My direct ancestor signed the Constitution, and study if his life is the typical biography of the politicians of the century: Thomas Mifflin Date & Place of Birth January 10, 1744, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Passed Away January 20, 1800, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Place of Burial Trinity Lutheran Churchyard, Lancaster, Pennsylvania By an ironic sort of providence, Thomas Mifflin served as George Washington's first aide-de-camp at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and, when the war was over, he was the man, as President of the Continental Congress, who accepted Washington's resignation of his commission. In the years between, Mifflin greatly served the cause of freedom — and, apparently , his own cause — while serving as the first Quartermaster General of the Continental Army. He obtained desperately needed supplies for the new army — and was suspected of making excessive profit himself. Although experienced in business and successful in obtaining supplies for the war, Mifflin preferred the front lines, and he distinguished himself in military actions on Long Island and also near Philadelphia. Born and reared a Quaker, he was excluded from their meetings for his military activities. A controversial figure, Mifflin lost favor with Washington and was part of the Conway Cabal — a rather notorious plan to replace Washington with General Horatio Gates. And Mifflin narrowly missed court-martial action over his handling of funds by resigning his commission in 1778. In spite of these problems — and of repeated charges that he was a drunkard — Mifflin continued to be elected to positions of responsibility — as President and Governor of Pennsylvania, delegate to the Constitutional Convention, as well as the highest office in the land — where he served from November 3, 1783 to November 29, 1784. Most of Mifflin's significant contributions occurred in his earlier years — in the First and Second Continental Congresses he was firm in his stand for independence and for fighting for it, and he helped obtain both men and supplies for Washington's army in the early critical period. In 1784, as of the President of the Continental Congress, he signed the treaty with Great Britain which ended the war. Although a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, he did not make a significant contribution — beyond signing the document. As Governor of Pennsylvania, although he was accused of negligence, he supported improvements of roads, and reformed the State penal and judicial systems. He had gradually become sympathetic to Jefferson's principles regarding State's rights, even so, he directed the Pennsylvania militia to support the Federal tax collectors in the Whiskey Rebellion. In spite of charges of corruption, the affable Mifflin remained a popular figure. A magnetic personality and an effective speaker, he managed to hold a variety of elective offices for almost thirty years of the critical Revolutionary period. I don't believe the document, any more than I do any such utopian plan swiftly followed by continued reform. A flowcharted program with step by step processes and their results statistically would be more interesting to my caste of American citizen? On 9/1/09, mike havens wrote: > amazing! just the other day I was thinking of this very cartoon. > > On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 9:57 AM, James Finstrom > wrote: > >> Civics 101 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlka6fTnDnI >> > -- > :-)~MIKE~(-: > -- http://linuxgazette.net/165/kachold.html (623)239-3392 (503)754-4452 www.obnosis.com --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss