Washington. Set precendents that presidents would follow for centuries. Voluntarily gave up power when he could have held on to it. His popularity ensured (uneasy) peace between the Jeffersonians and Hamiltonians and allowed Hamilton to get his programs implemented. A lesser man in his position would’ve ruined everything.
Second: Hamilton.
Ben Franklin. One of the few of them who came across as having a sense of humor. “We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”
Sam Adams. My favorite terrorist.
Ben Franklin for me, gotta love a “mad scientist” Founding Father…
Yes, please!
I can’t believe all you Hamilton fans. He was the Karl Rove of the 18th century!
Ben Franklin. We named our younger son after him. He was brilliant.
Followed closely by John Adams, who was a feisty man with a feisty wife (but not the country’s best president) and then Jefferson.
Gotta go with the man who said, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
That would be Mr. Franklin, of course.
We’re suppose to have a favorite Founding Father?
Next thing you know there will be Founding Father Action Figures with kung fu action!
The founding Mothers that always get a special fuzziwarmfeelgood from me are Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan Anthony ** Jane Addams.** amongst many, many others.
Really?? I may have to rethink. I mean I don’t have a pot bellied stove or bifocals but spins wildly Wheeeeeee!!!
Don’t forget Dolly Madison!
Actually he probably stole it from someone else. But he published it. And I still love him for that.
Jefferson and Franklin, absolutely. But Washington was the man. Driven, ambitious, yet highly principled and incredibly courageous.
Oh, and for the Washington fans: Hamilton was Washington’s aide in the Revolutionary War, and while he apparently largely admired Washington, he once wrote that his boss had some negative attributes that he’d go into later.
And then he never got around to it.
So I’m pretty sure Washington had some really rotten habits that have been lost to history, thanks to Hamilton’s laziness. See what I mean about Hamilton? At least he could have saved some good gossip for posterity.
Okay, I got sidetracked by my dislike for Hamilton. Point is: Washington had bad, mysterious habits.
The Republicans were totally where it was at. At least we all know what Jefferson’s bad habits were.
Bite your tongue!
Sure, he was in favor of Executive power, but if it weren’t for him, we’d still have a Parliament. Moreover, we’d still be a bunch of squabbling independent states like South America. Despite our faults, the U.S.'s economic power and concommitant standard of living are wonderful, and the reason that existed at all is because we had a huge, unitary market that got larger every day. That is all down to Hamilton.
Of the Big Six, I also like Madison, who was kind of the linchpin of the whole business – the Jeffersonian who moderated his views (once his svengali was overseas, of course) enough to hammer out a workable constitutional system with Hamilton that preserved the interests of both sides. Mostly.
That said, I agree with carterba that Washington doesn’t get the respect he deserves. (Outside of third grade social studies classes, that is.) He’s venerated, but because of his primacy and his military pussiance; rarely is enough attention paid to the real efferts he took to implement the system of checks and balances when he could have just done whatever he felt like.
I dig Marshall as well, of course. You can’t not if you read Marbury critically and see how cleverly he ensared Jefferson. Plus, the story goes that the Court had been criticized for drinking too much rum during their caucuses, so it was agreed that they’d only drink rum when it rained. The next day, Marshall asked Justice Story to see if it was raining. Story looked out the window and dejectedly reported that the sky was clear. Marshall is said to have replied “Justice Story, that is the most damn fool opinion I have ever heard you deliver. Our jurisdiction extends the length and bredth of the nation! Surely, somewhere therein it is raining!” And the bottle was opened.
–Cliffy
I’m going to choose a somewhat obscure one, George Wythe (1726-1806.) He’s the namesake for the county and city I was born in long ago.
Prior to the revolution he was Attorney General of the Virginia Colony and a long time member of the Virginia House of Burgesses.
As a professor of law at William & Mary College he educated Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, James Monroe, and John Marshall (pretty prestigious students.)
He was a member of the Continental Congress from Virginia and voted in favor of and signed the Declaration of Independence. Later, he was Speaker of the House in the VA House of Delegates, a judge of the chancery court and also the man who designed the Virginia State Seal which is still in use today. He was also a member of the Constitutional Convention in which the U.S. Constitutoin was drafted.
Wythe was a slaveowner who became an abolitionist. He freed all of his slaves (unlike Washington while he was still alive) and also provided for them financially afterwards. He had all of his former slaves in his will, giving them part of his fortune after he died.
He was murdered by his nephew who was the other beneficiary of the will and didn’t want his fortune to be diluted. His intentions were to poison all the former slaves with arsenic but he poisoned his uncle as well. His only punishment for his crimes was not receiving his inheritance, the only reason being Wythe lived long enough after the poisoning to change his will and exclude his nephew completely. He could not be convicted of murder because the witnesses in the case were black and they were not legally permitted to testify in court because of that.
Franklin, Paine, Jefferson. In that order.
Franklin:
Sex machine
Techno nerd
Literate
Cutthroat businessman
Knew how to deal with the French (patiently)
Washington second, because he didn’t want to be king.
another vote for sam “wild man” adams.
abigail adams for founding mother.
Thank you for bringing this man to my attention!