America's first great

Neil Freeman, 2006-
list with hyperlinks

List made with via web searches for "America's First Great", "First Great American" and related terms.

But great men:- the word is injurious. Is there caste? Is there fate? What becomes of the promise to virtue?
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, Uses of Great Men

Actor

Edwin Forrest (1806-1872)

Architect

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886)

Architect (modern)

Louis Sullivan (1856-1924)

Artist

John Singleton Copley (1732-1815)

Benjamin West (1739-1820)

Athlete

Tom Molineaux (1784-1818)

Jack Johnson (1878-1946)

Botanist

John Bartram (1699-1777)

Businessman

P.T. Barnum (1810-1891)

Clown

Dan Rice (1823-1901)

Composer

WIlliam Billings (1746-1800)

Edward McDowell (1860-1908)

Doctor

William Beaumont (1789-1853)

Director

DW Griffith (1875-1948)

Engineer

James Buchanan Eads (1820-1887)

Explorer

John Ledyard (1752-1789)

General/Warrior

George Washington (1732-1799)

Historian

George Bancroft (1800-1891)

Francis Parkman (1823-1893)

Henry Adams (1838-1818)

Humorist

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Inventor

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

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