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1735, Oct 301797-18011826, Jul 4
an American lawyer, author, statesman, and diplomat. He served as the second President of the United States (1797–1801), the first Vice President (1789–1797), and as a Founding Father was a leader of American independence from Great Britain. Adams was a political theorist in the Age of Enlightenment who promoted republicanism and a strong central government. His innovative ideas were frequently published. He was also a dedicated diarist and correspondent, particularly with his wife and key advisor Abigail Adams.
 Timeline (23)
10/30/1735-Future US president John Adams is born in Massachusetts
07/16/1755-John Adams graduates from Harvard 
10/25/1764-John Adams marries Abigail Adams nee Smith, marriage lasts 54 years
06/10/1775-John Adams proposes a Continental Army
03/31/1776-Abigail Adams urges husband, John Adams, to “remember the ladies”
06/11/1776-Congress appoints “Committee of Five” (Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston) to draft the Declaration of Independence
09/11/1776-A peace conference is held on Staten Island with British Admiral, Lord Richard Howe, meeting American representatives including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin -- it fails when Robert Howe demands the colonists revoke the Declaration of Independence
03/07/1777-Five letters pass between Abigail Adams and John Adams
11/28/1777-John Adams replaces Silas Deane as the commissioner to France
02/16/1778-John Adams prepares to sail for France
04/08/1778-John Adams arrives in Paris to replace Silas Deane
09/27/1779-John Adams negotiates Revolutionary War peace terms with Britain
02/04/1789-First electoral college unanimously chooses George Washington and John Adams as President and Vice President
04/21/1789-John Adams sworn in as first U.S. Vice President (nine days before George Washington) 
11/03/1796-John Adams elected president 
03/04/1797-John Adams inaugurated as second US president
01/08/1798-US Constitution's 11th Amendment's ratification, dealing with each state's sovereign immunity, is announced by President John Adams
05/15/1800-John Adams orders the federal government to move to Washington DC
06/03/1800-John Adams moves to Washington DC
11/01/1800-President John Adams and first lady Abigail Adams move into the newly-completed White House
03/04/1801-Thomas Jefferson inaugurated as third president. Outgoing John Adams does not attend, becoming the first of only three presidents to do so
05/27/1813-Thomas Jefferson writes to John Adams to notify him that Benjamin Rush died
07/04/1826-Both John Adams (age 90) and Thomas Jefferson (age 83) die
 Notes (4)
Politics:
  • Party: Federalist; Vice President: Thomas Jefferson
Signers of the US Declaration of Independence:
Adams , Samuel: an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachu...
Adams [2], John: an American lawyer, author, statesman, and diplomat. He served as the second President of the United States (1797–1801), the first Vice Pr...
Bartlett , Josiah: an American physician and statesman, delegate to the Continental Congress for New Hampshire, and signatory of the Declaration of Independenc...
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US Vice-Presidents:

John Adams [2] (1789-1797): an American lawyer, author, statesman, and diplomat. He served as the second President of the United States (1797–1801), the first Vice Pr...
Thomas Jefferson (1797-1801): an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the third President of the United States (1...
Aaron Burr (1801-1805): an American politician. He was the third Vice President of the United States (1801–1805), serving during President Thomas Jefferson's first term. B...
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US Presidents:

George Washington (1789-1797): the first President of the United States (1789–97), the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, ...
John Adams [2] (1797-1801): an American lawyer, author, statesman, and diplomat. He served as the second President of the United States (1797–1801), the first Vice Pr...
Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809): an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the third President of the United States (1...
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 Mentions (10)
Abigail Adams
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Samuel Adams
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John Adams Sr.
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Jacob Bailey
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Thomas Jefferson
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Robert R. Livingston
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John Marshall [2]
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Timothy Pickering
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Josiah Quincy II
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Artemas Ward
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 Quotes (98) • View in Quotations
A constitution founded on these principles introduces knowledge among the people, and inspires them with a conscious dignity becoming freemen; a general emulation takes place, which causes good humor, sociability, good manners, and good morals to be general. That elevation of sentiment inspired by such a government, makes the common people brave and enterprising. That ambition which is inspired by it makes them sober, industrious, and frugal.
A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man.
A government of laws, and not of men.
Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.
All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.
Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion... in private self-defense.
As good government is an empire of laws, how shall your laws be made? In a large society, inhabiting an extensive country, it is impossible that the whole should assemble to make laws. The first necessary step, then, is to depute power from the many to a few of the most wise and good.
As long as Property exists, it will accumulate in Individuals and Families. As long as Marriage exists, Knowledge, Property and Influence will accumulate in Families.
As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration. I long for rural and domestic scene, for the warbling of birds and the prattling of my children.
Be not intimidated... nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice
Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.
But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.
But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations...This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.
Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.
Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.
Did you ever see a portrait of a great man without perceiving strong traits of pain and anxiety?
Each individual of the society has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and property, according to standing laws. He is obliged, consequently, to contribute his share to the expense of this protection; and to give his personal service, or an equivalent, when necessary. But no part of the property of any individual can, with justice, be taken from him, or applied to public uses, without his own consent, or that of the representative body of the people. In fine, the people of this commonwealth are not controllable by any other laws than those to which their constitutional representative body have given their consent.
Every man in [Congress] is a great man, an orator, a critic, a statesman; and therefore every man upon every question must show his oratory, his criticism, and his political abilities.
Every measure of prudence, therefore, ought to be assumed for the eventual total extirpation of slavery from the United States.... I have, throughout my whole life, held the practice of slavery in... abhorrence.
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.
Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.
Genius is sorrow's child.
Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.
Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.
Here is everything which can lay hold of the eye, ear and imagination - everything which can charm and bewitch the simple and ignorant. I wonder how Luther ever broke the spell.
His Example is now complete, and it will teach wisdom and virtue to magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in future generations, as long as our history shall be read.
Human government is more or less perfect as it approaches nearer or diverges farther from the imitation of this perfect plan of divine and moral government.
Human nature itself is evermore an advocate for liberty. There is also in human nature a resentment of injury, and indignation against wrong. A love of truth and a veneration of virtue. These amiable passions, are the "latent spark"... If the people are capable of understanding, seeing and feeling the differences between true and false, right and wrong, virtue and vice, to what better principle can the friends of mankind apply than to the sense of this difference?
I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.
I call you to witness that I was the first member of the Congress who ventured to come out in public, as I did in January 1776, in my Thoughts on Government ... in favor of a government with three branches and an independent judiciary. This pamphlet, you know, was very unpopular. No man appeared in public to support it but yourself.
I have accepted a seat in the [Massachusetts] House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate.
I must not write a word to you about politics, because you are a woman.
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.
I think he [Jefferson] had one more vote than any other, and that placed him at the head of the committee. I had the next highest number, and that placed me second. The committee met, discussed the subject, [of the Declaration of Independence] and then appointed Mr. Jefferson and me to make the draught, I suppose because we were the two first on the list. The subcommittee met. Jefferson proposed to me to make the draught. Adams: I will not. Jefferson: You should do it. Adams: Oh! no. Jefferson Why will you not? You ought to do it. Adams: I will not. Jefferson: Why? Adams: Reasons enough. Jefferson: What can be your reasons?
If men through fear, fraud or mistake, should in terms renounce and give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the great end of society, would absolutely vacate such renunciation; the right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of Man to alienate this gift, and voluntarily become a slave.
If national pride is ever justifiable or excusable it is when it springs, not from power or riches, grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national innocence, information and benevolence....
If there is a form of government, then, whose principle and foundation is virtue, will not every sober man acknowledge it better calculated to promote the general happiness than any other form?
If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?
In politics the middle way is none at all.
In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections.
It already appears, that there must be in every society of men superiors and inferiors, because God has laid in the constitution and course of nature the foundations of the distinction.
It has ever been my hobby-horse to see rising in America an empire of liberty, and a prospect of two or three hundred millions of freemen, without one noble or one king among them. You say it is impossible. If I should agree with you in this, I would still say, let us try the experiment, and preserve our equality as long as we can. A better system of education for the common people might preserve them long from such artificial inequalities as are prejudicial to society, by confounding the natural distinctions of right and wrong, virtue and vice.
It is the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious profession or sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship.
It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.
It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.
Laws for the liberal education of the youth, especially of the lower class of the people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant.
Let justice be done though the heavens should fall.
Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.
Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge; I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers.
Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.
Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.
Men must be ready, they must pride themselves and be happy to sacrifice their private pleasures, passions and interests, nay, their private friendships and dearest connections, when they stand in competition with the rights of society.
Modesty is a virtue that can never thrive in public.
My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.
National defense is one of the cardinal duties of a statesman.
Objects of the most stupendous magnitude, and measure in which the lives and liberties of millions yet unborn are intimately interested, are now before us. We are in the very midst of a revolution the most complete, unexpected and remarkable of any in the history of nations
Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
Posterity, you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that ever I took half the pains to preserve it.
Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.
Power always thinks... that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws.
Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty.
Public affairs go on pretty much as usual: perpetual chicanery and rather more personal abuse than there used to be... Our American Chivalry is the worst in the world. It has no Laws, no bounds, no definitions; it seems to be all a Caprice.
Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics. There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honour, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty: and this public passion must be superior to all private passions.
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
That, as a republic is the best of governments, so that particular arrangements of the powers of society, or, in other words, that form of government which is best contrived to secure an impartial and exact execution of the laws, is the best of republics.
The balance of power in a society accompanies the balance of property in land.
The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, where the Government are afraid to trust their people with arms.
The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a theatrical show. Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that... and all the glory of it.
The deliberate union of so great and various a people in such a place, is without all partiality or prejudice, if not the greatest exertion of human understanding, the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen.
The dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of the people, and every blessing of society depend so much upon an upright and skillful administration of justice, that the judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive, and independent upon both, that so it may be a check upon both, and both should be checks upon that.
The dons, the bashaws, the grandees, the patricians, the sachems, the nabobs, call them by what names you please, sigh and groan and fret, and sometimes stamp and foam and curse, but all in vain. The decree is gone forth, and it cannot be recalled, that a more equal liberty than has prevailed in other parts of the earth must be established in America.
The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries.
The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families.... How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their Mothers?
The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.
The happiness of society is the end of government.
The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations.
The history of our Revolution will be one continued lie from one end to the other. The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin's electrical rod smote the earth and out sprang General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his rod - and thenceforward these two conducted all the policies, negotiations, legislatures, and war.
The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a great Measure, than they have it now. They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty.
The people, when they have been unchecked, have been as unjust, tyrannical, brutal, barbarous, and cruel, as any king or senate possessed of uncontrollable power. The majority has eternally, and without one exception, usurped over the rights of the minority.
The rich, the well-born, and the able, acquire and influence among the people that will soon be too much for simple honesty and plain sense, in a house of representatives. The most illustrious of them must, therefore, be separated from the mass, and placed by themselves in a senate; this is, to all honest and useful intents, an ostracism.
The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.
There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.
There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.
There is no good government but what is republican. That the only valuable part of the British constitution is so; for the true idea of a republic is an empire of laws, and not of men. That, as a republic is the best of governments, so that particular arrangement of the powers of society, or in other words, that form of government which is best contrived to secure an impartial and exact execution of the law, is the best of republics.
They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men.
They made an early provision by law that every town consisting of so many families should be always furnished with a grammar school. They made it a crime for such a town to be destitute of a grammar schoolmaster for a few months, and subjected it to a heavy penalty. So that the education of all ranks of people was made the care and expense of the public, in a manner that I believe has been unknown to any other people, ancient or modern. The consequences of these establishments we see and feel every day. A native of America who cannot read and write is as rare ... as a comet or an earthquake
To suppose arms in the hands of citizens, to be used at individual discretion, except in private self-defense, or by partial orders of towns, counties or districts of a state, is to demolish every constitution, and lay the laws prostrate, so that liberty can be enjoyed by no man; it is a dissolution of the government. The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws.
Upon this point all speculative politicians will agree, that the happiness of society is the end of government, as all divines and moral philosophers will agree that the happiness of the individual is the end of man. From this principle it will follow that the form of government which communicates ease, comfort, security, or, in one word, happiness, to the greatest numbers of persons, and in the greatest degree, is the best.
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
We ought to consider what is the end of government before we determine which is the best form. Upon this point all speculative politicians will agree that the happiness of society is the end of government, as all divines and moral philosophers will agree that the happiness of the individual is the end of man....All sober inquirers after truth, ancient and modern, pagan and Christian, have declared that the happiness of man, as well as his dignity, consists in virtue.
We should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections
When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking or thinking I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.
While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill - little better understood, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago.
Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties, and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of people, it shall be the duty of legislators and magistrates... to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them.
Without wishing to damp the ardor of curiosity or influence the freedom of inquiry, I will hazard a prediction that, after the most industrious and impartial researchers, the longest liver of you all will find no principles, institutions or systems of education more fit in general to be transmitted to your posterity than those you have received from your ancestors.
[J]udges, therefore, should be always men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness, and attention. Their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man, or body of men.
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86
John Adams [2]1735, Oct 301797
 
18011826, Jul 4

Samuel Adams1734, Jan 201750
 
17981806, May 8
 an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United State...
Robert Morris Jr.1734, Jan 201750
 
17981806, May 8
 a Founding Father of the United States, was a Liverpool-born American merchant who financed the A...
George Read1733, Sep 181753
 
17981798, Sep 21
 an American lawyer and politician from New Castle in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a signer...
Philip Schuyler1733, Nov 101761
 
17981804, Nov 18
 a general in the American Revolution and a United States Senator from New York. He is usually kno...
Thomas Heyward Jr.1746, Jul 281775
 
17981809, Mar 6
 a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and of the Articles of Confederation as...
Patrick Henry1736, May 291760
 
17991799, Jun 6
 an American attorney, planter and politician who became known as an orator during the movement fo...
John Mare Jr.17391765
 
17991802/03
 an American painter, businessman, and public figure. Not much is known of Mare's training, althou...
Tipu Sultan1750, Nov 101766
 
17991799, May 4
  a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the eldest son of Sultan Hyder Ali of Mysore. Tipu intr...
Red Jacket1750 ca1770
 
17991830
 a Native American Seneca orator and chief of the Wolf clan. He negotiated on behalf of his nation...
Daniel Morgan1736, Jul 61775
 
17991802, Jul 6
 an American pioneer, soldier, and United States Representative from Virginia. One of the most gif...
Joseph McDowell Jr.1756, Mar 81776
 
17991801, Feb 5
 an American planter, soldier, and statesman from North Carolina. He was known as "Quaker Meadows ...
Abigail Adams1744, Nov 111764
 
18001818, Oct 28
 the closest advisor and wife of John Adams[2], as well as the mother of John Quincy Adams. She i...
Fisher Ames1758, Apr 91774
 
18001808, Jul 4
 a Representative in the United States Congress from the 1st Congressional District of Massachuset...
Edward Rutledge1749, Nov 231774
 
18001800, Jan 23
 an American politician, and youngest signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. He ...
William Blount [2]1749, Mar 261776
 
18001800, Mar 21
 an American statesman and land speculator, and a signer of the United States Constitution. He was...
Jeremiah Wadsworth1743, Jul 121761
 
18011804, Apr 30
 an American sea captain, merchant, and statesman from Hartford, Connecticut who profited from his...
James De Lancey [3]1746, Sep 61769
 
18011804, May 2
 a political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Annapolis township in the Nova Scotia House of ...
Frederick Muhlenberg1750, Jan 11770
 
18011801, Jun 4
 an American minister and politician who was the first Speaker of the United States House of Repre...
Pieter Gerardus van Overstraten1755, Feb 191780
 
18011801, Aug 22
  Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1796 until 1801. He was the last Governor-General...
John Wattsunknown1788
 
18021802
 one of the leaders of the Chickamauga Cherokee (or "Lower Cherokee") during the Cherokee-American...
Robert Treat Paine1731, Mar 111757
 
18041814, May 11
 a Massachusetts lawyer and politician, best known as a signer of the Declaration of Independence ...
John Pickering1737, Sep 221761
 
18041805, Apr 11
 served as chief justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court of Judicature, and as judge for the U...
Alexander Hamilton1755/57, Jan 111770
 
18041804, Jul 12
 an American statesman and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was an influential...
George Walton17491774
 
18041804, Feb 2
 signed the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Georgia and also serv...
George Wythe17261746
 
18061806, Jun 8
 the first American law professor, a noted classics scholar, and a Virginia judge. The first of th...
Peter Muhlenberg1746, Oct 11768
 
18071807, Oct 1
 an American clergyman, Continental Army soldier during the American Revolutionary War, and politi...
Selim III1761, Dec 241789
 
18071808, Jul 28
 the reform-minded Sultan and Islam Caliph of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. The Janissarie...
John Page1743, Apr 281763
 
18081808, Oct 11
 a figure in early United States history. He served in the U.S. Congress and as the 13th Governor ...
Christian VII1749, Jan 291766
 
18081808, Mar 13
 a monarch of the House of Oldenburg who was King of Denmark-Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Hols...
Aaron Burr1756, Feb 61775
 
18081836, Sep 14
 an American politician. He was the third Vice President of the United States (1801–1805), servi...
Jean-Nicolas Demeunier1751, Mar 151789
 
18081814, Feb 2
 a French author and politician. It was as a member of the Constitutional Committee that Démeunie...
Joseph Brant1743 ca1750
 
18091807
 a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York, who was closely associated...
Blue Jacket1743 ca 1770
 
18091810 ca
 a war chief of the Shawnee people, known for his militant defense of Shawnee lands in the Ohio Co...
Buckongahelas1720 ca1770
 
18091805
 a regionally and nationally renowned Lenape chief, councilor and warrior. He was active from the ...
Charles Willson Peale1741, Apr 151770
 
18101827, Feb 22
 an American painter, soldier, scientist, inventor, politician and naturalist. He is best remember...
Tecumseh1768 ca1800
 
18101813
 a Native American leader of the Shawnee who attempted to organize a vast alliance of Native Ameri...
Samuel Chase1741, Apr 171761
 
18111811, Jun 19
 an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and earlier was a signatory to the United...
Robert R. Livingston1746, Nov 161770
 
18111813, Feb 26
 an American lawyer, politician, diplomat from New York, and a Founding Father of the United State...
William Williams [3]1731, Apr 231771
 
18111811, Aug 2
 a merchant, and a delegate for Connecticut to the Continental Congress in 1776, and a signatory o...
George Clinton [2]1739, Jul 261754
 
18121812, Apr 20
 an American soldier and statesman, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. H...
Thomas McKean1734, Mar 191755
 
18121817, Jun 24
 an American lawyer and politician from New Castle, in New Castle County, Delaware and Philadelphi...
Benjamin Rush1745, Dec 241769
 
18121813, Apr 19
 a Founding Father of the United States. Rush was a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a p...
Joel Barlow1754, Mar 241778
 
18121812, Dec 26
 an American poet and diplomat, and French politician. In politics, he supported the French Revolu...
Samuel Osgood1747, Feb 31771
 
18131813, Aug 12
 an American merchant and statesman born in Andover, Massachusetts, currently a part of North Ando...
William Bligh1754, Sep 91761
 
18141817, Dec 7
 an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. He is best remembered for the ...
Elbridge Gerry1744, Jul 61765
 
18141814, Nov 23
 an American statesman and diplomat. As a Democratic-Republican he was selected as the fifth Vice ...
Gouverneur Morris1752, Jan 311775
 
18141816, Nov 6
 an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who ...
David Ramsay1749, Apr 21773
 
18151815, May 8
 an American physician, public official, and historian from Charleston, South Carolina. He was one...
Joachim Murat1767, Mar 251790
 
18151815, Oct 13
 a Marshal of France and Admiral of France under the reign of Napoleon. He was also the 1st Prince...
Napoleon Bonaparte1769, Aug 151799
 
18151821, May 5
 a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and le...
Timothy Pickering1745, Jul 171768
 
18161829, Jan 29
 a politician from Massachusetts who served in a variety of roles, most notably as the third Unite...
John Clopton1756, Feb 71776
 
18161816, Sep 11
 a United States Representative from Virginia. He served as first lieutenant and as captain in the...
Emperor Kokaku 1771, Sep 231780
 
18171840, Dec 11
 Given name, Tomohito, the 119th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of successio...
Isaac Shelby1750, Dec 111774
 
18181826, Jul 18
 the first and fifth Governor of Kentucky and served in the state legislatures of Virginia and Nor...
Philip J. Schuyler1768, Jan 211796
 
18191835, Feb 21
 an American politician from New York. Schuyler lived in Rhinebeck, where he managed farms and est...
Jesse Fellunknown1800
 
1819unknown
 an early political leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He was the first to successfully burn an...
William Ellery1727, Dec 21748
 
18201820, Feb 15
 a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Rhode Island. In...
King George III1738, Jun 41760
 
18201820, Jan 29
 King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two countries on 1 ...
William Floyd1734, Dec 171774
 
18201821. Aug 4
 an American politician from New York, and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independen...
Elias Boudinot1740, May 21760
 
18211821, Oct 24
 a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress ...
Joseph Bloomfield1753, Oct 181775
 
18231823, Oct 3
 the fourth Governor of New Jersey. The township of Bloomfield, New Jersey is named for him. He at...
Thomas Jefferson1743, Apr 21767
 
18241826, Jul 4
 an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and ...
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney1746, Feb 251769
 
18251825, Aug 16
 an early American statesman of South Carolina, Revolutionary War veteran, and delegate to the Con...
William Hull1753, Jun 241775
 
18251825, Nov 29
 an American soldier and politician. He fought in the American Revolution and was appointed as Gov...
Pierre-Simon Laplace1749, Mar 231771
 
18271827, Mar 5
 an influential French scholar whose work was important to the development of mathematics, statist...
Charles Carroll III1737, Sep 191772
 
18281832, Nov 14
 a wealthy Maryland planter and an early advocate of independence from the Kingdom of Great Britai...
Hamengkubuwono II1750, Mar 71792
 
18281828, Jan 3
 the second sultan of Yogyakarta 1792–1810, 1811–12 and finally 1826–28 during the Java War....
Manuel Quimper17571770
 
18291844, Apr
 a Spanish Peruvian explorer, cartographer, naval officer, and colonial official. He participated ...
Daniel Sargent Jr.1764, Jan 151780
 
18291842, Apr 2
 a successful American merchant and politician in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a successful merch...
William Clark [2]1770, Aug 11789
 
18291838, Sep 1
 an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. Along with Meriwether Lewi...
Petar I Petrovic-Njegos1747/481782
 
18301830, Oct 31
 the ruler of the Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro as the Metropolitan (vladika) of Cetinje, and Exa...
William H. Crawford1772, Feb 241788
 
18321834, Sep 15
 an American politician and judge during the early 19th century. He served as United States Secret...
William Wilberforce1759, Aug 241780
 
18331833, Jul 29
 an English politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to stop the slave trade. A na...
Charles Grey1764, Mar 131786
 
18341845, Jul 17
 Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from November 1830 to July 1834. A member of the Whig Party,...
William Wirt1772, Nov 81792
 
18341834, Feb 18
 an American author and statesman who is credited with turning the position of United States Attor...
HRE Francis II1768, Feb 121792
 
18351835, Mar 2
 the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Holy Rom...
Tenskwatawa17751800
 
18391834
 a Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, known as The Prophet or th...
Noah Webster1758, Oct 161781
 
18431843, May 28
 an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political writer...
Morgan Lewis1754, Oct 161774
 
18441844, Apr 7
 an American lawyer, politician, and military commander. The second son of Francis Lewis, a signer...
Artemas Ward Jr.1762, Jan 91783
 
18441847, Oct 7
 like his father, Artemas Ward, he was a United States Representative from Massachusetts. He serve...
Albert Gallatin1761, Jan 291788
 
18491849, Aug 12
 a Swiss-American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist. He was an important leader of th...
Henry Clay1777, Apr 121797
 
18521852, Jun 29
 an American lawyer and planter, statesman, and skilled orator who represented Kentucky in both th...
Josiah Quincy III1772, Feb 41793
 
18561864, Jul 1
 a U.S. educator and political figure. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1805-...
Benjamin Tappan1773, May 251799
 
18571857, Apr 20
 an Ohio judge and Democratic politician who served in the Ohio State Senate and the United States...
Cornstalk1720 ca1760
 
1861777
 a prominent leader of the Shawnee nation just prior to the American Revolution. Cornstalk opposed...
Major Ridge1771 ca1790
 
1921839
 a Cherokee leader, a member of the tribal council, and a lawmaker. As a warrior, he fought in the...
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