Posted on 06/30/2009 7:32:01 AM PDT by Publius772000
While sitting in the Advanced Placement institute a week ago, the instructor posed a question to the history educators in the room.
“Not counting presidents or their wives,” he began, “who would you consider the five greatest, most influential Americans in history?” My mind began to cycle through the most important figures to grace the stage.
My first choice was John Marshall. As the first significant Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he established the principle of judicial review, greatly expanding the power of the Court and making the Constitution, according to Jefferson, “a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.”
Next, I chose Benjamin Franklin. The exclusion of presidents ruled out many of the Founding Fathers I would have chosen, but Franklin fit the bill. Many historians credit Franklin as the architect of the American ideal–a merge of the Puritan work ethic and moral compass with the tolerance and reason of Enlightenment philosophy. He served as ambassador to France, securing French support for the Revolution effort, and Postmaster General. Not to mention, he was an accomplished inventor, and many of his creations are still used today in one form or another.
(Excerpt) Read more at theconstitutionalalamo.com ...
I would swap George Washington with Thomas Edison. Edison is overrated.
"Judicial Review" (invalidating) of acts of Congress is fine when Congress does something that goes outside the bounds established for it by the Constitution. It is not so good when it goes to invalidating nearly all of the Bill of Rights which is something Marshall did when he ruled that the Bill of Rights prohibitions outside of the first amendment prohibitions which were specifically limited to the Federal Government, were also limited to the Federal Government.
ML/NJ
George Washington was the greatest American, indeed one of the greatest men in the history of the world. He has no peer in this nation’s history. None. Without this one man, the break from Britain would have been delayed years, perhaps decades.
Read article THEN post.
Henry Ford
James Stewart.
Alexander Hamilton - He was the architect of our economic system and I believe he developed the concept of the corporation. He layed the basis for the American system of free enterprise and capitalism.
The link is not to the article. The link is to a blog. Within the blog is the article, true, but there is a direct link that should have been supplied. That link is:
http://theconstitutionalalamo.com/2009/06/29/the-five-greatest-americans-you-might-be-surprised/
Benjamin Franklin
Alexander Hamilton
DeWitt Clinton
Nikola Tesla
Jonas Salk
Thank God for the election of 1800 and Thomas Jefferson. If John Adams or a even Aaron Burr were elected who knows what might have happened.
I would take Jefferson's "Empire of Liberty" over some sort of "natural aristocracy" and suffocating central government Marshall promoted any day. All Marshall accomplished was to create some sort of oligarchy that was virtually impossible to check by the other two branches (Constitutional Amendment, far cry from Jefferson's ease of check and balances).
The initial intent of the survey was to evaluate the Americans who have had the greatest impact on the country. I agree, Marshall was not necessarily a positive influence, but no one can doubt his overall importance to the system as it stands.
They didn’t allow presidents or presidents’ wives. If they had, my first choice would also have been Washington, who still stands as one of the most underrated presidents. He can never be rated high enough.
I would also swap some of the names on the list for some of the industrialists that we have had in America. For example Henry Ford, for all his personal short comings, pioneered and refined mass production. This is the preeminent force in our modern lifestyle behind AC current.
I think the list is too fixated on government add social actors. It makes me a little disappointed in historians.
much better list
It's like starting the excercise by first excluding dentists named "Mel" from contention.
John Brown more important than ML King, as is Rosa Parks.
Who invented the cotton gin? That had more of an impact on America than Edison, and Edison was equaled by men like Tesla, Westinghouse and Siemens. Moreover the man who funded Edison was far more important than Edison — and that would be JP Morgan.
Samuel Colt, Eli Whitney, Jack St. Clair Kilby, the Wright Brothers, John Roebling, Robert Oppenheimer, Clarence Birdseye — many American inventors equaled in impact on America Edison’s work.
Still, the Wright Brothers stand above the rest, so I say.
In the end lists like this are silly and myopic. Faddish.
But the list from the high schoolers shows clearly an abysmal US History education.
A useful post.
The American Soldier
Ronald Reagan
John Wayne
Henry Ford
The guys that invented the transistor
Why do you think Jefferson, promoter of individual/State rights, quit Washington's Cabinet and had severe ideological differences with Hamilton?
Jefferson began cutting the taxes the former Secretary of Treasury proposed and the debt began to shrink ( Reduced the debt by 1/3). That on top of the Louisiana Purchase.
The Federalist party, started by Hamilton, was pretty much a non-factor after 1800 because their policies and superior attitude “stunk up the place”.
Did you know Hamilton promoted Fed. censorship of the press? Yes, your hero went well out of his way to suppress the Democratic-Republic/Jeffersonian ideology by using his own editors to serve as postmaster in the Federal government. Republicanism was indeed censored back in the day by Hamilton and the Federalist.
Excluding presidents and their wives was a selection criteria.
The airplane would have come sooner or later since the power plant was already invented.
You might look at a little known inventor who helped industry more than others: John Hall
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_John_H._Hall
I wanted to include Hall, but had to run out.
THANKS!
Hillary Clinton has a very vocal fan club.
A Battle to Preserve a Visionary’s Bold Failure
And speaking of Tesla, his last remaining laboratory, Wardenclyffe, is currently the center of a battle between those who want it preserved as an historical site and the current owner, photographic materials manufacturer AGFA, which must sell Wardenclyffe to recoup the cost of cleanup. AGFA dumped toxic chemicals (primarily silver and cadmium) on the property for years and was forced to spend millions in cleanup.
The real estate broker has advertised the 16 plus acre site as potentially being available to prospective buyers with the buildings already razed and removed.
Great post. Here’s Discovery channel’s list of the top 25 ...
don’t laugh, it’s TeeVee!
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/greatestamerican/greatestamerican.html
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I’d take Tesla over Edison.
John Moses Browning.
Samuel Colt!
I think the list reflects the names kids are likely to hear in passing. It really isn’t so much an educational problem as just how brains work. Teenagers really aren’t geared towards reflecting on the 230+ year history of America and grabbing deeply reasoned persons to put on a list, they’re going to aim towards familiarity. At that age I’d have probably listed off members of favorite bands.
Edison is overrated.
I agree. He stole much of what is attributed to him from his employees and from TESLA, who eminently deserves to be on that list.
I Agree! Tesla by far!
Morgan also funded Tesla. The difference was Edison made money, while Tesla lost it all, while acting weird. Tesla should have stuck to inventing, rather than trying to keep up with Edison in the business world.
Jonas Salk deserves consideration. Saved millions of lives.
John Moses Browning designed it. He designed quite a few Colts, and Winchesters.... And a lot of the cartridges that went with them.
Here’s a list from a friendly foreigner. The Five Greatest Americans.
1. The American Warrior. Pick a single representative if you must; Audie Murphy, Alvin York, George Patton, James Bowie, John Paul Jones — any will do. Without them America would be nothing.
2. The American Freemason. Benjamin Franklin will do nicely, in the absence of George Washington. Or Douglas MacArthur. Or Buzz Aldrin. Nearly everything worth doing in America has been done by Freemasons.
3. The American Lawman. Eliot Ness, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, William “Bill” McDonald — lots to choose from.
4. The American Patriot. Nathan Hale, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, William Travis, Oliver North — lots to choose from here, too. Thank God.
5. The Average Joe doing Above-average work. John Walsh, Curtis Sliwa, Candice Lightner, Jim Robinson, W D Boyce, Rosa Parks — too many to name because America is full of Average Joes. When an Average Joe does something special amazing things happen.
You had the answer in your post -- Eli Whitney, who also made popular the idea of interchangeable parts for weapons.
Both ideas revolutionized the country. Whitney failed to benefit from either. Great mind, poor businessman.
And Edward Teller, a bigger gun, of sorts, although he was unconcerned about interchangeable parts.
Well I listen to talk radio and I’m here to tell you the Great Americans are all those people who call Sean Hannity and, of course, Sean Hannity himself. And he did say so, himself.
Hamilton, for better or worse, had a major impact on our banking system, helped capitalism flourish, but ultimately may have doomed us to statism.
An argument can be made for Ford, Tesla, the Wright Brothers, Edison, etc...for their inventions.
Jonas Salk obviously deserves mention. However, I would go with the tremendously underrated Morton (invented anesthesia-imagine life without that).
Militarily, Patton and MaCarthur were giants. The South had much better generals but lost so their impact is minimalized and Grant is out because he became president.
1) Franklin
2) Hamilton
3) Morton
4) Tesla
5) Salk
But nice rack
x, this is your kind of list.
As for industrialists, I’d add to consideration J.P. Morgan, or Andrew Carnegie. I’m also thinking Billy Durant over Henry Ford. And what about Milton Friedman? Or Isaac Singer any of the various inventors and disseminators of the sewing machine. Or Hiran Moore and/or Cyrus McCormick.
All these folks made life better for all Americans. And they made their fortunes on the great American empowerment of the individual. Truly, the great American hero is the everyman. As such, I nominate Alexis de Toqcueville for being the best to articultate it.
1) Washington
2) Lincoln
3) Carnegie
4) Rockefeller
5) Madison
A friendly American bump to your outstanding list.
Some people not mentioned so far in my short skim of the replies. The American Farmer, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Elvis Presley, Willis Carrier, Walt Disney.
> An argument can be made for Ford, Tesla, the Wright Brothers, Edison, etc...for their inventions.
Except the Wright Brothers didn’t “invent” the motorized aeroplane. That distinction belongs to Richard Pearse, a Canterbury farmer from New Zealand.
> Still, the Wright Brothers stand above the rest, so I say.
Except they didn’t invent the aeroplane. Richard Pearse did, half the world away and a couple years prior, in New Zealand.
Where the Wright Brothers influenced by Pearse?
> Where the Wright Brothers influenced by Pearse?
I don’t know.
There are certain similarities between the Pearse craft and the Wright craft, and some important differences too.
What remains of the Pearse craft is at the Museum of Transportation, Science and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland’s Western Springs. There’s also a full-size replica built from his drawings.
There are two MOTAT sites: MOTAT 2 has most of New Zealand’s historic aeroplanes in a couple large hangars — including a Lancaster Bomber, one of a very few left in the world. Pearse’s craft is in MOTAT 1, the main site, just down the road. Next door to the Auckland Zoo.
(MOTAT is a really interesting museum: it’s where New Zealand displays all of its really cool stuff that doesn’t get into the Auckland War Memorial Museum or into the national “Te Papa Museum of New Zealand” in Wellington. Imagine the Smithsonian Museums designed by ten year-old boys: that’s MOTAT. Lots of trains, lots of planes, lots of war stuff. Not much “interpretation” required.)
I think Gen Eisenhower’s contributions to American security should earn him a place on the list even if he did go on to get himself elected President. Henry Ford should be on some list someplace too.
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