Within the context of the American Revolution, there are a number of individuals who could be considered American heroes. Determining the greatest is really a personal exercise based on individual values as well as an assessment of the relative impact of each individual.
Some candidates for "greatest American hero" include George Washington, Paul Revere, Sybil Ludington, William Dawes, Samuel Prescott, Israel Bissel, Thomas Jefferson, and Ben Franklin. There are quite literally dozens of additional contenders.
Washington is an obvious candidate because he was the general of the Continental Army and the first President of the United States after the ratification of the Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were both instrumental in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and Ben Franklin helped disseminate the views contained in each document to the broader public.
Paul Revere's midnight ride has been memorialized in song and was important in preparing Americans for an attempted sneak attack by the British. However, Revere was not alone on his ride and actually had the least successful of all the midnight riders, comparatively. Samuel Prescott and William Dawes managed to complete their rides without being captured and alerted more individuals than Revere. Israel Bissel has the distinction of engaging in the longest of the midnight rides, while Sybil Ludington helped the midnight riders as a 16-year-old woman.
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