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John Adams
Founding father of the United States of America, leader of the Massachusetts delegations to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention. He was a staunch proponent of Federalism, served as President George Washington as Vice President, and served as President himself from 1797 to 1801.
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Alexander Hamilton
Prominent New York Federalist of the Founding era; he worked with James Madison in writing The Federalist, and was Secretary of the Treasury in George Washington's presidential administration. In this office, he spurred along the creation of the First National Bank and courted the opposition of the Democratic-Republicans with his robust nationalism and commercialism.
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Patrick Henry
Best known as a great orator of the revolutionary period; a Virginian among those who led the anti-Federalist cause in his state during the Founding era. He and James Madison crossed swords over the question of the Anglican Church establishment–he supported it while Madison worked for disestablishment.
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Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of Independence, Secretary of State under George Washington, and third President of the United States, 1801–1809. He was a Virginian and a leader of the Democratic-Republicans on the national stage. A life-long friend of James Madison, he also made Madison his Secretary of State and supported his friend's 1808 bid for the presidency.
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Dolley Madison
Wife of James Madison. She was a widow, a mother of a son, and sixteen years Madison's junior when she married him in 1794. She was famous as a great hostess and set a high standard in that capacity for all future First Ladies.
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James Madison
(1761#ndash;1836) Best known as the "Father of the Constitution," he became politically prominent on the national stage as well as in his native Virginia. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress during the revolutionary period, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1788, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1791 to 1797, Secretary of State under Thomas Jefferson, and the fourth President of the United States, 1809–1817. His presidency coincided with the War of 1812.
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James Monroe
A Virginian who served James Madison as both Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury, and succeeded him as the fifth President of the United States, 1817–1821.
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George Washington
The leading figure of the revolutionary and Founding eras, Washington was a Virginian who was the commander of the Continental Army during the Revolution, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1788, and the first President of the United States, 1789–1797. His executive support of Federalist policies such as the creation of the First National Bank and the Proclamation of Neutrality during the Anglo-French wars courted the opposition of James Madison and other Democratic-Republicans.