Which of the Founding Fathers Are You?

By: Mark Lichtenstein

5 Min Quiz

Image: Collage; Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton

About This Quiz

The Founding Fathers were an endlessly fascinating group of men, full of contradictions. Which one of them are you?

Were you born to wealth and or privilege?

No, I had to work my way up in life.

Yes.
No, but I had a support network.

I had both money and privilege.

How well known are you?

I'm as obscure as they come

I'm very well known.
I recently became fairly well known.

I'm fairly well known.

Do you have a nice audience?

My fans tend to be rowdy gung-ho types.

I have a very wide audience.
Yes, generally.

I have a fairly elite audience.

How are you commemorated?

I have a city named after me and I have a display in an obscure museum.

I'm pretty much everywhere.
I'm the face on some paper money and recently a musical was written about me.

I have a few cities and counties named after me.

Were you a natural warrior?

Every inch of me is a natural warrior.

No, but I learned it quickly.
I thought I was.

No one is, so I studied, eventually becoming able to use it in foreign lands.

Were you a good teacher of the art of war?

To some, yes.

No.
To my men, yes.

To the continental army, yes.

What notable thing did you do other than be a fighter?

I resurrected the U.S. Marine Corps.

I established the term limit.
I created the U.S. Treasury as we know it.

I set the tone for military discipline.

Were you known as a frontline fighter?

Yes.

Not really.
I wish!

Only during the American Revolution.

What's the most exotic language you could speak?

Arabic.

Latin.
French.

German.

What was your preferred weapon?

A scimitar.

A canon.
Money.

A bayonet.

What branch of the modern military would you enlist in?

The U.S. Marine Corps.

The U.S. Army.
The U.S. Air Force.

The U.S. Navy

Did you own slaves?

No.

Loads.
...maybe, but I'm against slavery!

No, and I proposed a scheme to end slavery.

How much do you conform to the rugged individualist idea of what an American is supposed to be?

Very well.

Somewhat well, but take my name away and ask someone and they may not agree.
Very well, except for not being an American.

I'm as aristocratic as it gets.

Were you self made?

Yes, every brick.

No, I was born wealthy, then educated, then shunted into a career with prospects.
Almost entirely, though I did have help from my entire hometown.

No, I had to live up to my family's name.

How well traveled are you?

Very well traveled.

Not very well traveled.
I've been around the east coast of North America a bit.

I've traversed the Atlantic in the name of liberty.

What will be named after you?

A battleship and some small towns.

Monuments, cities, and states.
A musical.

Streets all over the place, and some cities.

How would you have dealt with the Confederate States of America if you were in Abraham Lincoln's shoes?

I would have sent rangers down to assassinate the leaders and burn their ports, then invaded.

I would have ensured slavery remained legal.
I would have purchased all the personal debts from leadership and blackmailed them to stay in the union.

I would have done the same thing Abraham Lincoln did.

What's your life expectancy?

I was dead by age 40.

I'll live long enough to have all my teeth replaced.
I'll probably get killed doing something dumb in middle age.

I'll live a decent length, but my mantle will pass to a successor.

Would you recognize the USA of today?

Parts of it.

Certainly not Washington.
The functional underpinnings, yes.

From afar, it would look similar.

Would you have supported American Revolution had Parliament given the United States its due seats?

I would have, in the north.

I would not have.
I would have.

I might have.

How do you feel about foreign entanglements?

They are necessary.

They are to be avoided.
They can be profitable.

There's nothing wrong with them.

What should be the primary aim of government?

To protect its people.

To ensure representation of all.
To ensure a strong economy.

To ensure liberty.

What would be your profession, were you not involved in government?

I'd be a magistrate.

I'd be a farmer.
I'd be a lawyer.

I'd be a man of leisure.

What would have happened to you if the American Revolutionary War didn't occur?

I would not have become the man I am.

I would have served in the King's army and tended my plantation.
I would have been a lawyer.

I would have seen to my estates.

Which modern President do you most admire?

George W. Bush.

Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Barrack Obama.

Lyndon Johnson.

Which modern war would you have agreed with most readily?

The Long War.

World War II.
The First Gulf War.

World War I.

Where did you get your education?

Dartmouth College.

The College of William & Mary gave me an honorary certificate.
King's College.

Lycée Louis-le-Grand.

What did your enemies think of you?

They thought I was either insane or a genius.

They thought I was a smart leader without a hope in the world.
They thought I was a greedy foreigner.

They thought I was a mercenary from foreign lands.

Do you have many friends?

No.

A few close ones.
One or two friends, and loads of enemies.

I have many friends.

How essential were you to the revolution?

Not very.

I was pretty important.
I was essential.

I don't know if things would have worked out without me.

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