Who's your favorite Founder?

[Capers]

I'm going with James Madison.

[donco6]

1. I really like Dolly's cakes.

They're yummylicious!

[Bucky]

39. So did Gouvernor Morris. I'm sure he hit that before she landed on Jimmy Madison.

Probably Hamilton, too. Dolley was no slouch although she did end up with "Jemmy" Madison, the original 40 year old virgin.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

75. And then there's Papa John...(nt)

[Faryn Balyncd]

115. How about her oyster ice cream?

http://www.randomstew.com/2008/02/19/the-first-ladys-aphrodisiacal-dessert/

[rd_kent]

2. You, know, well, all of them

"You know, well, all of them, because they came collectively together with so much, so much diverse and so much diversity in terms of belief, but collectively they came together -- and they were led by, of course George Washington, so he's got to rise to the top."

[EmeraldCityGrl]

29. LOL...

When I read your subject line, "You, know, well, all of them" I thought you were mimicking Sarah P. as in "which newspapers do you read?"


:dunce:

[rd_kent]

34. That was the answer she gave to Glenn Beck today when asked this question.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

62. OMG...what an idiot. That's going to be her

stock answer for any question offering a multiple choice answer.
She couldn't name the founders if her life depended on it.

[ChicagoSuz219]

68. George Washington: "I chopped down the cherry tree..."

Joe Wilson: "YOU LIE!"

[EFerrari]

3. Abigail Adams. She was a great business woman

and she left all her property -- that the law said she didn't have -- to married women in her family. :)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Baby Lincoln.

Either Baby Lincoln or Button Gwinnett, the only Robot American signer of the Declaration of Independence.



He was a bit of a lush too, apparently.

[David Zephyr]

5. Ben Franklin, Sam Adams and Tom Paine.

Hands down.

[villager]

33. Paine, indeed...

:thumbsup:

[Gregorian]

53. Ben Franklin if only because we share birthdays.

I've always felt good about that. He was innovative, and had balls in politics.

[Smarmie Doofus]

61. Jan 17 ? That makes three of us! nt

[Captain Hilts]

6. I'm also a Madison fan. nt

[rutherford behaves]

7. we talkin' Declaration signers, Constitution signers...

or either one?

Hancock's arrogance/confidence is inspiring, but he didn't sign the Constitution. He gets my vote on one level.

[Captain Hilts]

8. I LOVE your Nom de 'Net. nt

[rutherford behaves]

10. lol! tx.

[Bucky]

44. I think the Constitution was way more important that the Declaration.

Hancock was pretty cool, however--an 18th Century Donald Trump. After the neoTories fucked up Massachusetts and triggered Shays's Rebellion, it was Hancock and Sam Adams who cleaned up the mess and returned balanced government to the Commonwealth. They were so successful at returning sanity to government that they almost made the Constitution unnecessary. But then they turned around & brokered the deal that saved the Constitution.

Very awesome.

[StarfarerBill]

9. I don't eat fish...oh, *Founder*...sorry.

Tom Paine, without a doubt.

[Captain Hilts]

11. Here's how you teach it...

John: Hamilton
Paul: Jefferson
George: GW
Ringo: Franklin

I guess Madison would be...I'm not sure, Brian Epstein?
George Mason would be George Martin

[grassfed]

14. thomas paine is pete best

[Captain Hilts]

16. Yes!

[Bucky]

35. and Benedict Arnold...?

Pete Best?

[whistler162]

82. Yes that would be appropriate.

If Benedict Arnold ahd died at Saratoga or before he would have been hailed a great American hero.

[Crabby Appleton]

90. No, Stu Sutcliffe

[TicketyBoo]

127. Or

Yoko Ono?

[David Zephyr]

45. Hmmm. The Fab Four? OK, I'll play.

Here's how I see it:

John would be the great non-structured creative contradictions of Jefferson and Hamilton with a touch of Tom Paine. You say you want a revolution?

Paul would be the calmer, structured creativity of Madison.

George would be much like the other team player George (Washington) in demeanor, but with an occasional touch of Sam Adams, too.

George Martin would be Ben Franklin, the older wise creative genius himself lovingly working with the younger revolutionaries and the lightening they captured in a bottle.

Brian Epstein would be John Adams, for his foresight, for his getting the intial funding and investment and managing, managing, and then still managing the revolution.

Ringo? I have a block on Ringo, Capatain Hilts.

[Bucky]

54. Ringo is John Adams (underrated, but kept the beat going) Epstein is Robert Morris

Robert Morris is the moneybanks for the revolution's start up years, the financial genius who funded a war with virtually no revenue and no assets.

I think I'd make Paul Jefferson, George Franklin, and John Washington. The fun-loving but quietly ambitious lyricist of the revolution, the off-beat experimenter and dabbler in new ideas and trends, and the indispensable leader with the calming steady presense and the unappreciated wit.


I guess the Martha-Yoko analogy is a bit of a stretch however.

[salguine]

63. Okay, with Stuart Sutcliffe as Nathan Hale.

[TicketyBoo]

128. These days,

you'd have to teach the young 'uns who John, Paul, George and Ringo are/were.

[JFN1]

12. Thomas Jefferson

No question.

[rhett o rick]

41. I second that. nt

[PSzymeczek]

51. I'll third that.

Jefferson FTW.

[PassingFair]

76. Fourth....

Loves me some TJ...

"We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no hope, and therefore every form of philosophy, every form of theological concept, is merely an escape from the actual reality of what is. All outward forms of change brought about by wars, revolutions, reformations, laws and ideologies have failed completely to change the basic nature of man and therefore of society."
— Thomas Jefferson

[DFW]

77. Fifth n/t

[Mari333]

93. sixth

[bik0]

94. Some Jefferson quotes...

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. - Thomas Jefferson

We confide in our strength, without boasting of it; we respect that of others, without fearing it. - Thomas Jefferson

Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched.
- Thomas Jefferson,

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
- Thomas Jefferson

[LostInAnomie]

13. Jesus

[donco6]

22. Spew!!!!!

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Where do people find those things?

[xxqqqzme]

64. It looks like he wears the tree of

Minas Tirith.

[Another Bill C.]

15. James Madison here, too. n/t

n/t

[Captain Hilts]

18. We need a secret handshake!

[rutherford behaves]

26. it would be appropriate...Madison was a Mason after all ;)

[Brickbat]

17. Hamilton.

I think he's kind of hawt. :blush:

[H2O Man]

19. Red Jacket

[Gregorian]

55. I want to hear more.

Going to his Wikipedia page gives little information about him.

I like your perspective. Outside the American traditional white box.

[NRaleighLiberal]

20. Founder's Breakfast Stout is my favorite! A truly great brewery!

[Alexander]

21. Jefferson

[Forkboy]

23. Tommy Patrick Gorman.

[salguine]

24. Probably Telecasters, but I have a Jazzmaster too. What? Oh, I though you said "Fender".

[proteus_lives]

25. Jefferson.

[Canuckistanian]

27. Button Gwinnett

Merely because of his obscurity. I love the underdog.

[rutherford behaves]

31. lol

[Enrique]

37. have you played Fallout 3?

a must for all Button Gwinnett fans. :patriot:

[Canuckistanian]

47. I just read about it

While searching for Button's pic.

I'll have to look into it!

[KittyWampus]

98. smarty-pants

[RubyDuby in GA]

130. The people of Gwinnett county Georgia salute you!

Well at least I do (even though I'm in a neighboring county)

:)

[NYC_SKP]

28. I dunno, such a "diverse group" yanno... I like that black one, she's my favorite.

If only I could think of her name.

[Bucky]

32. Phyllis Wheatly, George Washington's favorite living poet

Thanks for the sigfile picture, by the way.

[PSzymeczek]

52. Eeww!

for the cleavage. Please tell me that was Photoshopped.

[Ter]

66. Is that real

or a Photochop?

[Bucky]

30. Gouvernor Morris. He writes in a voice that's almost 20th Century.

Guve wrote the Preamble--the only founding document that can be set to a soft jazz pop beat--and he had a peg leg. How awesome is that! As ambassador to France during the Revolution he once avoided getting killed by an angry Paris mob by jumping up on top of his carriage, ripping his peg leg off his stump and brandishing it over his head to announce he was a friend of liberty and had already lost his leg in the fight for revolution in America. The crowd cheered instead of attacking after that.

The truth is he lost the leg before the American Revolution when he once had to jump out of a lady's second story window because her husband came home early.

In the Constitutional Convention on August 8th, James Madison took these notes off of a extemporaneous speech Guve gave on the topic of counting slaves for the Census (and thus for representation purposes in Congress):

Mr. Govr. MORRIS moved to insert "free" before the word inhabitants. Much he said would depend on this point.

      He never would concur in upholding domestic slavery. It was a nefarious institution. It was the curse of heaven on the States where it prevailed. Compare the free regions of the Middle States, where a rich & noble cultivation marks the prosperity & happiness of the people, with the misery & poverty which overspread the barren wastes of Va. Maryd. & the other States having slaves. Travel thro' ye. whole Continent & you behold the prospect continually varying with the appearance & disappearance of slavery.

      The moment you leave ye. E. Sts. & enter N. York, the effects of the institution become visible, passing thro' the Jerseys & entering Pa. every criterion of superior improvement witnesses the change. Proceed south wdly & every step you take thro' ye. great region of slaves presents a desert increasing, with ye. increasing proportion of these wretched beings.

      Upon what principle is it that the slaves shall be computed in the representation? Are they men? Then make them Citizens and let them vote. Are they property? Why then is no other property included? The Houses in this city {Philada.} are worth more than all the wretched slaves which cover the rice swamps of South Carolina.

      The admission of slaves into the Representation when fairly explained comes to this: that the inhabitant of Georgia and S. C. who goes to the Coast of Africa, and in defiance of the most sacred laws of humanity tears away his fellow creatures from their dearest connections & damns them to the most cruel bondages, shall have more votes in a Govt. instituted for protection of the rights of mankind, than the Citizen of Pa. or N. Jersey who views with a laudable horror, so nefarious a practice.

After that speech, the southern states started acting in much closer accord with the small Eastern states on protecting the importation of slaves--against the wishes of the once-dominant Virginia and Pennsylvania delegations. (Virginia was a slave holding state, but tended to be against the importation of slaves both for humanitarian and economic reasons). Morris lost the debate on slavery and in fact as the principal author of the Constitution had the duty of writing the infamous 1808 clause protecting the slave trade for 20 years. But that speech also drew a line in the sand and was a launching pad for a federation-wide antislavery movement.

Behind only Washington, Guve Morris was by far the coolest Founder.

[Captain Hilts]

36. Interesting choice!

[Solly Mack]

38. Charlie Chaplin

(I slay me)

[rhett o rick]

40. Now why would you have a favorite flounder? I personally like halibut but salmon is good too.

No Emily, the question who is your favorite FOUNDER? Oh, that's different, never mind. RIP Gilda

[rhett o rick]

42. Was Thomas Paine a founder? In any case he is one of my favorites. nt

[Bucky]

50. Read this.

Not this *, read this! ==> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7460887&mesg_id=7461227

[clear eye]

43. I don't think Tom Paine is considered a "founder"

as he was not involved in creating the gov't, just in stirring up the revolution. With him out of the running, I'd have to say Jefferson.

[Bucky]

48. Oh hell yes, he's a founder. He fought in the Continental army. His book rallied support

Washington personally requested Paine read "Common Sense" to the troops to instill revolutionary fervor in them. He wasn't rich and he wasn't a leader of men, and his falling out with Washington was a real dark chapter in his life, but he was a founder with his words and with his sweat. His writings are perhaps the most important contribution in making the whig gentry's revolution into the whole people's revolution.

[rhett o rick]

57. .

[Harry Monroe]

46. No question, Benjamin Franklin!

[xxqqqzme]

65. Ben is my choice as well.

I think I would have liked hangin' w/ him.

[Winterblues]

88. Yep, he was very definitely a key figure if not "the" key figure

Plus he liked the ladies and they liked him.

[lumberjack_jeff]

109. Absolutely. Who else but the inventor of the library? n/t

[Common Sense Party]

49. This guy, no question.

[dflprincess]

56. The question was Founder NOT Flounder!

:rofl:

[givemebackmycountry]

107. Ah! You beat me to it -

And I had a picture all ready too!

Glad I read the thread first.
You can never be quick enough when your on DU.

:hi:

[jgraz]

58. Odo

:hide:

[eridani]

67. The Day Before the Revolution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_Before_the_Revolution

[JHB]

123. .

[jgraz]

126. Or...

You just never know...

[Oldtimeralso]

59. Favorite Flounder

Stephen Furst, definitely.

[Libertas1776]

60. I've a tie between

Franklin and Paine (who I consider a founder) for first. Even though he didn't sign the Declaration but rather the Constitution, Gouverneur Morris comes in close second, because everyone knows that a peg leg is just plain bad ass. :smoke:

[zbdent]

69. Stephen Furst ...

[peekaloo]

74. Flounder, one of the four horsemen.

[Norrin Radd]

70. Odo

[invictus]

71. John Adams. He kept us out of war with both Britain and France and secured peace treaties with both.

Jefferson wanted war with Britain and Hamilton wanted war with France.

[Zomby Woof]

113. Adams as a founder, yes; as a president, no

As a founder, he was instrumental in the negotiations which united the Continental Congress and secured the approval of the Declaration of Independence. He was also a member of the committee which oversaw the drafting of the document, and personally recruited Jefferson to write it. Then he was a key member of the diplomatic team which persuaded France to join the Revolution on behalf of the fledgling American nation.

As president? The low point of his political career. True, he did prevent war with Britain and France, for which the U.S. was ill-prepared. But as Jefferson's and Madison's administrations would prove, Adams never was able to improve relations beyond the treaties, being powerless to work on resolving the increasing trade difficulties (U.S. neutrality was not respected by Britain and France), and impressment problems with Britain. Hostilities with Britain continued to flare (Chesapeake v. Leopard during Jefferson's tenure, the awful Embargo Act which followed) until Madison inherited the growing mess, and ineptly fumbled the U.S. into an absurd war. Let us not also forget the Alien and Sedition Acts passed with Adams's tacit approval. I would say that Adams, Jefferson, and Madison were all better at creating our nation and system of government than actually administering it.

I respect John Adams a great deal as a founder, but that is in spite of his presidency. Sure, it's great that he maintained peace, even a temporary one - but at the expense of civil liberties and strained relations which would blow up in our face barely more than a decade later? Not so sure.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

72. Thomas Paine

It is criminal that Glenn Beck has been attempting to co-opt him. I have a feeling that Paine would have hated Beck.

[11 Bravo]

73. In what respect, Charlie?

[Mad_Dem_X]

78. Thomas Jefferson, baby!

I've had a crush on him since 3rd grade. :loveya:

[mmonk]

79. Madison is my choice as well.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

80. TJ

[Odin2005]

81. Jefferson.

He's a fellow Aspie, which make me like him even more. :)

[whistler162]

83. John Hanson

[newportdadde]

84. John Adams, not a party man and kept us out of war even though it cost him politically.

Also I can't mention John Adams without mentioning his wife Abigail, a very strong team and couple.

[ruggerson]

85. I can see Philadelphia from my house

n/t

[Hosnon]

86. Without a doubt: James Madison (as the intellectual force behind much of the Constitution). Followed

by Thomas Jefferson (for his passion for democracy and the People).

Both of these men appeal to different but equally important aspects of my political character.

[closeupready]

92. Jefferson would be my #2.

n/t

[bullwinkle428]

87. :palin: All of them, you betcha!!

[ecstatic]

89. None of them. Slavery was OK with all of them

They were a bunch of cruel hypocrites!

[anonymous171]

100. John Adams was against slavery and did not own slaves. nt

[Dappleganger]

104. QFT

[Zomby Woof]

114. Irony abounds

Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin comprised the committee which drafted the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson, the slave owner, originally included a call for abolition in the first draft of the document. He listed it among the many grievances to be laid at King George's feet. Adams and Franklin, foes of slavery, struck it from the draft, because it was patently untrue - and not legally sound - that the King was responsible for introducing and maintaining the slave trade. Even more importantly, it was not politically expedient. Most of the slave-holding colonies (and not all of them were southern, mind you) would have balked at approving the document, and the Continental Congress would have failed in its objectives once again. So yes, Adams and Franklin struck abolition from the Declaration of Independence due to political expediency.

Compromise is the great American art form. Something a few people here fail to grasp as the healthcare bill negotiations trudge along.

[Greyhound]

110. Not Franklin!

He disapproved of the practice and founded the first Abolitionist Society here.

[closeupready]

91. James Madison, absolutely, no question. Anyone else is a distant second.

n/t

[Phoonzang]

95. Why, unnammed female Changeling of course!

I win the thread. *bows*

Edit: Or not. People have already picked Odo... ;(

[Jennicut]

96. John Adams deserves more love.

And who doesn't like Ben Franklin?

[Libertas1776]

103. To answer your question...

John Adams.

[Jennicut]

108. LOL. True, he disliked him personally but did admit that Franklin

did do some important things. Perhaps it was just a personality clash.

[tekisui]

97. Madison, Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson.

Each for different reasons.

[Phoonzang]

99. No Hamilton fans? nt

[lazarus]

116. Hamilton fan here

Rags to riches story, helped create the modern concept of America, as opposed to Jefferson's agrarian landowner's paradise.

[anonymous171]

101. Madison was an elitist asshole.

I'll stick with Franklin.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

102. damn. this is a serious thread.

i thought everyone would answer in Palin-speak.

"I think collectively they all came together."

[EFerrari]

118. You have it down!

LOL

[DevonRex]

105. Madison-Jefferson tie here. But all the actors who've played Jefferson were hot

so I might just have to give the edge to Jefferson. But I loved Madison in the Federalist Papers. This question is so haaarrrrddddd!

:P

[tammywammy]

106. Adams, then Jefferson n/t

[hunter]

111. I want to get in a drunken brawl with Ben Franklin defending the honor of a French woman.

I'd kick that shagger's ass.

Then the woman would invite me home and we'd stay up all night talking about... electricity.

[Greyhound]

112. Franklin by a mile. n/t

[flamingdem]

117. ETHAN ALLEN ROCKS AND WAS AN AETHIEST !! nt

[Chisox08]

119. Ben Franklin

He was smart enough not to become President. The Presidency was the low point of Adams and Madison's careers.

[UTUSN]

120. Pericles. n/t

[sarge43]

121. George Washington

At the end of the Revolution he resigned his commission and went home. With the army behind him he could have done a Napoleon and taken power. Instead he walked away from power; he was a rare man.

[Warren DeMontague]

122. "Bob"

After that, probably Jefferson.

[superduperfarleft]

124. Ehwan Buuhh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLSsswr6z9Y

[Tippy]

125. Ben Franklin is my favorite.....He possessed so many qualities such as:

Intelligence, Passion, Strength, devotion, along with Perserverance, Generosity, and Forgiveness.
His story proves what many say about Obama, and was a message Obama wanted to give to school children when he addressed them.... with determination and dedicaiton you can truly be anything you want to be.

[Brother Buzz]

129. Jebediah Obadiah Zachariah Jedediah Springfield (born Hans Sprungfeld)

Jebediah Springfield was a bloodthirsty pirate and enemy of George Washington named Hans Sprungfeld, who had changed his name in 1795 to hide his identity.