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 <
bmike1@gmail.com> wrote:
> amazing! just the other day I was thinking of this very cartoon.
>
> On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 9:57 AM, James Finstrom <jfinstrom@rhinoequipment.com
>> 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
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