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Today is George Washington’s birthday. He would have been 276 years old. Dang, that’s old.

George is remembered for a whole number of great accomplishments. He lead the fighting men of the colonies in a revolution against the tyrant King George III, of England. He was the first president of these United States of America. He lead the fledgling nation out of a rebellious time, pointing us towards a prosperous future.

One of George’s lesser known acts was to carefully select the names and titles attributed his role as our leader. Fearing the non-republican titles given to the European leaders of his time, he preferred Mr. President over all others.

Quite often, what has set our greatest presidents apart from the others is their non-political achievement. What I mean is that the greatest leaders were often accomplished military leaders. Ike lead our forces to victory over the Nazis. Teddy, who was home schooled, was a deputy sheriff in North Dakota and later served as the president of the New York Police Department Commissioners. Grant kicked the crap out of the South.  Just a few examples of great presidents who demonstrated their leadership skills, not as politicians.

I think what sets George apart from the majority of our presidents is that he clearly knew how important his precedent setting decisions would become for the infant nation. Not allying himself with any one party, George started off on the right foot. I’d call him not a Whig, Federalist, Democrat, or Republican. I’d call him an American, a patriot.

Happy birthday, George.

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Today marks the 198th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, one of the best presidents my country has ever had. Today’s 100 Great American’s post will be short and to the point. There is so much already written about Abe, and I don’t plan to reiterate it here. If you want a good synopsis of Abe’s life, head over the his Wikipedia page to get started. Abe lead our nation through our darkest hour, a divided people. Abe rose to power during a tumultuous time in our history and stood atop the heap, to victory. Abe redefined his party, the Republicans, like few have been able to do throughout history. Staying clear of modern politics, very few have successfully redirected their entire political party, a massive accomplishment.

Today I honor Abe entirely for his ability to lead the salvation of our nation. We were torn. We were divided. Abe kept us together. We didn’t heal quickly, it took time. But Abe kept us together.

Well done, Abe. Well done.

Oh yeah, Abe was homeschooled.

****Edit****
I wrote this for Abe’s birthday, but it didn’t publish. So, I had to publish it officially late. Sorry.

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Today is John Witherspoon’s birthday. He would be 285 years old.

John was born in Scotland, educated at the University of Edinburgh, and was a descendant of John Knox, a great leader of the Reformation. Witherspoon rose to significant influence within Scotland, politically and within the church, before accepting the position of president of a little university in New Jersey, later called Princeton.

John’s legacy became quite great, since his influence over many students went on to wonderful accomplishments…

“…out of his students came: thirty-seven judges, three of whom made it to the Supreme Court, ten of his former students became Cabinet officers, twelve were members of the Continental Congress, twenty-eight sat in the Senate, and forty-nine were United States congressmen.” (quoted from Wikipedia)

Having lived in Scotland, John had firsthand knowledge of the English crown and its abuses. This primed John to become a proponent of independence for the colonies. John not only signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, but also the Constitution.

One characteristic that strikes me is how parallel John’s teachings in the classroom and from the pulpit were. When man to grows to better understand himself, in contrast with the one true God, man comes to better understand just how well we should interact and be governed.

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To continue my contributions to my 100 Greatest American’s, I thought I’d keep up the Happy Birthday wishes. Today is John Hancock’s 271st birthday.

You may notice that I have less to say about John than I did about Ben. Well, that’s because I know significantly more about Ben, and hold him in extremely high regard.

John, however, was a great contributor to America as we know it for two primary reasons. First, his signature. Yes, he was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. His overly dramatic signature is probably what most recall about his contribution to our early days.

However, it was John’s existing hatred for the import duties that “wired” him to hate the Stamp Act, from its introduction. And, as most historians that are worth anything will tell you, the Stamp Act was an early warning sign to the colonists that the future might be better, with out a King.

(source: Wikipedia)

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One Hundred Great Americans

Today is Benjamin Franklin’s birthday. He was born in Boston, Mass., on January 17th, 1706. A great American who contributed not only to the forming of this great nation, but in many unique ways as well.

Hey, do you use bifocals? Ben did that! The circulating stove, aka the Franklin Stove, Ben did that. How about checking out a book at the library? Do you like that? Ben did that. You live in a rural area, with volunteer fire departments, Ben did that.

The first volunteer fire department in the United States was created by Ben, The Union Fire Company in Philadelphia.

Of course, Ben contributed so much more to our world. Not just being a creative thinker, but a tremendous writer and entrepreneur as well. Ben ran several successful business during his lifetime, including Pennsylvania Gazette and contributing to the first newspaper in Boston, The New England Courant, of which his brother started and published.

Uniquely enough, many don’t know what a large contribution Ben had to our independence. Yes, he was a part of the 5 who wrote the Declaration of Independence, even though Thomas Jefferson wrote the majority of it. Yet, as I’ve read more and more of Ben’s writings, I’m inclined to believe that Ben had a much larger role in the construction of that great American document.

However, another large contribution was that Ben took off for France as the first American ambassador, to France. Whilst there, Ben worked hard to secure not only a treaty with France, but many of the funds necessary to finance the upcoming war of independence.

After the war, he returned to his home in Pennsylvania, and served in a few capacities in public office. One of his last public acts was writing an anti-slavery treatise in 1789.

Ben Franklin, a great American.

(source: Wikipedia:Ben Franklin)

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Today, I’m launching my own blog project to write about and share with you 100 of the greatest Americans. Today’s great American also celebrates his birthday, Ben Franklin. As the project progresses, I’ll introduce you to some great men and women, most of whom you’ve heard of before. However, some of them may be new to you.

Additionally, I may leave out some who you think should be included. I have my reasons and we can discuss it all if you’d like.

So, without any more delay…here’s Ben Franklin.

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