Memorable Americans
Hanover College Students, 2004-2013

First Question

The following are the names that Hanover students have supplied on being asked to name the first ten people who come to mind for American history through the Civil War. The list is organized with the most often cited names first. Eleven Great Works classes have taken this survey since Fall 2004, for a total of 122 students; this year, 12 students took the survey. The numbers in parentheses represent the number of students (out of this year's 12 and out of the total 122) who include that name on their list.

Washington, George (11 of 12; 90 of 122)
Lincoln, Abraham (8 of 12; 88 of 122)

Jefferson, Thomas (9 of 12; 62 of 122)
Franklin, Benjamin (8 of 12; 59 of 122)

Adams, John (5 of 12; 41 of 122)
Grant, Ulysses S. (5 of 12; 36 of 122)
Lee, Robert E. (2 of 12; 35 of 122)
Hancock, John (2 of 12; 28 of 122)

Columbus, Christopher (3 of 12; 15 of 122)
Tubman, Harriet (4 of 12; 15 of 122)
Jackson, Stonewall (2 of 12; 14 of 122)
Booth, John Wilkes (1 of 12; 12 of 122)
Revere, Paul (2 of 12; 12 of 122)
Madison, James (4 of 12; 12 of 122)
Smith, John ( of 12; 11 of 122)
Jackson, Andrew (3 of 12; 10 of 122)

Adams, Abigail (1 of 12; 7 of 122)
Adams, John Quincy ( of 12; 6 of 122)
Douglass, Frederick ( of 12; 6 of 122)
Arnold, Benedict (1 of 12; 6 of 122)
Washington, Martha
Davis, Jefferson (1 of 12; 5 of 122)
Lewis & Clark (1 of 12; 5 of 122)
Jackson (no first name)
Pocahontas (1 of 12; 4 of 122)

Three of 122 students also included the following:
Adams, no first name
Adams, Sam
Hamilton, Alexander
Henry, Patrick
Taylor, Zachary
Lewis, Meriwether (see also Lewis & Clark) (1 of 12)
Sherman, W. T. (1 of 12)
Paine, Thomas (2 of 12)

Two of 122 students also included the following:
Addams, Jane
Clark (no first name)
Clay, Henry
Dickinson, Emily
Graham, no first name (2 of 12)
Hayes, Rutherford B.
Jay, John
Lewis (no first name)
Lincoln, Mary Todd
Polk, James (1 of 12)
Sacagawea (1 of 12)
Shays, Daniel
Stowe, Harriett Beecher
Whitney, Eli

One of 122 students also included the following:
Allcott, Louisa May
Anthony, Susan B.
Attucks, Crispus
Barton, Clara
Bibb, Henry
Boone, Daniel
Bradford, James
Buchanan, James
Calhoun, John C.
Chamberlain, Joshua
Clark, George Rogers
Crockett, Davy
Custer, George Armstrong
Dolly Madison
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Fillmore, Millard
Hatfield, Anderson (1 of 12)
Howe, William (1 of 12)
James, Jesse (1 of 12)
Keckly, Elizabeth? [Heckley, Elizabeth]
Key, Francis Scott
LaFayette, Marquis de
Lee, Henry (1 of 12)
McCoy, Randall (1 of 12)
Meade, George
Poe, Edgar Allen
Ross, Betsy
Sherman, George
Sojourner Truth
Squanto
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
Tecumseh
Thoreau, Henry David
Penn, William (1 of 12)
Vanderbilt family

Nine students (one this term) listed Thomas Edison (who doesn't fit the time limits).

One to three students listed the following people who don't fit the geographical or time limits:
Alexander Graham Bell (2 of 12), Rhett Butler, Jimmy Carter, Jon Carter (1 of 12), George Washington Carver, Walt Disney, Thomas Edison (1 of 12), Dwight Eisenhower, Henry Ford, John Henry, Samuel Jackson, Sarah Orne Jewett, Helen Keller, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. (1 of 12), John Locke, Ferdinand Magellan, Thurgood Marshall, Margaret Mitchell, Florence Nightingale, Scarlett O'Hara, Lee Harvey Oswold, Mr. & Mrs. Albert Parker, Rosa Parks (1 of 12), Alice Paul, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Roosevelt (no first name), Theodore Roosevelt, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Col. Harlan Sanders, Margaret Sanger, John Taylor, Amerigo Vespucci, Betsy White, Woodrow Wilson