Slaveholder

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, 1834
Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Maryland, senator; 1737—1832.

John Singleton Copley

Self-Portrait, 1770—71
American painter, principally active in London after 1774; 1738—1815.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin, 1785
Philadelphia printer, writer, scientist, inventor, signer of the Declaration of Independence, diplomat to France; 1706—90.

Horatio Gates

Major General Horatio Gates, c. 1793—94
Continental Army general, won the Battles of Saratoga; 1727—1806.

Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene, 1783
Continental Army general; key to winning the war in the South; 1742—86.

Ralph Izard

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Izard, 1775
Financier, Continental congressman, U.S. senator; 1741/42—1804.

John Jay

John Jay, 1794
Lawyer, diplomat, Continental congressman, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; 1745—1829.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson, 1791
Lawyer, architect, drafter of the Declaration of Independence, Virginia governor, diplomat, third President, founder of the University of Virginia; 1743—1826.

Henry Laurens

Henry Laurens, 1782
Merchant, planter, slave trader, president of Continental Congress; 1724—92.

Richard Henry Lee

Richard Henry Lee, 1784
Virginia revolutionary, signer of the Declaration of Independence, senator; 1732—94.

But the peculiar character of [Aaron] Burr’s correspondence goes beyond his preoccupation with haste and secrecy. Burr never developed any ideas about constitutionalism or governmental policy in the way the other Revolutionary statesmen did, because, in truth, he was not much concerned about such matters. If he had any idea about the new federal Constitution of 1787, he left no record of it.

— Gordon S. Wood
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 (2009)