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John Witherspoon
Born in Gifford, Scotland on February 5, 1723. Master of Arts, University of Edinburgh; Doctorate of Divinity, University of St. Andrews. (Clergyman, Author, Educator). President of College of New Jersey, 1768-1792; Delegate to the Continental Congress, 1776-1782; Twice elected to State Legislature of New Jersey. Died November 15, 1794. -
John Hancock
Born on January 12, 1737. Elected to the Boston Assembly, 1766; Delegate to, and President of, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, circa 1773; Elected to Continental Congress, 1774; Elected President of the Continental Congress, 1775; Member of Massachusetts state Constitutional Convention, elected Governor of Massachusetts, through 1793.The signature of John Hancock on the Declaration of Independence is the most flamboyant and easily recognizable of all. Died on October 8, 1793. -
Charles Carroll
Born on September 19, 1737 in Annapolis, Maryland. Member of first Maryland Committee of Safety, Provincial Congress, 1775; Delayed member of Continental Congress, August, 1776, Signed Declaration of Independence; Appointed to board of War, 1776; Elected to Senate of Maryland, 1781; Elected U.S. Senator from Maryland, 1788, returned to Maryland Senate 1789-'99. Died on November 14, 1832. -
John Jay
Member of the New York Committee of Correspondence, 1774; Delegate to Continental Congress 1774-76; Member of New York Constitutional Convention, First Chief Justice of New York 1777; Delegate & elected President of Continental Congress 1778; Minister to Spain 1779, Minister to treat peace with Great Britain 1782; Secretary of Foreign Affairs 1784; Contributor to The Federalist 1788; First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of United States 1789; Negotiator of Jay Treat w/Great Britain 1794. -
Benjamin Rush
Born in Byberry Township, Pennsylvania. Physician, Professor of Chemistry at the College of Philadelphia, 1769; Writer, Member of the Sons of Liberty in Philadelphia, 1773. 1797 was made treasurer of the U.S. Mint. Died on April 19, 1813. -
"E Pluribus Unum"
"Out of many, one" U.S. motto. Pierre Eugene du Simitiere to the committee responsible for developing the seal. At the time of the American Revolution, the exact phrase appeared prominently on the title page of every issue of a popular periodical, The Gentleman's Magazine,[7][8][9] which collected articles from many sources into one "magazine". -
John Trumbull Sr.
Born in Lebanon Connecticut, on June 6, 1756. He witnessed the Battle of Bunkers Hill. He came to the attention of General Washington by drawing a plan of the enemies works in front of the Revolutionary Army on Boston Neck, and was shortly thereafter appointed his Aide-de-Camp (General Order of July 27, 1775). Trumbull died in 1843, and was interred on the Yale Campus under the building which contained so much of the important work of his long life, covering a span of eighty-eight years. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is important because it states that a government exists for the benefit of the people and that "all men are created equal." Adopted by the thirteen American colonies on July 4, 1776, the document is regarded as the best-written statement of individual rights in history. -
U.S. Constitution
It was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, presided over by George Washington. At the 1787 convention, delegates devised a plan for a stronger federal government with three branches–executive, legislative and judicial–along with a system of checks and balances to ensure no single branch would have too much power. -
John Peter Muhlenberg
He was born on October 1, 1746, and he died on October 1. On March 4, 1789, he was elected to the First Congress. Muhlenberg was also a Representative and Senator from Pennsylvania. He passed away on October 1, 1807. -
Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights was created to protect the rights of the citizens, residents, or tourists/ visitors of the United State. It is made up of the first ten amendments. -
Fifth Amendment
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property, w/out due process. -
Alex de Tocqueville and his Five Principles
Liberty, Egalitarianism, Individualism, Populism, and Laissez-faire. Alexis de Tocqueville is perhaps most often quoted political theorists of democracy. In Harvey Mansfield and Delba Winthrop words, Tocqueville’s two-volume work Democracy in America (1835) remains “at once the best book ever written on democracy and best book written on America.” After his 1830–31 visit to the United States, Tocqueville argued that democracy was a “providential” new political arrangement of modernity. -
"In God We Trust"
placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country, urging that the United States recognize the Deity on United States coins. From Treasury Department records, it appears that the first such appeal came in a letter dated November 13, 1861. -
Eminent Domain
The U.S. Supreme Court first examined federal eminent domain power in 1876 in Kohl v. United States. This case presented a landowner’s challenge to the power of the United States to condemn land in Cincinnati, Ohio for use as a custom house and post office building. The right of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation.
