which of the following was not an american general during the revolution:?

Question

george mason, horatio gates, or benedict arnold

Answer 1

George Mason was one of the founding fathers and responsible for some of the ideas in the Declaration of Independence. However, he never served in the military.

Answer 2

George Mason

Answer 3

Horato gates. Major guess

Answer 4

George Mason:
In 1725 George Mason was born to George and Ann Thomson Mason. When the boy was 10 years old his father died, and young George's upbringing was left in the care of his uncle, John Mercer. The future jurist's education was profoundly shaped by the contents of his uncle's 1500-volume library, one-third of which concerned the law.

Mason established himself as an important figure in his community. As owner of Gunston Hall he was one of the richest planters in Virginia. In 1750 he married Anne Eilbeck, and in 23 years of marriage they had five sons and four daughters. In 1752 he acquired an interest in the Ohio Company, an organization that speculated in western lands. When the crown revoked the company's rights in 1773, Mason, the company's treasurer, wrote his first major state paper, Extracts from the Virginia Charters, with Some Remarks upon Them.

During these years Mason also pursued his political interests. He was a justice of the Fairfax County court, and between 1754 and 1779 Mason was a trustee of the city of Alexandria. In 1759 he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. When the Stamp Act of 1765 aroused outrage in the colonies, George Mason wrote an open letter explaining the colonists' position to a committee of London merchants to enlist their support.

In 1774 Mason again was in the forefront of political events when he assisted in drawing up the Fairfax Resolves, a document that outlined the colonists' constitutional grounds for their objections to the Boston Port Act. Virginia's Declaration of Rights, framed by Mason in 1776, was widely copied in other colonies, served as a model for Jefferson in the first part of the Declaration of Independence, and was the basis for the federal Constitution's Bill of Rights.

The years between 1776 and 1780 were filled with great legislative activity. The establishment of a government independent of Great Britain required the abilities of persons such as George Mason. He supported the disestablishment of the church and was active in the organization of military affairs, especially in the West. The influence of his early work, Extracts from the Virginia Charters, is seen in the 1783 peace treaty with Great Britain, which fixed the Anglo-American boundary at the Great Lakes instead of the Ohio River. After independence, Mason drew up the plan for Virginia's cession of its western lands to the United States.

By the early 1780s, however, Mason grew disgusted with the conduct of public affairs and retired. He married his second wife, Sarah Brent, in 1780. In 1785 he attended the Mount Vernon meeting that was a prelude to the Annapolis convention of 1786, but, though appointed, he did not go to Annapolis.

At Philadelphia in 1787 Mason was one of the five most frequent speakers at the Constitutional Convention. He exerted great influence, but during the last 2 weeks of the convention he decided not to sign the document.

Mason's refusal prompts some surprise, especially since his name is so closely linked with constitutionalism. He explained his reasons at length, citing the absence of a declaration of rights as his primary concern. He then discussed the provisions of the Constitution point by point, beginning with the House of Representatives. The House he criticized as not truly representative of the nation, the Senate as too powerful. He also claimed that the power of the federal judiciary would destroy the state judiciaries, render justice unattainable, and enable the rich to oppress and ruin the poor. These fears led Mason to conclude that the new government was destined to either become a monarchy or fall into the hands of a corrupt, oppressive aristocracy.

Two of Mason's greatest concerns were incorporated into the Constitution. The Bill of Rights answered his primary objection, and the 11th amendment addressed his call for strictures on the judiciary.

Throughout his career Mason was guided by his belief in the rule of reason and in the centrality of the natural rights of man. He approached problems coolly, rationally, and impersonally. In recognition of his accomplishments and dedication to the principles of the Age of Reason, Mason has been called the American manifestation of the Enlightenment. Mason died on October 7, 1792, and was buried on the grounds of Gunston Hall.



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Brigadier General Horatio Gates

Horatio Gates (1727–1806) was an American general in the American Revolution. He was born at Maldon, Essex, England. Entering the British Army, he first served in Nova Scotia in 1749–1750. During the French and Indian War he was severely wounded attacking the French at Fort Duquesne in 1755 but helped capture French Martinique in 1761.

Gates retired from the army on half pay in 1765 as a major and in 1772 moved with his family to Virginia, following the advice of his old comrade-in-arms George Washington. Gates accepted appointment as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia, and when the Revolution broke out, he took the American side. In June 1775 he was made adjutant general of the army, with the rank of Brigadier General. He was a capable and experienced administrator and a conscientious worker.

After the evacuation of Boston in 1776, Gates, now a major general, was appointed to command the northern American army, which had retreated from Canada.

Gates was appointed president of the Board of War late in 1777. At this time the “Conway Cabal,” involving Gen. Thomas Conway, is supposed to have sought to replace Washington with Gates.

In October 1778, Gates was appointed to the command in Boston. A year later he left the army for a period and retired to his plantation. In the spring of 1780 he took the field again as commander of the southern army, which was an almost destitute force consisting largely of untrained militia. Near Camden, S.C., on August 16, the British attacked Gates' army, which broke and ran in wild confusion. Gates has received much blame for this defeat, but it seems probable that few generals could have done better, given the condition of the troops under his command.

Gates was soon replaced by Gen. Nathanael Greene and did not return to active duty until August 1782. His only son died during the war, and his wife shortly after. In 1786, Gates married a wealthy widow. He sold his Virginia plantation in 1790, emancipated his slaves, and moved to a farm within the limits of what is now New York City. Gates served one term in the New York legislature. He died on his farm on April 10, 1806.


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Benedict Arnold, b. Norwich, Conn., Jan. 14, 1741, was an American Revolutionary general and America's most infamous traitor. At the age of 14, Arnold was a druggist's apprentice, but he ran away twice to serve in the colonial militia during the French and Indian War (1754-63). When the American Revolution broke out, Arnold marched his Connecticut militia company to Massachusetts, where he was made a colonel. His force, along with Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys, captured Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775.

Arnold then led a force of 1,100 men through Maine in the dead of winter to invade Canada. His march remains a military classic. Linking up with another American force under Richard Montgomery, he led an unsuccessful attack on Quebec in December and was wounded. For his courage, he was promoted to brigadier general in January 1776.

Before his defection, Arnold had a brilliant career in the Continental Army. In October 1776 he fought a series of naval battles on Lake Champlain (see also the link below) that helped delay a British invasion from Canada. When the British raided Danbury, Conn., in April 1777, Arnold drove them off. He particularly distinguished himself in the Saratoga campaign as second in command to Horatio Gates. During the second battle of Saratoga on Oct. 7, 1777, Arnold led a headlong charge, captured a key redoubt, was again wounded, and made the British surrender inevitable. One of his soldiers called Arnold "as brave a man as ever lived."