Most influential person in American History

Be careful not to miss the most obvious choice because it is the right one.

I speak today for one man, Thomas Jefferson, without whom there would have been no American revolution against a repressive king, no American citizens with constitutionally guaranteed rights and most importantly for you sweepstop, no Colorado.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but have you ever imagined yourself as a twenty year old man in, let's say, rural Pennsylvania reading the words of the document. Here, laid before you were not only the reasons that the country was going to war against the greatest army then on the face of the earth, but also the vision of that country as a new place of life and liberty. John Hancock may have signed large so that the king could read his signature, but the most important readers of the Declaration of Independence, the ones Jefferson was really speaking to, were the men and women of America who would have to do the actual fighting. He inspired the nation to come forth.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Bill of Rights. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but imagine a country without a bill of rights for it's citizens. Heck, you don't have to imagine, you can throw a dart at a world map and have a pretty good chance of hitting one. The Articles of the Constitution define how the machine of our government will work, what the powers of that government will be but the Bill of Rights presents what the powers of the people will be. It fulfills the promise of the Declaration of Independence by making those self-evident truths of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness real.
Thomas Jefferson made the louisana Purchase. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but have you ever considered what this nation would be like without it? No waving wheat fields and no purple mountain's majesty, and no manifest destiny either. The word here is still freedom, another version of Jefferson's greatest gift to us, with this gigantic area to expand into no American in the 1800's ever felt hemmed in by geography. One could leave Pennsylanvia or Virginia or Massachusetts and go and start a whole new life in the wilds of west Missouri or in the foothills of the Rockies and still of oneself as an American.
The Europeans thought that by taking on this much territory the new American United States would shatter into pieces but Jefferson's vision of this nation was that freedom would allow us to choose to be one nation, with liberty and justice for all and thus when some tried to split this nation into slave and free, we fought for free.

It was Jefferson's vision and Jefferson's words that we have sailed on to this day, others helped, some helped Jefferson write those above documents, but without him there would be a very different United States of America on the world map, a little strip of independent states, some slave, some free, hemmed in on the west by the countries of the Great Republic of Mexico and Tejas whose regional capital Durango has a large international studies program including many students from the nation of New England.

Have a great summer.
\

Joe

I vote for President Harry Truman.

Then I would vote for Rev. Martin L. King

It's hard to pick anyone but Jefferson.

I just wanted to weigh with my statement that Jefferson was an over-rated hack, writing the ideas of others in a florid style, and keeping silent when he was credited as the author. He was a first-class PR act, an accomplished self-promoter. He was also a vicious in-fighter who lied, dissembled and used any means to undo those he saw as his opponents, without regard to the effect on government and the public welfare. I often doubt that he had an original idea in his life; i have no doubt that he very nearly tore apart the Washington administration with his selfish, nasty intriguing.

Well, now i feel much better.

Jefferson indeed was a biggie.

Washington, Madison, and Franklin certainly were also -- and they should be contenders.

FDR certainly wielded lots and lots of influence.

Einstein qualifies.

Hell, William Randolph Hearst qualifies with the question worded as it is.

Wouldn't want this assignment for the world!

Let's not forget Thomas Edison. Only the inventor of half the things we use everyday.

Either him or Bob Denver. Tough call.

Like Setanta, I'm no fan of Jefferson. Jefferson did not write the Bill of Rights. If anyone person should be called the father of the Bill of Rights that man would be George Mason. Jefferson was in France playing pitty-pat with the Jacobin Terror and drinking wine while the Constitution was hammered out. Jefferson was an Anti-Federalist, that made him only a lukewarm supporter of the Constitution.

Jefferson did his best to undo the good work of the Federalists after his Revolution of 1800. He reduced the army to a palace guard, and scrapped the blue water navy. His tilting toward Napoleon's France hurt our relations with Britain, and prompted the Embargo Act. The Embargo Act was an economic disaster of the first order. It was Jefferson's policies that eventually help drive us into the War of 1812, one of the least justified wars in the nation's history.

Setanta mentioned Jefferson's vindictive manner. Jefferson's hatred of Burr, caused largely because Burr did not quickly step aside when the Presidency was being decided in Congress, drove him to issue the only Presidential Arrest Warrant that I know of. Jefferson hounded Burr far beyond any need, though admittedly Burr was an easy guy to dislike.

Jefferson's contribution to the Revolution ended with the Declaration. He did serve, ineffectively, as Governor of Virginia, but fled at the first sight of scarlet uniforms.

Ah shucks, my reasons for disliking Jefferson could fill a book.

Now Washington is another matter. Washington casts a shadow over all the other candidates, and there are some real giants among them. Lincoln held the Union together during the time of greatest peril, when the question of slavery was finally tried upon the point of a bayonet. FDR was the right man in the right time during the challenges that faced the nation during the second quarter of the 20th century. George C. Marshall, probably the greatest military leader in our history designed and managed the greatest military effort in history to that point. Truman, a failed small business man and hack politician rose to the decisions that dominated the rest of the century. Politicians and Military leaders have a jump on the rest of the pack ... they are already famous public figures.

Einstein's importance in all of human history is clear. On the other hand, I doubt that Elvis, or Michael Jackson, deserve a mention.

When i started a thread of this type, i came down firmly in favor of ol' George, my favorite hands down.

However, i also mentioned, and will mention again, Margaret Sanger. She is considered the devil incarnate by the right wing religious nuts, but that seems a sort of accolade. It has not been long enough for me to make a concrete statement of her historical worth; however, consider the United States as it would be had she not done her crucial work, and no one else had stepped into the breach. Try to imagine a world in which women do not leave the home to go to work; try to imagine a world in which the majority of women die before forty, after having given birth to six or more children. The woman who wrote the noble verses which adorn the Statue of Liberty died at age 28, on the occassion of giving birth to her sixth child, of childbed fever. Without Margaret Sanger, such might have been the fate of a good many more women. Think about it some time.

Let's not forget Ed Sullivan and Walt Disney.

Overpopulation is argueably the greatest threat to our species in all of history. Ms. Sanger may someday be given the accolades she so richly deserves.

So what's the answer? We're not allowed to abort them because that causes deterioration in a republican stronghold voting base.

I guess a lot of wars kills quite a few, but that's so messy.

How about a test for parenthood? You have to pass it to be allowed to get pregnant. Certain IQ requirements.....have to be a republican or a Baptist.....No family history of alcoholism..no wait, that wouldn't work for the politicians..... I don't know it would have to be developed maybe by using Neal Bushs' new educational software.

Involuntary sterilization? Soylent Green? How about eliminating healthcare for all but the wealthiest...that's already under development.

Well there's lots of options just please...NO ABORTIONS!!!!!! :wink:

Forgive me for returning to the original subject, but...

My vote goes for Washington. In addition to all the obvious reasons, the United States would be a monarchy now if he hadn't refused to accept a crown.

NOR: Lucy and Desi!

And what about President Ronald W. Reagan that literally won the Cold War? I think that his contribution should not be neglected.

If you believe that statement to represent the literal truth, then i'd like to have your address. I have some brochures on lake-front property in Arizona i'd like to send you . . . oh, and i have a nice bridge in New York you might be interested in . . .

What do this property and the bridge have in common with Mr. Reagan? Does he own them?

How'd you like his movies?

Movies? Well, he is famous not as an actor (I heard that as a movies performer he was quite a mediocre one) but for eliminating the main startegic competitor of the USA without launching the global nuclear war.

Funny, I thought he gained popularity due to his Hollywood Movies.