Colonial
Puritan leader of Plymouth Colony who said "we should be like a city on a hill" to the world.
John Winthrop
Said, "Give me liberty or give me death" in the Virginia House of Burgeses
Patrick Henry
"Father of the U.S. Constitution" who almost single-handedly crafted the Constitution in 1787
James Madison
Author of the first economic plan which created a rift in Washington's administration and also created the first two political parties.
Alexander Hamilton
Advocate for women's rights who organized the Seneca Falls Convention to try to secure the vote for ladies in the 1840's
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Leader of Jamestown that saved them from early extinction who said, "if you don't work, you don't eat!"
John Smith
Started the rebel group, The Sons of Liberty, to encourage people in the American colonies to break away from England.
Sam Adams
Anti-federalist from Virginia who was very opposed to the U.S. Constitution because it sacrificed states' rights
George Mason
America's first President and creator of many political precedents in America.
George Washington
Huge in education reform who tried to convince Congress to force states to create more public education primary and secondary schools.
Horace Mann
Quaker founder of Pennsylvania
William Penn
Wrote Common Sense, a pamphlet that tried to persuade the American colonists to break away from England
Thomas Payne
Along with James Madison and Alexander Hamilton he wrote the Federalist Papers which tried to convince people to vote for the U.S. Constitution during the ratification debate.
John Jay
America's third President and President who presided over the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. He also wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Jefferson
Spearheaded the reform efforts for prison reform and mental illness facilities in the 1840's.
Dorothea Dix
Philanthropist military officer who founded Georgia.
James Olglethorp
African American spy for the Americans during the Revolutionary War
James Armistead
Printer and diplomat who was the oldest delegate in the room during the Constitutional Convention who supported it. He also helped America secure French aid during the Revolutionary War.
Ben Franklin
America's second President, political enemy of Thomas Jefferson, presided over the XYZ Affair and the hated Alien & Sedition Acts.
John Adams
Author and leader of Transcendentalism in the 1840's and engaged in civil disobedience over the MX-AM War and slavery.
Henry David Thoreau
Puritan who challenged the Puritan leadership in Plymouth, and who founded Rhode Island
Roger Williams
America's best general and early war hero who would eventually switch sides to become an officer for the British.
Benedict Arnold
Author of the Great Compromise, from Connecticut, who saved the U.S. Constitution during the convention.
Roger Sherman
5th President of the U.S. who presided over the Missouri Compromise, Monroe Doctrine, and "Era of Good Feelings".
James Monroe
Abolitionist and leader of the Underground railroad who saved many slaves from slavery in Maryland. She boasted that she never lost a passenger.
Harriet Tubman