My Heroes... William Ellery...

I'm amazed, or maybe not, at how many of the Founding Fathers were lawyers. What I've noticed is that they were all men concerned with the rule of law. They believed in order not chaos. I wander what they would think of our courts today... Their intent was for the Constitution to serve as a lasting foundation. They wrote it clearly enough to be understood and yet vaguely enough to fit any age. It is not outdated. We have grown complacent...demanding to be directed in every possible variable...

Though Ellery amassed a great deal of wealth and property, the British didn't like his politics so burned his home to the ground. Ellery didn't buckle. He continued to fight for freedom from tyranny.

Like many of the Founding Fathers, Ellery was also an abolitionist. I found it interesting he died at work, in his 73rd year. He was found with a book in his hands, Cicero. One of the book descriptions from Amazon: Amid the corruption and power struggles of the collapse of the Roman Republic, Cicero (106-43BC) produced some of the most stirring and eloquent speeches in history. A statesman and lawyer, he was one of the only outsiders to penetrate the aristocratic circles that controlled the Roman state, and became renowned for his speaking to the Assembly, Senate and courtrooms. Whether fighting corruption, quashing the Catiline conspiracy, defending the poet Archias or railing against Mark Antony in the Philippics - the magnificent arguments in defence of liberty which led to his banishment and death - Cicero's speeches are oratory masterpieces, vividly evocative of the cut and thrust of Roman political life.