Favorite Founding Father?

[Meryuma]

Thomas Paine because he was a deist and a geoist and he didn't destroy any Iroquois villages or anything like that.

[Socialdemokraterne]

Oh, alright. Alexander Hamilton.

[Jinos]

It keeps telling me that I've voted too many times :/

Anyways, I voted for Benedict Arnold because he was a decent person who was doing fairly well for the American Rebellion but kept getting shafted by his superiors.

In his mind, he apparently betrayed the revolution because he had always considered that the rebellion was about securing equal rights for the colonies within Britain, not independence. It might have just been a total bs excuse, but I do think the man is rather disproportionately slighted.

[Albicia]

Jefferson Davis

[Risottia]

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier.

Vive la France!

[The Romulan Republic]

Jefferson Davis

He was not a founding father. He was a piece of Confederate trash.

[Arumdaum]

Oh, alright. Alexander Hamilton.

Why?

[Slenisia]

Sam Adams.

[Socialist States Owen]

Benedict Arnold for teh lulz.

Washington wasn't as badass as you think he was; he has had a myth/personality cult built around him to rival that of Stalin.

[Czechanada]

Thomas Paine, for the things he rallied against, and the fact that he wasn't hypocritical and did not own slaves unlike the other founding fathers.

[L Ron Cupboard]

Traitors and terrorists the lot of them.

[Farnhamia]

Doctor Franklin, of course, and James Madison (I corresponded with him a little after Franklin introduced us). And Mrs. Adams, though I never knew her.

[Romanitea]

As some have already said, I'd go Thomas Paine, but he's not an option, so Jefferson.

[Risottia]

Doctor Franklin

I remember we had a nice food fight about what "electric fluid" should have been labelled as positive at Café Procope. Things got a bit excited after the tenth bottle of Jurançon... He won by knocking me out with a silver tray full of oysters - just because I tripped over a VERY drunk Danton who was dozing on the floor.

[Farnhamia]

Doctor Franklin

I remember we had a nice food fight about what "electric fluid" should have been labelled as positive at Café Procope. Things got a bit excited after the tenth bottle of Jurançon... He won by knocking me out with a silver tray full of oysters - just because I tripped over a VERY drunk Danton who was dozing on the floor.

I remember him telling me about that. Good times. But how could you not see Danton lying there? He was huge.

[Risottia]

I remember we had a nice food fight about what "electric fluid" should have been labelled as positive at Café Procope. Things got a bit excited after the tenth bottle of Jurançon... He won by knocking me out with a silver tray full of oysters - just because I tripped over a VERY drunk Danton who was dozing on the floor.

I remember him telling me about that. Good times. But how could you not see Danton lying there? He was huge.

I never was thin, either... nor was I exactly sober.

[Dyakovo]

What the title says. Of all of the revolutionaries who founded America, who is your favorite and why?

Me? I'm stuck between Jefferson and Washington. Jefferson did write our Declaration of Independence, and he was a fantastic philosophers. It can be argued that many of my beliefs and the beliefs of many others are influenced by Jefferson. However, Jefferson owned slaves, and when he became he president, he be had to compromise on a few things.


Washington on the other hand, kept our nation together. He lead the colonists (with Lafayette's help) to freedom and independence. He was opposed to slavery and let his slaves go when he died. His reason for not going public with his opposition to slavery was because it would rip America apart, as it would in 1860. Basically, Washington sort of prevented the Civil War from happening in the 1780's instead of the 1860's. Washington also had good character. He stuck to his guns, and really believed in the Revolution. When given the option to become the "King of America", he declined, saying that he "Didn't fight George III to become George I". Washington also advised us against non-interventionism, and instead told us to pursue a foreign policy based on trade.

I guess, in the end, I'm going with Washington. He was a bad ass. And no, he never chopped down a cherry tree...

So, NSG, have a crack at it.

For the feminists and women's rights crowd the "Founding Mother" Abigail Adams has been thrown in.
For the trolls, Canadians, Brits, Tories, Loyalists, freedom-haters, Giants fans, and Eagles fans Benedict Arnold has been thrown in

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben, just because.

[Ngelmish]

Madison was easily the most accomplished of them, and rather more visionary than most of his compatriots though he was nearly inhuman. Competence is hard to argue against.

Hamilton was thoroughly amusing and well grounded in reality by and large, but he was also somewhat insubstantial.

Of course, the real champ is Aaron Burr.

[Farnhamia]

I remember him telling me about that. Good times. But how could you not see Danton lying there? He was huge.

I never was thin, either... nor was I exactly sober.

Good point.

@Dya: You just like saying von Steuben's whole name.

[Samuraikoku]

Thomas Jefferson, on education.

[Kvatchdom]

Thomas Jefferson, for showing the middle finger to private banks.

[Farnhamia]

Thomas Jefferson, for showing the middle finger to private banks.

You mean that quote about the money supply falling into the hands of banks? He never said it. It first turns up in an entry in the Congressional Record (or something, I haven't looked it up) in 1937.

[Perrytopia]

Hiawatha

Was he one of the creators of the Iroquois constitution?

[Inoroth]

What about Patrick Henry?

Give me Liberty or give me death!"

[Saurisisia]

Definitely Thomas Jefferson.

If only the Democratic Party continued to follow his image and teachings...