1. Age of Reason Writers of Logic, Emotion, and Revolt

2. Benjamin Franklin Franklin is often best remembered as an inventor (of the lightening rod, the odometer, the Franklin stove, bifocals), and he also organized the first volunteer fire company and public lending library.

3. If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing. America has never forgotten Benjamin Franklin because he did both. He lived these words of wisdom by writing as much as he possibly could and by doing even more. He became famous for being a scientist, an inventor, a statesman, a printer, a philosopher, a musician, and an economist. Today, we honor Ben Franklin as one of our Founding Fathers and as one of America's greatest citizens. Although he was born in Boston, the city of Philadelphia is remembered as the home of Ben Franklin.scientistinventorstatesman printerphilosophermusician economist

4. Political idealist As Franklin grew to maturity he became noted for his public spirit and an interest at once wide and keen in human affairs. Soon after his return from England he established a debating society, called the "Junto," for the discussion of questions in morals, politics, and natural philosophy.

5. Thomas Paine Paine came to this country in 1774, Thomas Paine was born on the twenty-nineth of January 1737 After a short basic education, he started to work, at first for his father, later as an officer of the excise. During this occupation Thomas Paine was an unsuccesfull man, and was twice dismissed from his post. In 1774, he met Benjamin Franklin in London, who advised him to emigrate to America, giving him letters of recommandation.

6. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven The literary work that gave him greatest prominence, and probably has had more influence than all his other writings combined, was "Common Sense," a pamphlet published early in 1776, advocating absolute independence from the mother country.

7. Thomas Jefferson His public life began 11 May, 1769, when he took his seat as a member of the Virginia house of burgesses, Washington being also a member. Jefferson was then twenty-six years old.

8. “All men are created equal…” On his tombstone, he requested it to read: Thomas Jefferson was "author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia"

9. Patrick Henry "He is by far the most powerful speaker I ever heard. Every word he says not only engages but commands the attention, and your passions are no longer your own when he addresses them.

10. “Give me liberty or give me death!” At eighteen he married, and, having tried farming and merchandise without success, became a lawyer in 1760 He was a delegate to the 1st Continental congress, and opened its deliberations by a speech that won him the reputation of being the foremost orator on the continent. In this speech he declared, "I am not a Virginian, but an American."