Alexander Hamilton (1755~1804)

1. Alexander Hamilton (1755~1804) One of the boldest American political thinkers of his time. Hamilton developed the doctrine of implied powers, which supports a liberal interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. He also served as the nation’s first secretary of the treasury.

2. James Madison The fourth U.S. president. Because of his central role in the Constitutional Convention, he became known as the “Father of the Constitution.” As a congressman from Virginia, he sponsored the first ten Amendments known as the Bill of Rights. Madison, a strong supporter of human rights, was by nature a mediator. He kept the United States out of war with Napoleon, but reluctantly led the country into another war with Britain in 1812. During his second term, he encouraged national growth.

3. John Jay (1745~1829) John Jay had a distinguished career as an American statesman, culminating in his selection as the first chief justice of the United States in 1789. In 1782 he helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution. In 1794, while chief justice, he went to Britain and negotiated Jay's Treaty, which averted another war with Britain. After his return, he resigned as chief justice because he had been elected governor of New York.

4. George Washington (1732~1799) Founding Father of the United States; Delivered his inaugural Address in New York City On April 30,1789 On September 17,1796 Peacefully turned over the Power of the presidency to John Adams

5. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Distinguished member of the Continental Congress that drafted the Declaration of Independence He and John Jay and John Adams negotiated the Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the War for Independence.

6. Author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States Nation’s greatest champion of representative democracy and the rights of man The most eloquent spokesman on the founding principles of American self-government Thomas Jefferson (1743~1826)