I came across a blog post which mentioned something I hadn’t thought of before: the ages of the founders/greats in 1776.  Here are some of them:

• Marquis de Lafayette, 18
• James Monroe, 18
• Gilbert Stuart, 20
• Aaron Burr, 20
• Alexander Hamilton, 21
• Betsy Ross, 24
• James Madison, 25

Isn’t that amazing that these people were so young at the time, even though we might think of them as wise, old figures?  Think about it: how many 20-year-olds would you trust to lead the nation today?  In fact, how many would you trust to lead your local municipal government?  Ages being equal, I think there’s got to be a big maturity gap between the people of the eighteenth century and those of the twenty-first.  Just another reason to hold historical figures in high regard.

Now, there was one figure in particular who bucked the youth train in 1776: Ben Franklin, who was 70 years old at the time.  It makes me wonder how much he was able to push his vision on account of the youngsters deferring to the “wisdom” of his years.