and happy life. But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and
hampered by British regulations. As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his
resistance to the restrictions.
When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the
Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.
He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British. He reported to Congress, "we should on all
Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought
never to be drawn." Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of
French allies--he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon realized that the Nation under its
Articles of Confederation was not functioning well, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional
Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected
Washington President. Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of a throat
infection December 14, 1799. For months the Nation mourned him.
Mercy Otis Warren
Mercy Otis was born on September 25, 1728 in Barnstable, Massachusetts. She
was the sister of James Otis, one of the first leaders for the break from England. Mercy was
a highly intelligent women and was dedicated to the American cause, yet her gender kept
her from getting involved in politics. Instead she made her statements on the page of her
books, which made her a famous author.
She married James Warren in 1754 at the age of twenty-six. Warren was a farmer
and merchant from Plymouth, Massachusetts. When her brother James became a prerevolution leader, Mercy became a counselor and advisor to him and his friends, Samuel
Adams and John Hancock. Around 1765, Mercy started to write patriotic poetry, which at
the time was used for her and her friends amusement. She published "Massachusetts Song
of Liberty" and it soon became the most popular song of the colonies. She then began to
write political plays, two examples are "The Adulateur" and "The Group." Mercy invited
many guests into her home, such as George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton.
In 1790 she published all her poetic plays in one book which was dedicated to
George Washington. She also published a three volume book in 1805 called "History of the
Revolutionary War." Mercy Otis Warren died October 19, 1814 in Plymouth.
Wentworth Cheswell
John Adams
Abigail Adams
Samuel Adams
Benjamin Franklin
George Washington
Bernardo de Galvez
James Armistead
Haym Salomon
King George III
Mercy Otis Warren
Marquis de Lafayette
Patrick Henry
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Paine
Gallery Walk
•Students will participate in a Gallery Walk
visiting each of the 15 American Revolution
historical figures.
•Write one complete sentence in your
journal for each figure.
•Tell what important role this individual
played in the American Revolution.