[58] Born in 1738; died, 1820. Began his reign with an obstinate determination to increase the power of the Crown; accepted the resignation of Pitt, and called weak ministers about him; persisted in his policy of taxing America and humiliating the colonies; reluctantly consented to peace in 1782; became mentally incompetent during the later years of his life, when the government was transferred to his son as Prince Regent (1811–1820). [59] American orator, patriot, and agitator, second cousin of John Adams; born, 1722; died, 1803. Studied for a time at Harvard College; was unsuccessful in business took an active part in political affairs; drew up Boston’s protest against Grenville’s scheme of taxation in 1764; was among the foremost speakers and writers for the American cause from 1765 to 1774; secured from Hutchinson the removal of troops in 1770; member of Continental Congress from 1774 to 1781; voted for the Federal Constitution in 1788, though strongly opposed to some of its measures; was lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 1789 to 1794, and governor from 1794 to 1797. [60] Revolutionary patriot and orator; born, 1728; died, 1778. Graduated at Harvard, 1743; opposed the Writs of Assistance, in a celebrated speech, 1761; published _Rights of the Colonies Vindicated_, in 1764; moved the appointment of a Stamp Act Congress in 1765 and was one of the delegates; made a spirited opposition to the “Townshend Acts”; was severely injured by some British officers in 1769, and was insane for the remainder of his life. [61] Born, 1736; died, 1799. After failing in farming and trading, he became a lawyer in 1760; in 1763 attracted attention by a noted speech; entered House of Burgesses in 1765, where he uttered his famous arraignment of the Stamp Act; assisted in organizing committees of correspondence; was member of First Continental Congress; gave his “liberty or death” speech in 1775; was the first governor of Virginia in 1776–1778; also governor, 1784 and 1785; was a strenuous believer in states’ rights, and for this reason opposed the adoption of the Federal Constitution. [62] Born, 1732; died, 1808. Became a Philadelphia leader; elected to the Colonial Congress in 1765; published the famous _Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer_, in 1768; elected to the Continental Congress in 1774; wrote the two petitions to the king and numerous other important public papers; opposed the Declaration of Independence as premature; served loyally in the army; was president of Delaware in 1781; president of Pennsylvania from 1782 to 1785; member of the Federal Convention in 1787, and a strenuous advocate of the adoption of the Constitution.