The Five Most Influential People in American History
The United Sates has had a short yet complex history in its two hundred and twenty-four years.
She has produced millions and millions of great individuals. These great minds have shaped what America
is today. Others, however, have personally molded this magnificent nation with their own acts. John
Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson are the most influential
builders of the United States of America.
John Adams was born loyal to the English Crown but evolved into the second President of the
Free World. As a lawyer, Adams emerged into politics as an opponent of the Stamp Act and was a leader
in the Revolutionary group opposing the British measures that were to lead to the American Revolution.
Sent to the First Continental Congress, he distinguished himself, and in the Second Continental Congress
he was a moderate but forceful revolutionary. He proposed George Washington as commander in chief of
the Continental troops to bind Virginia more tightly to the cause for independence. He favored the
Declaration of Independence, was a member of the drafting committee, and argued eloquently for it.
Adams was one of the negotiators who drew up the momentous Treaty of Paris to end the American
Revolution. Adams’ diplomatic skills brought him much political fame.
Thomas Jefferson, although never effective as a public speaker, won a reputation as a draftsman of
resolutions and addresses. In the colonial House of Burgesses Jefferson was a leader of the patriot faction.
He helped form, and became a member of, the Virginia Committee of Correspondence. In his paper “A
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...s charter did not expire until 1836, Henry Clay succeeded in
having a bill to re-charter it passed in 1832. Jackson vetoed the measure, and the powerful interests of the
bank were joined with the other opponents of Jackson in a bitter struggle with the anti-bank Jacksonians.
Jackson promptly removed the funds from the bank and put them in chosen state banks (the “pet banks”).
He was despised as a high-handed and capricious dictator by his enemies and revered as a forceful
democratic leader by his followers. Although he was known as a frontiersman, Jackson was personally
dignified, courteous, and gentlemanly—with a devotion to the “American working-man” that led him into
history.
Our history is growing larger every day, producing many more great people. These people will
continue to shape our country into a superior nation.
The election of Andrew Jackson in 1828 brought a new wave of political ideas, especially since he created the Democratic party and their symbol. Jacksonian Democrats saw themselves as guardians of the Constitution, political democracy and individual liberty (aka social freedoms). I believe that this was not the case for the decisions made in Jackson’s presidency, and he was more of a “King Andrew” than a man of the common people.
The meeting in Philadelphia was successful, it is known as the Constitutional Conventional. James Madison went to the meeting in Philadelphia it was his idea to create the United States in a republican model. The people would have the power in the form of representatives. Madison and his fellow Virginians came up with the details and a plan for the new government, it was known as the Virginia Plan. And Madison became known as the father of the constitution.
There were many representatives sent out to the Second Continental Congress meetings. John Hancock came from Massachusetts. Thomas Jefferson came from Virginia, along with George Washington as
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were two important men who affected our nations independence and the beginning years of our country. They helped form this nation into a free and sovereign country. Yet, they were different in many aspects they shared a few common features. Both Washington and Jefferson grew up in the southern state of Virginia and like most owned land to grow and harvest crops. In growing up they came from two different class levels of living. The Jefferson family was more famous and richer than Washington’s giving him a greater advantage and opportunity to succeed, especially in higher education. After Jefferson finished regular schooling he was able to attend the College of William and Mary were he studied law. He did so under the teaching of George Wthe who was considered perhaps the greatest teachers of law in Virginia at the time. Washington however was taught by his mom mainly in mathematics and received no higher education. Washington was still knowledgeable and began to put it to use in the army to become as a young British soldier. He interred the army at the young age of nineteen were he began to learn leadership and military strategy which would prove useful in the Revolutionary War to come. Jefferson on the other hand was involved in the laws, courts, and small politics. At the young age of twenty-five Jefferson was elected to the House of Burgesses in Virginia were he served for five years. Washington was known for his great motivational speeches that would rally troops together to prepare for war and lead on to victory. Jefferson was more of a writer not a speaker and by using his skill he wrote and brought forth fresh ideas of independence and freedom.
Our Declaration of Independence, was penned most notably by Thomas Jefferson in response to the atrocities committed by the British Crown against the citizens of the American Colonies. At the time of the drafting of The Declaration, Jefferson was widely known to be a successful practitioner of Law as a lawyer, and an eloquent writer. It is due to this, that although Jefferson was a member of a five-man committee charged with drafting the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was tapped to be the main author.
Thomas Jefferson, an educated, well respected career man, served as governor of Virginia, secretary of state, and president of the United States. The Revolutionary era, during the 1770's, proved to be one of America's most victorious times. Despite the casualties the American colonies suffered, they proved to be stronger than their ruling land, Britain, and won the right to be a free land, becoming the United States of America. Living through this difficult turning point in history inspired Jefferson to write "The Declaration of Independence." Once again, nearly two hundred years later, America faced yet another turning point in history.
There were many men involved in the establishment of the government, the laws regulating states and people, and individual rights in the construction of the United States of America. Two men stand out as instrumental to our founding principles: Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
Jacksonians proved to be both guardians and violators of the Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and economic opportunity.
In the summer of 1832 and Congress renewed the Bank’s charter even though it wasn’t due until 1836. Jackson hesitated to approve of the charter, so Henry Clay and Nicholas Biddle went on the offensive to attempt to persuade Jackson to pass the bill. Jackson, having had his opinion on the banks cemented by Clay’s presence in the organization, then committed to de-establishing the Second National Bank. He waged war against Biddle in particular to make sure Biddle lost power. He vetoed the bank bill, and after winning the race to be reelected, he closed Biddle’s bank. He ordered his Secretary of the Treasury to move money from the Second National Bank to smaller, state banks. When Congress returned from its summer recess, it censured him for his actions. In 1836, Bank of US was dead, and the new democratic-congressmen expunged Jackson’s censure. Because Jackson had no formal plan for managing the nation’s funds after the Second National Bank closed, it caused problems in Van Buren’s administration. He destroyed the Bank of the United States, in the main, for personal reasons. Jackson hated the bank before his presidency because as a wealthy land and slave owner he had lost money due to its fiscal policies. He believed that Congress had no right under the constitution to charter a
III. After this case he was soon accepted as a member of the House of Burgesses. There
Jacksonian Democrats help create a more democratic America and because of this, believed themselves to be many things, real and fictional. In most cases they perceived themselves as defenders of equal economic opportunity, even though they sometimes put their own interests before those of the people. They also thought of themselves as guardians of political democracy, while at the same time using class differences to their advantage and emotionalized speeches, lacking real intellectual merit, to stir support. Jacksonian Democrats felt that they were the protectors of the Constitution and of individual liberties but many times they put their rivalry with the Northeastern industry and Whig politics before these things. While Jacksonians have much correct in their view of themselves as guardians of political democracy, equal economic opportunity and individual liberty, they were often more important in developing these concepts than protecting them.
Adams started out as the Vice President to George Washington, and it was contested by many who should take his position instead as Adams held monarchical principles that many in the opposition party viewed as non-representative of the principles of the American people, and dangerous to the republicanism ideals that the country was founded on, specifically how the United States separated from the monarchy of Great Britain to turn around and have leaders that promote such ideas. During Adam’s election, the Federalists viewed him as a liability for their cause, and the Hamiltonian Federalists, the majority at the time, decided to promote another candidate, Thomas Pinckney. Adams became everyone’s second choice in the election because, while he might be a danger to the federal interests, he was seen as the middle ground candidate between Jefferson and Pinckney. Adams held a pessimistic view of the future of the republican government; that corruption would end the republic early on in the United State’s life. He was elected to president in 1796, and had a notable presidency, with Jefferson as Vice President, of Hamiltonian Federalists versus Adams Federalists versus Jeffersonian Republicans fighting over power. It was this election that marked the beginning of the end of the Federalist proto-party, as
During The Jacksonian Era many different views and ideas were predominant about the United States. The Jacksonian Democrats were a loose coalition of different peoples and interests pulled together by a common practical idea. That idea was that they all were followers of President Andrew Jackson. Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as guardians of the Constitution when in fact they were not. When dealing with politics and ideas within the Democratic Party of the time the Jacksonians proved to be both guardians and violators of the Constitution. Individual liberty is another area in which the Jacksonians were advocates to different sides of the topic at different times. The Jacksonians also proved to be champions for equality of economic opportunity. The Jacksonians demonstrated themselves to be, not the proponents they thought they were, but instead violators of the US Constitution.
One of the Jacksonian Democrats’ attempts to reduce the influence of the rich was by vetoing the charter to the Bank of the United States. Jackson stated his reasons in Document B mainly as a precaution of...
James Madison, a delegate and one of the main supporters of a stronger national authority, had thought ahead and drew up the Virginia Plan before the convention in Philadelphia began. Thus, it became the first discussion of the committee (Roche 19).