Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was one of the most celebrated of America's Founding Fathers, a man who enjoyed success as an inventor, scientist, printer, politician, and diplomat. He helped to...

Lord Charles Cornwallis (1738–1805) was an English general who fought in the Seven Years' War and served as a member of Parliament, where he opposed the imposition of duties that proved highly co...

Esther DeBerdt Reed (1725–1792) was a civic leader for soldiers' relief, who formed and led an organization of 39 women to provide aid for George Washington's troops during the Revolutionary War....

General Thomas Gage (1721–1787) was the last Royal Governor of Massachusetts and the commander in chief of British forces in America. Succeeding Gov. Thomas Hutchinson during an extremely te...

George Mason (1725–1792), a Virginian, was one of the most important delegates to the Constitutional Convention, one of the richest men in his state, and one of the most prominent Founding Father...

George Washington (1732–1799) was Commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the first President of the United States of America. A Virginia planter, surveyor, and land...

John Adams (1735–1826) was, along with Thomas Jefferson, one of only two signers of the Declaration of Independence later to become president. He was an erudite lawyer from Massachusetts and...

John Hancock (1737–1793) was one of the preeminent Founding Fathers, a president of the Continental Congress and later, Governor of Massachusetts. Hancock's substantial wealth afforded him a...

John Dickinson (1732–1808) was a highly successful lawyer and legislator in Philadelphia who became a leading political figure in the state and a conservative opponent of Benjamin Franklin. He wa...

King George III (1738–1820), or George William Frederick, was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1760 to 1820. He ascended to the throne just as the French and Indian War was coming to a clos...

Lord North (1732–1792), originally Frederick North, held many elite British offices before becoming Prime Minister in 1770. North maintained that post throughout the buildup to the Revolution and...

Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834) was a French general and political leader who enthusiastically supported the American Revolution. The Continental Congress appointed him as major general in 1777,...

Mercy Otis Warren (1728–1814) was an American poet, historian, and dramatist whose brother James Otis was an important activist in the American Revolution. Though Mercy received no formal schooli...

Nathanael Greene (1742–1786) was a general in the American Revolution who also served in the Rhode Island assembly. He fought with George Washington at the battles of Trenton, Brandywine, Germant...

Paul Revere (1735–1818) was a silversmith and colonial activist in Boston who played a key role in mobilizing the colonial activism that led to the Revolution. Revere was a veteran of the French...

Samuel Adams (1722–1803) was a political leader in the American Revolution and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was unsuccessful as a businessman in Boston, but found his callin...

Sir Henry Clinton (1738–1795) was a British general in the American Revolutionary War and a veteran of the French and Indian War. Clinton arrived in Boston in 1775, leading reinforcements for Gov...

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America for the central role he played in drafting the Declaration of Independence. During the...

Thomas Paine (1737–1809) was a radical writer who emigrated from England to America in 1774. Just two years later, early in 1776, Paine published Common Sense, a hugely influential pamphlet th...