A series of biographical sketches of Franklin, Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Jay, and Hamilton, author Richard B. Morris explores the nature of American's revolutionary leadership, the various courses of action that led to commitment to the American cause. Why just the seven? All the rest can be excluded o the ground that none filled the variety of high-level posts in state and nation that the seven did, that none performed that amazing range of public services that stamp the Seven not only as indomitable but even exceptional in an age of versatility. The book focuses on two questions: What made an elite prosperous and conservative, members of the Establishment, one might say, turn against their king and start a revolution? Having made that irrevocable commitment, what difference did their leadership mean to the conduct and goals of the American Revolution; in what way did their participation invest that epochal conflict with a very special character? Fortunately in all Seven cases we have enough available documentation to see them on their own ground and judge them on their own terms.