Copy of STAAR-Important People

John Smith

Saved Jamestown by implementing the "work or starve rule."

John Rolfe

Made Jamestown prosperous by growing tobacco. Married Pocahontas, improving relations between settlers and Native Americans.

William Penn

Quaker who founded Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers, with a democratic form of government.

Roger Williams

Started Rhode Island, advocated for the separation of church and state.

Thomas Hooker

Founded Connecticut, supported voting rights for all men regardless of religious or property qualifications.

Charles de Montesquieu

French nobleman, supported separation of powers in government.

George Washington

Commander of the Continental Army, first U.S. President, known as the Father of the Country.

John Adams

Member of Continental Congress, helped write the Declaration of Independence, 2nd U.S. President.

Abigail Adams

Wife of John Adams, influential in political matters.

Mercy Otis Warren

Patriot supporter, wrote anti-British propaganda and the first history of the American Revolution.

Thomas Jefferson

Primary author of the Declaration of Independence, 3rd U.S. President, responsible for the Louisiana Purchase.

Marquis de Lafayette

French supporter of the Patriot cause, close friend of George Washington.

Wentworth Cheswell

Influential African American in public life during the American Revolution.

Benjamin Franklin

Proposed the Albany Plan of Union, secured French aid during the Revolution.

Alexander Hamilton

Founder of the Federalist Party, Secretary of Treasury, killed in a duel by Aaron Burr.

James Madison

"Father of the Constitution," 4th U.S. President, involved in the War of 1812.

George Mason

Leader of anti-federalists, advocated for protecting people's rights.

Patrick Henry

Opposed a stronger national government, famous for "Give me Liberty or Give me Death."

John Paul Jones

U.S. naval commander in the Revolutionary War.

John Marshall

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, established judicial review.

Lewis & Clark

Explorers of the Louisiana Territory.

James Monroe

5th U.S. President, issued the Monroe Doctrine.

John Quincy Adams

6th U.S. President, negotiated the Adams-Onis Treaty.

Eli Whitney

Inventor of the cotton gin and interchangeable parts.

Andrew Jackson

7th U.S. President, known for the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears.

Henry Clay

"Great Compromiser," authored the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850.

Frederick Douglass

Leading African American abolitionist and speaker.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Leader of the women's rights movement, authored the Declaration of Sentiments.

Susan B

Reformer in the women's suffrage movement.

Henry David Thoreau

Transcendentalist who protested the Mexican-American War.

Hudson River School artists

Painters who depicted American landscapes.

John James Audubon

Naturalist painter specializing in birds.

Jefferson Davis

President of the Confederate States of America.

Abraham Lincoln

16th U.S. President, issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Robert E

Confederate Commander from Virginia.

Ulysses S

Union General who accepted Lee's surrender, later became President.

Hiram Rhodes Revels

First African American elected to the U.S. Senate.

Philip Bazaar

Chilean immigrant awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery in the Civil War.

William Carney

Former slave and Medal of Honor recipient in the 54th Massachusetts regiment.