The Role of the United States in the World Community: People

Signer of the US Constitution, veteran of the American Revolution, and Federalist presidential candidate, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney provided the young nation long and dedicated public service. A southern planter, he also worked to protect the interests of slaveholders in the young republic.

John Laurens, born to a wealthy planter family in South Carolina, received a republican education in Switzerland and England. Upon his return to South Carolina to fight in the American Revolution, he radically proposed to recruit slaves as soldiers in return for their freedom. An aide-de-camp to General Washington and later a lieutenant colonel of the Continental Army with a field command, he served bravely in many key battles, only to die in a meaningless skirmish in 1782.

Dr. Me-Iung Ting worked tirelessly to improve medical care for women, children, and refugees, even when it put her at great personal risk. Ting’s experiences as a foreign student studying in the US illustrate the influence of American medical education around the world. 

Born in 1861 at Lihue, Kauai in the Kingdom of Hawaii, Wilhelmina Kekelaokalaninui Widemann was the daughter of Mary Kaumana Pilahiulani, a Native Hawaiian, and German immigrant Hermann A. Widemann. Part of the Royal Hawaiian family, her father was a cabinet minister for Queen Lili’uokalani. In 1912, Dowsett founded the National Women’s Equal Suffrage Association of Hawai’i (WESAH), the first Hawaiian suffrage organization.

Dick Cheney was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, and grew up in Casper, Wyoming. He began his political career as an intern for Congressman William A. Steiger, eventually working his way into the White House during the Nixon and Ford administrations. Cheney was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing Wyoming from 1979 to 1989. He served as Secretary of Defense for President G.H.W. Bush and Vice President with President George Bush.

Rosika Schwimmer was a Hungarian peace activist, suffragist, and feminist. When she applied for United States citizenship, officials rejected her petition. The application asked if new citizens would be willing to take up arms to defend the country. Due to her pacifist beliefs, Schwimmer refused. Officials viewed her refusal as a sign of disloyalty and lack of commitment to the Constitution. In 1929, Schwimmer’s challenge to their decision went to the Supreme Court.

Thomas Pinckney, like his brother Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and his cousin Charles Pinckney, fought for American independence during the Revolution and served the young United States of America capably as a politician and diplomat. As minister to Spain, Pinckney guaranteed American access to the Mississippi River at New Orleans in the Treaty of San Lorenzo.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was the first world leader President Eisenhower brought to his Gettysburg farm, and the only to stay overnight during his visit. Explore his story further, and learn how Eisenhower used his own home to conduct diplomacy during his presidency.

John Quincy Adams was seen as the perfect candidate to represent the Amistad captives before the Supreme Court. He had extensive experience within the government, had argued before the Supreme Court, negotiated international treaties, and abhorred slavery. The captives’ fate rested on his ability to successfully present their case to the Supreme Court.

Martin Van Buren was President of the United States during the Amistad trial. The Amistad incident placed Van Buren in a precarious situation. He had received a direct request from the Spanish government to return the African captives to Cuba, and if he allowed the trial to move forward he risked losing the support of Southern voters on whom he depended for reelection.