Posted on 07/06/2014 8:35:05 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
For the Journal of the American Revolution, Todd Andrlik compiled a list of the ages of the key participants in the Revolutionary War as of July 4, 1776. Many of them were surprisingly young:
Marquis de Lafayette, 18
James Monroe, 18
Gilbert Stuart, 20
Aaron Burr, 20
Alexander Hamilton, 21
Betsy Ross, 24
James Madison, 25
This is kind of blowing my mind...because of the compression of history, I'd always assumed all these people were around the same age. But in thinking about it, all startups need young people...Hamilton, Lafayette, and Burr were perhaps the Gates, Jobs, and Zuckerberg of the War. Some more ages, just for reference:
Thomas Jefferson, 33
John Adams, 40
Paul Revere, 41
George Washington, 44
Samuel Adams, 53
The oldest prominent participant in the Revolution, by a wide margin, was Benjamin Franklin, who was 70 years old on July 4, 1776. Franklin was a full two generations removed from the likes of Madison and Hamilton. But the oldest participant in the war was Samuel Whittemore, who fought in an early skirmish at the age of 80. I'll let Wikipedia take it from here:
Whittemore was in his fields when he spotted an approaching British relief brigade under Earl Percy, sent to assist the retreat. Whittemore loaded his musket and ambushed the British from behind a nearby stone wall, killing one soldier. He then drew his dueling pistols and killed a grenadier and mortally wounded a second. By the time Whittemore had fired his third shot, a British detachment reached his position; Whittemore drew his sword and attacked. He was shot in the face, bayoneted thirteen times, and left for dead in a pool of blood. He was found alive, trying to load his musket to fight again. He was taken to Dr. Cotton Tufts of Medford, who perceived no hope for his survival. However, Whittemore lived another 18 years until dying of natural causes at the age of 98.
Whitmore is frickin’ AWESOME!!
God bless him! Like another poster said-—we need men like him today!
Never again will I ever think I’m “too old” to take on the likes of the scum that are tearing our country down today.
Inspired!
Sorry, so excited, I misspelled Whittemore.
Because young people their age today act like morons.
The desire for freedom knows no age. Hamilton was a federalist through and through and should the stupidity of youth
Why did I think they were all over 45?
We need to spread the truth. Shine a light so the cockroaches run back into the darkness.
Same thing for Jesus and the Apostles.
Jesus was 30 when he began His mission. Most of the Apostles were under 30. I think Peter was a little older, but not much.
Mary was 15 when she was visited by the angel Gabriel.
This shows how accomplished people can be without television.
Despite what you may have heard, yes, he did. The only real changes were things removed, like his "vehement Phillipic against negro slavery." There was only one significant addition, which was Lee's resolution: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States.
Jefferson wrote the Declaration. Period.
today, people are still considered ‘children’ until they are 26
I’ll tell that to Ben and John.
Frickin Americans.
Take a lickin and keep on tickin....
Go ahead and tell them. They didn’t make anything but very slight corrections, and they did not change the language. Please feel free to cite just ONE reputable historian who supports your contention.
I’m not arguing, I’m just going by my recollections from various and sundry history texts and other books I’ve read since I was 5 years old.
While Madison was a key player on the committee drafting The Constitution, he was most influential in the drafting and revision, getting to the final document.
More importantly, he alone drafted The Bill of Rights, ensuring each man was treated equally under the law and ensuring the injuries suffered under the King, the Parliament and henchmen could never have any imprimatur and excuse for abuse of God given rights.
I was delighted with its high tone and the flights of oratory with which it abounded, especially that concerning Negro slavery, which, though I knew his Southern brethren would never suffer to pass in Congress, I certainly never would oppose. There were other expressions which I would not have inserted if I had drawn it up, particularly that which called the King tyrant. I thought this too personal, for I never believed George to be a tyrant in disposition and in nature; I always believed him to be deceived by his courtiers on both sides of the Atlantic, and in his official capacity, only, cruel. I thought the expression too passionate, and too much like scolding, for so grave and solemn a document; but as Franklin and Sherman were to inspect it afterwards, I thought it would not become me to strike it out. I consented to report it, and do not now remember that I made or suggested a single alteration.
We reported it to the committee of five. It was read, and I do not remember that Franklin or Sherman criticized anything. We were all in haste. Congress was impatient, and the instrument was reported, as I believe, in Jefferson's handwriting, as he first drew it.
Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
Although we know Thomas Jefferson as the true author, the Second Continental Congress initially appointed five people to draw up a declaration. The committee included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was then given the task of writing a draft for the Declaration of Independence, which from June 11 to June 28 he worked on. Before he presented the Declaration to the Continental Congress, he showed it to John Adams and Benjamin Franklin; they made revisions. He presented the draft to Congress on July 1, 1776 and more revisions were made. On the fourth of July the delegates met in what we know today as Independence Hall, but back then was known as the Pennsylvania State House, and approved the Declaration. John Hancock, the President of the Continental Congress signed the declaration along with Charles Thomson and it was sent to John Dunlap’s print shop for printing.
mark
Jefferson's draft as it appeared when it was reported out of committee still exists. The committee did not revise the document, just as Adams reported.
The Congress did NOT revise the document except exactly as I have told you. They removed parts, and they added nothing except Lee's Resolution.
Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence ENTIRELY ON HIS OWN. The Congress removed some parts, largely for political reasons. An editor is not an author.
You have been corrected, by one of the original committee members in his own words, and if you still think some hack grade-school book you read when you were a kid knows more than John Adams -- who claimed he added nothing and took nothing out, nor did Franklin nor Sherman -- or you think your hack historian knows more about it than Thomas Jefferson who claimed authorship -- and whose claims to authorship have never been challenged by any serious historian, you may remain in your ignorance.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.