Diplomat

John Adams

Signer of the Declaration of Independence, diplomat, second President; 1735—1826.

John Quincy Adams

Son of John and Abigail Adams, diplomat, senator, sixth President, congressman; 1767—1848.

Silas Deane

Merchant, Continental congressman, diplomat to France; 1737—89.

Benjamin Franklin

Philadelphia printer, writer, scientist, inventor, signer of the Declaration of Independence, diplomat to France; 1706—90.

Elbridge Gerry

Signer of the Declaration of Independence, vice president under Madison; 1744—1814.

John Jay

Lawyer, diplomat, Continental congressman, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; 1745—1829.

John Laurens

Continental Army officer, aide-de-camp to Washington, son of Henry Laurens; 1754—82.

Arthur Lee

Diplomat to France, Continental congressman; 1740—92.

Robert R. Livingston

New York lawyer, politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence; 1746—1813.

One of the most stubborn myths of American history is the idea that the frontier promoted equality of material condition. This national folk legend is, unhappily, ver much mistaken. With some exceptions, landed wealth was always highly concentrated throughout the southern highlands, as it would be in the lower Mississippi Valley, Texas and the far southwest. Inequality was greater in the backcountry and the southern highlands than in any other rural region of the United States.

— David Hackett Fischer

Albion′s Seed: Four British Folkways in America (1989)