(Name of Student)
John Adams
John Adams is one of the few people who happened to witness the end of the colonial rule in the U.S. He was born in the 1735 and was a direct descendant of Puritan colonists (Liesenfelt, 2012). He studied at Harvard University and he helped draft the Declaration of Independence in 1774 while in the Congress. Adams was the vice president after the declaration of independence. He then later served as the second president. The reason why I have chosen John Adams is that he was involved in the process of a great historical revolution. He also faced many challenges in helping the United State reconstruct after the European invasion. In addition, he found a way to incorporate the cultures of the European people to make a rich culture that is now attributed to the American society. Due to the strong foundations politically, socially, and economically United States is among the most developed country with a stable political and economical structure.
Biographical Information
John Adam was born on October 30th in 1735 in Quincy Massachusetts. He studied at the Harvard University in 1758. His father was a puritan and that is why Adams is considered to have been a Puritan descendant. His father was a farmer and his mother was Susanna. Adam was awarded a scholarship at the age of sixteen and was admitted into law school at the age of twenty. His law career paved his way to his political career. Adam grew up in the colonial era in the eighteenth century. During that time, the United States was colonized by European troops. The colonization of the United States did not adopt the form in which most countries were colonized. The European troops which colonized the United States were not organized at a national level, rather was organized at an individual level (Noll and Harlow, 2007). The other countries which were colonized were invaded by nations rather than individuals. Adams fight against the colonialists started when he drafted a reply to an act that was proposed by the British Empire. He said that the colonized people of Americans were being taxed even without their consent and that they were deprived of their justice to be tried by a jury. His speech was published in the Boston Gazette but two months later he publicly denounced his speech.
After publishing his speech, Adam set up a motion that saw the evolution of the justice system. Adams was invited in the trial of five European soldiers who had massacred innocent civilians (Liesenfelt, 2012). Adam insisted that everyone had a right to be defended before being prosecuted and this is why he agreed to be the defense for the soldiers. During the trial two of the soldiers were charged with manslaughter while the other six were acquitted of the charges. Adams is credited with many resolutions. He drafted the declaration of independence in 1776 and helped Paris resolve its revolutionary war. In 1796 Adams was elected as the president and was opposed by Thomas Jefferson who later became his good friend. Adams died in 1826.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was born on 17th January of 1706He was a tenth son of Josiah and Abiah (IHA, 1995). Benjamin grew up with his brother James who was a printer. His career to be a writer started with his apprenticeship with James. James used to run articles in pamphlets and this gave Benjamin the idea that he could also contribute to the writing. However, he knew that James would not let him write. Benjamin found a way to express his knowledge by writing anonymously, but after his brother finding out he scolded him. After some time, James was imprisoned and Benjamin was left to run the paper. However, his brother did not support him and he frequently harassed him which made Benjamin run away from home. Franklin ran away to Philadelphia where he met his future wife Deborah who saw him sitting outside a shop wet and rugged. In Pennsylvania, Benjamin established himself as a printer and impressed the governor who made him a promise to open him a business. However, the governor never made true his promise and this led to Benjamin being stuck in London where he worked as an apprentice.
Benjamin’s political influence on people started in 1729 when he bought the Pennsylvania Gazette. He continued with his old habit of printing articles under aliases. His newspaper quickly gained fame within the colonies and the first political cartoon was authored by Benjamin himself. His first book was Poor Richard’s Almanack in 1733. Benjamin taught people by printing hidden messages and educating people through analogies in his books. His approach to saving the nation was based on knowing the troubles that people went through and writing about them. In his articles and books he touched on poverty that had greatly rocked the colonial states. He taught people how to rise from their miserable states. Another way that he engaged people was to help them clean their environments. Benjamin saw the importance of a clean environment and also the use of pooling resources. Though his approach of saving the people was not a political one, Benjamin greatly influenced the lives of people. He helped to set up the first library in 1743 and the first hospital in 1751. His biggest political achievement was in 1754 when he proposed an act that the colonies be united (IHA, 1995). He also worked towards attaining independence by separating from the European colonials as they were corrupt and was ruining the image he had worked so hard on.
Benjamin was considered a great man as he rose from being just a lowly paid apprentice, to a writer who changed peoples’ lives through his work. In his writings, he taught people about the state of poverty and how they could achieve their economic success. He also taught people about the importance of maintaining a clean environment as it helped reduce the cases of diseases. He also saw the importance of education and he helped set up the first library. He also helps set up a hospital and a fire response unit to help curb the occurrences of fire that were a common sight then. Benjamin had a holistic vision of empowering people through knowledge which helped the nation grow after attaining its independence. Benjamin also contributed to the discovery and utilization of electricity as a source of energy.
Jonathan Edwards
Edwards was born in the October fifth in 1703 and was a renowned theologian and a great philosopher (Beeke and Pederson). Edwards was born to a pastor, Timothy Edwards and was an only one in his family. Edwards studied at Yale University and was admitted in the university in 1716. Having grown up in a religious family, Edward was often subjected to religious dealings and at some point he confessed to not have much faith in the sovereignty of God. However, in 1721 he confessed to have accepted conversion into Christianity and in 1727 he was ordained as a minister in Northampton. In 1729, Edwards inherited a ministry from his maternal grandfather from whom he was serving with. The congregation happened to be one of the wealthiest and large congregations throughout the colony and this was a burden to the young man. The opportunity presented a platform from which the great religious movement, ‘The Great Awakening’ started out. This movement served as a mass movement to the people. Edwards motivated people to keep on hoping and repent their sins to a congregation that had given up their faith and seemed hopeless.
The reason why I chose Edwards Jonathan is that he used religion to help people liberate themselves politically. From the very beginning, Edward did not agree with the way that his grandfather carried out the sermons. After the passing of his grandfather, he spent a lot of time trying to educate people about why they should repent their sins (Henry, 1956). The great awakening movement founded by Edwards among other members gave people a purpose in their lives. He played a great role in motivating people and getting them to fight for their rights. An example is in the case of women who were politically suppressed during the colonial period.
References
Beeke, J., and Pederson, J. R., (n.d). Meet the Puritans: Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/meetthepuritans/jonathanedwards.html
Henry, C. F. H. (1956). Christianity today. Carol Stream, Ill. [etc.: Christianity Today International.
Independence Hall Association. (1995). Biography of Benjamin Franklin. http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/
Liesenfelt, J. (2012). American History From Revolution to Recontruction and Beyond: Biography of John Adams. http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/biographies/john-adams/
Noll, M. A., & Harlow, L. E. (2007). Religion and American politics: From the colonial period to the present. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
