The American Revolution
Heidi Wyman

6-12-08

When looking at a Revolution we consider what battles occurred, who led those battles and who won the battles, we do not always consider what was required of the leadership qualities needed to make the revolution possible. We don't consider the need of collaboration between leaders that it takes to create a revolution. The American Revolution had many leaders, including George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison who all worked together. These men had many qualities that when all put together got us through the war, revolution and into a working constitution of laws.

One of the qualities required of a leader during a war is the ability to speak in public and to persuade people. John Adams shows his speaking and persuasive abilities in the Continental Congress meetings. In the first Continental Congress, Adams addresses the issue of independence from Britain, has a strong argument but takes it a little too personal. Adams recognizes his mistake and creates a stronger argument that persuades the majority of the Continental Congress members to agree to a war to gain their independence. Part of John Adams tactic was to appoint George Washington as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. This gave Adams the support from all those who supported Washington. Joseph Ellis describes Adams as "the indefatigable orator of independence in the Continental Congress". Adams was not the only founding father with this trait; Madison also had the ability to persuade people. Jefferson said he was against running for president after Washington had been in office. However, Madison was very persistent and persuasive and talked Jefferson into running for president under one condition; Jefferson was to know nothing about his campaign and he would deny it if he was ever asked. Once Jefferson was in office, Madison had great influence over all of Jefferson's choices. Although he could persuade Jefferson, Madison realized that Jefferson was the superior figure in their relationship and let Jefferson know that he realized that in a letter to Jefferson. "I shall always receive your commands with pleasure," Madison wrote to Jefferson in 1794, "and shall continue to drop you a line as occasions turn up." (1) This quality of persuasion was essential because the leaders needed to convince people to take action and revolt against status quo, and to get others to do what was needed.

Another trait of a successful leader is commitment. Commitment is choosing a cause or position and completely supporting it and remaining loyal to your positions/belief. The founding father who was the most dedicated to one cause through the revolution is John Adams. John Adams spent his entire life committed to the American Revolution. Adams made American independence his life's project. Adams first step to helping America gain Independence is his help leading the opposition against the Stamp Act. This was just one of the contributions Adams made to the American Revolution. From 1765 on, Adams joined the opposition party to every aspect of British acts on the American Colonies. Adams was so dedicated to his cause he was in a fight with his cousin Samuel Adams whom did not support the revolution. His next move was to lobby for Washington to head the Continental Army and he selected Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence. These two choices were to lock in Virginia’s support for the American Revolution. In 1777, Adams was sent to join Franklin in Paris to convince the French to join the colonies effort for independence from Britain. Adams worked out a peace treaty with France that would end the War with Britain. Adams went on to become the vice president and the president of the United States. For Adams, "American Independence became his ministerial calling, a mission he pursued with all the compressed energy of a latter-day Puritan pastor whose congregation was the American people." (1) This was a very important trait because to gain followers people have to trust/see that you are committed, believe in the cause and then are influenced to believe themselves.

A good leader must have good character. A leader with good character includes, being honest, caring, courageous and respectful. George Washington was the ideal man to show this quality. "Honor mattered because character mattered. And character mattered because the fate of the American experiment with republican government still required virtuous leaders to survive."(1) Washington was a very caring, honest and respectful man. Washington's biggest moment of good character was his retirement. George Washington had two main reasons for retiring from office, first, Washington was getting negative press and conversation and Washington was very hurt by this. The talk was addressing the issue of him trying to become a King. Washington simply replied that "these attacks, unjust and unpleasant as they are, will occasion no change in my conduct; nor will they work any other effect in my mind." (1) This quote from Washington makes you have great respect for him, he is telling in a subtle the people that their comments about him are incorrect and that if they keep publishing them then it will not affect him. Washington also had another reason for retiring from office, he did not want to set the precedent of the president dieing in office. Washington wanted to make a difference between the American government and the European monarchies. He wanted to convey the message "that presidents, no matter how indispensable, were inherently disposable."(1) Character was a very important quality during the Revolution and development of the new government. The people of the colonies had to believe in and support leaders and new government and wanted leaders with strong character.

Leaders during the time of the revolution also had to be sneaky, self serving and ruthless. Jefferson was the man who had no heart; he was never any one persons friend and was always worried about himself. This is best seen with his relationship with Washington. When Washington made a speech about the Whiskey Rebellion being a threat to the authority of the Federal government and sent the militia to control the rebellion, Jefferson went against his speech. Washington and Jefferson had been on safe terms with each other until this event. Jefferson began to mock Washington's speeches saying they were “shreds of stuff from Aesop's fables and Tom Thumb." and that Washington himself was "an unknowing and somewhat pathetic accomplice, like an overages "captain in his cabin" who was sound asleep while "rogue of a pilot (presumably Hamilton)" has run them into an enemy's port." Jefferson would speak these issues with his fellow Republicans. Eventually these statements got back to Washington, hurting him. Jefferson was very sneaky with his ways of distributing his thoughts on Washington and had only one thing in mind while he was spreading these ideas. Jefferson wanted to get Washington out of office so he could become the president. This trait is definitely not an admirable one but it at times was one necessary when trying to become a leader.

The most important quality of a leader is the ability to collaborate with others. The American Revolution was essentially the result of five great leaders collaborating to further the movement away from Britain, towards independence. There were many great collaborators during the American Revolution. One group to collaborate was Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. These three men, although not friends, came together at a dinner to discuss their issues. James Madison wanted the capitol of the colonies moved to the Potomac Valley; Hamilton did not support this choice. Alexander Hamilton wanted his plan of assumption to pass, while Madison was against this idea and spoke frequently of his dislike of the plan. Jefferson was in essence the peace maker of this situation. Jefferson was successful at getting these two men together to create a political bargain of great significance; Madison agreed to keep quiet about his disagreement with the assumption plan and in return Hamilton agreed to use his influence to get the capitol built in the Potomac Valley. This collaboration was one of the greatest; not only did these men collaborate to create the plan of agreement they followed through with their plan and the assumption act was passed and the capitol was moved to the Potomac Valley.

Another example of collaboration was George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. This was fundamentally the best and most effective collaboration of the whole Revolution. The collaboration started when John Adams strategically lobbied for George Washington to head the Continental army and hand picked Thomas Jefferson to write the Deceleration of Independence. The first part of this collaboration gained the support from Virginia and the surrounding states, for the Revolution. This collaboration in the Continental Congress led to George Washington and the Continental army defeating the British, gaining the independence for the colonies. This collaboration also led to the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence the formally declared colonial Independence.

A third great collaboration in the Revolution was James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. These two men were opposites; Madison was less sweeping in his intellectual style, more careful and precise, the prose to Jefferson's poetry, Jefferson was temperamentally different then Madison, he was ruthless and did not care what people thought and he was never clam. These differences made the Madison-Jefferson collaboration smooth and silently effective. Jefferson and Madison bonded together to help Virginia, the Revolution and to bring Jefferson to presidency. In this relationship, Madison did not have the reputation of Jefferson and could not run himself so he did all of the dirty work to allow Jefferson to become president. Once Jefferson is president; Madison is not in office but still has great influence over a president. Madison wanted to give Jefferson no chance to protest against running for the succession of Washington.

All of the qualities were important to creating a revolution and establishing a new government. However, the American Revolution would not have happened without collaboration between the leaders of the time. It took the effort of Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Washington and Adams to create the biggest change the colonies would ever face. Although the interaction/relationships were not always pleasant or even friendly, the collaborations and relationships worked as a whole to get the colonies through a war, revolution and the making of the laws.

Citations

1.) Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers. New York: Vintage Books, 2000.