by David Barton
AMENDMENT XXVI
(Adopted July 1, 1971)
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
AMENDMENT XXVII
(Adopted May 7, 1992)
No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.
Appendix C:
Biographical Sketches of Select Individuals Referenced in Original Intent
NOTE: The information for nearly 300 biographical pieces is compiled from a number of sources, including the Dictionary of American Biography (22 volumes), Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography (6 volumes), The Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1927, The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress 1774-1989, Encyclopedia Britannica (1911 edition, 32 volumes), World Book Encyclopedia (1960 edition, 20 volumes), Webster’s American Biographies, as well as numerous other individual biographies. Occasionally, there is discrepancy between these works as to the date or year of a specific occurrence; the years given within each sketch below are those on which most seem to agree.
Abigail Adams (1744-1818; Massachusetts) Wife of John Adams; mother of John Quincy Adams; married to John (1764) and had four children: John Quincy, Thomas, Charles, and Abby; a staunch supporter of the American Revolution, her voluminous letters during this period provide an insightful picture of the people and events surrounding the Revolution; served as First Lady (1797-1801); she and John were the first couple to occupy the White House (1800); she was the first woman to be the wife of a President and the mother of a President.
James Truslow Adams (1878-1949; New York) Historian and journalist; served in WWI and was on the staff of the U. S. delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference which officially ended that War (1919); a Pulitzer Prize winner (1922); contributed to Encyclopedia Britannica and the Dictionary of American Biography; he believed that work, morality, individualism, fiscal responsibility, and dedication to duty were the important American virtues.
John Adams (1735-1826; Massachusetts) Educator, attorney, jurist, diplomat, and public official; graduated from Harvard (1755); taught school at Worchester and considered entering the ministry but had theological problems with Calvinism; admitted to the bar (1758); leader in the opposition to the Stamp Act (1765); delegate to the Continental Congress (1774-77) where he signed the Declaration of Independence (1776); appointed Chief Justice of Superior Court of Massachusetts (1775); delegate to the Massachusetts constitutional convention (1779-80) and wrote most of the first draft of the Massachusetts Constitution; foreign ambassador to Holland (1782); signed the peace treaty which ended the American Revolution (1783); foreign ambassador to Great Britain (1785-88); served two terms as Vice-President under President George Washington (1789-97); second President of the United States (1797-1801); delegate to the Massachusetts constitutional convention (1820); he and his one time political-nemesis-turned-close-friend Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; Adams was titled by fellow signer of the Declaration Richard Stockton as the “Atlas of American Independence”; his son, John Quincy Adams, was also a President of the United States, making John Adams the first President who was also father of a President.
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848; Massachusetts) Public official, diplomat, and attorney; son of John and Abigail Adams; accompanied his father to France (1778) where he received training in French and Latin; attended Latin school in Amsterdam; attended Leyden University (1781) but was sent to St. Petersburg as Secretary to the Minister to Russia; studied classics at the Hague but was called to be the Secretary to John Adams during the peace negotiations ending the American Revolution (1783); graduated from Harvard (1787); admitted to the bar (1790); U. S. foreign ambassador under President George Washington to the Netherlands (1794) and Portugal (1796); under President John Adams to Prussia (1797-1801); under President James Madison to Russia (1809-14) and England (1815-17); a member of the Massachusetts legislature (1802); U. S. Senator (1803-08); Secretary of State under President James Monroe (1817-25); member of the Massachusetts Bible Society (1818); vice-president and long time member of the American Bible Society (1818-30); sixth President of the United States (1825-29); member of the U. S. House of Representatives (1831-48) where he was known both as “Old Man Eloquent” for his defense of the antislavery cause and as “the Hell-Hound of Abolition” for his intense opposition to slavery.
Samuel Adams (1722-1803; Massachusetts) Public official; second cousin to John Adams; leader in the opposition to the acts by British Parliament which precipitated the American Revolution (1765-76); member of the General Court of Massachusetts (1765-74); formed Boston’s Committee of Correspondence (1772); was a member of the Continental Congress (1774-81) where he signed the Declaration of Independence (1776); helped draft the Articles of Confederation (1777); delegate to the Massachusetts constitutional convention (1779-80); president of the Massachusetts senate (1781); a member of the state convention to ratify the Federal Constitution (1788); Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts (1789-94); Governor of Massachusetts (1794-97); titled both the “Firebrand of the Revolution” and “The Father of the American Revolution” for his important leadership in the cause of American independence.
Robert Aitken (1734-1802; Pennsylvania) Publisher; opened a bookstore in Philadelphia (1771); published the Pennsylvania Magazine in which patriot leaders like Francis Hopkinson, the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, and Thomas Paine were contributors; printed “the Aitken Bible” – the first complete English Bible printed in America (1782).
Ethan Allen (1737-1789; Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont) Soldier and author; served in the French and Indian War at Fort William Henry (1757); captured Fort Ticonderoga (1775); without success he presented the Vermont claims to the Continental Congress (throughout the Revolution, Vermont was still considered to be part of New York; it was not recognized as an independent State until after the Revolution); awarded the rank of Colonel by George Washington (1778); received the rank of Major-General (1778) and given the command of the Vermont militia (1779-83); author of various books and pamphlets.
Richard Allen (1760-1831; Pennsylvania) Clergyman; born a slave; converted under the influence of the Methodists and became a religious worker; received his own freedom after he converted his master to Christianity; educated by private, independent studies; given appointments to preach at the St. George Methodist Church and began to conduct prayer meetings among other Blacks; established an independent organization known as the “Free African Society” (1787); ordained as a deacon in an independent Black Methodist church which he helped found (1799); ordained an elder in that same church (1816); is considered the founder and the first Bishop of the A. M. E. (African Methodist Episcopal) denomination.
Fisher Ames (1758-1808; Massachusetts) Public official; graduated from Harvard (1774); member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1788); member of the state convention to ratify the federal Constitution (1788); member of the U. S. House of Representatives (1789-97) where he helped frame the Bill of Rights and specifically the First Amendment; member of the Governor’s Council (1798-1800); chosen by the Legislature of Massachusetts to deliver the oration at the death of George Washington (1800); declined the presidency of Harvard University because of poor health (1804); considered one of America’s premier and most elegant orators.
Benedict Arnold (1741-1801; Connecticut) Soldier; became a druggist and bookseller (1762); a Captain in the Connecticut militia, helping in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga with Ethan Allen (1775); Brigadier-General (1776); war hero at the Battle of Saratoga (1777); turned traitor and made plans to deliver up the American post of West Point to the British (1780); fled to t
he British troops when the plot was exposed and was rewarded with a British commission as Brigadier-General (1780); led British attacks against Virginia and Connecticut (1780-81); after the surrender of the British at Yorktown (1781), Arnold fled to Great Britain where the people rejected and scorned him; traveled to Canada for the next ten years (1781-91); spent his remaining ten years in London where he died in deep depression (1791-1801).
Abraham Baldwin (1754-1807; Connecticut, Georgia) Minister, educator, attorney, and public official; attended local village school; graduated from Yale (1772); became minister (1775); served as tutor at Yale (1775-79); served as chaplain in the Revolutionary Army (1777-83); declined Professor of Divinity at Yale (1781); admitted to the bar (1783); moved to Georgia (1783); member of the Georgia State Legislature (1784-85); is titled “The Father of the University of Georgia” for the important role he played in founding that institution (1785); a delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the federal Constitution (1787); member of the Continental Congress (1787-89); member of the U. S. House of Representatives (1789-99) where he helped frame the Bill of Rights; U. S. Senator (1799-1807).
Joel Barlow (1754-1812; Connecticut) Minister, educator, attorney, poet, and diplomat; tutored by Rev. Nathaniel Bartlett (1772-73); attended Moore’s School, Dartmouth, and entered Yale in 1774 in the same class as Oliver Wolcott (signer of the Declaration), Zephaniah Swift (author of America’s first law text), and Noah Webster (considered the “Schoolmaster of America”); graduated from Yale (1778); studied philosophy at Yale (1779-87) but during those years he also taught school, managed a business, published a journal, wrote a version of the Psalms, served as chaplain in the Continental army (1780-83), and was admitted to the bar (1786); travelled to France and London (1788); made citizen of France (1792); Consul in Algiers (1795-97); foreign ambassador to France under President James Madison (1811); selected to meet with Napoleon (1812) but the disaster in Russia prevented that meeting; member of the United States Military Philosophical Society and the American Philosophical Society; director of the Bank of Washington; noted poet, author, and Statesman; died of pneumonia in Poland.
John Barry (1745-1803; Ireland, Pennsylvania) Sailor and soldier; born in Ireland and went to sea at an early age; no record of any formal education; settled in Philadelphia (1760); commissioned as Captain in the American Navy to command the Lexington (1776); captured the British sloop Edward – the first naval victory of the Revolution; given command of the Effingham but unable to use it because of the British blockade of Philadelphia; fought with the Continental Army at Philadelphia, Trenton, and Princeton (1776-77); was forced to burn the Effingham to prevent its capture (1778); later commanded the Raleigh, Alliance, and United States and was engaged in many sea battles – most of which he won; effected the capture of many British vessels and supplies destined for the British army; after the Revolution, he returned briefly to the merchant trade and then retired; recalled in 1794, but retired to Philadelphia in 1801; at his death, was a senior officer of the Navy and is generally rated second only to John Paul Jones.
Josiah Bartlett (1729-1795; New Hampshire) Physician, jurist, and public official; educated in common schools and tutored in Greek and Latin; began the study of medicine in Massachusetts (1745); entered practice in New Hampshire (1750); member of the State legislature (1765-75); justice-of-the-peace and Colonel of the militia, but was dismissed from both because of his support for the Colonies; member of the Continental Congress (1775-76, 78) where he signed the Declaration of Independence (1776); helped draft the Articles of Confederation (1777); Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas (1778); justice of the Superior Court (1784-89) and its Chief Justice (1788); elected to the U. S. Senate but declined to serve (1789); founded the New Hampshire constitutional convention (1792); President (Governor) of New Hampshire (1790-94).
Richard Bassett (1745-1815; Delaware) Attorney, jurist, and public official; read for law at Philadelphia and licensed to practice (1770); member of the Council of Safety (1776-86); delegate to the State constitutional convention (1776); member of both the State House (1782) and the State Senate (1786); member of the Continental Congress (1787); delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the federal Constitution (1787); U. S. Senator (1789-93) where he helped frame the Bill of Rights and was the first member to vote in favor of locating the national capital on the Potomac; member of an abolition society (1795); presidential elector (1797); U. S. Circuit Judge (1798-1801); was one of the “midnight appointments” of President John Adams, but President Thomas Jefferson abolished his office, after which Bassett retired from public life.
Charles and Mary Beard (Charles: 1874-1948; Mary: 1876-1958; Indiana) Political scientists and “historians”; authors of numerous books and articles on United States history, government, foreign policy, and public issues, including The History of the United States (1921), The Rise of American Civilization (1927), America in Midpassage (1939), and The American Spirit (1942); Mary wrote about labor problems and the position of women; they are described as revisionist historians for their tendency to misportray or omit specific facts or incidents in order to alter the tone surrounding an event.
James Beattie (circa 1735-1803; Scotland) Educator and author; attended Marischal College in Aberdeen; appointed schoolmaster (1753); appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy at Marischal College (1760-96); authored Nature and Immutability of Truth which refuted David Hume’s works – this work pleased numerous of the Founding Fathers, particularly Benjamin Rush (1770); authored numerous other philosophical and theological treatises and is remembered in literary history for the popular romantic poem, The Minstrel (1771).
Beccaria (Cesare Beccaria-Bonesana) (1735-1794; Italy) Italian attorney, economist, and political philosopher; educated in the Jesuit college at Parma; studied Montesquieu; formed a literary society and published a small journal; appointed to the chair of law and economy (1768); his lectures were published in the collection of Italian writers on political economy; member of the Supreme Economic Council (1771); appointed one of the board for the reform of Italy’s judicial code (1791).
Gunning Bedford, Jr. (1747-1812; Delaware) Attorney, soldier, jurist, and public official; graduated as valedictorian from Princeton and was in the same class with James Madison, who was his roommate (1771); admitted to the bar (circa 1773-74); apparently served as an aide to George Washington during the Revolution; member of the Continental Congress (1783-85); Attorney-General of Delaware (1784-89); delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the federal Constitution (1787); member of the state convention to ratify the federal Constitution (1788); member of the State Senate (1788); appointed U. S. federal judge by President George Washington (1789-1812); presidential elector (1789, 1793).
Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780; England) Attorney, jurist, and political philosopher; educated at Oxford where he became a professor of law there; admitted to the bar, but spent most of his time lecturing on law; appointed to the Vinerian Professorship of Law (1758); was elected to Parliament and achieved the rank of King’s Counsel (1761); was so successful at the bar that he resigned his chair (1766); judge in the Court of Common Pleas (1770-80); his four-volume Commentaries on the Laws of England (1766-69) were probably more respected in America than in Great Britain and they became the premier legal work used by the Founders.
Rev. James Blair (1658-1743; Scotland) Episcopal clergyman and educator; educated in a Scottish university; moved to England, met Dr. Compton (Bishop of London), and was sent as a missionary to Virginia (1685); appointed Commissary of the Bishop of London for the Province of Virginia and thus received a seat in the council of the colonial government where he presided over any trials involving clergymen (1689-1743); King William and Queen Mary favored his plan of establishing a college and a charter was granted for William & Mary College (1692); was named its president, but did not assume duties until 1729; minister in Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg (1710-43); his one published work was Ou
r Saviour’s Divine Sermon on the Mount (1722) although he helped compile works with other authors.
Joseph Bloomfield (1753-1823; New Jersey) Attorney, soldier, and public official; educated at the Rev. Enoch Green’s Classical Academy; studied law under the Colony’s Attorney General; admitted to the bar (1774); commissioned Captain in a New Jersey regiment (1775); as General Phillip Schuyler’s guard officer, he personally carried the Declaration of Independence to Fort Stanwix (1776); participated in the Quebec expedition (1775); became Major and Judge Advocate of the Northern Army; participated in the Battles of Brandywine (1777) and Monmouth (1778); resigned from the Army (1778); member of the Abolition Society (1794, 1796-97); Mayor of Burlington (1795-1800); Governor (1801, 1803-12); signed the “Gradual Emancipation Act” virtually ending slavery in that State (1804); member of the New Jersey Bible Society (1810); appointed Brigadier-General by President James Madison (1812); U. S. House of Representatives (1817-21).
William Blount (1749-1800; North Carolina, Tennessee) Public official; no record of any formal education; he, his two brothers, and his father participated in the Revolution; Blount served as paymaster of the Continental troops (1777); member of the North Carolina House of Commons (1780-84); member of the Continental Congress (1782-83, 1786-87); delegate to the Constitutional Convention where he signed the federal Constitution (1787); member of the North Carolina State Senate (1788-90); appointed Governor of the Territory South of the Ohio River by President George Washington (1790); Superintendent of Indian Affairs (1790-96); chairman of the convention which framed the first constitution of Tennessee (1796); U. S. Senator from Tennessee from August 2, 1796, until he was expelled from the Senate on July 8, 1797 for his sharp criticism of Congress and for his participation in “Blount’s Conspiracy” – a plan to use the British, Indians, and frontiersmen to take Florida and Louisiana from Spain; elected to the State Senate of Tennessee (1798) and then chosen its president.